Even in summer time rain can invite itself on your holidays and you may have to put up with it! When you are far away from your own place, it’s not easy to find activities for children which don’t need too may accessories.
How do you keep your children busy on a rainy day during the holidays? Here are just a few ideas for family activities on a rainy day:
Bake a cake : Le gâteau au yaourt
We love this really easy-to-bake cake in France because you don’t need a measuring bowl or a set of scales: you use the yoghurt pot to measure all the ingredients! Here’s the recipe:
- 1 flavoured yoghurt (keep the pot)
- 3 yoghurt pots of flour
- 2 and a half yoghurt pots of sugar
- 1/2 yoghurt pot of vegetable oil (sunflower is the best)
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 baking powder sachet
You can add fruit if you want, for example, 2 apples or a can of pineapple or peaches in syrup.
Put all the ingredients in a salad bowl, mix them all together and then put the mixture in an oven proof dish. Let it cook for 40 to 45 minutes, with the oven at thermostat 6 (which is 180°).
Once the cake has cooled, you can cut it in half and put jam or chocolate in it, or serve it with custard or pouring cream.
La pâte à sel (Home made modelling paste)
Cheap and safe (no problems if it ends up being ingested!), la pâte à sel is also very easy to prepare as the only ingredients you’ll need can be found in every supermarket: just flour and salt!
The recipe is simple:
- 1 measure of salt
- 2 measures of flour
- 1 measure of tepid water
Mix the flour and salt and add water until you get a non-sticky paste. Let the mixture sit for an hour.
You can add spices to colour the paste, such as paprika, curcuma, cinnamon etc…
Let your creations dry for at least 24 hours, and then cook them slowly (oven 110° for 1h30 minimum)
Once they are dry and cooked, you can paint them.
A paper planes race
For this activity, all you need is sheets of paper! Create your paper plane and decorate it.
Prepare the race area with start and stop points and there you go, start throwing your planes and just watch who the winner is!
The mystery bag
Nothing simpler and cheaper than this activity as you’ll have nothing to buy!
Grab everything you find around you, from outside and inside: a pine cone, a stone, a piece of wood, a spoon, a hair brush, a tube of toothpaste, a key, a pen, a button, a nut… and put all of these items in a bag or in a box. Make sure no one can see through the bag.
The game is easy: in (for example) 1 minute you have to name as many objects as you can just by touching them, without looking. You can play one by one or create teams.
