Money-saving ideas on rainy daysIt’s raining here in DC. It rained yesterday. And I’ll bet it will rain tomorrow. My one-year-old is going stir-crazy; usually, we spend as much of the day outdoors as possible. It is on days like this that I question my commitment to a t.v.-free household!

But motherhood is the Queercents invention of ingenuity. Realizing that we faced many such rainy days in our family’s future, my partner and I started brainstorming for fun, cheap, creative, t.v.-free ways to entertain our kid, both at this age, and older ages. Of course there are always museums and so forth, but I’m most interested in stuff that you can do in your home, for free, without schlepping/parking/paying. So here goes: our five cheapo rainy day projects. What are yours?

1) Become a published author: make a book.
Use the situation at hand as the theme: what would your kid rather be doing on this rainy day? Going to the moon? Surfing in Mauii? Surfing on the moon?

If they’re too young to write, you can have them tell you the story, and you can write it or type it. Then, you can make the book simply by taking a notebook and pasting in the typed or written words on each right-hand page, and having your kid illustrate on the left-hand pages! They can also uses photos, 3-d objects’¦.the sky’s the limit. Then they can make a cover, which you can just paste on. Paper, scissors, crayons, and glue are the minimum materials needed.You can scan it into your computer to make copies if you’re ambitious (or take it to Kinko’s and have them bind it if you’re not). Of course there are fancier ways to make your own books, if your kid is older or either of you are crafty; there are acordian books, pop-up books, and all kinds of inventive book forms.

But don’t let that intimidate you; all you really need to make a book is a notebook, paper, drawing/writing instruments, and your child’s imagination. Not only is this fun, but studies show that bookmaking helps promote literacy.

2) Become the next Shakespeare (or Fellini): make a play or film.
Take your child’s favorite story, myth, fairy tale, family legend, or other narrative. (You could even use the book you guys made in #1!) Divide it into three acts. Ask your kid to decide what should happen and who should be in each act. If there are only the two of you, you can take multiple roles! Don’t worry about a script’”once you get the three key events set, you can improvise.

Now comes the fun part: look around the house for objects that can be used as props, and use old clothes and art materials to make costumes. I make a fifteen-minute time limit for this part, so we don’t get too literal-minded and instead have to use objects and costumes inventively during the performance! Now it’s showtimes. If you have a videocamera, set it up so that it can record the performance. Do it in one-take, no rehearsals. If you have older children/fancy equipment, you can then work together to edit it, but I tend to enjoy the unedited, utterly improvised, slightly out of focus version the best!

3) Paper Mache the day away
If you’re more of a 3-d kind of person (or your kid is), consider making papier mache versions of her favorite superheroes, her favorite food, her favorite god or goddess from mythology, favorite animal, etc. This site has great instructions and tips (the dolphin is awesome!) You could then do a puppet show with your creatures; make paper mache masks and act out a play you write together; paper mache common household objects (my cousin made a hilarious paper mach vacuum cleaner monster); or create all sorts of other inventive, wild, paper mache fun. Nothing could be cheaper, easier, or more imaginative. Except’¦

4) Create the Boring Rainy Day Newsletter.
If you have a computer, you can create:

  • -a newsletter about everything—real and imaginary’”that happened today (Give your pets an advice column! Imagine that Dracula came to lunch! Report on ghostly visitations!)
  • -a website about your family (again, making up stuff is half the fun)
  • -a book (see item #1 for other ways to approach this) about your day/family/ghosts

Or, have your kid research a favorite topic on the web and create a newsletter/book/website about it! Your computer has instructions about how to easily do all this, or you can find them with a quick Google search. If you have a kid of school age or older, I’ll bet he or she already knows how!

5) Living Room Campout
This one you might remember from your own childhood. It’s too rainy to go outside, but you can build a tent in the living room with sheets and furniture. Sing camp songs (we have a guitar, which my daughter already adores singing along with), ‘˜roast’ marshmallows in the toaster or microwave (or make s’mores!), tell ghost stories, play cards, and do whatever other activities your kids associate with camp-outs. Take silly pictures to document the event!

So there you have it. S’mores, anyone? I’d love to hear your cheapo, t.v.-free rainy day suggestions.