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Author Topic: What do you do with your 3 year old on boring rainy days?  (Read 11715 times)

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Offline <Catherine>

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What do you do with your 3 year old on boring rainy days?
« on: June 21, 2012, 11:50:19 am »
I need some ideas for fun ideas for DS at home.

He's good with playing on his own with his toys (but obviously that has it's limits), and he likes helping with certain chores, but anything like baking, painting, playdough etc he needs to do with other kids or he's bored within minutes.

How can I make our rainy days at home more fun? We're having more of these lately as I'm without a car more these days.

He's bored, OT and grumpy. Well, he's 3  ::) And I feel like I'm spending all day being frustrated with him for the constant whining  :(

Need some inspiration please ladies!  :-*
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Offline C&B&E

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Re: What do you do with your 3 year old on boring rainy days?
« Reply #1 on: June 21, 2012, 12:04:56 pm »
We've found loads of great ideas on pinterest.

This week I put some dried lentils and beans on a tray and put some farm animals, fences and a couple of trucks and he has played for several hours with it!  
Also, filled an old baby bath with sand (£3 from argos) and he stands on a chair at the worksurface and plays with cars, diggers, cones etc - building "new roads" and digging trenches  :).  
Another thing I did this week was to fill a tupperware box with a bit of food colouring, added some plastic animals and put it in the freezer overnight.  I gave B a box with some plastic tools (hammers etc), a couple of small squeezy bottles with water in them, an old soap dispenser filled with water, and he happily got to work trying to get the animals out of the ice.  That was another hour at least!  
Cloud dough is great for sensory play too - you add 7 cups of flour and one cup of baby oil in a bowl and mix it until it holds together.  Great for making mini sandcastles with (few little pots, or I use silicone muffin cases), add some spoons, a couple of containers, cars, people etc.  


Will be back later with more ideas!  
« Last Edit: June 21, 2012, 12:10:42 pm by Claire (& B & E) »
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Offline <Catherine>

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Re: What do you do with your 3 year old on boring rainy days?
« Reply #2 on: June 21, 2012, 12:51:02 pm »
Wow! I'm definitely going to have to try some of these! Love the farm anilmals in the ice, that's something completely different for DS.

I'm also going to have to get myself on pinterest ;)

Thanks Claire, some really great ideas.
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Offline aisling

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Re: What do you do with your 3 year old on boring rainy days?
« Reply #3 on: June 21, 2012, 13:27:22 pm »
« Last Edit: June 21, 2012, 14:24:05 pm by aisling »
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Offline <Catherine>

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Re: What do you do with your 3 year old on boring rainy days?
« Reply #4 on: June 21, 2012, 14:09:00 pm »
I hadn't Ais, thanks. Some great ideas!
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Offline twogirlsmommy

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Re: What do you do with your 3 year old on boring rainy days?
« Reply #5 on: June 21, 2012, 14:25:24 pm »
Having the same problem her Catherine only there's no rain only extreme heat.  Its too hot to do anything outside till after 4 during this heat wave.
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Offline ~ Vik ~

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Re: What do you do with your 3 year old on boring rainy days?
« Reply #6 on: June 21, 2012, 14:47:47 pm »
Just this morning I took an ice cube tray and filled it with different spices and small food items (rice, couscous, imitation bacon bits, sugar, brown sugar, coriander, fennel, chili flakes, rosemary, etc.) and gave him a small measuring spoon, a whisk, and a small pot with about 1 cup of water in it. Sat him at the table and he made 'soup' for about 45 minutes! Just don't use powdered spices, flour, or icing sugar - they get everywhere and we had a cinnamon in the eyes incident the first time I did this. Learned my lesson!
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Offline Mashi

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Re: What do you do with your 3 year old on boring rainy days?
« Reply #7 on: June 21, 2012, 15:12:09 pm »
Lots of great ideas! I love the animals in water and the making soup!!  We live in a flat so on days when we can't go out it is a double-whammy because we can't play rough or be noisy at all inside so everything has to be quite calm and quiet. Which is HARD!

DS loves having a car wash. It's a bit messy though so I put a large sheet down on the floor before we do it in the living room, or else do it in a room where you can easily wipe the floor.  I do it on his small toddler table and chairs.  PUt a large plastic baking tray down and fill it with shaving foam. Then on the chair next to it I put a large tupperware bucket with water (and a drop of food colouring) and then next to it a towel. He lines up all of his cars at the start, pushes them around in the shaving foam, rinses then and dries them off.  I think the first day we did it he played at it for nearly two hours until I had to drag him to bed!
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Offline babybarr

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Re: What do you do with your 3 year old on boring rainy days?
« Reply #8 on: June 21, 2012, 16:34:13 pm »
Haven't read through the ideas but the garden centre with fish or large pet shop is always a hit for an hour out of the house when it's raining....again....
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Offline <Catherine>

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Re: What do you do with your 3 year old on boring rainy days?
« Reply #9 on: June 21, 2012, 17:09:27 pm »
Quote from: babybarr on June 21, 2012, 16:34:13 pm
garden centre with fish or large pet shop is always a hit for an hour
We nearly did this today actually, but he's been in an awful mood (BT was 5pm, goodness knows if that was the right thing but I'd had enough! ;) ) and I couldn't see him behaving himself if we went to the pet shop tbh.

I love the car wash Mashi, will definitely give that a go :)
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Offline ~ Vik ~

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Re: What do you do with your 3 year old on boring rainy days?
« Reply #10 on: June 23, 2012, 23:01:40 pm »
Thanks for the car wash idea Mashi, we did it this aft and Dylan loved it!  I took more pictures but this is the only one where you can't see the entire disaster that is my kitchen ;)
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Offline Love, laughter, & PJs

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Re: What do you do with your 3 year old on boring rainy days?
« Reply #11 on: June 24, 2012, 00:03:29 am »
Great ideas!!  I also have a bunch of lists on my Pinterest page.  PM me if you're on there and want to find me.  :D
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