Board games on the cards for holiday washout

Parents may have to turn to cinema trips and board games to keep their children entertained with a washout expected for these school holidays.

A band of heavy rain is forecast by MetService to hit the West Coast of the South Island on Tuesday, before spreading to the east coast on Wednesday.

But the poor weather should begin to clear for the east coast on Thursday.

The North Island also looks likely to get a soaking next week as rain sets in on Wednesday and Thursday.

MetService duty forecast Derek Holland said that the weather would be fine and frosty across New Zealand before the rain arrives on Tuesday.

And those hoping for a dump of snow will have to wait it out.

Porters Ski Area in the South Island opened on Saturday with a few centimetres of snow on Friday night adding to what the snow machines had already created.

Holland said North Island ski fields Whakapapa and Turoa would not see much snow fall next week.

But ski fields down south, like The Remarkables may get a snow dump on Wednesday evening.

Luckily, a number of childfriendly films are on release for the school holidays, including a Steven Spielberg adaptation of Roald Dahl’s classic book, The BFG; Pixar animation sequel Finding Dory; and the latest release in the Ice Age saga.

Holland said it was difficult to say if the weather would improve beyond Thursday.

‘‘It is too complex to forecast something of value beyond that,’’ he said.