Not-So-Rainy Day Fun

On Thursday, I had plans to take 3 of the 4 kids I watch to the zoo.  However, with threats of a "derecho" (whatever that is...) - thunderstorms, rain, high winds, slight chance of tornadoes...generally unpredictable weather, I thought it best that we spend the day at home instead.  So I came loaded with some awesome rainy day activities (thank you Pinterest) so that the kids wouldn't be disappointed that we didn't go the zoo.

And it worked perfect!  We had a fantastic day!  However...it didn't rain until after I had already headed home.  Regardless, for our next rainy day, I might pull one, or both, of these activities back out!  Megan spent the whole next morning telling her dad how much fun she had!

After playing hide and seek inside (which was a big hit in itself), I had all 3 of the kiddos hang out and play in Megan's room.  They weren't allowed to leave, not even open the door - I had a surprise game for them that I had to get ready.  :)  While they were playing, I whipped out the yarn I had hidden in my "Nanny-Pack" and started stringing it ALL over the house.  The picture below is just one little sneak peek of what was from the upstairs to the downstairs, in the hallway, through the dining room, kitchen, and living room!  

After finishing, I managed to crawl my way back upstairs without breaking anything and sneak into Megan's room.  I had them all line up at the door and then I opened it: "Whoa!"  "what's that?" and "How do I get out?"  Can you tell they are all 3 so very different in their perspectives?  I love it!  Anyways - I explained that they had to go downstairs, through the dining room and kitchen, touch the mudroom door, go through the living room, and then back upstairs (yes, one of the 3 year olds was able to repeat these instructions almost word for word to her dad the next day...).  They LOVED it!  We went through twice.  And for me, that was NOT an easy feat!  haha.  Wrapping the yarn back up was probably the most challenging task - but SO worth it!  I found this idea via Pinterest on Be Different Act Normal.

After I got everything "wrapped-up" (literally), we ventured to the kitchen for a unique cookie making adventure!  You see, I found this recipe (yes, via Pinterest) on I {heart} Nap Time.  The dough is almost exactly like play-do!  So...we washed the counter AND our hands REALLY well.  Then started mixing the dough.  Everyone took turns stirring, adding ingredients, and counting (baking is a wonderful learning tool in SO many ways).  After I added the food coloring and jello, I separated each color into three pieces and let the kids play with their "play-dough" while I pre-heated the oven and handled clean-up duty.  Here are their creations (again, very unique to their personality):

Then they each helped me roll the dough into balls for the cookie sheets too!  Here is the final result (taken with my phone since I forgot to take a pic of the cookies when I had my camera with me the other day):

This was another much-loved activity!  Again, the recipe for these "Play-Dough" Cookies is found here.  Mine differed a bit because I only had 2 packs of Jello at home instead of 4 and I ran out of butter so I had to substitute a with a little bit of oil (final result was still great but the dough was a little greasy).

Hope your rainy days are as successful as my not-so-rainy day was!  :)