Wet Feb half term activities

Whoops! That was for MAYBEMAW

Make some home made play dough all you need is
8 tablespoons of plain flour
2 tablespoons of salt
1 tablespoon of oil (veg)
Food colouring
And warm water 60 mls per ball
Put your dry ingredients in a bowl and add water slowly. That’s per ball
My grandson loves nanna can make it lol.
Or buy some balloons and do some paper masher with flour and water let them cover the balloons and once dry burst balloon with a pin and let them make a mask or a head with some paint both cheap to do.
Or get some things so they can make a den.
Or baking all kids like to bake or decorate cupcakes. Even my oldest granddaughter who is 11 comes off her iPad for that. Or get yourself to a charity shop and buy some board games. Hopefully give you a few ideas.

This may not be practical these days, but, when they were young, my own DC used to play for hours on an upturned kitchen table ‘raft’ with a couple of pillow cases and a single sheet for flags and a sail. I guess it’s another version of the blanket fort.

We play zoos - all stuffed animals allocated a chair sofa or under a chair the the zookeeper sells tickets and takes visitors round or similar set up as a vet. Also play shops - get the pantry contents out onto a table and have some bags and a "till" (sectioned box in my case".
Last weekend I taught them (5 and 3) all about Chinees New year - told how the Jade emporer arranged a race amongst the animals to get a year named after tem then we used some red thin card I had bought and made fans, lanterns and a year badge with their name on and finally a dragon picture using paper cake cases and a gew other bits. (I quite often have a theme!)

Heart cookies tomorrow and pancakes on Tuesday for a start. I just watched Susan Calman's Grand Day Out and she was in Yorkshire. A village made animals, etc; out of flower pots and they were amazing. Check it out. jennil23 mentioned The Works, great place for crafts and cheap too.

janipans I’d have loved you as my grandma when I was little. Great ideas.

Lots of good suggestions already, but how about something as old-fashioned as just telling or reading them a story?

Depends on their ages, of course.

Helping you cook lunch or dinner can be a good idea too, as long as you have planned something simple.

I have a set of cars and track that my grandson (7) and I build all over the lounge and leave in place for the duration of his stay (I have to tread carefully though!). It used to be a wooden train set but I am keeping that for his little sister now. When I have them both, car track is confined to his bedroom as said little sister, 22months, would destroy it. When I have the older sister too (11) there is a lot of art, painting, clay etc although it does get very messy. I bought them all teepees last year and they love to make their own little ‘homes’ in them in various rooms-even the little one! My house is chaos sometimes when they stay, separately or together, but as there is just me here I turn a blind eye!

My 20 month old GD is the same, her mum sends her with waterproof trousers/coat/wellies a change of clothes, there is nothing so much fun as splashing in puddles! It's easy to come in take wet things off to dry and wash hands before snack

Wet weather welly walk. Torch walks in the evening. Look and listen walks.
Indoors. Bake, cutting and crafting painting, board games, love the treasure hunt idea, Making up stories. Good old favorites like pick a rain drop on the window and see whose wins the race to the bottom of the window. Sit and chatter, Endless possibilities rain or shine. But what we like best is snuggles with the children while we all have quiet time. Bliss.

quickly quickly ring round friends and call at places like phone shops or carpet shops and beg lots of bubble wrap. collect it all together. So the idea is firstly do potato printing. .
1. a largish potato for each child
2. You cut the potato in half (no cut hands or fingers)
3. have some pots of guache - powder paint. just the three basic colours
4. Show them yourself how you can make two sorts of patterns. hold an object - say small dinky car, pressed firmly into the potato. use whatever safest so small knife, sharipsh edged spoon , icecream scoop, soup spoon, Use these to scrape potato away from the car, so you then the car off carefully and you should have a car shape standing proud of the rest of the potato. In the other half you could either get a piece of paper first, fold it in half and half again. Cut a shape from the centre- open the paper out and you will have a pattern. If you dont like it do another one. Can use newspaper, old envelopes etc for this. Place the pattern onto the half cut potato and pin with either cocktail sticks , earbud sticks , lolly sticks. Then carefully scoop OUT the pattern. Now each child has two different patterns each.
The next thing is where they should be enveloped in aprons or easier is to wear very old t shirt and shorts that dont matter. Put cover over the floor . whatever you use put old newspaper down to soak up spills, so dont dump all the papers in the recycling bag this week.

