On The Go Chicago

Looking for something fun to do with your kids on a rainy day (like today)?  I have recently found a couple cool sites with great rainy day activities.  They not only bring out your kids’ creativity, but keep them entertained! I don’t know about you, but I get a bit of “basement” fever on rainy days!

Make Your Own Coloring Book Pages

Visit Crayola.com, click on Lights, Camera, Color and you can download your digital pictures to make custom coloring pages.  The site takes out all the color and turns the picture into a coloring book page.  You can even add cool effects like backgrounds, hats, mustaches, and word balloons.

To print out the pages you have to use a code found on the inside of Crayola boxes.  I found a test code in Family Fun Magazine (Code: PRRVBTR2).  My daughters are too young to print these out themselves, but I made a few pages of them with their grandparents.  I let them color (scribble) on them, and then sent them to their grandparents along with the original picture as a fun little surprise.

Make Your Own Comic Strip

If you visit Make Beliefs Comics you can choose from 15 different characters to make your own comic strip.  You choose their emotions, write the story and create your own comic strip.  Once you’ve completed your strip, you can email it or print it out.  All totally free!

Make Your Own Paper Dolls

There are several sites that let you print out paper dolls for free.  Have fun with your kids cutting them out and playing with all the different options.

• Make your own custom dolls at Family Fun Magazine online.
• Craft Freebies has tons of options to choose from.
• Making Friends

Make Your Own Paper Airplanes

There are several sites with printouts and instructions on different types of paper airplanes.

• Paper Air Planes
• Family Fun has several different airplanes and targets.
• 10 Paper Airplanes has simple instructions for ten planes.

Create an Indoor Scavenger Hunt

Following are a couple sites that give you tips and instructions for setting up an indoor scavenger hunt, perfect for a rainy day play date.  To make this work for preschoolers, you could print out colors, shapes, numbers, etc.  Then tape them around the house to walls, doors, the fridge, etc.  Then ask your child to find the red triangle, etc.

• Quazen.com
• Family Fun took the scavenger hunt one step further and added a treasure map.
• Type-A Mom has some great ideas for younger kids.

Looking for something that doesn’t involve a computer or much planning:

• Build a fort
• Play Hide and Go Seek
• Have a dance party (a McCarthy Family Favorite)

Want more rainy day ides?

Here are three sites with tons of craft ideas and printable pages.

• Better Homes and Gardens, Rainy Day Craft Projects
• Family Fun Magazine
• Sprout Online

Let me know what your family likes to do on rainy days. Unfortunately we probably have lots of rainy and snow days ahead of us!