On a cold, cold, wet day

Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Nov 16, 2003 by LINDA DUVAL

"The sun did not shine.

It was too wet to play.

So we sat in the house

All that cold, cold wet day."

- "The Cat in the Hat," by Dr. Seuss

Everyone knows kids don't like to sit, sit, sit, sit in any kind of weather. But when it's cold and wet outside, moms and dads are faced with the challenge of entertaining them - in self-defense.

In a nod to Dr. Seuss and his cat in the hat, and their movie opening Friday, we've asked some creative folks to come up with ideas for ways to spend a cold, cold, wet day. Have no fear. We'll teach you a thing one or thing two about keeping kids occupied on those weather-enforced indoor days.

CRAZY CAMPING

Go "camping" indoors. In the living room, family room or other sizeable space, set up a tent - or create one from a card table or chairs and sheets or blankets. If you have a fireplace or wood- burning stove, light it and use it to toast marshmallows and hot dogs.

If all else fails, make your S'mores in the oven. These should not be made without parental (or at least adult cat) supervision.

GO SCOUTING

Get out the Girl Scout or Boy Scout handbooks and work on a badge. There are lots of ideas in there for indoor activities, and the kids can earn a badge at the same time. Some ideas from Girl Scouts: cooking, creative composing (a song, poem or play) and folk art. Or make a feeder for birds (who must be hungry if the weather's rotten). Create a scrapbook.

If it warms up enough, go outside and get your Frosty Fun badge: make a snow sculpture. Boy Scouts suggest working on the reading merit badge, the

citizenship ones (which can be done on a computer), making a collection (anything from model cars to baseball cards), or tackling some of the craft badges, such as woodcarving, if you have the tools handy.

GET CRAFTY

Buy a few craft kits and hide them away for a snowy day. Stores such as Hobby Lobby and Toys-R-Us stock lots of creative tools, from giant boxes of crayons to art clay, from beadwork to bathtub finger paints - and don't forget giant jigsaw puzzles. Anything new is bound to draw a certain amount of interest. It'll be even more exciting if you wrap it.

MAKE PAPER

Make your own paper? "It's easy," says pre-kindergarten teacher Rashell McCann of the Greenshade School. Take any paper you have around the house and shred it. Then put it in a blender with enough water to make a slurry. Press it out on a cutting board to make whatever thickness and shape you like, then lay it on a piece of screen to dry. You can press flowers into it if you like, or add food coloring in the blender. Use it to make homemade greeting cards.

Just one caution: Use an old blender or plan to buy a new one later. After a blender is used to make paper, you shouldn't use it for food. "You don't want to be eating that!" McCann says.

MAKE A PLAY

Mary Mashburn, local queen of the Kennedy Center Imagination Celebration, recalls creating costumes out of old clothes and putting on plays with her siblings. They'd hang a sheet over a doorway for a curtain. Or, she suggests, hang the sheet lower and make paper bag (or sock) puppets and put on a puppet show. Each child can create his or her own puppets and story to perform.

FUN WITH BABY SITTERS

Pick up a copy of "38 Ways to Entertain Your Babysitter," by Dette Hunter and Stephen MacEachern, and find science experiments, crafts, simple recipes and fun projects. Turn toast into a multicolored treat.

Make a doll out of yarn. Create a huge bubble blower with dish soap and a bunch of straws bound together. And if you can't find this book, there surely are others at the library.

EXPERIMENT A LITTLE

Here's a science experiment kids love, from art teacher Robin Duffy of High Plains Elementary School. Take any size Ziploc bag and fill it almost full of water. Zip it shut. Sharpen some pencils. Pierce the bag quickly with the sharp pencil until the tip comes out the other side. "It won't leak," she says. "The water pressure creates a seal."

She's seen as many as 40 pencils piercing a single bag, but that depends on how big the bag is, she says.

CARNIVAL AND PARTY TIME

Create a carnival - another idea from art teacher Robin Duffy. Dress up, paint your faces and make carnival games. One idea: Float a plastic bowl in a bathtub and use it for the penny toss. Set up empty water bottles and use a soccer or other ball for bowling. You can make up your own scoring system. Or make an un-birthday cake, decorate it and sing an un-birthday song. Wrap silly gifts and give them to each other at an un-birthday party.

GIDDYAP!

Take a paper grocery sack and draw a horse's head outline on it. Cut it out (both thicknesses) and sew the two sides together with yarn. Stuff it with cotton, draw a face on both sides, and stick it on a pole or broomstick for an indoor horse, suggests the staff at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center.

PLAY SCHOOL

Children love to take turns being the teacher. One child might run a reading class and pick a favorite book - maybe "The Cat in the Hat"? Another child could be the music teacher and sing songs or even make musical instruments out of household items (oatmeal box drums, comb-and-tissue kazoos). Another could teach gym and let everybody burn off some energy doing jumping jacks.