Expert: Debbie - 9/20/2004

Question
Hi Debbie,
The kids are 4,6, and 7. They are interested in sports...hockey, baseball anything outdoors, camping ect. Dancing,singing, Art...mainly drawing and painting ect. Any ideas you could give me would be great!!
Thanks, Leila

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Followup To
Question -
What are some interesting craft activities to have kids do on a rainy afternoon?
Answer -
leila it really depends on the ages of the children and what their interests are. It also depends on where they are developmentally( for instance a six year old downs child would not be able to do activities a normal six year old could do.) I would be happy to give you some ideas if you would respond with the childs age and interests.

debbie

Answer
some activities you all could do together would be:
make homemade playdough then use it to build different things

Recipe for playdough: 1 cup flour 1 cup BOILING water 1/2 cup salt 1 TBSP oil 1 pkg any type of kool aid ( or if you do not have kool aid you can use food coloring) put all igrediants in bowl adding boiling water last.

finger paint ( all kids love to do that)

play with puzzles or make your own simple puzzles( to make own puzzle take a picture they draw or a photo take it to the nearest copying center and get it enlarged to desired size glue it to a piece of thin cardboard or wood then cut it out can also scan a picture of a favorite story)

make dioramas of anything(to make a diorama you use a shoe box and fill it with objects...aka if you were making a diorama of the ocean you d have them paint the shoe box blue or green and then draw fish and other ocean creatures on paper cut out and either glue to the box or hang with thread or fishing line from the top of the box so it hangs down inside of the box, can also do jungle theme or holiday the possibilities are endless)

you can take old crayons and have the children use a butter knife or a potato peeler and shave them into shreds then letting each have a piece of waxed paper draw/cut out a design ( could be a turkey or a xmas tree or a hand print...anything) then you take another piece of waxed paper and cut out a duplicate using their picture to trace then using a hole punch punch a hole through the two pieces of paper so you can later add string/yarn to hang it from. then have them choose some crayon shavings to place btw the two pieces of waxed paper and then you using a hot iron over the two pieces of paper ( make sure that the waxy side of the paper is inside) and a dish towel or old shirt or such on top of the paper iron the paper until the crayons melt together causing the two pieces of wax to stick together...you now have faux stained glass to hang in a window.

you can read books about their favorite subjects

go to the library

make a campsite inside: using sheets as a tent and a flashlite as a fire you can shut off the lites in the house and pretend to be camping you can make smores in the microwave and eat dogs on a stick


play bingo

sing silly songs and make up your own dances
http://freekidsmusic.com/music.html


there are also a ton of websites out there for childrens activites a few good ones are:

http://www.kn.sbc.com/wired/fil/pages/listk2je.html
pbskids
disneyplayhouse.com
nickjr.com
mathblaster.com
http://www.kidspsych.org/index1.html
http://kidsastronomy.com/
http://kidshub.org/kids/kids.cfm
http://www.eduplace.com/kids/
http://www.make-stuff.com/kids/index.html
veggitales.com


hope this helps if you need anything else feel free to contact me again