Rainy day boredom: It's bound to happen at least once in every kid's life unless they're growing up in the Sahara (in which case you can consider the following projects "Sand Storm Boredom Busters"), and what good is it being a kid if you can't get outside and defy several tenets of safety, gravity, and common sense? Sure, you can kill a lazy afternoon vegging out in front of the TV, but too many lazy afternoons in a row quickly add up to a lazy lifetime. Before you know it your kid will be creeping up on thirty and still living in your basement with a vague degree from an art college (I'll pass along my parent's phone number if you need a specific example cited).
Next time it's too rainy to risk life and limb outside without risking pneumonia as well, try one of these unique activities to keep your little ones creative, entertained, and curious.
Treasure Hunt
This game requires a little preparation but can keep an energetic adventurer occupied for hours. Its premise is familiar and easy: a set of clues is devised with one leading to the next until finally a treasure is discovered in some secret, hidden place. Write your clues on individual pieces of paper (maybe tear off the edges and heavily crumple/crease them so they look worn and piratey) and hide them in unique places throughout your house.
The clues could be vague descriptions, puzzles, or even crudely drawn maps that lead from one location to the next to the next to the next and so on. If you start with something simple and let the clues increase in difficulty the game will quickly grab your child's attention and imagination and then give them a real sense of accomplishment at the end.
First Clue: "You sleep on top of this, but the next clue is hidden under it."
Under their bed they find the second clue: "Re-arrange these letters to find the next clue: ATC."
Tied around the neck of the family cat, Sgt. Mittens, they find: "Use Planck's Constant to find the energy of a photon with a frequency of 2.1 Hz and wavelength measuring 3.9m, then check under the sofa."
Of course you will need more than three clues and a challenge appropriate to your child's age, but with just a little preparation this can be a truly adventurous game for kids of any age. Most importantly, don't forget an appropriate prize at the end of the hunt, something like a little treasure chest with candy in it. Nothing will slay an adventurer's spirit like struggling all afternoon just to be awarded a perfunctory slap on the back and something from Hallmark's "Arrr, Congratulations Matey" selection.
It goes without saying that you should be very careful about where you hide the clues and definitely keep an eye on your tiny explorer on their adventure. Hiding Clue Six under the sink may have seemed like a good idea at first, but nestling it under a candy-blue bottle of Windex will only turn out badly and seem quite inappropriate in retrospect.
Recyclebots
If you're like most families, you occasionally have lots of trash around your house. Not the gross kind of trash like piles of banana peels behind the furniture or gently breathing leftovers in the fridge, but normal and clean(ish) discarded items like empty coffee cans, milk jugs, and cardboard boxes. Well I'm going to suggest that you hold on to a few of those items, and only partially because there's packrat in my family's bloodline.
With just a bit of glue, some tape, or a little string, those items can be Transformed (if you'll allow a forced but popular franchise tie-in) into Little Recyclebots. Use empty spice shakers for stubby little legs, a coffee can for a body, jam some coaxial cable arms into a pair of egg carton shoulders, and top it off with a past-its-prime Tupperware bowl for a dome that would make R2D2 proud. Accessorize with coke bottle tops for little scoop-like hands, folded up cardboard Reebok's for stylish feet, and maybe a shoulder-mounted death ray made of discarded paper towel rolls.
The possibilities are endless and only limited by what you have around your house (which I guarantee is a lot more than you might suspect). Finish the robot off with a trendy paint job or decals for the necessary details like eyes, racing stripes, and/or battle damage. If you're looking for a classy and exciting final product, try to work out ways to give your robot some flexibility. Punches little holes where the joints should be (like at the shoulders or ankles), will allow you to use twist-ties instead of glue, giving your Recyclebot the much needed ability to pose heroically from its perch-like display on top of your fridge.
John Abernathy has a lifetime of artistic involvement which led to a degree in film & television production. He owned his own commercial production company and worked on several independent feature-length films before he co-authored the novel "A Question of Character" with his father, which led to book signing tours, speaking engagements, and radio appearances. Most recently he has combined his artistic and literary skills and is producing illustrated children's books through Starbound Storybooks.
To learn more please check out: http://www.starboundstorybooks.com/.