No Rain, No Gain: 6 Tips For Enjoying a Damp Easter Holiday With The Kids

Last week, the Met Office confirmed what every parent secretly fears in the build-up to Easter. Dust off the Scrabble, dig up the umbrellas and stock up on Nurofen – it’s rain. Pouring down unfailingly on every picnic, park walk and egg-shaped dream. Thankfully, with a little creativity and a high tolerance for carpet stains, you can make the best of the bad weather – here are a few ideas to dip your wellies in.

1) Baking

When you’re stuck indoors, there are few activities that tick the hunger, stimulation and productivity boxes quite like a good few hours of baking. Think mini aprons, healthy recipes, and blunt knives. Expect broken eggs, premature eating of chocolate chips, and plenty of sugar highs. Healthy(ish) suggestions include:

• Garden carrot cake


• Blueberry muffins


• Cornflake tart

2) Science Experiments

Whether your kids are budding ecologists, palaeontologists or something more akin to Dr Frankenstein, you’ll find no shortage of homemade experiment ideas that are sure to provide both entertainment and education (and that do not involve the reconstruction of your family gerbil). Start off with some easy concoctions, such as: 

• Slime making


• Volcano building


• Avocado trees

3) Arts & Crafts

There’s nothing better on a rainy day than a good couple of hours spent making stuff. Arts & crafts can take the form of origami, poster painting or even papier-mâché. Start by designating a messy space (preferably on a cleanable surface, away from the expensive rug) and set a nice, general objective, like:

• Build an alien planet


• Craft a character costume


• Make puppets for a show

4) Museums

Contrary to popular belief, rainy days can also involve the use of feet. You can, for example, use feet to walk into museums, where you’ll find objects of fascination, such as dinosaur bones, rocket ship replicas and other exhausted parents. Here are a few of our top recommendations, based on ByMansley locations:

London

• Natural History Museum


• Horniman Museum


• Museums

Edinburgh

• Our Dynamic Earth


• National Museum of Scotland


• Scottish Storytelling Centre

Highlands

• Highland Folk Museum


• Inverness Museum & Art Gallery


• Treasures of the Earth

Cheltenham

• Jet Age Museum


• The Wilson Art Gallery & Museum

5) Home Karaoke

With home karaoke, everyone wins. Your kids get to blast ‘Let It Go’ with the ferocity of a thousand suns. You get to sing ‘Do You Believe in Life After Love’ without anyone on the tube complaining. All you need is a plug-in microphone and an internet connection for Youtube.

6) Roll With It

The fifth and final stage of rainy holiday grief is ‘acceptance’. Coming to terms with your aquatic fate can quickly turn the April showers into, dare I say it, an opportunity for adventure. Why not throw on your raincoats, slip on the wellies and find some puddles to jump in? Or you could embark on a wildlife safari – frogs, lizards, worms, snails and even leeches are all barmy for wet weather.

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Mansley Serviced Apartments are a collection of chic and stylish serviced luxury apartments available to rent in the UK’s most prestigious locations, including Mayfair, Kensington, Edinburgh, Cheltenham and the Scottish Highlands. Escape with us, at: www.bymansley.com

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