How to keep the fun when it’s chucking it down ☔️

The evenings are getting darker.

The weather is getting… well, Scottish. ☔😂

And somehow we’ve gone from “Let’s go outside!” to “I’m bored!”

But autumn can actually be a brilliant time for family connection.

Here are a few ideas to try…

🎃 1. Go all in on Halloween

Halloween is a whole month of opportunities when you're 5–12.

Make decorations. Carve pumpkins. Invent ridiculous costumes. Bake something suspiciously green. Go looking for the best spooky house in your neighbourhood.

Or have a competition for the grossest slime.

Winner gets… absolutely nothing. 😂

Sometimes the sillier the idea, the better the memory.

🎲 2. Declare a Board Game Night

Why wait for Christmas?

Get out UNO, Monopoly, Scrabble, Dobble, Charades — whatever your family enjoys.

And if you're feeling brave, let the children make the rules.

Yes, this could end badly.

But it could also end with everyone crying with laughter.

And if you've ever played Monopoly with your family, you'll know those two things aren't mutually exclusive. 😂

🔧 3. Become a Play Mechanic

This is a classic in our house.

My son calls it “play mechanic” — getting out the broken Lego sets, finding the random pieces and trying to work out how everything goes back together.

There's something quite satisfying about fixing.

And the best bit?

When that old Lego set finally stands up again, it somehow feels brand new.

🖍️ 4. Turn your memories into colouring pages

Here's a slightly unexpected one.

Find an old family photo — a holiday, a funny moment, a day at the beach — and turn it into a colouring page. Adobe Firefly lets you do this for free.

Then sit down together and colour it.

You might be surprised by what the children remember about the picture.

“That's the day Daddy fell in the sea!”

“Remember when we ate ice cream for breakfast?”

Expect plenty of commentary as everyone starts remembering things you thought they'd forgotten. ❤️

☕ 5. Make an ordinary afternoon feel very special

Have you ever invited the kids to an afternoon tea?

And no, I don't mean the expensive kind.

Bake (or buy!) some scones. Put out the nice cups. Light a candle. Make some sandwiches. Add some cookies. 

Then sit down together.

You could even give everyone a fun job title:

Chief Scone Officer.
Tea Quality Inspector.
Head of Jam Distribution.

Because children don't need fancy things.

Sometimes they just need us to make ordinary things feel special.

💃 6. When the weather is awful… roll with it!

If you can't get outside because it's absolutely chucking it down, don't necessarily try to create a calm, productive afternoon.

Use the energy!

Living room disco.
Treasure hunt.
Pillow obstacle course.
Yoga.
Joe Wicks.
Danny Go.
Dance battle.

Let the kids choose the music — even if it's Eurovision. 🇪🇺😂

Dance well. Dance badly. It really doesn't matter.

Just get involved.

Because these silly, ordinary moments might become the memories you all treasure one day.

❤️ And maybe that's the real point.

Getting off screens doesn't have to mean constantly coming up with impressive, structured or educational things for our children to do.

It can be much simpler than that.

Make something.
Fix something.
Play something.
Laugh at something.
Remember something.

The key is to do something slightly out of the ordinary, together.

Because sometimes the best family memories aren't the big days out.

They're the rainy afternoons when someone suggested something silly… and everyone joined in. ❤️