Things to do when the weather is rubbish

I absolutely love it when Autumn arrives and the leaves fall off the trees, it looks beautiful and as a family we love being out and about and going for a walk around the lakes near our home, but as Winter is now in full swing, it is often very rainy and windy and with 3 children in tow, less and less activities are outside so we are constantly trying to find things to do while the weather is a bit crap.

1. A welly walk – sometimes it is just as much fun to embrace the rain and the wind and pull on the welly boots and take the dog out for a long walk. Living in rural Nottinghamshire we have the advantage of lots of country parks, forests and lakes near us. Sunday tradition in our house is a walk around the lakes with the dog after dinner.

2. Family Games – We have all been at the stage with our children where they have tons of toys and games but are still bored, and that is not because there is nothing for them to do but because they want somebody to play with them. We love playing Monopoly Empire, our eldest got it for Christmas 2014 from Father Christmas and it has been a family favourite ever since.

Monopoly Empire with the eldest

Another family favourite for us is playing on the wii, it is something that all ages can join in with and enjoy. We are a slightly old school and still enjoy classics like wii sports and wii play. (and we are still on the wii console not the wii u)

3. Movie day/night – My children love to have a movie night where the whole family will sit together and enjoy a film. We have a huge crochet blanket that I made as a project last year and we all sit under it. Christmas eve my husband, our eldest son and I sat down to watch the Minion movie after our youngest had gone to bed and none of us lasted the whole film, we all fell asleep about half way through!

4. Crafts – I tend to only do ‘making’ activities with the older children, this isn’t because I dread the concept of crafts and arty stuff with toddlers (even though I do), but because my little monkey isn’t at all interested in sitting down activities or anything that involves following instruction. He has recently learnt how to hold a pencil however so he does enjoy doing some drawing of circular scribbles, which is actually a HUGE milestone for him with his ASD and developmental delay.

My eldest and I have made a sock monkey, now I must admit I was far more excited about making them than they were and the set was actually a Christmas gift in 2014 that has sat in the cupboard collecting dust. In an effort to do more things with all the children, I have convinced them to make them with me (ok bribed them). Nephew not interested so he indulged in some Pokemon on netflix while the eldest and I created this gem. (Note my white stitching on a black sock as I had used all the black, I like craft I am just rubbish at it.)