It was a rainy, blustery day here in South Bend today. Joel is gone to a job interview until tomorrow night. We have a long winter ahead of us.
By default, I have discovered a very important equation:
not being able to go outside + rambunctious kids x student budget = I have to get creative.
We have had a lot of failures. Unfortunately (fortunately?) I do not have those on camera, so you only get to see the successes. Why do we only take pictures of the successes? The failures are far more interesting. I cannot take credit for all of these ideas, as Everett is pretty good at coming up with messy activities all on his own.
Idea #1: What Everett has dubbed "The Balloon Train". It's simple. You string a piece of yarn across the room. Blow up some balloons. Tape a straw on each balloon. Thread them on the yarn. Turn on a powerful fan and watch them sail along the string! For more fun, leave an inflated balloon untied, and release the end while it is on the string. It will blow itself into the other balloons, prompting your almost three-year-old to laugh hysterically due to the "train crash."
Idea #2 is Everett's invention. It's a mattress slide. Am I the only one who used to do this, too? My sister and I had a bunk bed, and my parents hated it when we'd lean the top mattress against the floor and top bunk, then throw ourselves down it. But the rush was worth the risk of discipline.
I think it's safe to say that Ashley had fun with it too.
Idea # 3 is a popular one: cooking. Everett and Ashley get a lot of pleasure out of completely dis-assembling my kitchen in the name of creating a feast. The setup you see in this picture pales in comparison to their usual spread.
P.S. Also Everett's idea.
It doesn't take long for me to be out of ideas. I'm sure some of you have some good ones. Want to share? Do you have anything to add?
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3 comments:
Wow. I want to come play at your house. It looks like so much fun!! You and Everette are so creative! I use to play a lot of "dumb" (fun) games with my roommates that people thought were on the level of a 3 year old. I'll have to think of some good ones. One favorite was called, "I bet you can't do this". We would say that to someone and then do a ridiculous move by jumping off the couch or something. Usually, it was something a 3 year old could do. Like barely jump off the ground and touch our toes. It wasn't supposed to be something you really thought they couldn't do. It wasn't fun if everyone couldn't do it. I'll demonstrate sometime if you want. Most "adults" thought we were dumb, but we had a blast! Sorry we missed you last night for SYTYCD. We're in the midst of packing. Moving in on Monday!!
Rainy days are the worst. We usually just go around destroying everything out of boredom. There is a great book called "The toddlers busy book" 365 creative ideas. One fun one is to take the couch cushions and make obstacle courses, and steps and such. We had a really fun time with that one.
A funny one is to get contact paper and tape it on the floor sticky side up and let them walk on it and stick things to it. It kept me entertained for a least 20 minutes.
Good ideas, we'll have to try some. Happy Rain Days.
Seriously, you do so many fun things with your kids. I love love love the balloon idea. I would have never thought of it!!!
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