Rainy Day Fun at Home and Out in Darwin

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Rainy day fun doesn’t have to be boring or expensive, and you don’t have to give in to screens either. Check out these wet weather ideas for rainy day fun in Darwin, when the weather just won’t play fair.

Rainy Day Fun at Home and Out in Darwin

Although lovely and warm most of the time, we all know that Darwin has its fair share of wet days, when we do have a good wet season!! This wet has been rather disappointing to say the least! Entertaining kids on wet days can be a recipe for disaster, you either give in and give them screens the whole time or deal with the frustration of stir-crazy kids.

Rainy day fun doesn’t have to be boring or expensive, and you don’t have to give in to screens either. Check out these wet weather ideas for rainy day fun in Darwin, when the weather just won’t play fair.

educational apps for kids

To Screen or Not to Screen

Keeping kids occupied isn’t difficult anymore because of our screens – from the age of around 2 and up you can easily entertain your child by giving them your phone or iPad or access to Netflix.

But you may not want to. Screen entertaining can be educational but is best in controlled doses and only used when really necessary. You should also monitor which websites and apps they are accessing – it is better to use a search engine like Kiddle or video streaming like YouTube Kids because these have age-appropriate content. Check out our recent blog here on our Top 14 Educational Apps for kids for some great ideas if you do decide use screens.

If you are going to allow your kids to use screens for rainy day fun, here are some guidelines you might like to put into place first:

  • Set a time limit and give them a 2-minute warning before screens will be going off.
  • Give them the opportunity to earn screen time by doing chores, playing active games with siblings or spending an equal amount of time doing a puzzle.
  • Talk to them about what games or websites they are using and check in regularly to keep an eye on content.
  • Limit the video streaming and instead discover together some games they might enjoy that actually teach skills, problem-solving etc.

Non-screen Fun

Giving your child the opportunity to get bored can be one of the greatest presents you give their developing mind. This is when the imagination truly kicks in.

rainy day fun bored kids

You will find they don’t even need piles of toys or loads of activities and craft kits – when children are left to their devices they will invent fun. (You will get repeated complaints of ‘I’m bored!’ that you will have to ignore at the start, but they will find their own activities in the end).

Here are some easy non-screen fun activities you can do at home, with just materials that you should already have lying around.

Build a Fort

Create a tent using sheets and blankets and a frame, either chairs or a dining table work beautifully. Fill it with cushions and doonas for comfort, and even string up Christmas lights if you have them handy. Make a picnic and let your child have lunch in the fort.

Hide and Seek

Some parents love hide and seek, some despise it. There is always the risk that you’ll find a great spot and then hide there for half an hour while your child has given up and gone to play something else.

Instead of people, why not hide toys instead? The size of the toy and the difficulty of the hiding place can be adjusted depending on how old your kids are. Try hiding five Beanie Boo animals around the lounge room, or perhaps five Lego people in the pantry for your child to find.

Pen and Paper games

You don’t need complex board games to have fun, word games are simple and really enjoyable.

Write a list of categories (red things, things in the fridge, animals, girl’s names etc.). Then pick a letter and give participants a set amount of time to write as many things starting with that letter as they can. Give points for original answers or really funny ones.

Write a story as a group (without knowing what anyone else is writing about). Each person starts a story on a blank piece of paper, writing a few sentences. They then fold that work over so that it can’t be seen, but leave the last couple of words on the next part of the page, so the next participant can continue their own version of the story. When the page is full, unfold all of the parts and read the narrative out – see what fun everyone has come up with!


 

Board games

When was the last time you dusted off a board game and played them with your kids? I am sure you have a cupboard or shelf full of different ones and now is the perfect time to get them out and play them! Depending on the age of your kids and the game they may need you to play along or if there are enough kids they can play on their own! One BIG bonus of having large families – lots of players for board games! Some of our favourites are the kids scrabble, dinosaur bingo, jenga and we are about to give monopoly a go soon now the boys are a bit older! Let us know which board games are your kids favs!

Go for a Puddle Walk

Just because its raining doesn’t mean the kids have to stay inside, in fact teaching them to get out and about in all sorts of weather is a great way to help kids become positive thinkers and resilient problem solvers.

Instead of thinking, ‘Oh well, it’s raining so we can’t go out,’ think ‘Yay, it’s raining, let’s go out!’ Awaken the tiny explorer in your child and go discovering. Or just let them run in the rain or play on the trampoline in the rain is another of our favs!

Get your kids in raincoats, gumboots, and kid-sized umbrellas and go on a nature walk. The natural world changes and comes alive in a whole different way when its raining. Look for minibeasts and creepy crawlies, jump in puddles, keep an eye out for rainbows, spot cloud shapes or watch water drip off flowers and leaves. We went for a drive recently in a storm. When it finished my kids were in awe at seeing their first rainbow!!

rainbow

Wet Weather Ideas in Darwin

Even the best rainy-day fun can make everyone a bit stir-crazy after a while. So you may want to pile them in the car and try out a new indoor activity. Here are some of our favourite options for places to go in Darwin for fun with the family when the weather is foul.

The Playshack is an indoor play centre and café located in Palmerston, which has fun for kids of most ages, and chill-out space for their supervising carers. With a zone just for babies and toddlers, and then another that suits up to 12-year-olds, you have no excuse for staying home on the iPad.

Why not try ice skating at the Darwin Ice Skating Centre? One of the coolest places on earth! Probably not what you first think of for a day out in the Top End. But for this reason kids and adults alike love it. FYI you definitely need to rug up going to Darwin Ice Skating centre as it is FREEZING!!

One for the slightly older kids, Zone 3 Laser Tag can be great fun. You can make a private booking for a group of your friends or just join an open session and compete against whoever is there.

The Planet in Nightcliff is a whole universe of fun and jam-packed with so many different activities that you could spend the whole day and never get bored. From ten-pin bowling to mini-golf, arcade games, and indoor playground and a café as well. You will find everything here for rainy day fun.

If you have other great ideas for rainy day fun in Darwin, comment and let us know. You can also check out our Top 20 easy home activities to entertain the kids blog for some more great ideas!

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