Daddy Days: Activities for a rainy day

Lately, we’ve been in an unusual pattern of rainy weather. That whole April showers saying doesn’t always seem to apply to Central Texas, but April deluges that go into May (with highs in the 70s to boot!) are even rarer. 

Our state needs the rain to be sure, but to have the mild spring days rained out and the boys rained inside makes me lament this Seattle weather.

I’m still going strong on my anti-video game/social media stance so all this extra play time indoors is screen free. But what’s a child (or parent) to do when stuck inside for days at a time due to stormy weather? Here are some ideas. 

Makeshift mini golf. All you need is a plastic cup, a ping pong ball, and an improvised golf club. We use thin plastic poles from a fort building set, but narrow PCV pipe, wiffle bats or cardboard wrapping paper cores work just fine too. Set the cup up as the hole, declare the par number, and with a little imagination you’re at the Masters … or at least a dry mini golf course.   

Hide the little ninja. Kids love to search for things. If you’ve ever seen a young child on their first Easter Egg hunt, you know what I’m talking about. This game taps into that searching desire. I have a 1-inch tall rubber ninja (I got it out of one of those 50-cent machines you used to see at grocery stores). I’ll send the boys out of the room and hide the tiny ninja in plain sight somewhere and then call them in. The first one to find the ninja wins. Grandparents take note. My siblings and I played this game with my grandma when she came to visit when we were growing up, except we used a black bean bag with orange candy corns on it. This is a great indoor game to keep kids occupied — and you can effectively sit back and watch. 

Toilet paper roll bowling. With 10 toilet paper cores and a soft rubber ball, your hallway becomes a bowling alley. Admittedly, it will probably take the average family a little while to save up 10 toilet paper cores. Let me know if you need any. Rolls of toilet paper apparently just unravel themselves daily around here. 

Lego building challenges. Some kids can occupy themselves for a long time playing with Legos. However this game has a way of getting even the less focused or interested kids playing. The premise of the game is heavily reliant on the TV show Lego Masters, where teams of Lego builders compete to design and build the best Lego creation with specific requirements in a certain amount of time. It was almost worth having to suffer through watching Will Arnett host the show to get this idea. Almost. Anyway, you provide them with a theme or general idea (you can do teams or individual competitions), give a time limit and then let them go for it. I’ve challenged them to build an animal of their choosing, or a construction site, or a character from a book, or something to do with sports. The simple ones can be five-minute challenges and the more involved ones can be hours long. We even did one where they had until the next day. This is another one of those activities where you don’t have to do much. Although, and I can’t overstate this, it’s very important that you judge the finished product and determine the best build and which team is “going home today.” 

I’m betting the rainy weather isn’t going to last very long into the summer. But you might want to pick up a little ninja just in case.

Harris and his wife live in Pflugerville with their six sons. Please email comments or suggestions for future columns tothoughtsforcaleb@gmail.com.