Fun Rainy Day Activities for the Classroom

I thought it would be fun to gather some great rainy day activities to share with everyone. I love having activities on hand that I can use for indoor recesses or days when the lesson goes faster than planned. Enjoy and share with your co-workers:

Palindrome Challenge

Directions:

Palindromes are words or phrases that read the same backward and forward. Some palindromes are both complicated and silly (for instance, "Able was I ere I saw Elba," or "A man, a plan, a canal, Panama!"). There are also plenty of simple words young children can spell that are palindromes.

Have your kids think of as many palindromic words as possible. Some they are likely to know are "mom," "pop," "dad," "tot," "toot," and "noon." Your children can also include names, like Anna, Hannah, and Bob.

As your kids think of palindromes, they can incorporate them into a story (weaving them together with non-palindromes so that the plot makes sense). Try this tale, which begins with two classic palindromes, for starters: "Madam, I'm Adam. Was it a cat I saw? Mom called at noon. She wanted to find dad so they could pop over to the tot lot and toot their horn."

Beanbag Race

Materials

• Tape or string
• One beanbag per player

Directions

1. Mark two lines ten feet apart on the floor with tape or string.
2. Give each player a beanbag and have the players stand at the starting line.
3. Announce, "Ready, set, go!" and have the players race toward the finish line in one of the following ways:
   Crawling, while balancing beanbags on their backs
   Running, while squeezing beanbags between their knees
4. A player is disqualified if his beanbag falls before he reaches the finish line.
5. A child playing alone can race against the clock and try to cross the finish line within a designated time. He'll have fun trying to better his time with each try.

Doll House

Milk Jar Doll House
Need: Plastic milk jar (jug), craft knife, construction paper, paint.

Cut out 3 1/2 inch square door in one of the containers sides (Teacher). Cut out windows if desired.

Glue construction paper roof shingles around the top of the jug. For a chimney, use black marker to draw rows of bricks on a strip of red construction paper. Wrap paper or paint around the door opening. Tuff a puff of cotton "smoke" into the sprout.

Add paper window boxes with cut out flowers from the construction paper. Color or add material to cover floor. Then let the children use their imaginations with dolls, furniture, magazine cut outs and much more.

This is a good rainy day activity. Have fun.
Contributed By: Ardina
Note: If you covered the milk jug in brown construction paper and made the top of the door curved it would look like a hobbit house.

A Surprise Inside

Fill one lunch bag for every child with various items from your art cupboard. This is a good way to use up those odds and ends. Here are some examples of things to include in your surprise bag: googly eyes scraps of material gummed paper stickers pipe cleaner cotton balls
Just check out your cupboards and see what you got. Provide the children with glue, scissors and crayons, you'll be amazed at what they can make.

Sticker Fun
Need: flavored gelatin, water, magazines.

1 teaspoon flavored gelatin
2 teaspoons boiling water

With this solution, you can turn magazine pictures, wrapping paper, or comic book cutouts into customized stickers.

Place gelatin and boiling water in a small bowl. Stir until the gelatin is dissolved. Let the mixture cool. About one minute. Brush a thin coat of warm sticker solution on the back of each picture cut out. Use a small brush. When dry you can lick the stickers and stick them on paper or glass. Works just like a real stamp!

Rolled Paper Beads
Need: Decorative paper or colored newspaper comics, pencil, ruler, scissors, glue, yarn.

For each bead cut a strip of paper measuring 1/2 x 12in(4x30cm). The paper needs to be wider at one end. Cut the paper strips into long skinny triangle shapes. With one end measuring 1/4 in (1cm) and the other end measuring 11/2 in (4cm).

Take a pencil. Wrap the wider end of a paper strip around it. Dab a little glue on the end of the strip and carefully roll the paper around the pencil to make a tubular bead. Glue the narrow end of the strip around the bead. Allow to dry, and slip it off the pencil. After gluing you may want to carefully slip the paper bead off the pencil to dry. Children use lots of glue and the bead could get glued to the pencil.

Repeat the process with the remaining strips to form more beads and when you have enough, string them onto a length of yarn to make a bracelet or a necklace.

Splatter Platter
Need: Food coloring or paint, paper plate or construction paper, rainy day.

Put drops of paint or food coloring on paper (don't mix). Put outside and let the rain do the rest. It might not take very long so watch it carefully. Then bring it inside to dry.

*Games

Funny Face

Children sit in a circle with a solemn expression. One child is "it" and suddenly bursts out laughing. He stops, wipes the smile off his face and tosses it to another, calling that person by name, who in turn bursts out laughing. Any player who laughs when he/she is not "it" drops out of the game. The play continues until only one person is left; he/she is the winner!

Marshmallow Olympics
Supplied with a marshmallow, each group of children will use a variety of objects to move a marshmallow through an obstacle course .

Need: One large marshmallow for each group ( the remainder of the bag may be used as prizes). Each group will also need 1 teaspoon, 1 straw, 1 toothpick, 1 kleenex tissue, a pencil, 12 inches of string, 1 piece of 6" x 6" paper, 1 ruler, and a can with the top off.

The children assemble into different groups. One person from each group gets the groups supplies.
Now, given time to think, each member of the group is to choose one item that will help only them move the marshmallow.
Each time the marshmallow is moved, it must be moved by a different member. If there are not enough members, then some children may have two turns.
For each obstacle they are successful at they will receive two free marshmallows! If they drop the marshmallow, that movement is unsuccessful.
The marshmallow itself must never be touched by hand.
They will have 20 minutes.

The movements for the marshmallow are these:
1. from the supply table to the groups work area.
2. into a can.
3. out of the can onto their work area.
4. over a 12 inch space.
5. from desktop to floor.
6. from floor to desktop.
7. delivered back to the supply table.

Praise their imaginations and efforts.