Every family needs a rainy-day box: a single bin, kept out of sight, filled with things that only come out when the weather turns. The novelty is the point. Toys that appear once a month feel brand new.

Fill it with open-ended materials rather than finished toys. Masking tape, washi tape, paper plates, pipe cleaners, crayons, a roll of kraft paper and a stack of cardboard tubes can become a racetrack, a puppet show or a city.

Add a few simple challenges written on index cards. Build the tallest tower you can from twenty cups. Make a marble run down the stairs. Draw a map of the house and hide a treasure for someone else to find. Design a menu and run a pretend restaurant.

Include something calm for the end of the afternoon: a new puzzle, a book of mazes or a set of story-starter cards that begin with a single line, such as "The day the dog learned to talk..."

When the sun comes back, refresh the box. Swap out anything that was ignored, add something new and put it away again. Next time it rains, it will be the best thing in the house.