Keeping children entertained during any rainy day can be difficult. But throw in a hurricane, which brings along the possible loss of electricity, and you're in for a long day(s) and night(s).But if you make sure that along with your emergency kit, you also stock up on games, crafts and other fun activities, the hours stuck inside will fly by. It's all about getting creative.While extra batteries can be stocked up for any handheld games, children will eventually tire of them and will be begging for something to do.Make sure to have a good stock of flashlights and battery-operated lanterns (with lots of extra batteries) for when the sun starts to set.Make a list of games, including the ones below, and include this in your emergency supply kit. Stock your disaster supplies kits with board games, puzzles and entertaining activities that don't need electricity. For example, include a deck of cards for games like memory, go fish, slap jack or crazy eights. Keep a couple of colouring books and some coloured pencils in your kit; crossword puzzle books or paper and pencil for tic-tac-toe; or word games are also good ideas. Playing games like 20 questions, charades, I-spy, and telephone are also great fun, especially if you have a large family.This is a great time to put together an art kit, which can come in handy whenever children get bored. This can include scrap paper, old magazines, coloured construction paper, paints, glue, glitter, ribbon, coloured pipe cleaners basically anything to keep children busy and exploring their creativity.And last, but not least, keep a few good books in your kit that can be read out loud or savoured and enjoyed by your children and the rest of the family during the storm.ACTIVITIESIndoor BasketballYou'll need:WastebasketPaper from the recycle binMasking tape (optional)Tape lines on the floor to mark distances from the waste basket. Your child can scrunch up the paper for balls while you do this. It's now time to start shooting hoops. Begin at the easiest tape line and work up the “court”.Tag team drawingYou'll need:PaperColoured markersEach player sits at the table with her own colour marker and a piece of paper. At go, players have 30 seconds to begin a drawing (designate one player as the official timer).When the time is up, everyone moves clockwise to the next paper, gives it a quarter turn, and has 30 seconds to continue the drawing. Having players move to the paper, rather than passing it, ensures that each paper gets the proper quarter turn.Play continues in this manner, with the paper being given a quarter turn by each new artist, until everyone has added to each drawing.Anything auctionYou'll need:Old pillowcases or medium garbage bags, one per playerHousehold itemsPencil and paperTo prepare, have the auctioneer secretly make a list of items with randomly assigned point values. For example: writing instrument: 8 points, something with flowers on it: 25 points.Be sure to include general categories such as something rectangular, and assign negative points to a few items (a sharp item: minus 12 points).To play, give everyone three minutes to fill their pillowcases with household items, being sure to note areas and types or items that are off-limits (china cabinet, anything on the wall, bedrooms, etc). When the time is up, the auctioneer reads from the list. If a player has an item, he holds it up to receive credit. The player with the most points becomes the next auctioneer.Finally, have children return their items as quickly as they can. The first player to put everything back in the right place gets an extra 10 points toward the next round.TelephoneThe game is best played with a larger group of people. Start off by sitting in a big circle. Choose one person to think of a message. When they think of a message they tell it to the person sitting next to them, then the person sitting next to them tells the message to the next person and so on. If one person should not understand the message they may say operator and the person who told them the message can repeat it again. If anyone needs to say operator, they can only say it once. When the last person gets the message they stand up and say the message out loud. If the message is right, then the person who thought of the message says yes and the last person wins the game. If the message is wrong, then the person who thought up the message wins the game. The point of the game is to see if the last person can say the message correctly. The fun thing about this game is that usually the last person never says the message correctly, and it is fun to hear the message all scrambled up.CRAFTSMagazine mosaicYou'll need:Paper plate or scrap paperMagazine pagesScissorsWhite glueWaterSmall brushSketch a design on the back of a paper plate or the blank side of scrap paper; such as a sun or underwater theme. Tear out magazine pages printed with shades of the colours you'd like to use. Cut strips of the pages into small squares. The shapes don't have to be perfect a little variety is what makes a mosaic interesting. You'll also need a few triangles to fit in corners. Mix together equal parts white glue and water. To fill in the design, brush a bit of glue mixture on the plate, put the squares in place, and seal each with a topcoat of the glue mixture. When you are finished, let the project dry completely.CARD GAMESSlapjackSlapjack can be played with two to eight players; but is best when played with three or fourA standard 52-card deck can be used, but best not to use your best deck slapjack has been known to cause damage to cards. The goal of the game is to win all of the cards in the deck.To start, shuffle the deck. Deal the cards one at a time, face down, to each player as evenly as possible. Each player now has a face-down pile of cards in front of him.The player to the left of the dealer goes first and play continues clockwise from there. In turn, each player takes the top card on his pile and places it, face up, in the middle of the table.When moving a card from his pile to the middle of the table, each player should do so by turning the card away from himself. This ensures that the player does not see the card before his opponents have a chance to do the same. (The player should also turn the card quickly, so that he's not giving himself a disadvantage.)When the card placed in the middle of the table is a jack, players race to be the first to slap a hand on top of the jack. The first player to do so wins the entire pile of cards. That player collects the cards and adds them to his pile. He then shuffles the entire pile and sets it down in front of him.When more than one player slaps at a jack, the player whose hand is lowest on the pile wins. When a player slaps any card other than a jack, he gives one card from his own supply, face down, to the opponent who played the card that fooled him.When a player runs out of cards, he remains in the game until the next jack is revealed. If the player with no cards is the first to slap the jack, he wins the pile of cards and remains in the game. If he is not first, however, he is eliminated from the game. When one player wins all of the cards, he wins the game.Crazy EightsThe basic game of Crazy Eights uses a standard 52-card pack, or two such packs shuffled together if there are a lot of players. The dealer deals (singly) five cards to each player (seven each if there are only two players). The undealt deck is placed face down on the table, and the top card of the deck is turned face up and placed beside the deck to start the discard pile.Starting with the player to dealer's left, and continuing clockwise, each player in turn must either play a legal card face up on top of the discard pile, or draw a card from the undealt deck. The following plays are legal.If the top card of the discard pile is not an eight, you may play any card which matches the rank or suit of the previous card (for example if the top card was the king of hearts you could play any king or any heart).An eight may be played on any card, and the player of the eight must nominate a suit.The first player who gets rid of all their cards wins, and the other players score penalty points according to the cards they have left in their hands 50 for an eight, 10 for a picture and spot cards at face value (one point for an ace, two for a two and so on).If the deck pile is exhausted, the played cards, except for the last card, are shuffled and stacked face down to make a new stock.Some other rules to keep in mind include:You must alert the other players when you have just one card left. If you fail to do so you must draw cards (usually two) from the stock as a penalty.When a queen (or some other designated rank) is played, the next player in rotation misses a turn, and the turn passes to the following player.When an ace (or some other designated rank) is played, the next player must draw four cards.When a two is played the next player must draw two cards.