When Rain Stops Play

It's beginning to look like we might be in for another fantastic British summer of liquid sunshine. Working in the open air as I do, I'm used to the unpredictability of the English weather. Activity plans always include a contingency for wet weather, which isn't always "the dry weather programme in waterproofs", though admittedly that does often seem to be the case.

Wherever possible, I try to go ahead with some version of the original plan no matter how foul the weather gets. I've run events in the snow, and torrential downpours, and howling wind. I think it's always more satisfying when the people who do make the effort to come out to visit me in all that horrible weather have a fantastic time regardless. I've found that there is no rain so heavy that it can drown the fun of making hats, swords and anything shaped like a TARDIS.

I have learnt a few things about wet weather planning that I thought I'd share for the benefit of others in anticipation for a rainy summer.

Don't let your craft get soggy
Even if you're inside, if the humidity is high enough then it'll dampen any papercraft you've got planned. Damp paper doesn't have the same crispness of dry paper, so bear that in mind if you're planning headbands or anything else where the paper needs to stand upright. It also reacts differently to colouring pens and so on when it's damp; felt pens will absorb better but with less crisp lines and wax crayons and pencil crayons won't colour so easily.

Maybe it'll pass...
We're all optimists at heart. Even when it's been raining non-stop for the last week, you'll still find that people will dwell longer in the inside, dry spaces, hoping that it might stop bucketing it down outside in a minute. If you'd usually expect a family to do one or two activities, you should expect them to do three in rainy weather. If the children are enjoying themselves then the adults will be only too happy to allow them to stay and carry on in the hopes of avoiding more showers.

It only rains on the adults
For some reason, wet weather bothers adults a lot more than it bothers kids. If the parents are happy to let them, you'll often find most kids don't really mind running around in light rain. Some don't even mind heavy rain. Just make sure that if you do you're running around on ground that isn't likely to get too slippery. If you can provide a nice warm room for them to dry off in afterwards then all the better.

If anyone else has wet-weather hints and tips, I'm always eager to hear them. After all, there's never a shortage of rainy days!