Autumn Winter 2016 2016:2 | Page 26

Crafty Toddlers Rainy day activities with Kat Children love playing outside. If it were up to them, my boys would spend their whole day outside riding bikes, running around and playing in playgrounds. While this is great in the summer, it is not always possible to do so in the autumn or winter, with heavy rain and colder temperatures. In autumn and winter, I often find myself at a loose end when outdoor plans fall through due to inclement weather. With this in mind I am sharing some simple rainy day activities with items you may well have in your home already, to amuse toddlers and pre-schoolers. My two, Seb (about to turn four), and Atticus (two and a half), enjoyed all the activities. The boys pretended to be aliens, to ‘steal’ the underpants from under my nose, and also protected the pants from aliens in their spaceships (the chairs the washing line was secured to). They went back to their spaceship at several points in the day and each time played nicely – always a bonus! Pegging I made an indoor washing line between two chairs and then got a selection of baby socks, split them and put one from each pair in a box. The boys had to choose a sock and then find its partner from the other box, then peg them up together. Both the boys enjoyed trying to use the pegs. Seb managed this on his own, once he was shown, but Atticus needed some help. Both boys were delighted when they found a matching pair 25 Duplo towers and ring game The boys helped me make five Duplo towers, which we secured to the Duplo board. We then took rings (from another board game) and tried to throw them onto the towers. I found this surprisingly difficult (maybe this says a lot about me?!), but the boys eagerly tried it from further away and inching closer in order to achieve success.