Turning Outdoor Activities Into Indoor Activities for Rainy Days

When the rain starts falling, it can feel like the perfect excuse to stay indoors, and with a little creativity, you can turn outdoor activities into indoor activities for rainy days! Instead of letting the weather keep your kids cooped up, why not bring the fun inside? With a few simple adjustments, you can transform games, crafts, and even learning experiences into rainy day adventures. Whether it’s an art project, a scavenger hunt, or a dance party, there are endless ways to keep your little ones entertained without ever stepping outside.

We had a lot of fun thinking about how to transform some typically outdoor activities into indoor activities. We had fun testing each of them out! They're all tried-and-tested and can be done with materials you have around the house or can pick up at a dollar store. 

Read on for lots of ideas for indoor fun for kids! 

Paper Hand Flowers

Please enjoy this tutorial: How to Make a Paper Lily Flower (easy 3D flowers out of paper)!

I'll tell you what you need to make paper hand flowers, how to make them, and some fun things to do with them when you're finished! 

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Prepare to celebrate Spring early! (you know we're all ready for it.. at least those of us who are experiencing cold weather ;)

To get started, all you need is some coloured paper, straws, and scissors! Then you can use these cute flowers for decoration, for fun, or a colourful surprise for friends, family, or neighbours!

5 Ways to Prepare for Spring

This post is sponsored by Bayer. To make sure these products are right for you, always read and follow the label.

It has been a rough few weeks for our family, with everything that's been going on with our home this month, so I am very ready for the hope, promise, and beautiful weather that come along with Spring!

We can all identify the subtle signs of spring - birds chirping, longer days and blooming flowers. The warmer weather signifies a fresh start with more time outdoors, bringing your garden back to life, and of course, spring cleaning! While these telltale signs are positive for the most part, its common to feel unprepared when the new season comes so quickly (even when you've been waiting so long for its arrival!).

Here are a few things that signify spring is around the corner, with tips for a smooth transition:

Spring Weather, Vitamins, & a Giveaway

It has been a long Winter here and even though the calendar tells us it's Spring now, the weather seems to be putting up a fight!  We've had snow this week but we hold on to the hope of warmer days whenever the sun comes out.  We are very ready for those days!

Whenever we do have a sunny day, the girls start asking if they can pull out their bikes or their scooters and I haven't let them yet- there are still piles of snow everywhere we look!  (They are disappearing though, and I am looking forward to the opportunities to get outside with them and enjoy this beautiful world).

Last April, on a Spring walk... maybe that weather will be here in a few weeks again! 

A Horse Drawn Maple Sugar Bush Tour

During our kids' Spring Break from school, we went to St. Jacobs Farmers Market in Ontario and took a Maple Sugar Bush Tour by St. Jacobs Horse Drawn Tours.  It was such a fun experience and I am so happy that we did it!  I took quite a few photos while we were there and thought it would be fun to share our experience with you.

Spring Break Mini Vacation

We had a great Spring break last week! We spent a day out of town (the girls at my parents' house while I visited with my sister & her new baby and took some photos to make a parts poster- which I will post when I finish it).

Tuesday we were at home, just hanging out and making a spur-of-the-moment plan to book a hotel and spend a few days in Toronto! Ken works in Toronto when he needs to do lab work, and he had a bunch of things that needed to be done there, so we decided to just all go!

So we packed up and left very early the next morning! We got to Toronto so early that nothing was really open, so the girls & I hung out in Ken's office (me reading, them watching "How It's Made").

A little later, while Ken worked in his lab, I took the girls to Tim Hortons for "second breakfast" ;) (which you need when you wake up so early!)

Next, we headed to the library where we spent some time reading together. We also picked out some movies & books to take back to the hotel with us.

When lunchtime came around, we walked with Ken to get some lunch at a place that sells authentic Mexican food (which Ken loves after living in Mexico for 2 years- he cannot get it often, but when he can, he's excited!) It was kind of crazy because Tuesday was a very Spring-y day (weather-wise) and then Wednesday (our first day in Toronto) was crazy snowy! (So the walk to get lunch was rather Wintery ;)

We brought our food back to the Hospital (where his lab is) and ate there.

We hung out in Ken's office a little longer while he finished some work and then we all went to check into the hotel. We parked our car and left it for the rest of our visit (because we would be using street cars & subways- which was a cool experience for the girls (and me too- I think that may have been my first time on a subway!)

That night we went to the new Ripley's Aquarium and it was so cool! I may have to share some more photos from our visit in another post. :)

On Thursday, Ken headed back to the lab early in the morning and the girls and I headed to the pool! Katrina "tried on" Ken's suit and I had to snap a photo- it looked like a weightloss ad! haha

We had a lovely time swimming and then we took a street car to a big mall. The girls' favourite part? The escalators, the glass elevators, and the fountain of course!

When we got back to the hotel, they were excited to find their bed made, blanket & toys sitting nicely by their pillows :) (I loved watching the fun they were having and remembering how fun it was for me as a kid, to go to a hotel!)

