Activities for you to do with your baby on a rainy day

There are plenty of low cost activities that you and your baby can do together as a family on a rainy day. When the weather is not at its best then this may mean you stuck in the house with nothing to do other than watch TV or a DVD but that need not be the case! A bit of imagination and fun is all that is required in order for all of you to have a day to remember!

Babies love to explore. Why not get together some small portions of your baby’s favourite finger foods and hide them about the house. You can mix up sweet and savoury and the treat is that your baby can eat the food when they have found them. Your baby will find this game fun and will only get bored when they are full up. You can also try this with their favourite teddy bears and dolls. It is a delight to watch their little faces amazed at what they can find.

Another activity is to gather up a few old shoe boxes and cut holes in the lids for your child’s hand to get through but make sure they cant see what’s in the box. In the box you can fill it with lots of different sensory objects such as feathers, cubes of jelly, marshmallows, a velvet pillow, pebbles and ice to name but a few. Have a look in your cupboards and see what objects you have that have different sensations that your child will enjoy.

Make some cakes and biscuits. Children love to help when baking and so having them ice and decorate cakes and biscuits will be something that they will love especially if you let them lick the bowl afterwards! Making pizza is another activity they will enjoy and they can ensure that only ingredients that they like are in their pizza.

Babies love to hear different sounds and so why not use a tape machine and record the different sounds they make and play it back to them. Some mobile phones have this facility as well. You can also make animal sounds and get them to try and mimic them.

Why not have a picnic in the house. Put out a large blanket or rug and serve food and drink on paper plates and cups. This also means less washing up for you! Put all the food in a hamper and then serve on the rug just like a real picnic. For a special treat have some foods that are held in reserve for special occasions or why not put the cakes and biscuits in that they may have made earlier? Involve the children as much as possible with the making of the food.

Invite a few of your child’s friends around and let them have a box of old clothes and get them to dress up. Use face paints and old make up to make their dressing up more fun and realistic. Get them to perform a few songs and dances with their dressing up clothes on and you could even play a few party games such as musical statues or pass the parcel.

Be imaginative and make up a story to go with their dressing up and get them to participate in some actions related to it. A theme could be pirates or cowboys and Indians where the children could look for hidden treasure. The list is endless.

Another activity is to play hide and seek around the house. Depending on the size of your baby will depend on how far you can leave them. Make sure you don’t hide away too far or they will lose interest very quickly. After a few turns change places and get them to hide and vice versa.

There are plenty of indoor games available such as skittles and football. Just ensure these games are played in rooms where nothing can be broken. Also you can set up your own version of circuit training where they need to say hop ten times on the spot, or bend and touch their toes ten times or run to a designated spot.

A rainy day does not mean that your child has nothing to do. There are plenty of activities you can both participate in that will help keep your child amused and also for them to expel plenty excess energy. All it takes is a little imagination and you are on the right track.