Our little fam lives in California, which means that we're pretty used to being outside and being able to get out all of our energy whenever we want without needing to worry about the weather. But the last couple of weeks, we've been getting tons of (much needed, but kind of annoying) rain and it's been keeping us cooped up, and we're all going stir crazy!
But no matter where you live or what kind of weather you're dealing with on a day-to-day basis, you'll have the occasional day where the weather isn't going to allow for you to head out with the little ones.
So how do you make it through the rainy day when you're stuck in the house with the babes and you're praying for ANYTHING to help you get through hours stuck inside?
Here's a couple tips I have for how we can keep our cool when we're stuck in the house with our kids:
Art
Normally, I'm not super stoked to open up the hall cabinet and get out the paints and the brushes, and let my littles get their creativity bug out. But it is definitely such a fun thing to pull out when you're in the house all day! It's so fun to see kids let their imaginations run wild and help them learn their colors. Plus, it helps with motor skills!
You can either let your kids use water colors or get the paint palettes and use their fingers to paint a masterpiece. And babies can get in on the fun too! When both my kids were tiny, I would put a piece of paper inside a ziploc with a few drops of paint, and let them use their fingers or a brush to smush it around and have just as much fun as touching the actual paint! Bath paints are also super fun if you want to let your kids get creative with virtually zero cleanup!
Exercise
When you don't have the luxury of going outside to let your kids get their wiggles out, do things in the house that let them exercise and burn energy! I will sometimes set a timer and tell my son to run up and down the stairs as many times as he can until it beeps. Sometimes I'll turn on a song and have us do jumping jacks or skip until it's over. Or you can turn on one of the six bazillion singalong songs on YouTube and let your littles dance it out and have a blast! Getting their energy out will go a long way in making your day inside way more manageable.
Screentime Moderation
This is something I don't normally bother with, because we're usually running to and from school, the store, appointments, or any other hundred things we have going on during the week. But when you're going to be gearing up for a day stuck in the house, try your best to not have the TV on the whole time. I've found that doing that means that my kids simply get used to hearing it and aren't even paying attention, and then they're wanting to do things on top of watching something, and it makes it a nearly impossible situation to entertain them while hearing Peppa Pig ramble on in the background. Ugh. No.
By keeping it off while you're doing your art project or making an epic marble run track, you can easily turn it on to keep them occupied while you're making lunch or taking a 13-second bathroom break without kids. Use it for when you won't be able to engage with them and it'll really pay off.