We hung out for a while in our hotel room and painted nails. Then we got a call from Ken, saying that he was finished early & was going to come back to the hotel to swim! The girls were thrilled to get to go swimming again! This time I just observed (didn't want to get my hair wet when we would be heading out for another adventure soon!)

Our special evening activity that day was a trip to the Royal Ontario Museum. We saw some cool things, and had fun, but we were ready to leave sooner than the aquarium (I think we were all tired & had sore feet from all the walking we had been doing! :)

Here are Katrina & I, tired on the subway back to the hotel:

The next day we spent one more morning at the pool and then Ken headed back to his lab while we packed up, checked out, grabbed some lunch, and then we all drove back to town. Ken went home to do some more work & I took the girls to a birthday party!

What a full week, but so much fun to spend all of that time together!

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Tutorial Tuesday (Paper Butterfly Display Frame) WITH TEMPLATE

Ever seen this project idea floating around the web?


Here's how you make it:



Ken created a printable file for me that showed me where to put the butterflies so that they'd be spaced evenly. If you've got an 8x10 opening too, you can save some time with his template.

Making A Parachute Out of an Umbrella

A couple of nights ago, I made a parachute out of a broken old umbrella. It was fun to be sewing again. I took pictures along the way and made a tutorial up to show you how I did it, incase you want to make one like it.

See how much fun they're having with it? ;)


The tutorial is over at HowDoesShe. If you didn't see it there yesterday, go on over & check it out! I'm excited to tell you that I'm their newest writer! I'll be posting a couple of times a month with fun ideas like the ones I share here. I hope you'll come over & visit me there :) (and you should probably read that blog all the time anyway, if you don't already, cuz it's full of great ideas! ;)

Spring Cleaning

Yesterday I guest posted on HowDoesShe? again. Go check it out & leave me some comment love if you've got a minute! :)

The post is on 10 Ways to Include Young Kids in Spring Cleaning. I'd love to hear ways that you've had your kids help out with spring cleaning!


Talia, washing the cupboard doors.

If you missed my first post on HowDoesShe (about making a storybook with your child as the author/illustrator), it's here.

Upside Down Icicle

Last week we had some inbetween temperatures- the weather couldn't seem to decide to commit to Spring. Our tap in the backyard must have been dripping a bit because this is what I found one morning- an upside down icicle!

Easter Loot

I was talking to my friend, Jenn, about Easter loot, the week before Easter. We were talking about avoiding too much candy. She told me she'd been thinking her boys' baskets would contain more Spring things like bubbles and sidewalk chalk and less of "junkfood".

Ken & I had also been hoping to scale back on the amount of candy our kids got. We know the Easter bunny tends to leave plenty of chocolate and candy at their grandparents' houses for them (no objections to that here ;), so we were hoping the bunny might have other ideas as well.

So, this year, while the bunny came and filled our plastic eggs with mini eggs and cereal (Katrina's fav.), the "Easer Parents" (as Talia was calling us) left homemade finger puppets, new rubber boots and long skipping ropes.


Monday night we were out trying out the new, long skipping rope. It was great! Even though neither of the girls can do it quite as they were intended, we can do the wiggly snake, get Mommy speed-jumping, watch Daddy jump with Katrina (who was having a great time), and let Katrina move the rope handle (also a blast). It was lovely! :)

Bunny Bubbles

Here's an easy way to make Bunny Bubbles out of generic little wedding favour bubble containers!

We had bubbles at our wedding 6 years ago. We still have some of those bottles of bubbles today :) They come in very handy around here! You can get them at a dollar store too though, so no worries if you want to make these guys yourself ;)





The night before the Easter Bunny came, I got the idea to make bunny bubbles.

What You Need

1. Bubbles
2. Gluegun
3. pompom
4. googly eyes
5. marker
6. felt & scissors

How To Make Bunny Bubbles

1. Heat Gluegun
2. Cut Ears out of felt
3. Assemble
4. Voila! :)

Fun Printable Easter Egg Game

I found this printable game for springtime, to play with your plastic eggs & we have had a lot of fun with it!

Easter Egg Reading Hunt

I got the idea for an Easter Egg Reading Hunt from Chasing Cheerios. Yesterday I finally put it into action. I added rules to ours because I knew Talia would get bored if I didn't ;)


So, she found an egg, and had to read the word before she could look for the next one (and to keep her interested I told her there was a surprise after she found all the eggs). It didn't take much- she was excitedly searching for eggs & laughing at where she would find them.

At the end she got a yellow peep marshmallow. She looked at me after I placed it in her hand and said, seriously, "Mommy. This is junkfood!" (as though she were disappointed in me)... what's the world coming to??

Digital Flower Garden

I wanted to share this fun link with you- Talia loved it!

It takes you to a black webpage and when you click on it, a flower appears. You can click & hold or click & drag and create a beautiful, Spring garden!

Here's one of Talia's creations:

We had a great time the other day, with another flower activity that I'll be sharing with you on Tuesday- stay tuned, it's totally fun!