Rainy Day Activity: The Learning Box

Did you all know that Vermont had a monsoon season? I sure didn’t, but you can’t really argue with the inches (and inches and inches and … you get the idea) of rain we’ve gotten this summer.

If your kid is anything like mine, then he or she turns into a feral badger when trapped inside with nothing to do for too many days at a time.

And here’s my confession: I am not a Pinterest Mom. My idea of building a fort is a pop up tent that Grandma sent us. I really, really hate crafts (so messy). Baking with my child always SEEMS like a good idea, but he tends to get bored and impatient and wanders off with a fistful of chocolate chips.

But I also don’t like relying too heavily on the TV or iPad to pass the time on rainy days.

So what follows is an activity that is fun for kids, easy for parents, and taken unabashedly from an episode of Blue’s Clues that Xander watched about five gazillion times in a row. Give or take.

The Learning Box

1. Cut some paper into rectangles or squares
2. Write or draw “clues” on it according to your child’s age. For Xander, at 2-3, I draw shapes, simple pictures of flowers/trees, numbers, letters, or color swatches.
3. Put the clues in a box, basket, bag, tupperware, hat, whatever.

1. Let your child pick one clue at a time.
2. Tell him/her to find something in the house that matches the clue (IE: the letter L went next to a lamp; the blue squiggle went o the water of his train table).
3.  Repeat until nap time.

You can make as many clues as you want, and you can make them as simple or complicated as you want.   It really is ridiculously easy to set up, and Xander loves it even after SEVERAL iterations. Sometimes he finds a rogue clue lying about days later and will dash off to match it to the appropriate household object. I like the ease, yes, but I also like that it gets him thinking and thinking creatively. As an added bonus? The only clean up is picking up scraps of paper.

What are some of your go to activities for these stormy days we’re having?