How to occupy kids in this awful weather!

Fittle

Just wondering what the rest of ye do to keep the kids occupied in this downpour, that doesn't seem to be stopping at all!!

Yesterday was a disaster of a day for us with my son (9) spending it between watching tv and using the laptop for hours- Im determined today won't be another lazy day like that as I saw a dreadful change in his behaviour by yesterday evening. I had to get some stuff done around the house, so there was a tiler and a plumber here, so the bad weather suited me almost...but it meant he had a pretty dull and boring day.

He's not really into colouring and I'm hoping to turn the tv off in the next ten minutes...can't go anywhere except the cinema as it's still torrential rain where I am (going to the cinema would defeat the purpose of turning off the tv I think)...so any ideas on how to occupy a 9year old????

Morag

Go for a walk in the rain, wellies, rain coat, head to somewhere like the botanic gardens there there is still plenty to see, or head in to any of the museums or art galleries, they are all open on Sundays and they all have kids stations in them, with activities sheets.

http://www.museum.ie/en/homepage.aspx

silja

I'm probably a bit late today, but how about some fun science experiments to do at home? Your son will be entertained and learn at the same time. Here are some good websites:
http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/content/kitchenscience/
http://chemistry.about.com/od/chemistrymagic/Chemistry_Magic_Tricks.htm
http://www.kids-science-experiments.com/

Fittle

We ended up making papier mache (sp?) masks with all the leftover newspapers and some baloons:D Haven't done that in years, and we had great fun with no tv and no computer. I remember him being similarly bored last year in the snow - I must look at those websites for the science experiments and be more prepared for this year, thanks;)

LadyMayBelle

Baking is always fun...gingerbread men, queen/king cakes! experimenting and all..
Making homemade clay, or mala is fun given for the bigger kids cos they can create their own colours etc..their models can harden and they can apint them

http://fun.familyeducation.com/sculpting/recipes/37041.html

Papier mache is deadly craic, bet that was fun! Great for making masks too..

Fittle

Maybe we should have a sticky here, of ways to keep the kids occupied when stuck indoors - to prepare for another snowy winter. I know that when my lad was younger, making rice crispy cakes was the 'fall-back'...but now he's a bit older, I'm finding it harder to keep him busy and off the laptop!!

Sleepy

Our little fella is younger (6) but there's nothing he loves more than when we'll get down on the floor and play Lego with him.

Fittle

Actually my lad loves lego too now that you mention it...we've no toys left in our house though:(, as we did a final clearout this summer - all that's left is the lego, but he tends to keep that in his bedroom...never thought of bringing it downstairs! When he was 5/6, there were toys everywhere, so he would keep himself busy by picking up his 'men' (action figures) as he called them...Aww, I never thought I'd get all maudlin about the toys I waited so long to get rid of:p

RedXIV

Might not work on your fella, he sounds a bit older and more mature on our lad, but I want to get him more used to "investigating" things so I'm bringing up the Encyclopedia Britannica set I had as a kid and gonna start getting him to look up interesting facts. It'll start with questions like "what colour is the Russian flag" or "What language do they speak in Brazil", and give him a list to see how long it takes him to figure stuff out. I'd like to move into an upgraded version where I can say "tell me 5 things about anteaters" and let him off but he's not got the patience for that yet

ash23

I know it's still the laptop but myself and my little one will pick a topic and we'll look it up together and talk about it. For example she might decide she wants to learn about space, so we'll look up a kids site about that.
Or we look up tips on art and drawing (shading, technique etc) and we try it out. We look up music, recipies, games and then do them.

Or we have a race cleaning different parts of the house. She has yet to realise it's not so much a game as a chore.

the_syco

Does he like planes, ships or cars?

Fittle

the_syco wrote: »

Does he like planes, ships or cars?

All three:D

I know there's loads of good stuff on the laptop for them, but inevitably he'll go onto gamefudge or one of those other websites, so I was trying to keep him off it yesterday

Sleepy

At 9 he could definitely get into the more advanced lego stuff: the technic, programmable robots/vehicles and 'Model Team' sets.

I was mad for Lego as a child and, to this day when faced with a logic problem involving gears / pulleys (in IQ tests etc ) I still mentally construct the problem out of Technic gears to solve it!

I'm genuinely of the belief that there's no better toys for any child than Lego and Books. If it's not near enough a birthday / excuse to go out and get him the more advanced Legos maybe set him challenges to complete from his existing pieces: I remember a friends younger brother building a scale model of Elland Road with Lego (when he was in his twenties!).

Fittle

I've learned alot about my lad about what kind of a 'learner' he is, through lego.

He has zero interest in the more advanced stuff - the lego starwars etc. He looks at the picture on the box and thinks 'no way!'. But he had millions of the plain lego and has (almost) built the whitehouse, including the helidpad and dog;). This thing is collossal and i'll have to buy him a bigger shelf to put it on when its finished - and he's done it all without the aid of instructions from lego.

I'm not sure what that says about him, but I think it's that he's the type of kid who prefers the simpler things in life - a bit like his mammy:p

Justask

Hi Fittle
Airfix!!!!

Mine love them (I do to lol)

Or at that age fairy cake, or baking scones etc.

Rain has goe now and bloody better stay away

Fittle

Justask wrote: »

Hi Fittle


Rain has goe now and bloody better stay away

I'm thinking more about preparing for the snow - if it's anything like last year:mad:

Justask

Fittle wrote: »

I'm thinking more about preparing for the snow - if it's anything like last year:mad:

Ohhh ssssshhhhhh :rolleyes:

Get urself over to 53 degreees north in Blanchardstown and get one of the Slege boards. I think they were about 15 euro and the best fun ever.

Every house should have one. I think we are the only family that had a picnic in the park in the snow cos I couldnt drag my lad and his mates away from the popes cross.

Fittle

Justask wrote: »

Ohhh ssssshhhhhh :rolleyes:

Get urself over to 53 degreees north in Blanchardstown and get one of the Slege boards. I think they were about 15 euro and the best fun ever.

Every house should have one. I think we are the only family that had a picnic in the park in the snow cos I couldnt drag my lad and his mates away from the popes cross.

Swore I'd get one of them this year and I defo will! I think I saw one for sale in aldi or lidl next week...I'm also buying those snow shoe thingys (the spring things you put on the soles of your shoes??) as I was housebound for 4 days last year :mad:

Sleepy

Fittle wrote: »

I've learned alot about my lad about what kind of a 'learner' he is, through lego.

He has zero interest in the more advanced stuff - the lego starwars etc. He looks at the picture on the box and thinks 'no way!'. But he had millions of the plain lego and has (almost) built the whitehouse, including the helidpad and dog;). This thing is collossal and i'll have to buy him a bigger shelf to put it on when its finished - and he's done it all without the aid of instructions from lego.

I'm not sure what that says about him, but I think it's that he's the type of kid who prefers the simpler things in life - a bit like his mammy:p

That's the whole point of Lego: you build whatever you want to.

EGAR

Went for a walk in oil skins , collected conkers and brought them home to turn them into animals etc with toothpicks, paper and glue. Small man is 7 and was having a ball.

Moonbeam

Fittle wrote: »

Maybe we should have a sticky here, of ways to keep the kids occupied when stuck indoors - to prepare for another snowy winter. I know that when my lad was younger, making rice crispy cakes was the 'fall-back'...but now he's a bit older, I'm finding it harder to keep him busy and off the laptop!!

We are trying to keep the amount of stickys to a minimum but I reckon once the snow comes it will probably remain at the top anyway:)