Raining Day Vacation Ideas

BRING TONS OF GAMES & CARDS & maybe some puzzles!

In addition there are a couple of craft books - one in particular I THINK it's called STICKS & STONES & ICE CREAM CONES that I've used for LOTS of crafts w/ kids.

Have puzzle competitions, crossword competitions, SUDUKO competitions, etc.

Let each child pick out something like raisins, Cheerios, etc and make one or two different kinds of trail mix for snacks. YOU DO NOT need a recipe. Be creative!

Reading, paint by numbers that clean up easy, weaving looms to make pot holders and starter sewing kits,with plastic needles and yarn, you can get alot of this stuff at joann fabrics in the sale section. also small toy sets like legos. they also have a large selection of camper crafts. Have fun. Ps no I don't work for joann fabrics..lol

Put on raincoats and go splash in puddles! Love the water!

Put on swimsuits and go build sand castles in the rain!

Pretend to be ducks and seagulls! Hunt for worms like robins.

I would skip "Tag" on the grass (too slick), but most other games (freeze tag!) etc. can be played. Marco Polo - little running! Blow bubbles with dish soap if not raining too hard.

Put water based paint into spray bottles, and play in the rain! It will wash off quicker if your clothes are already wet!!

Put on laundry-ready dirty vacation clothes, then play in the rain! Add a bar of soap (bio-degradeable!) and "wash" each other!!

When my kids were younger, I held their shoes aside to keep dry, then let them get their clothes wet in sprinklers etc. With Crocs, that is not a problem. If lots of rain forcast, invest in Crocs!

Finger painting!! With water-based paint.

Hunt for rocks, make collections.

After the games, then popcorn, fireplace, hot chocolate, movies & blankets, etc. NAPS!!

have fun!!

C. W

I think you'll be surprised at how well they will keep themselves occupied if they're inside. I wouldn't worry about it one bit! If you want, take a few games for them or something, but honestly, good luck trying to get them to sit down and do a craft when they're so excited about having so many people to play with! I say this because during the winter months, I have my family over at my house. There are 6 kids all 6 and under, and 3 between 11 and 14. They run around like crazy playing anything and everything. I can't imagine trying to stop them long enough to do a craft, they would plow me over!!!! I will tell you this though, maybe try to buy some type of guns that shoot foam things out. It seems like their favorite thing to do is to build forts out of pillows and cushions from the couches in our playroom and shoot at each other.

Several things come to mind.
Melted crayon pictures are a lot of fun. Don't know if you have ever done this and it does take supervision!!! Supplies are a container of all the broken crayons you have around, lots of paper, candle holders and I used candles we had all ready burnt down some. Cover the table with newspaper or whatever, everyone gets a sheet of paper and they draw a picture on it, light the candles, the child holds the candle by the flame until soft then applies the hot wax to the picture and fills it in repeating the process until the picture is complete. When dry the picture is firm and can be given as a gift at a later date.
Naturally some board games are great to take with you.
Charades is good for an hour or two with goofy prizes for the winning team (you can use easy things like suckers, ice cream cones, etc.).
Old Fashioned goofy things like Simom Says, Red Light Green Light, and Musical Chairs can take up an hour or so with the younger children and lets them move around at the same time.
Twister is a great game to take along too.

I am headed to Lake Michigan today with my 15mo son and my 6yo neice. On rainy days we make a kitchen band. I just let them make their own instruments out of anything in the kitchen. Then we turn on the radio, play and dance! It's a blast for everyone! We also sit on the porch and watch the rain...

We have a Christian "small group" at our house every other Sunday evening that contains 9 children -- ages 18 months to 10 years of age. It's quite a span of interests, but getting one giant blank piece of paper and some markers or crayons will entertain all of them for some length of time. Or play doh -- all of those ages still seem intereste in creating things out of playdoh.

Just a couple of ideas. Good luck & enjoy this family time!! God bless!

lol..i think you all should ge together since there are several of you going to LM! That will keep all the kids occupied lol..

We're doing the LM thing this coming week! We'll have 9 kids from 1 to 13. One thing we're doing is having each kid bring a white T-shirt. Since we'll be there over the 4th of July, we're going to take a few sessions to decorate them (using a Family Fun idea) and the kids will all wear them to the fireworks. We'll do face-painting, too. They LOVE that!!! Family Fun has lots of different ideas on their website for T-shirts and other crafts.

Try Disney.com, they have crafts and game ideas. Another site is Family.com, they have LOT'S of crafts to do and there are word games and coloring pages you can print ahead to take with you. I worked at an adult day center for MRDD and I printed lots of stuff according to mental age capacity.

We usually pack in a bunch of card games and board games. Card games are small and pack easily, but if there is a family favorite board game, that would be good, too. You might consider some really active games like Twister or something like that.

We are going to Lake Michigan in a few weeks too. We live in Indiana about an hour or so away so the actual trip isn't bad but I will be going to JoAnns before we go & picking up a lot of crafts for them to do if it rains. I am fortunate that my kids LOVE crafts & it keeps them busy for a long time. I don't do board games though because it is hard to get them to stay still to play them. My dad would say to let them play in the rain with soap & shampoo, that way you get clean kids that are happy too. Have fun.

Nicky E