Hello readers how are all my UK readers getting on with this thunder, lightening, and rain. I am almost completely deaf so the thunder does not really bother me, I find the lightening fascinating and pretty to watch, and as for the rain dampening our spirits no chance of that happening at Tilly Towers. I thought I would share my top ten tips for keeping the kids entertained whilst being stuck in the house today.
1) Have a movie day. Make a bowl of homemade popcorn and chill out with the little people in your life. I am lucky enough to get free DVDS to borrow from the library but you can also pick up DVDS and VHS videos for as little as 20p in the charity shops. I got loads of old VHS videos for the kids from one of the free sites on Facebook.
2) Play board games together. The boys get a board game each for Xmas. Over the years we have built up quite a collection so there is always something for us to play that will please everyone. Also keep your eyes open for cheap games in charity shops and on the selling pages of Facebook. I also have an adults game compendium which has chess, cards, backgammon, bridge etc. It is a very good quality set made of wood and felt. It was brand new never been opened from a charity shop and I paid just £5 for it and it has given us hours of entertainment.
3) Family games on the Xbox. We have had the same Xbox 360 for about 3 years now we also have a ps2. You won't find any of the latest games consoles in this house lol. The Xbox 360 was a Xmas gift to Brad and Ben from their dad and the ps2 was bought for £20 second hand by my sister for the boys. The good thing about having an older games console is you can pick up second hand games for pennies. We have a few games where you can play 4 players so the whole family can get involved. Our favourite is who wants to be a millionaire and as well as it being fun it is also educational.
4) Build a den. Turn your sofas back to back or position the dinning chairs to create a square. Throw some large sheets over the chairs from your linen closet and you have a den. With a little imagination you can get hours of fun out of this. You can play castles, dungeons and dragons, pretend camping the list is endless.
5) Have a teddy bears picnic. Throw a blanket on the living room floor bring all your teddy bears down to join in. Have a picnic lunch in the living room with all your bear friends. If like Brandon your little one likes teddies they will love this idea.
6) Crafts. I have a cupboard full of crafting activities for the kids things such as mask painting, decorate your own egg, make a stain glass mobile. All of these were very cheap from shops such as b and m or poundland. I also have paper, paint, paint brushes, pens, pencils, and crayons.
7) Jigsaws. Again these can be picked up really cheap from charity shops and come in various abilities. Hours of family fun in a box.
8) Play hide and seek. Free fun for the whole family. There are lots of places to hide in the house and the kids will have great fun searching for everyone. My boys usually give themselves away by giggling when they hide lol.
9) Baking. Make some cakes together. Ingredients are cheap enough and you get to eat the end product. My kids love licking the cake batter from the bowl once the cakes have gone in the oven.
10) Loom banding. Our new favourite and hours of fun. You don't need an expensive set either I got my loom board, hook, catches, plus 100 bands for £1 from poundland and you can get bags of 300 bands for £1 making this a fun frugal activity that will give hours of entertainment.
Hope this gives some of you some ideas for this wet Saturday.
What do you do to keep the little ones entertained in bad weather ?
Much Love
Claire xx xx xx
