Things to do on really rainy days. In January we have a go at playing with the gutters outside the house using a stone and some chalk; In April we watch seagulls through the window; in May we learn how to negotiate around thunderstorms; in warm July we find ourselves sheltering under a tree and exploring to see what we can find; At the end of August, we get properly caught out; in September we have fun making muddy footprints; use sandbags to make dams; compete on spotting rainbows; and, of course, splash in puddles; in December, we listen to rain music.

361 – A rainy day: playing with gutters

Sunday 5 January. Very wet. 7°C

The great snow has arrived in the UK.  TV news is full of pictures of sledging kids… we have cold rain.  B is not happy – particularly when the families whatsapp pictures arrive from York – but we make do.  In a search for inspiration I found this brilliant blog – 16 Rainy Day Outdoor Activities Your Kids Will Love  and thought we could explore the gutters outside the house.  When its really wet water pours down them like a river.

We’re having fun doing the picture numbers.  It wasn’t part of the original challenge plan but it’s proved to be a good way into an activity and gives B an initial focus.  She thought up the stones and chalk.  We found a good flat stone in the garden and went out the front to investigate.  The water wasn’t as high as I’d hoped but it was still fun putting the stone in and seeing how long it took for the chalk to wash it off.  Had to be careful of the road though.  One to try again…   

Finally, we’re still not focusing properly on clothes in the rain.  We’ve dug out the gloves and are doing ok in the dry now but need a proper welly outing.

260 – Watching seagulls in the rain

Tuesday 15 April. Stormy. 12°C

It’s a very rainy spring afternoon. We want to play with gutters again but have found ourselves high up in a relatives flat instead. On the upside the seagulls are flying round the building playing with wind currents and we spend ages watching them instead. They bounce up and down and are clearly enjoying themselves. We guess where they’ll appear next and try (and fail) to get a good photo.

233 – Negotiating thunderstorms

Tuesday 13 May. Thundery. 23°C

We’re dog walking this evening. It’s promised rain but it’s sunny and very hot when we leave the house without a cloud in sight. About half an hour later we hear a rumble and look up to see a very dark horizon.

B is relatively unconcerned. I’m not sure she hears the rumbles – they’re long and low. In the park other dog walkers are eyeing it as well. I take a minute to check the advice on thunderstorms. I know you’re not meant to be exposed or the tallest thing in an area but I get confused about touching wood and rubber and know you shouldn’t go near trees.

The advice is pretty clear. Go inside! We eye the sky again. It’s still not raining but the thunder is getting more frequent not less. We haven’t spotted lightning yet but I’m not sure that’s a good thing to wait for.

I tell B I think we should go home and she goes from quite calm to very nervous. She asks what happens if you’re hit by lightning. Then panics and runs ahead. We have a problem with the dog as he’s not ours and generally isn’t allowed in the house. B goes inside, grabs the two cats and we lock them in the kitchen… then let dog into the hall. He’s very happy. He likes cats. They stare at him through the kitchen door like it’s the end of the world. Then they hide in the basement. Sensible creatures.

It’s the right call. It starts raining properly. Normally we’d count from lightning to thunder but it’s still very light and the lightning is hard to see. Then we get a sudden flash followed by immediate thunder and know the storm is overhead. B goes and hides in the kitchen. The dog and I sit it out in the hallway.

Finally the thunder stops and there’s blue sky ahead and we head out back to the park. It’s got that lovely wet smell you get after a summer storm.

170 – Sheltering from the storm

Tuesday 15 July. Rainy 22°C

It’s a showery day and we’re dog walking. We’d hoped to avoid the rain but we get to the park and the heavens open. Dog doesn’t care – he’s happy running about – but B and I are getting really soaked. We try hiding behind a tree but it doesn’t work, then we realise there’s a more sheltered spot at the less visited end of the small park. We hunker down, watch him running around like crazy and wait.

Given we’re stuck there we start to explore. There’s not much. We’re under a tree and there’s some shrubs growing nearby. Then we find the tree is a sycamore and full of green aeroplanes. We pull some off and try and throw them but they’re not ready yet. Then we see a beautiful web – it’s almost round and, busy in the middle, is a little garden spider spinning. It’s very cute and we watch it for a while.

B notices a small apple on the ground and we try and work out where it’s come from. We can’t see an apple tree. There’s one that might be but the two fruit at the top are a lot smaller. It has a ladybird on it so we adopt that for a bit. Then we finally come across a planter in the corner in the corner of which is a small shrub covered in little apples. A very ambitious baby tree.

