Rain, Rain, Go Away

I know what you're thinking, "It's June. And it was gorgeous today!" That's true but as I live in the beautiful state of Oregon, I must always be prepared for rain.

With a toddler, that means activities galore! I prefer to limit Daughter's television consumption to when I absolutely need to buy myself 5 minutes, or when we've had 2-3 consecutive snow days and I do not want to go outside for the umpteenth time.

Here are a couple of things I'm squirreling away for a rainy day:

The "I'm not bored anymore" Jar. Now, don't get me wrong, I didn't buy one of these. Not when there are so many opportunities to make one (or more) of my own! Grab a box, an empty jar, anything that will hold a bunch of goodies. Throughout the year, collect little knick knacks and stash them in the jar for later. When people send you cute cards, keep the side with the artwork. Look at things with the eyes of a child; if it's sparkly, cute or fuzzy, add it! Throw in some of those buttons you saved for the jacket you gave to charity 3 years ago. Tiny ribbons and little satin flowers or bits of lace can be added. Beads, googly eyes, fuzzy pompoms, stickers, pipe cleaners all add to the fun. You may or may not want to buy a few items to compliment the items you randomly come across.

Depending on the age of the child and / or how much supervision you want to provide, you can add some child-safe craft scissors, a glue stick and a metallic marker or puffy paints. I'm currently working on two: A holiday jar and an every day jar.
Coloring! Always a fun activity. If you're like me, there are some areas of the house that are "safe" for regular markers and crayons and there are others, where I'm just not willing to risk my walls, carpet or furniture. Overall, Daughter is well-behaved and I don't worry about her going crazy on my walls or furniture but, she's TWO, which means, all bets are off and I have to be prepared for anything. Knock on wood, nothing has happened yet. One of my all-time favorite products (great to bring to restaurants & Grandma's house too) is Crayola Color Wonder products. For regular markers and crayons, here's a website with a bunch of coloring pages to print out. Some of them are completely lame but others are pretty good. When printing, use the Print Preview & Page Setup functions to make sure the picture is sized properly and you aren't printing out extra pages or headers & footers.

FYI: You can print directly on the Color Wonder paper if you'd rather buy the drawing pad instead of the kits each time (one only needs so many sets of Color Wonder pens).


Other things to keep The Toddler happy on a rainy day: Baking cookies or cupcakes, Beads and more beads (at two, sorting colors, occasionally stringing them, etc) and playing chase around the dining room table (hey, I need some exercise on a rainy day too!).