One of my failsafe methods of engaging children who visit us is to offer to supply a colouring-in pages of their choice. These days there are so many free colouring-in pages available to download, that you can find them for pretty much any subject. Just watch your child's eyes widen as with a few well chosen search terms, you track down a page of Star Wars or Scooby Doo or butterflies for them to adorn with scribbles.

Since many of these sites are US-based, you'll find them more easily if you use the American spelling of 'Coloring' for your search.

And now online arts and crafts have become even more sophisticated. So next time it's a rainy day, as long as your printer's got ink, you're never more than a few clicks away from some creative activities.

Here are some we enjoyed recently:
My son was very impressed with the How To Train Your Dragon website, which includes dot to dots, colouring pages and a growth chart. But best of all there's a diorama ( a mini world scene) to cut out and create. We made a little world in a shoebox and filled it with the dragons from the film. Hours of fun for free.

If your children have a favouite film, it's worth checking out the website as many kids' film sites do now come with extra activities (we love the pinball on the Wall-E site)

More great resources can be found at the BBC sites – both CBBC and CBeebies for younger children have a wealth of activities you can do online or print out. You could be busy there for hours, and it would be time well spent.