Great Ideas for Kids on a Rainy Day!
Posted by Scott Simonsen
50 Fun Rainy Day Activities For Kids
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695 SHARES | 1. Create a Town in a Cardboard BoxIf you have a giant cardboard box, why not draw a town on the bottom of the box, with roads, tracks, bridges, parks, car-parks, etc. Add some wooden building blocks, cars,trains and some wooden/plastic animals. And let your kid’s imagination run wild. Older kids could help with decorating/creating the scene. 2. Build a Fort with Blankets and Pillows Build a den out of the sofa cushions, chairs, clothes rack with a blanket draped over or create a fort out of a big cardboard box with packing tape to hold the sides together. 3. Visit the LibraryYour local library is a great resource on a rainy day. Many of the libraries run pre-school story time, during school hours, and often run classes/activities for school kids during holidays. See our list of libraries nationwide.
4. Indoor Treasure HuntOur free indoor treasure hunt sheet has All you have to do is provide each child with their printed treasure hunt and a small box to collect their items! 5. Make some MusicGet all your instruments out or make some cheap versions, using kitchen utensils(most popular in our house are pots, wooden spoons, tins, spatula) and make some “music” – check out our tips here You might also like our 50 Fun Indoor Activities for Kids 6. Tidy out the PlayroomMay sound like a chore to start, but as the kids start to find toys, they hadn’t seen for a while, they will get in on the fun! Only precaution is be prepared to finish the tidying on your own, as they go off to play with some “long-lost” toy! Recommended Read: Games to Make Chores Fun 7. Play board gamesPlay some board games together. Here are the 20 best board games for families & New Family Board Games Recommended by Board Game Guys.
8. Make a home cinemaSet up a home cinema and settle down to watch some fun family movies together. We’ve lots of suggestions here for
Or why not make your own movies with How to Make Stop Motion Movies – The Beginners Guide? 9. Make shadow shapesTurn off the lights, close the curtains, and with the help of a torch, take turns making shadow shapes on the walls, with your hands. See who can make the best shape. May also like Best Activity Books for Kids Guaranteed to Amuse 10. Google “How to draw…”Google “How to draw…”, selecting whatever your kid wants, such as dinosaur, racing car, fairies, princess, animals etc. Get some blank sheets and let them loose.
Recommended Read: 50 Brilliant Art & Craft Ideas Worth the Mess 11. Play cardsRemember the card games you used to play as a child? Why not teach your kids how to play some card games. Here are 15 fun card games for kids. 12. BakeMost kids love to bake, with the promise of a sweet treat at the end! Here are 10 Easy Peasy Baking Recipes for Kids, and we have lots more recipe ideas in our food and recipessection, to give you some inspiration.
Recommended : Easy Peasy Baking Recipes & Cookie Recipes for Kids 13. Create a Play/ShowHave the children put on a play or show (don’t forget to film it!) 14. Make Paper AeroplanesAll you need to make Paper Aeroplanes is paper and pens. First fold your paper aeroplane and then the kids can draw the pilots at the front and the passengers looking out of the windows. Then have a Paper Aeroplane race and see whose gets furthest. You might also like 33 Fun Projects for Kids Aged 8-12 yrs 15. Make special cards or write a letterEveryone loves to receive a personal letter/card in the post these days, as is such a rarity! This would be a special treat for Grandparents or even cousins. Use stamps, glitter, paints and create a card to send or give to their relatives. Good opportunity for older children to practice their handwriting too! 16. ColouringPrint off some printables / colouring sheets, get out all the pens and crayons and set up a colouring station at the kitchen table. colorwithmimi.com has a good choice of printable activities for kids. Here are the Best Sites for Free Colouring Pages for Toddlers.
