Kaleidocycle

Anyone searching for a great rainy day boredom buster for the kids, I have to recommend making a kaleidocycle folding paper toy (MiniEco has ever so kindly posted a free printable, instructions and a little movie of how it works). It's absolutely mesmerising, and so easy to make, Mr 5 and Miss 3 had a great time colouring in their own versions.

Paper Houses and Paddlepop Stick People

These were inspired by the finger puppets from Teawagontales and the free print out house pattern from Inner Child Fun (both via Crafty Crow). Our versions don't look as elegant, but were heaps of fun to make!

Paperclip Chains

You can't get an activity much simpler than this. Paperclip chains (or necklaces or bracelets or houses) can be a pleasant way for the children to occupy themselves on a rainy day.

Marshmallow Building

I've seen marshmallow and toothpick construction around a bit on the internet, and we just so happened to have some mini marshmallows in the house, a bunch of toothpicks, and yet another rainy day on our hands.

It was so much fun!

The marshmallows were just sticky enough, and firm enough and yet pliable enough to make really satisfying structures.

I started with a tetrahedron (triangular based pyramid), and then a house, and then something else made from more triangles and satisfyingly symmetric.

Miss 3 at first struggled to get the hang of it. She managed to get a lot of cotton bud type constructions, and then, with a bit of help she made a 2-D house. With a bit more help she started on 3-D structures that (in Mr Crafty's opinion) didn't worry too much about the laws of gravity.

Mr 5 instinctively started making things with lots of triangles, and had no problem building something big and fairly stable. He struggled more with not eating too many marshmallows.

We kept the structures until after dinner, and then broke them up and ate desert at the same time.