Then I find it is better and saves arguements that I make up the original colours in the guache and they have old dishes or bowls or saucers, old china is best as it is heavy enough not to tip up easily , but older children could use old tinfoil containers from takeaway stuff as they can just be thrown away after the have finished. Be quite strict in that you are the only one allowed to pour paint into each childs pans. This way you can be sure that the colours do not get mixed up and spoiled. Then if there is any spillage or the colours get very muddied you can throw those away and begin again with new colours. Use heavy bottomed mugs or vases for the clean water for them to rinse the brushes out and keep those changed so that it keeps them going longer.
Then they each have quite a big bit of cartridge paper and they then dip the potatos into the colour and then print onto the cartridge paper. Use some rough newspaper or whatever to try it first. They soon learn about the idea of matching up or making a diagonal pattern with the own designs. If they use one pattern firsr and that is allowed to dry then the second pattern can be used separately or to be printed on top of the first one. You can either just let if be freestyle or older children quite like the idea of suggestion what kind of pattern would you like in your room - the loo or whatever. I once did this with a class of junior children and one child cut out rather a good shape of a lavatory and was able to print that on top of the first pattern, (I actually thought it was so good he should have sent it to the wallpaper people for that little outside loo, or downstairs cloak room!. If they choose to they can then mix and match their patterns , swapping one of someone elses and see what different things they can make. There is also showing them the difference when the pattern is held sideways or upside down and gets them to see there is more than one way of looking at something. I find all ages can enjoy doing this in different ways and am sure that the toddler will also enjoy having a go. You will have a wide variety of end results and everyone can have something to take home and show mum and tad. This is always a good fall back on wet days so you could have a themed thing, so perhaps you will make parking for bonfire night and they can make patterns they would like to see in fireworks etc.
So if they are in the right mood this can last quite a long time but it does take quite a bit of concentration and they need to let off steam. So this is where the bubble wrap comes in. So choose the most appropriate room to use , if it wet, if you are lucky and it is dry and you have an old paddling pool or perhaps you have a garden on two levels. So choose the best place, clear away breakables and keep it free to get to, then chuck all the bubble wrap into the container. Check for safety and then if you have a small, pair of steps or a little footstool , place them near the pool. Then either just a free for all where the children stand on the steps and leap into the bubble wrap making satisfactory bangs. Alternatively if you have time before hand to make a little quiz about your house so which room is the old landline telephone. Correct answers give you the right to a leap into the bubble wrap, rather like a soft play centre thing. This can be handed over to the oldest child to run and give you a chance to sit and watch or do something that you need to do without an audience. They want to answer the earliest questions as there is more bubble wrap in to make more noise at first (if you are lucky enough to have loads you can refill it after a while) Hope these might be of use and give them a chance at something simple but enjoyable.

When my sons were about 6 and 8 we spent Feb half term making a paper mache Tracey Island as per Blue Peter. Only cost was a few paint tester pots, making and subsequently playing with it kept them occupied for hours. In years following we made a Bat Cave, Ghost Busters headquarters etc. We also had indoor picnics with food they put together or baked (supervised by me) themselves and eaten sitting on a blanket on the floor. They are now 34 and 36 but still talk fondly of those days

Lots of great suggestions here, especially for the younger ones. But if they're a bit older (7 and above) why not let them do some jobs around the house for you; cooking, cleaning, tidying or decorating perhaps. On one of their visits two of our GC cleaned the skirtings for me (I find it difficult to kneel to do them), we made it a competition and the one to finish first got a treat. They have since asked to do it again!

