As the rain pours outside, keeping your little dragons busy and out of trouble can be a full time job! Luckily, we have come up with a few family activities that will help your children (and you!) to enjoy yourself over the next few weeks.

          

Get crafty in the kitchen
If your Night Fury and Gronckle love to eat, then getting crafty in the kitchen can be a fun activity for them! If they are meat eaters, then how about cooking up home-made fish cakes? They will love mixing up their favourite ingredients and rolling them into balls. Plus, the fish will boost their brain power, give them extra strength for games of hide and seek in the forest and play fighting with other dragons.

If sweet treats are what keeps their growling at bay, try baking some yummy chocolate chip cookies with your kids and decorate them with icing scales, tails and sharp teeth - all the better to eat you with! Children will swoop into the kitchen the moment they smell their dragon cookies baking, and you'll love them too.

Explore their imagination at the library
When the rain is pouring, it can be a great excuse to encourage your tiny fire breathers to use their imagination. Head down to the local library and read aloud their favourite stories about dungeons, dragons and adventure as they act out their favourite parts. Take costumes (a great craft idea for a previous day!) and let them get lost in the story as they charge about protecting their friends from danger, saving princesses and breathing fire on the baddies. Now is your chance to escape with them into a magical world quite different to the one we live in - where anything is possible.

Unleash energy at the bowling alley
Little monsters will love releasing their built up energy at their local bowling alley. They can use their strength, agility and skill to line up their shot and get a strike every time (provided the bumpers are up, of course!). Give them the opportunity to hone their skills in an activity that is sociable, active and a lot of fun. Take a pack of their friends and let them run wild playing amongst the arcade games, the laser skirmish and, of course, the bowling.

You could even go all out and organise a dungeons and dragons themed party for kids at your local AMF - no doubt at some stage over the holidays, your little monsters are going to be desperate to catch up with their school friends and tell tales of the monsters they've defeated. Make an afternoon of it, bring along your freshly baked treats and dress up your children as their favourite dragons.

Go ice skating!
So your kids are roaring at you to take them somewhere new and exciting? Try ice skating! If they are a little nervous, lessons are available at most rinks to help your child feel more confident on the ice and soon you'll find them swooping around the rink before you have time to say "go, dragon go!". Kids love the freedom of skating around on the ice, and during winter there are plenty to choose from. Find out what's on offer in your city - from outdoor to indoor, little gremlins love trying out new tricks and racing each other around and around - and the steam they can breathe into the cold air is a pretty authentic portrayal of a dragon's fire being extinguished.