With Doris out the way, we are soon to be embraced with yet another storm. 

As much as Lily loves puddles and going out in the rain, when it’s hammering down, high winds and icy sleet, you sometimes have to stay cosied up inside, and wait for a cheeky break in the storm to make it out again. 

I’ve seen many an Insta-mum say they’re bored and need a bit of inspo. So here’s just a few that keep us entertained on those cosy-at-home days, without even a hint of an episode of Bing!!

Baking

Those following the blog will know that recently we’ve joined the Organix foods No Junk Journey. As part of it we pledged to try one new recipe every month from the Organix website. What I didn’t realise was how much fun you could have baking with a toddler – and how much fun she would have too. There are a fair few things she isn’t quite ready to embark on at her age, but she’s more than happy to play with the cupcake cases, putting them in and out of the muffin tray, counting them, using her new animal shaped cookie cutters (think they were about £1.49 off ebay!), and exploring the textures of the dough! Even playing with the utensils is plenty of fun as she explores the rubber whisk! As she gets older, I’ll get her more involved, but we can already waste a morning/afternoon in the kitchen together… and get the washing up done too! 

Colouring/Crafts

An obvious one, you may say. But have you checked out iChild? You can make all sorts of things that you never even dreamed of, such as alien-themed door hangers, and hand-print chickens! There are thousands of free age-appropriate activities on the site, and many are themed, so you can search under festivals (from Diwali and Hannukah, to St Patrick’s Day and Easter!), or your child’s current favourite things (dinosaurs, farm animals, outerspace…!) 

There are also printable dot-to-dots, writing frames, reward charts, and so many learning activities for the little ones growing up. Really worth checking out, as it’s also free!! We also love the fact many activities don’t require a printer or a craft box filled with things you don’t own – just some inspiration for what to do with a few colours, paper or card! (And did I mention it is free ;)!!)

I’ve also found The Works to be fantastic for cheap craft bits, and they’ve currently got loads of ideas for Easter starting at £1, such as egg decorating or Easter bonet making! You can also find many reduced items; they recently had little wooden boxes to paint/decorate for jusy a couple of pounds, and decorative stickers for 50p. Lily will rip these to bits, but I know they will keep her occupied. 

Musical morning
You may hate me for this one, but making loud noises is a firm favourite for Lily, and you don’t even need an array of annoying instruments to do this! Fill some plastic tubs with dried pasta and rice to shake, use wooden spoons on other tubs for drums, pans make great cymbals, empty kitchen rolls for tooting, and lining up different sized plastic cups can make different ‘hollow’ sounds. It can be really annoying but it allows them to explore different shapes and sounds… and, again, it’s free entertainment that can never be as annoying as Bing!

Stickers

Lily’s latest obsession is stickers. She generally rips then to shreds, piles them on top of each other, or sticks them on her face, but she also likes to make pictures with them, such as animals on the farm. You can count them together, and make cards with them. You can pick up packs in the pound shops, or picture books where you can make removable scenes with the stickers, and they definitely help kill a morning! 

Exercise

Lily and I both get restless if we don’t get our daily walks, so recently we’ve found ourselves expelling our energy indoors. Running up and down the hallway (it’s short but she finds the quick turn around funny!), jumping, squatting, star jumps, and generally chasing her around, are all the causes of a lot of giggles on both sides. If that doesn’t sound like fun to you, putting on some music and having a dance is just as exhausting, but much more entertaining! Lily loves nothing more than randomly singing and dancing, so doing it together definitely brightens both of our days… plus the more terribly you dance, the funnier it is… so get your groove on 🙂

Bubbles
Pop them, chase them, teach her to blow them… endless fun! One of her clearest words (apart from No!) is even BUBBLLES when she sees them!

Containers

I find plastic containers with different lids a great source of entertainment as she loves putting things in and out of them, discovering the shapes, stacking them, and learning to take the lids on and off! 

Recycling

Yes, you do need to be careful with this one, but with our recycling in flimsy orange council bags, we can’t put dangerous things in there anyway! With all the empty cartons, boxes, yoghurt pots (cleaned of course), milk bottles etc, she likes putting them in and out of the bags, and exploring the treasure chest that is the orange council recycling bags!

Storytime

Books, books, books! Make the animal noises, point out the colours, search for birds, count the dinosaurs, ‘what noise do trains make?’

Laundry basket

Just as fun as empty Amazon delivery boxes, the empty laundry basket can be used as a boat, plane, car, train (choo choo!), putting her cuddly toys in and out… and even, on occasion, ‘helping’ mummy with the laundry!

Egg box treasure chest

Easily turn an empty egg box into a treasure chest by putting little toys/treats into each space inside! She can even decorate the box to make it even more realistic and last a bit longer!

Outdoors

I know I’m meant to be offering indoor activities, but sometimes when there’s a short break in the rain, it can be fun to have a quick run around in the garden/outside your house/flat – fresh air, new place to explore, and still near enough to dash indoors when the rain comes on again.

Outdoors is also a very different place to explore when it’s been raining, so we bought Lily a puddlesuit to let her jump in the puddles and roll in the mud, while still keeping dry underneath! Aside from the super-fun puddles, we’ve found so much that Lily loves outdoors after it has rained; from dropping pebbles into the water-filled candles, to prodding raindrops, collecting leaves, and investigating all the wet-weather insects! 

She’s always much preferred being outdoors, but on some days it’s just not possible. At least once it’s cleared, it’s a whole new damp, soggy world to explore. Then at least we have some fresh warm baking to come inside to afterwards!