Inexpensive rainy day ideas for toddlers #1

Catchy title, eh?

Arlo needs a lot of stimulation and activity at the moment. When the weather is nice, the park or playground is an easy fix. But when it’s rainy, I get flummoxed, he gets whingey, and don’t we know it. It’s quite tough to find inspiration for fun rainy day ideas that don’t involve soft play hell and / or reaching for my wallet. But sometimes, the cheapest and most simple of ideas can create the most fun – I thought I’d share my ideas for ‘inexpensive fun for toddlers’ as I discover them.

Item number 1: A ping pong / table tennis ball….yep, just a ball.

Arlo has lots of footballs and bouncy balls, etc, so I completely underestimated his reaction at playing with his first ping pong ball. He thought it was hilarious. I think a large part of the appeal lies in its size and weight – small enough to fit easily in his hand, and light enough for him to be able to throw it quite a distance. They are also pretty bouncy and make a funny hollow noise on contact…. hilarious.

The ball on its own induced a lot of squealing, but a baby version of beer-pong using any old toys and household objects provided even more excitment. Arlo’s favourite game is swirling the ball round and round in a mixing bowl. There are so many simple games you can create.

He will happily play on his own with a ping pong ball, and we get even more time out of it if I play along with him.