When I was a child, rainy days could really dampen playtime for my friends and I because we aren’t allowed to go outside. Playing indoors is boring. But since kids today enjoy a lot of gadgets at home, they probably won’t notice anything different.

However, it’s not a good idea to let children be playing with video games all the time. Sometimes you have to also initiate other activities. On rainy days, it can be challenging but here are some ideas to make playing indoors fun, and without the use of any portable technology.

1. Baking

Parents don’t usually allow kids to be in the kitchen because they may hurt themselves. But with an adult’s help, you can spend the day baking cookie doughs or going for the more ambitious like baking pasta or fish meals. Kids enjoy measuring and doing something with their hands, such as kneading. And I’m sure they will love it more if they see the fruits of their labor — and realize that it tastes really good.

2. Arts and Crafts

Don’t do the usual coloring, cutting and pasting as children do these a lot in school and may now feel like a chore, instead of a fun thing to do. Be creative. This is playtime, so have fun with your ideas. I’m thinking shaving creams mixed with tubed watercolors can be fun. They don’t have to create masterpieces. The idea is to have something that will keep them busy and entertained.

3. Have A Game Of Cards

This one always works with my kids and their game of choice is Go Fish! We make it interesting by placing bets. And we use pebbles for our bets. The more pebbles earned at the end of the game, and the winner gets a prize from Mom or Dad.

Game company THQ has announced a tablet to let Nintendo Wii users draw and share games. This could open the door to a lot of creativity-based games in the future. While technology aided art isn’t new, this could be a fun addition to your video games line up.

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I don’t think that kids are any worse nowadays than they were when I was a kid or my grandparents were kids (parents and parenting may be worse, but that’s another post).  So, I don’t think they’re more inclined to cheat.

But I do think they maybe define cheating differently than adults do.

I found a great site for tween girls, called It’s My Life, which discusses a lot of cool stuff, but one thing on there is cheating.  While they do allow kids to give their input, they also offer some pretty clear guidelines about cheating.  I like that–kids’ experiences should matter, but not at the expense of teaching them right from wrong. 

Here are a few of the things IML says about cheating:

• It applies to all of your homework–not just tests!
• It applies to all tests and quizzes, too, even if the teacher steps out of the room.
• It can even apply to group projects, if not everyone carries their fair share or  you use resources your teacher didn’t approve.

Then it has a section that says these things are cheating:

• writing out answers beforehand
• letting someone else do your work
• doing someone else’s work
• copying out of a book (my college students are still working on this concept)
• copying on a test or letting someone else copy you

Kids know when they’re cheating.  The big clue is for them simply to ask, “Do I mind if my teacher or parent sees me doing this?”  If you don’t want them to know, you’re cheating.  If you weren’t cheating, you wouldn’t have anything to hide.

And parents and teachers…get with the times.  Watch out for that cell phone, laptop, bluetooth, Blackberry, etc.  You might not have figured out all the possibilities,  but they sure have.