My GD (then 10) papered two walls for me (with a little tuition and help), she now knows how to measure accurately, climb ladders safely and hang wallpaper properly, and she thoroughly enjoyed herself. The next time she came she pointed to the wall and told her cousin "I did that and it's still there." I might never be able to change the paper now!

Tidying drawers and cupboards could be another option, or sewing seeds in trays for the summer. Or face painting - that includes you too! - older kids are often very good at it. Just remember you're wearing it before you pop out to the shops, I speak from experience.

Children often remember these 'different' activities with their GPs far better than expensive shop bought games etc.

Whatever you do have fun!

I recently showed my 10 and 7 year old GC Clock Patience, can be played together or alone.

For toddlers:

Making musical instruments:
Shakers: Empty yogurt pots, dried beans/peas and large paper circles to cover the top. Use sellotape or elastic bands to keep the paper in place. Paper can be coloured before being used.

Guitar: long empty tissue box, kitchen roll cardboard insert, elastic bands, sellotape. Elastic bands will ‘pling’ over the hole of the hollow box and produce lots of sounds.

Drums: different sized plastic bowls, cover the same way as the shakers, or just turn upside down. Hard plastic or wooden spoons for drumsticks.

Bug Hunt - after it’s rained is good - if you can’t collect, take photos, talk about the bugs and take the photos home to look at then draw pictures of what they saw. Include the Nature Hunt on the same walk.

Nature Hunt - go out and collect twigs, leaves, cones, feathers (wash them at home) etc for making nature pictures - add pasta/dried peas/beans/lentils,

Chunky Chalks for the garden - washes away easily after.

Junk Modelling - lots of empty boxes, paper, tubes, string, sellotape (glue if you dare!) crayons or pencils to colour.

Play dough - microwave recipe is great and will last the week if kept wrapped in the fridge. Pastry cutters, small plastic bowls, empty tubes, hard plastic cutlery for cutting and crimping the dough.

Home Corner - set up a little kitchen with plastic items and provide a washing up bowl, sponges and towels, and a little bit of water with bubbles to do the ‘washing up’ or dolly bath time. Pop aprons on, sleeves up and put a mat down to catch the water drips.

Cut triangles of thick paper/card or material, to make bunting. Use zigzag scissors for the edges, and colour with pens/crayons/paints, or stick on scraps of material. Add string to hang them up then save until the next time they come to re-hang them.

Paper Puppets - cut a basic puppet out (shape around handprints) and glue or tape two pieces together. Use a little pva glue and some buttons, wool, string, felt scraps, ribbon, etc to decorate. If you’re ok at sewing, sew cloth puppets. Make puppets for a story the child knows and put on a puppet show.

Painted peacock - lots of painted (or crayon) handprints in different colours. Adults and children’s. Cut out a basic shape of a peacocks body and two legs. Colour and put on the wall. Cut out the handprints and add them to make the feathers of the peacock.

Lots of things to do with toddlers, these came from years of being a playgroup/pre-school owner - but bare in mind things could get (very!) messy. But a little mess and disorder is nothing compared to lots of happy memories ?

Remember to take random photos in between times to look back on and to show Mum and Dad.

My grandson is 3 1/2 loves being outdoors but also loves arts and crafts. I play in the garden with him with waterproof snow suit and wellys on, even if it's raining. Then indoors, cup of tea(which we both love) and do some crafts, making things and painting. Loads of cheap things in The Works. I also make a den over 1 side of settee with blankets. We sit in there reading together. Doesn't cost much but you all enjoy yourselves and its great fun. It's precious quality time together. Enjoy lovely lady x

