SAHM: Tales of a Stranded-at-Home-Mom and how we survived Sandy

A once in a lifetime storm.
A hybrid nor'easter/hurricane/super storm.
The perfect storm on steroids.

That's the way Hurricane Sandy (or whatever this massive uninvited bitch is categorized now as) was being described by all the experts in the days leading up to the main event. With school cancelled for two days before a single drop of rain even fell, I figured I better get my stuff in order.  Much to my husband's eye rolls I had stocked up on water, ice, toilet paper and had hidden a stock of child-friendly non perishables (fruit cups, muffins, bagels, snacks, juice boxes) away where they would only be pulled out in the event (aka when) the power goes out.

I had my house emergency kit ready and now I was preparing my emergency entertainment kit.  I'm a stay at home mom so I'm used to entertaining at home...but without the option of going outside or driving ANYWHERE I was equally nervous about this massive storm as I was the two pint-sized hurricanes rolling through my house.  How I was going to entertain my 4 year old daughter and rambunctious 17 month old son for at least two days?  Honestly, my pre-schooler isn't the issue. If worse comes to worse she can watch television until the power goes out.  It's my non-stop toddler that's hard to entertain for hours upon hours. So of course I hit up Pinterest and started pinning away. I gathered ideas from friends and searched through my old scrapbooking supplies to see what could fill all those hours of rainy indoor fun.  I did not buy anything new..this is all stuff I had around the house.

Here are the rainy day activities for a toddler and preschool that we enjoyed before naps on Day 1...(yes, we did all this until 1pm...and yes, their attention spans are that short!)

Magic Carpet Ride - Have the kids lay on a big blanket and drag them around the house. (Definitely easier on hardwood than carpet)

Fort and Tunnels - Get a couple of blankets and lay them and tuck them and clamp them (however you can get them to stay) on top of furniture, pillows, ottomans...whatever!

 

 Ziploc bag painting - Squirt a few different colors of paint into ziploc bags. Zip them up tight...tape to table or window and let them go to town.

Sponge Painting - I had purchased a pack of sponges at a wholesale club months ago and thought AH HA! I cut them into shapes and my daughter LOVED it! She spent at least 30 minutes making sponge paintings.

 

I even let my little guy get in on the sponge painting fun...it's all washable so why not. (Plus a mid-day bath would take up even more time!)

Noodle Necklace - I had some penne noodles and elbows (they actually proved too small). I gave her some markers and ribbon and she went to work on a noodle necklace.  

 

My son was more into eating the hard noodles than making a necklace so I skipped the noodle necklace for him and just let him scribble. 

 

Geometric Gluing - I pre-cut some geometric shapes (squares, triangles, rectangles) out of a variety of solid and printed paper and handed her a glue stick. I suggested she make whatever it was she want. She came up with a house with a chimney. 

Chores - This was not in my emergency kit, but hey I'll take it! My daughter walked into the bathroom and declared it 'a mess.' She then went and got the cleaning supplies. 

 

Time for Lunch...why not a picnic lunch for a little extra rainy day fun?

 

And here's my boys with 'their' sunglasses on singing "Rain, Rain Go Away!" AMEN TO THAT! 

Now for what to do this afternoon and tomorrow....back to pinning!