Hope the weather clears up soon ...

[sherrardk]

... Can't take many more craft afternoons with the kids. We have just done yet another afternoon of Hama beads (strangely addictive though). Have promised to have (another) go at Lightning McQueen (from the Disney film) tomorrow but it is mostly made up of two slightly different shades of red so I am not overly keen.

[karenmac60]

I know it's not the done thing sher, but do the kids have games consoles? My daughter and I used to (and occasionally still do) have what we called 'fun Friday', where she'd teach me how to play her games. It meant she was doing something she enjoyed but we were still interacting - we'd put on a cd we both liked, have some snacks and play games and she was getting to tell me what to do. I know you have a lot more kids and I'm not sure of their ages, but maybe doing something along those lines would make a wee change for you all..?

[annie0000]

Set up a fitness circuit round the house - with different activities they have to do - e.g. star jumps - step ups on the stairs, putting on dads t shirt and shorts on top of their clothes and taking them off again, lifting up a can of beans and doing arm curls or something and then get the older ones to time each other and the little ones - you could make and give out medals.

or, have a dancing competition

make tents and dens out of chairs and blankets and let them have a nerf gun war round the house.

Make paper planes - there are loads of websites that give you info about different styles and then you can decorate and fly them in the house.

it's frustrating when it is raining - try to cut the day up into specific chunks of different activities so you don't end up doing the same thing all day.