A lot of great ideas, here’s a few more suggestions that go down well with my younger GC
Making Pom Pom animals, Easter chicks & rabbits are easy, just an odd ball of yellow or grey wool and a bit of cardboard.
A trip to the library
Making cookies with them in various shapes or pancakes with lots of different toppings.
A potatoe head with a real spud.
A cinema afternoon at home with popcorn and a few sweets
Dominoes always goes down well and helps them with numbers.
Board games, I picked a Don't Wake Dad game up in a charity shop, like new & it went down well & you can re-donate games when they’re fed up of them.
Snap & Pairs card games
Hide & Seek
If the weathers ok a walk, maybe collect some cones or catkins.
Get an old roll of wallpaper and some big wax crayons, roll it out (plain side up of course) & let them draw on that.

Kim19 don’t forget the sticky back plastic!

Wet days on holiday in the caravan my kids did things with pencils and paper. Colouring books, drawing, noughts and crosses, battleships, etc. I guess that today’s children are more sophicated.

More difficult with young teens , who, given the choice, would stay on their screens all day. I'm going to make a skirt or pyjama bottoms with my 12 and 14 year old Gds this week, go to a wacky art gallery which has some rather strange exhibits, visit a small museum and do a shopping trip. One of them confessed to not knowing how to make tea, so that is on. my list too.

My littler gc love being £2 or £3 each and choosing something in Poundland..............then we go home and get busy with bubbles or making things with what they've bought. The greatest success I had with gc was giving them a packet or 2 or googly eyes, and some blutak (again from Poundland) and letting them loose in the kitchen. The whole of my kitchen is now covered in pairs of googly eyes from quite a few months ago..............!! the blu tak can be used to make a mouth or some ears if needed...........

Kim's game is good.
An indoor scavenger hunt as suggested by Hobbycraft.
Both can be adapted to suit ages of children.

Give them a couple of £ to spend in charity shop on a book or ghastly toy of their choice. Take back to charity shop when they’ve gone.
Roll of wallpaper - get child to lie down and draw round outline of child. Then they paint or colour in their “self portrait”, hang up with masking tape and take a pic of child next to their picture.
Big cardboard boxes have a multitude of possibilities - make a house/ shop/ train / bus etc can take all day.

Hi. A lot depends on how old they are and how often you see them. We see our 2 ( ages 3 and 6) a few times a week. Also on their genders and how much money you have to spend. Because we see a lot of ours and because we know there are more to follow, we have bought over time toys that will last and keep them occupied.
. A box of Playmobile keeps them entertained for hours. We add to it whenever they come to stay and even have some that belonged to our AC when they were little. Our DGC like the animal and zoo themed ones best.
We have also discovered Bigjig toys. Lots of the old classics, but beautifully made. Snakes and ladders and Shut the Box are favourites. As well as big solid jigsaws.
Orchard Toys make lots of small, simple games. Ideal for younger ones.
Try the "You Choose" books. We sit and talk about these for hours. Discussing what our choices would be.
And don't feel you can't let them sit and watch the tele for a while. You will need some peace and quiet, and they don't want to be overloaded with activities. Try some of the old Disney films. They may not be as sophisticated as the new ones, but they are less frenetic and calmer and the GC may not have seen them. We actually rediscovered Swiss Family Robinson last week and my GD loves it!
And if you do decide to go out, check your local library. They may well have a morning of activities.
Wishing you good luck. We have just survived having ours for a week while their parents celebrated a special birthday by going to Iceland. So I think the other GPs are helping out at half term.
Oh! Don't forget to treat yourselves at the end of the week. You will have earned it!

Our grand children always liked painting stones with acrylic paints. It doesn't need much artistic skill as simple stripes or polka dots can be effective. Simple origami is also interesting.

Picnic on a rug on the carpet indoors.
Baking cakes, biscuits etc depending on the ages to eat at the above picnic
Making play dough , loads of recipes online
Games
Jigsaws
Loads of films appropriate for age
Making musical instruments out of jars, toilet rolls, milk cartons etc