Fun & Frugal Ideas for Rainy Days

I am beginning to compile lists of fun things to do indoors. I know it's still summer, but we have had our share of rainy days lately (or days when it's just too hot to go out). I've always wanted to have a handy list of ideas for these days, and for the LONG days of winter when we are inside so much of the time. All of my kids love to be given fun activities or projects to work on but I often lack the creativity in the spur of the moment to come up with new ideas. Hence, the reason for compiling this list.

1. Craft scrap art work. My 8 year old just loves crafting of any kind, and because she does, so do my 3 and 4 year old. (I'm sure it won't be long until Gracie jumps on that bandwagon too.) I am trying to collect random things from around the house as I come across them: socks without matches, buttons, old costume jewelery that can be cut apart, clothing scraps - basically anything I come across that I think they could find some use for I'll save. My goal is to have a nice big basket full of stuff to pull out occasionally.
2. Brown paper bag puppets. All of the kids have been having a fantastic time with this one lately. Alex especially loves to draw himself as the puppet, hold the bag in front of his face, whisper conspiratorially to whomever he's playing with, "pretend I'm not here," and carry out a long conversation as puppet-hand Alex.
3. Scavenger hunt with old magazines. Collect several old magazines, flip through them and write down 5-10 things (depending on the age of the child) that you see in them, and send them off to find the listed items. Then, have them cut out each picture they find and glue them on a piece of paper.
4. For older children, have them create a "ransom-note" type letter using words clipped from magazines and newspapers. Choose a letter topic for them (ie. announcing a special happening, a letter to a friend, etc.) and have them glue the words onto a piece of paper. We also like to make collages from magazine pictures where Alex and Olivia will choose a picture and Isabelle or I will help them cut it out out and glue on to a piece of paper.
5. Jumble-up a story. Type and print out several lines from a favorite story, poem, movie or song. Individually cut out each sentence. Mix up all the lines and have the children take turns reading them in the order in which they land. After hearing several hilarious versions, have the children put the story back into its rightful order. Or, if you have several children old enough to do this, give them each their own envelope with the mixed up lines and have them race to see who can put the story back together again.
6. Orderly fashion. Have one child put on as many clothes and accessories as humanly possible. Then, have the other children watch as they are taken of. Make sure you tell them to pay attention. Once the overly-clothed child is down to his or her original outfit, have the group of onlookers choose a child to be the new "model" and challenge them to help him or her to get dressed in the same order as the first child.
7. Half-people pictures. Cut out pictures of people from a magazine. Cut each "person" in half. Glue only one half of the person onto a piece of paper and have a child draw in the other half.
8. Make "bored" games. Cut out some cardboard from an old box so that it is about the same as a typical board game. Have the children make-up their own board game together, including rules and playing pieces. Then, play it with them.

So far, this is the extent of my creative idea list, as opposed to the everyday indoor activities. They all cost virtually nothing. For the ideas that involve magazines, I plan on stocking up whenever my library has an old magazine giveaway, as well as using some of the free magazines that we have gotten for participating in the Rewards Gold magazine promotion.

I'd love to add lots more ideas to my list, so if you have any other suggestions, please let me know.

Find more Frugal Friday ideas at Biblical Womanhood.