5 Things Nana’s Can Do With Grandchildren On Rainy Days

Rainy Days

Now more than ever it’s important to share engaging activities with your grandchildren. Why do I say that? Because According to Common Sense Media, teens spend an average of 9 hours a day online, compared to about six hours for those aged eight to 12 and 50 minutes for kids between 0 and eight. No matter how you look at it, that is a lot of time staring at a screen.

What can you do to get them up and moving? Here are 5 ideas for rainy day fun that your grandchild will love.

1. Head to the Kitchen! Yes, it’s messy but so much fun! These are sugar cookies that the little ones decorated. Give a child icing and sprinkles and let them work their magic. Just be prepared to eat lots and lots of sprinkles! I let mine help with main dishes, too. When I make lasagna they love putting the noodles on or stirring the sauce. They fight over who gets to break the eggs and even though they are young, with a minimum of instruction they have learned to crack eggs properly (most of the time). Older grandchildren can handle more complicated cooking and our 13 year old granddaughter loves making breakfast on Saturday mornings. Once, we even hosted our own version of a television cooking show (Chopped) and the whole family got involved! It really wasn’t hard and for the pleasure it produced it was well worth it. We divided into teams and gave everyone the same ingredients and then let them prepare their own original dish. Some were better than others but everyone had a great time.

2. Help them build a tent or fort. It’s amazing how little it takes to impress children. I took some blankets and stretched them over some chairs. Then I filled their tent full of pillows and stuffed animals and hung some star lights. You would have thought I built them a million dollar mansion. We played in it all weekend. We watched movies and had popcorn and when I took the tent down, they begged for me to put it back up again. I told them it was only for special occasions. Rainy day weekends qualify as a special occasion!

3. Make slime. I don’t know why kids love it so much, but they do. There are different ways to make it. Before you start put a plastic table cloth on your table. Assemble all the ingredients and then get ready to have fun! We have granddaughters and grandsons and they all love making it. You can see how it’s done here.

4. Get Out the Puzzles and Games. I discovered by accident that my grandchildren love puzzles. I knew they loved Candy Land and Hide and Seek (take your hearing aids out or the squealing when you “find” them will pierce your ears!) A friend had left a gigantic puzzle at my house and when I found it and asked if they wanted to put it together they all chimed in and said, “Yes!” I found a few more puzzles and we spent hours working them, tearing them up and doing them again.

5. Host a Scavenger Hunt.

It takes a little bit of time but children of all ages love scavenger hunts. I drew up a guide that looked like a treasure map with a chest of gold at the end. I bought some inexpensive pirate costumes (an eye patch and a bandana) and told them they were going to be pirates looking for lost treasure. The oldest granddaughter helped write and hide the clues and the treasure (a box with some chocolate candy inside) and they loved it! They wanted to play it again and again.

Rainy days don’t have to be boring or spent in front of a screen. With a little planning grandparents and grandchildren can make memories that last much longer than a rainy day!