We all know April showers bring May flowers. They can also bring new outdoor adventures! Don’t let that rain ruin your day. Embrace it and get outside.
These ideas will inspire you to ditch the couch and spend your whole day with rainy play. Remember safety first! If it starts to lightning and thunder, take a break and head inside.
Get Active
Puddle jump: Put on your rubber boots and search for a big puddle. Do you like making small hops or huge leaps? Who can make the biggest splash? Who can find the deepest puddle?
Slip and slide: Dig out a tarp, lay it down in the yard and slide away. Need extra slipperiness? Add a little dish soap to the tarp. As an added bonus, it will be squeaky clean after the rainy day.
Tree shower: Race to the nearest tree. Get underneath the branches. Jump to grab hold of a branch. Pull down and let go. The leaves will shower you with raindrops and big smiles.
Get Creative
Muddy creations: Grab some pie pans to fill with mud. Decorate your mud pie with leaves, berries, sticks and pinecones. Grab some paint brushes. Use the mud as your paint and create art on the sidewalk. Lastly, lay down in the mud and make mud angels.
Rainy watercolors: Let the rain bring your watercolor pages to life. Lay pages of a watercolor coloring book out and see each drop make a color appear.
Rain drums: Bring out pots and pans of all shapes and sizes. Hear the rain beat on the metal, creating a tune. Do different sizes make different notes? Take a wooden spoon out and bang the pans. Do the raindrops dance on top?
Get Exploring
Seek out a creek: Find a babbling brook, a peaceful stream or a crooked creek. Is the water flowing faster than normal? Can you see rocks poking out, or is everything flooded? Grab sticks to race in the water. What if you tried leaves or pinecones? What moves through the water the fastest?
Wiggle with the worms: When it rains, worms can travel on land easier than underground. What happens when the rain stops? Some worms get stuck in puddles; others dry out on the concrete. Rescue the wiggling worms and return them to grassy areas.
Fungus among us: Rainy days with cooler nights is the perfect weather for mushrooms. Some mushrooms will grow during the night, be seen during the day and disappear before dinner time. Get low to the ground to see some growing through the leaves, and check around decaying logs and at the bottom of trees.
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