118 – Getting caught in a storm on the beach…and seeing a rainbow

Sunday 31 August. Very wet. 17°C

After a very dry summer rainy times are here again… we’re not really ready. My mum is. She goes out for our walk in full raingear. B and I have summer macs. We get to the further point, at the end of the beach, and the storm comes. It is WET! B and I scream and try and hide in the den made of sticks at the end of the beach. This does not work. There is lots of space between the sticks. Giving up we opt for walking swiftly in a homewards direction instead.

This actually goes well. The rain stops. A rainbow comes out over the sea. We do a big 118 in the sand and decide to have a go at flying B’s kite again. This is an error. We don’t check the sky. We get to the point where we’ve unrolled the string and are about to launch it and the rains back and getting stronger.

After a while we give up, fold it up and trudge up the beach but this time, instead of stopping after a bit, it goes on and on and on. Then the hailstones come. It’s fun in a way but also very wet. B and I are so wet we’re not going to get any wetter. Finally as we reach the path up from the beach it stops… and the sun comes out. No rainbow this time. People jump out of their cars and head towards the beach with their swimsuits on.

We trudge up the road against the river of rainwater which is flowing down the gutter. I make a little dam and B splashes me. Then we head for dry clothes and warm showers.

111 – Making muddy footprints

Wednesday 10 September. Strong rain showers. 17°C

It’s a very rainy week. Lots of rain, lots of water, the garden has gone from being dusty and dry to muddy…

It’s the kitten’s idea. There’s paper out on the floor and it suddenly gains a perfect set of tiny footprints. We decide to add more sheets and do our own. She thinks we’re very strange but is happy to join in.

110 – Using home made sandbags to make dams and boating lakes

Thursday 11 September. Rainy 17°C

It’s been a very rainy week. It pauses for a bit and then buckets down again. Over 9 months on from our first visit, we’re getting obsessed with drains again. The trouble is, they’re quite good drains, so the water rushes into them when it’s pouring but once the rains stopped it all dies down again. We want to make a dam… but it’s never rainy at the right time.

So we compromise and look instead at the puddle that always forms outside our front door. That stays much longer. We wonder if we can make it deeper so we can float paper boats on it… Randomly we’ve acquired a bag of sand so we make up some smaller sandbags and head out. We try using the rubbish boxes too… it’s quite hard, water is slippery and sneaky. We think we’ve filled up all the holes but it finds more. In the end we get there and add a bit more water to see if it runs out. Seems ok but I suspect we don’t have enough sand bags to do it properly so we give up and head back inside.

Then, a few hours later, it pours down again and we grab the sand bags and rush out. This time it DEFINITELY works. We put down the sand bags and the rushing water immediately heads to the right and round. When we pick the sand bag up the water rushes through. Very satisfying. I don’t think the food bags are the best material though – they disintegrate as we get them back in the front garden. Will work on that next time!

108 – Competing on rainbows…

Saturday 13 & Sunday 14 September. Rain and sun. 17°C

It’s B who kicks this one off. She sees an amazing cloud with a rainbow it… and manages to get a photo. I suggest a ‘who can spot the most rainbows in 24 hours competition’. She accepts but it’s doomed. It’s been a day of lots of rainbows but it’s turning into a day with none… B gets fed up and stops looking. I curse not thinking of it earlier when we were outside in the right weather. We manage to see one from the house the next morning but it’s not the same. B suggests we should change it into who spotted the coolest rainbow… which she, of course, would win.

104 – Splashing in puddles

Wednesday 17 September. A bit rainy – between storms. 17°C

It’s been a very very wet few weeks and we’re heading home between bouts of rain when we ponder the fact that we haven’t splashed in a puddle for ages. Back in our wellies after the summer, B happily obliges. It doesn’t stop being fun when you’re 10. She starts off with the pavement and then, cautiously, graduates to the gutters in the quiet road. When we get home we remember the big one right outside the front door.

By this point we are very wet… and go indoors to get dry. Waterproof trousers too next time.

22 – Listening to rain music

Wednesday 22 December. Rainy. 13°C

After a dry summer the autumn has been very very wet. So wet, we’ve sort of adjusted to it being normal. After a few days of storms though we’re looking for a wet weather challenge again. It’s been ages since we did a listening challenge. They’re so good but so much harder to photograph. But the dropping raindrops on the velux window in the kitchen is too good to miss.

We first notice it, probably inevitably, when the rain is so heavy it breaks through and demands to be noticed. We cut out some 2’s to make a 22 quickly, hoping it won’t stop while we do it. It doesn’t and we record the sound of the torrential rain.

Then we go back every ten minutes or so for an hour. It never gets as strong again. The drip on the Velux window from the roof above starts to provide a counter beat to the rain. There’s a point where it sounds like a drum kit. We should have sung along.