30 Screen free rainy day activities

We've had a lot of rain here lately and apparently more to come. Try out some of our screen free rainy day activities and hopefully your time indoors will be a bit brighter.

- Put some music on and DANCE
- Blow bubbles
- Play chasee
- Build a tower (and knock it down)
- Use furniture to make an obstacle course (chairs to climb under, cushions to climb over, baskets to dodge around, etc)
- Cook together
- Have a tea party with stuffed animals/dolls
- Play peek a boo
- Make a cubby house with bed sheets (and have lunch in there)
- Play toss with a basket/bucket and beanbags or soft toys
- Play the drums using pots and pans and spoons
- Read books together
- Have a picnic in the lounge room
- Sing songs together
- Play limbo with toilet paper
- Use spray bottles and cloths to clean the windows
- Colour in and draw together
- Play bowling with plastic cups
- Act out (or draw) your child's favourite story
- Play dress ups
- Make a balance beam on the ground with masking tape
- Give old wooden blocks a make over by re-painting them with bright colours and patterns
- Put on raincoats and gumboots, get an umbrella and go for a walk in the rain (if it's not too windy and cold!)
- Have a puppet show (use stuffed toys if you don't have puppets)
- Go swimming in the bath tub
- Stickers!
- Play board games (yes, they still exist!)
- Teach your kids how to play card games (I love Skip Bo and Uno)
- Give all the cars a car wash in the bath (or bath the dollies)
- Make up silly rhymes and stories

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Pom pom cannons

Another balloon powered activity to go with the rockets. Pom pom cannons!

All you need is an open ended cylinder (we used a postal tube, you could also try a tin can or a cardboard coffee cup), a balloon and something light to launch - we used pom poms.

Tie the balloon up and cut the tip off the opposite end.

Stretch the balloon over one end of your cylinder, load it up with a pom pom or two and away you go!

It took awhile for Ladybug to actually notice the pom poms being launched out of the top but once she noticed what was happening she was forever "re-loading" with more and more pom poms.

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Balloon rockets

This activity was always a winner with the kids on rainy days spent stuck inside. Little ones love watching a balloon go zooming around the room as all the air gushes out and are fascinated when you show them how to 'capture' the balloon and send it zooming along a string instead!

All you need is a ballon, some string, scissors, sticky tape and some chairs.

Thread the balloon onto the string, tie each end to a chair (or in our case your husbands saw horses)

Blow the balloon up (but do not tie!), sticky tape it underneath the straw and let go!

Cue delightful Ladybug giggles! So easy!

***This could be done as a science experiment for kids old enough to understand (or to ask why the balloon zooms away)***

So why does the balloon zoom away? The balloon is stretched when blown up and deflates when you let go. As the balloon squeezes the air out, it pushes out on the air and, according to Newton's third law of motion (for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction) the air pushes forwards on the balloon, which sends it zooming along the string we've secured it to.

Text from: http://www.physics4kids.com/files/motion_laws.html

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