Dry the Rain

As spring weather of intermittent cold peppered with rain continues to downpour I struggle to find indoor appropriate activities for two plucky (bored and fighty) toddlers.  I'll spend afternoon coffee breaks Googling indoor activities to keep the stir-crazy levels to a slow mix rather than the full blown pulverize we get once the kids have been held in weather related house arrest for more than a day or two.

I got this idea when I was talking to my husband about one of his favourite annual childhood rainy day activities, Stuffed Animal Hospital.  Essentially Chris and his sister would go around their house and gather all of the stuffed toys that needed a little TLC (buttons sewn on, a trip through the washing machine, torn appendages fixed and so on).  They would diagnose the issues to the chief surgeon (mum) while she fixed them up.  It would entertain them for a few hours and their toys would come out in better repair. Win Win.

The minions aren't quite old enough to have completely destroyed stuffed toys (minus the stuffed giraffe who Molly ripped the leg off of), and I don't want them within a 100 metre radius of sewing needles*, although some of their other toys are getting pretty gross.  With Chris still suffering mid-flu-consumption I figured it was time for a little disinfection fun for everyone.

The TOY Wash
I used three large bowls (one for dirty toy storage, one for soapy water & one for rinsing), baby wash soap, some towels, a scrub brush, a pitcher for drying clean toys and a little imagination.  For older kids you could do this in the bath tub or in a kitchen sink.  After doing some research I also found this as a great outdoor activity on line at parentingeveryday that can be performed on bikes, toy cars or other outdoor play equipment.**

 Molly washing up
 

 Enter the scrub brush
 

 Enter the force of destruction (boy child)

Some Tips For Toy Wash Success:

• Depending on the age of your child(ren) you may want to be the one to distribute the toys to make sure that things don't get too crazy
• Be prepared to be the official toy scrubber and dryer while the kids play in the water
• Don't fill the bowls too full, or let your child (err Jack) pick up the bowls and dump them on the ground
• Have a change of dry clothes on hand for after the event (or time right before bath time)
• Choose your toys carefully (make sure they can be washed) and dry them well to prevent rotting or damage***
• Have your children remove their shoes and socks before you begin the toy wash, otherwise you'll spend the next morning before daycare with little shoes and a hairdryer

Shiny Happy Toys

For another indoor toddler activity I tried recently click here

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*I can only imagine the carnage that would bring.
**My kitchen floor needed a good washing so I decided to brave the mess and embrace the chaos.
***Chris is still bitter about his ruined Lego from childhood Lego boat experiments.  Apparently it was never the same.

Castles Made of Sand

The minions can't actually say that they're bored yet, but it's pretty easy to tell when they are.  This week the city of Toronto has been a giant slushy and the minions haven't made it outside much: at daycare or at home.  Even prison inmates get yard time, and after more than a day without outdoor play, someone's going to get shanked in their cell....err crib.* 

I've created a handy dandy formula to calculate the percentage of boredom and frustration experienced on rainy/snowy/cold days...

(Number of Temper Tantrums in a 3 hour period X 3) + the number of children in your house sick or teething + (Number of fights over toys X 4) + (Incidents of hitting each other, you, anything breakable, or a pet X 5) + (the number of days housebound X 10) / The number of aspirin or drinks you have consumed

This is how the formula worked out for me last night:
(9 X 3) + 2 + (5 X 4) + (6 X 5) + (2 X 20)/ 1

That's a total of 119% boredom/frustration.  So clearly, either my formula is flawed, or I need to start drinking more.

Tonight, after another day of sleet, I decided that I'd find an activity to bring a little bit of summer into an otherwise crummy winter day.  I did some on line research to look for some activities that were appropriate for toddlers and came across the Indoor Sandbox at Family Education.

Materials required:

• A large cardboard box, baby bathtub or other shallow large volume container (I cut down a diaper box to make mine)
• Sand (you can use uncooked rice, rice cereal, bird seed, cedar chips, shredded newspaper,puffed wheat or even real sand or potting soil) - I used half a bag of rolled oats
• Spoons, funnels, scoops cups, toy cars and things to play with in the Sand Box 
• A sheet or tarp to put on the floor to help with clean up - I skipped this as you can see with the third photo.

Set Up Time:

• 5 Minutes, including cutting the box top down to a sandbox appropriate level

The Results - Over 30 minutes to make dinner and tidy the kitchen while they played quietly:

Right after they spotted the indoor sandbox

About 15 minutes in (Note I had already swept the floor once at this point)

The Finale**

Clean Up Time

• 5 minutes (I repacked and labelled the oats to use again - we'll see how disgusting they get before I throw them out)***

The Verdict

• Totally worth it - just make sure that they have full bellies to avoid sensory time from becoming snack time.

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*This is one of the many reasons why you unload the dishwasher after the minions go to bed.
**You aren't imagining it, Molly is about to jam a giant fist full of oats into her mouth.  
***I was also a little afraid that if I left the box with oats out the cat would think I'd brought a new litter box into the kitchen.