Wet Feb half term activities

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

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!

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.

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

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.

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!)

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.

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.

Whoops! That was for MAYBEMAW

If you don't mind a bit of mess. Papier mache /painting/salt dough bakes/real bakes! Little ones love creating for themselves and making play food and characters from air dry clay like DAS is brilliant. They can be speed dried in mid oven too .their own scones/fairy cakes too. Good luck?

???

As an alternative to playdough/salt dough, a sheet or block of ready made pastry can be played with in the same way, then cooked and eaten ?

Hide and seek using a small toy, or a collection of small toys eg cars.

A mirror each and some makeup... Old necklaces and scarves.

We are busy making a Valentine card for mummy at the moment. It’s a shame about the weather as we could be getting ready to get veg seeds into pots but have no walk in greenhouse and it’s blowing a gale. Making a den is a favourite and then reading in there on a pile of cushions with a lantern torch. I’m not sure of treasure hunts. I have spent hours on rhyming clues only to have the children race round the house or garden and it’s all over in 5 minutes. We enjoy scrabble, boggle, qcqrd games, upwords and mastermind and sometimes a jigsaw puzzle which is likely to take all week on and off. If it’s dry then warm clothes and wellies and off to the park to hunt for fungi and make a den of broken branches. I don’t like to go in a high wind though as falling branches are a risk in our very old park. We even like walking the local streets spotting interesting brickwork, gardens and people’s front rooms! I don’t like children to be on iPads but we do watch nature programmes a lot on the TV and word games like countdown and lingo. My grandchildren are now all over 6 so it’s easy to keep them engaged. No naps to worry about or short attention spans. They help with making meals too.

Nice to read all your comments, my gd. Is 21 now but remember doing so many of the things you put on here when she was little. We have a game which she loved and I have always kept it, it’s called WOT, a maths game which helped her with her maths when she was little.
Enjoy your half terms.

Baker Ross have a lot of cheap simple craft kits and raw materials. They have a sale on at the moment! www.bakerross.co.uk
No, I am not on commission - no connection with them at all, but I used to get stuff from them when my children were small, and they are still a dependable site (and quick and free to deliver). Good for very cheap stocking fillers too.

Kimski44

Loads of great ideas here, but any suggestions for toddlers? My little 20 month gd loves the outside but in the pouring rain??

Sorry, my answer was to the OP. But I'd still go with indoor camping with a toddler.

Shop in The Works, either in person or online. They have so many things to do packs. Many things in the Sale.

Camping and cooking Both take hours.
And probably too late for this holiday but cardboard, scissors, glue, and paint.

Loads of great ideas here, but any suggestions for toddlers? My little 20 month gd loves the outside but in the pouring rain??

Have a look at Hobbycraft. Lots of ideas and downloads on there that are free.

The weather always looks worse from the inside. Make sure they have wellies with them and go out anyway. If you want to avoid contact with others, go to a large park or petting zoo, to avoid swings and slides, if you are worried about them touching equipment that others have used.

Failing that, swimming, as suggested above, is a very good idea for wet weather. Swimming pools should have strict hygiene regulations.

What do the parents think, or do you have completely free rein?

I saw that yesterday MayBeMaw and was truly shocked.

There are some good ideas on here. I’ll have my 7 year old GS for two days. He has autism so it can be a challenge to engage him sometimes. We are always up for ideas and this thread is very helpful.

A few:

1. Second Poundland. LOADS of great stuff to be had for cheap.

2. Also agree with tents and forts. If you don't have a proper tent, blankets will do nicely.

3. A pack of cards and maybe a cribbage board. Children don't have to be very old to understand simple card games. My mum used to have a book titled 365 TV-Free Activities to Do With Your Child. One of them was inventing a card game. The book said not to be surprised if your child plays a two-suit stomp on your last discard, picks up all the black cards, and says "Bingo"

Some card games, such as cribbage, cheat, poker, war, and hearts, can also introduce children to concepts of strategy, counting, and probability. (If you don't like the idea of gambling, you don't have to use actual poker chips or real money. My brothers used to use the tabs that came off cans of fizzy drinks.)

If your near a Ikea they have a cardboard village to make which can then be painted or coloured in they also do good paint sets. Pound land or similar for loads of crafty things, baking.
If their anything like mine they’ll just want to play role play all day, shops, holidays, schools, hairdressers etc.they have the most amazing imagination! Hopefully it’ll be dry and you can get out and about. Have a lovely time .

I'm planning to enlist a few ideas from Blue Peter of old if the weather goes against me. All sort of different shape, colour and textured packaging combined with scissors, sellotape and felt tips for model making. We also have a lovely tea and theatre (bedknobs & broomsticks) outing planned which I 'm really looking forward to.