Queensland. Beautiful one day, perfect the next. Unless it’s school holidays, in which case you can guarantee that for at least one week straight, it will rain. Then, of course, when it’s time to send our cherubs back to school, the sunny days return.
Every time the weather forecast throws up some showers during school holidays, my brain seems to freeze and I can’t think what we can do to get out of the house for a few hours. So I decided to throw it all down in a list to refer back to next time a wet (or incredibly hot) week of school holidays hits. And this is that list.
I’m based in North Brisbane, so these activities are all nearby, but if you’re reading this from the south side, you’re more than welcome to come visit us up here. Plenty of my friends are from the south side too.
Anyway, enough chit chat. Let’s get to the ways to entertain your kids when the outside isn’t ideal.
Free at-home activities
Some free and easy ideas to do at home and keep the kids from climbing the walls, and most don’t even need a screen. I haven’t included board games, colouring or baking in this list, but they’re certainly good options too.
1. Super Mario “game”
Try this one on YouTube. If your kids are young enough, they might not notice the game isn’t live. They can play along themselves, doing the jumps and ducking and walking through the game. There are plenty of other “games” on YouTube like this Just Dance one too.
2. Fancy restaurant
Choose your dinner (spaghetti and meatballs is a good simple team option). Make a sign with the name of the restaurant, make the menus, set the table, cook the dinner, serve the dinner. Most important: wash the dishes.
3. Home spa salon
The kids will need to make a sign with the name of the salon, take the phone booking, then set up the salon for the appointment. My kids go all in on this with a YouTube channel showing fish with relaxing music behind, candles, towels everywhere and even put-on characters, one is really lovely and one is a rude grump to make us all laugh.
4. Indoor treasure hunt
Download this free printable, print it off, cut it up and hide the pieces of paper around your home. Hand the first clue to the kids then sit down with a cup of tea for ten to fifteen minutes of uninterrupted me-time. Ideal for ages 6+, and the clues are suitable for most homes.
5. Trial a new streaming service
If you haven’t got Disney, Prime, Netflix, Stan or Binge yet, most offer a free trial. Perfect for some fresh TV and movies with popcorn for a few hours.
6. If you can’t beat them, join them
Younger kids love getting dressed up in their wet weather gear and heading out to play in the rain. From a simple walk around the block to playing boats in the gutter, there’s lots of ways to enjoy the rain: make mud pies, build a bridge across a puddle, have a biggest puddle splash challenge, paint rocks with mud, make leaf boats and float them in puddles, or make a muddy footprint trail.
7. Make your own movie
My girls love making stop motion movies using an app like Stop Motion Studio. You can use Lego, toys, food, random objects with stuck-on google eyes, whatever their imagination likes.
8. Make playdough or salt dough
For younger kids, a batch of playdough will make for hours of entertainment. Older kids might like to make it themselves. Salt dough is the other option for older kids, you can dry it out in the oven and paint it. From necklaces to Christmas tree ornaments, jewellery bowls to pet paw print keepsakes, salt dough crafts are lots of fun.
9. Make slime (for the fun mums)
Slime. Gross, messy, stains-your-couch-for-life slime. If you’re one of those fun mums who lets your kids play with it, my hat goes off to you. I let my kids have it once in the house and my couch is stained for life, so it now sits in the “banned forever” file along with glitter. If you haven’t been scarred for life by the stuff yet, here’s the recipe every kid was going crazy for over the past few years.
10. Make oobleck (for fun-police mums like me)
My backup for slime is oobleck. It’s literally just a small amount of water mixed into cornflour, and it has a strange consistency that’s soft and wet when handled gently but goes rock hard under sudden pressure. Pretty fun, easy to clean up, and the kids get almost as excited about it as they do about slime.
11. Rock painting
There was a big craze for this a few years back and my girls went nuts for it. Collect rocks from home, or do a Bunnings trip for the good ones (bonus, free indoor playground), and paint cute designs on them. When you head to a park, leave the painted rocks as a surprise for other kids to find, or if you find one out and about, keep it or re-hide it for another child to enjoy. For more ideas and inspiration, the QLD Rocks Facebook page is worth a join.
