Rainy Day Activities -- Pop Bottle Bowling and Playing in the Rain

I live in Texas, and recently we had multiple warnings about a tropical storm that was moving through the area (Bill).  Due to the weather they thought we would experience, daycare was cancelled that day -- so I kept both my kids home.

Those with kids will tell you that when you keep kids home for an extended period of time, they become like caged animals -- constantly seeking for a way to escape.  Each time the door would open, my son would jump up and run like he was a contestant on the Amazing Race.

Here are two ways I kept my two (ages 1 and 4) entertained that day.


Pop Bottle Bowling

My son loves to knock things over.  My daughter likes building things with blocks -- and it never fails that as soon as she completes some cool sculpture, he runs in the room and attacks.

Since I drink Mountain Dew like it is going out of style, I have many empty bottles in our recycling.  I grabbed a few and set up a game of bowling. 

This was a perfect game for my two -- she got to set up the pins, and he got to knock them over.

Now I will say that after a few times, she got really annoyed that all he wanted to do was knock down the pins with his hands instead of the ball.

Here are a couple pics of my son getting into the action:

"No William, you drink from the other end!"

 Drawing in the Rain

Since it was raining all day, and my daughter loves to color, I decided -- why not just let her color in the rain.  We grabbed some sidewalk chalk, put a raincoat on her, and voila!  The chalk colors are always more vibrant when they are used on surfaces that are wet.  Here's a pic of her from that day:

Both of these activities were great for passing the time and keeping the kids entertained while being cooped up in the house all day. 

How do you keep your kids entertained when it rains?  Feel free to post some ideas below.