12. Library visit
On top of the obvious, borrowing books, you can usually borrow DVDs and toys too. A library visit during school holidays often includes a fun activity as well, from treasure hunts to craft or technology sessions. Check what’s on at Moreton Bay Libraries or Brisbane City Libraries before you head in.
Leave-the-house activities
Most of these come with an OSHC excursion warning, so you may get stuck behind a school holiday care group at check in. Arrive early for your time slot.
1. Ice skating
Iceworld. We had the most epic mum-fail on our first trip ice skating, it was January and my kids went in t-shirt and shorts. Turns out it’s really cold in the rink. Ever the problem solver, I raided the lost-and-found to borrow some warm jackets. The kids were not impressed, but a core memory was made.
2. Roller skating
Skateaway. Lots of fun, just turn up at the session times. I take my laptop and get a bit of work done while the kids do laps. The music’s great and the DJ plays games and gives out prizes too. If your kids are still learning, you can hire a balance frame. Expect them to want a slushy, skating is hot work, and to take a few breaks rather than skate the full two hours.
3. Flip-out, Urban Extreme or LaserZone
Flip Out (trampolines only), Urban Extreme (trampolines, climbing frames, ninja courses and laser tag all in one) and Brisbane LaserZone (laser tag and indoor play area). Kind of bunching these three together since they’re same-same-ish. Great for getting the kids moving if they’ve spent a lot of time on the old Xbox.
4. Indoor mini golf
Holey Moley in Chermside or Hey Caddy in North Lakes. Recommend booking this one in advance. Also handy for hot summer days since the course is air conditioned.
5. Brookside day
This could be any shopping centre, but we always do ours at Brookside, since it’s our small local one. We usually tie it in with the school holiday haircut, a kids’ manicure for around $5 at a nail salon, a kids’ high tea at Shingle Inn for lunch, a $5 “shopping spree” at a cheapie store, and whatever the free holiday entertainment happens to be.
6. Queensland Museum
The Queensland Museum. Alongside the dinosaur exhibits, there’s a fully interactive science exhibit and it’s a lot of fun. There are usually other interesting exhibits on different floors too, like bugs or ocean life.
7. Shopping centre day out: time out, laser tag or movies
You can’t go past a classic “walk around the shops” or movie day when it’s raining. If you haven’t done a 4DX movie yet, definitely do it. The whole seat moves with the action, there are air jets timed with on-screen moments, mist when it rains on screen, extra lights, smoke machines and even scents released, coffee in coffee shop scenes, burning rubber in car chases.
8. Tenpin bowling
Aspley Ten Pin Bowl. Depending on how competitive your kids are, there are gutter guards and ramps to help them out. There are a few time-zone style arcade games here too that my kids always want a go on while we’re there.
9. Escape rooms
Fox in a Box in Brisbane City, Cube Escape Rooms in Everton Park, Red Lock Escape Rooms in North Lakes, or Strathpine Escape. It sounds a bit mad to get out of your whole house only to lock yourselves in a small room and try to escape, but it’s a genuinely fun experience. We did one of the rooms at Cube in Everton Park and it was more challenging than expected, so it’s worth keeping an adult in the room for some help on this one. Strathpine have rooms designed specifically for kids.
10. Mt Coot-tha Planetarium
The Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium. A really cool trip out, located at the Mount Coot-tha Botanic Gardens. You sit backwards and look up into the dome roof, which turns into a massive screen that almost feels 3D. From a tour of the solar system to alien cartoon stories, there are five screenings a day, one for each different movie, each running around an hour.
And that’s the list. We won’t be doing every single one of these, of course, but it’s handy to have as a reference to pick an idea or two from next time the weather puts a shower in our plans. If you’ve got a great activity I’ve missed, let me know.
Thankfully our wet days are usually short and sweet here in Brissy, so enjoy the cool, wet days and make the most of the sleep-ins, no lunchboxes to wash and no uniforms to iron.
Brisbane Family Life 