Then set up an Art Gallery once the fabulous pictures are finished to show them off to other family members. You might also like Activities for a Rainy Day 16. Make a MagazineSet up a family News Desk at the kitchen table! Decide on what stories are going to go in the magazine. Could be a profile of someone in the family, maybe an interview with a grandparent, will someone take photos or draw pictures. Maybe there could be a fun corner with a puzzle or a joke in it. Decide on what story or item will go on what page, maybe write down on a mini magazine plan on a sheet of paper. Gather together the materials you’ll need to make up the magazine: paper, pens, photos, any other materials to decorate the magazine. Then have fun putting the magazine together! You might also like What to Do on a Rainy Day & 10 Rainy Day Activities. 17. Decorating CupcakesThis is one activity that does need some advance planning, so why not keep your baking cupboard stocked with some decorating basics, such as selection of sprinkles and stars, hearts, mini-mallows, bar of chocolate, as well as cupcake cases. Bake some cupcakes/buns – this lemon buns recipe is lovely, if you’re stuck for a recipe. You can make the icing, or melt some chocolate, to top the buns. Cover your table and give the kids the cooled buns to decorate – yummy! 18. Read-a-thonThis is a great activity for older kids – set a challenge to see how many books/chapters can be read during the day. If in need of some inspiration here’s
19. Have a tea-party/indoor picnicSpread out the picnic blanket/kids table and set out little plates with snacks and drinks and napkins and enjoy an indoor picnic! Cuddly toys also make useful guests! 20. Lego-Building ContestMost houses have lego, so why not spent a wet day having a lego-building contest. Pick a theme e.g. vehicles, single coloured blocks etc. and let them loose constructing. 21. Have a Micro Treasure HuntEveryone gets a matchbox to fill it with as many tiny objects as they can find. They have ten minutes to find and fit into their matchbox as many tiny whole objects as they can. Tiny Things that would fit in the matchbox could include:
22. Make a playlist and have a discoOn iTunes, Spotify, Audiolizer or we7 you can create your own playlists of your favourite songs. Why not pick 5 songs each that you all like, to add to your playlist, then put it on shuffle and have a Mini Disco in the house. Move back the furniture, and get moving – why not try best and worst dancer competitions, and get everyone to try the Can Can and limbo dancing ? 23. Hold an indoor Scavenger HuntNearly everyone owns a digital camera or has camera function on their mobile phone. Make up a list of items, that can be found throughout the house. The children must find and photograph each item on the list! Why not try finding the items on our Scavenger Hunt!
May also like 10 Mega Fun Scavenger Hunt Ideas for Kids 24. Photo Albums & PhotosKids (and adults) love looking at old photos and hearing stories, so find those old photo albums and have a look at the past. A real winner in our house is to give each child their own photo album, and let them choose their own photos for it – a great entertainer on a rainy day! They can get creative with their own albums, decorating the covers and pages. 25. Make a collageGet out the old magazines and some paper and glue and pens and have a collage-making session. 26. Make a flippy book/moving storyThis is an ideal craft for an older kid – all you need is a drawing pad, and pencil. Explain how the book works, that you draw an image in the same corner of the book on each page, and that each image changes only slightly. Stickman are a good starting point, in different poses. Then you flip through the pages and watch their character “start to move” 27. Play dress-upYou can let the kids use their dress-up boxes, but more fun is to let them loose in your wardrobes. Ideally drag out some of your older clothes, that are not fashionable anymore, but that doesn’t mean your little one won’t love running around in them!
28. Make scrapbooksGive your child some old photographs they love to make special scrapbook pages you can add to your own scrapbooks.Supplies: old pictures, craft paper, glue, sparkles, etc 29. Paint FacesMost kids love getting their faces painted, so worth having some good face-paint in the house, at all times. Also good practice for when your hosting your kids’s birthday parties at home. 30. Get CraftyIt’s a good idea to have an Art Supplies Box, that you keep for rainy days, filled with glitter, glue, pom-poms, stickers, pipe cleaners, and let them get creative. If they don’t know what to make/draw/paint give them a topic to get them started.
We have plenty of ideas here too:
31. Expand an ImageGlue a piece from a magazine picture, onto a blank sheet of paper, and allow the kids to finish the picture. 32. Go Camping in the Great Indoors!What child doesn’t love building a princess castle or a fortress indoors? Pick a room in the house that you don’t mind being rearranged for a few hours, and use sheets and blankets and lots of pegs to secure them as a roof between tables, sofas and chairs. Let them decorate, bring in their toys, books, and perhaps even enjoy a picnic lunch in their camp. You might also like 50 Fun Things to do with your Toddler 33. Indoor Obstacle CourseCreate an indoor obstacle course with plenty of climbing, crawling, hopping, jumping, falling on cushions/mattresses and let the kids go mad and try to beat each other’s times round the course. 34. Set up a racing trackUsing some masking tape, create a racing track for cars to race around the living room by using the tape twice to make a parallel track.
Photo via Jennifer Tuksal’s Fun For Kids Pinterest Board. 35. Have a Jigsaw afternoonJigsaws are a whole-family activity that can work well between differently-aged siblings. Set each member of the family up with a puzzle to suit their skill level, all helping each other finish, or create teams to work on large puzzle together. You can even make your own family-photo jigsaws using an enlarged photo printed onto plain paper from your computer. Recommended Read: Budget Busting ideas for Rainy Days 36. Make jewelleryIf you don’t have jewellery crafts at home, you can use everyday items, like pasta, noodles, beads, paint, string, to make fashionable master pieces. 37. Make sock puppetsGather up some of your old sock, and some items for eyes, mouths, and noses, to make some sock puppets. If your kids can sew, they can add the decorating with needle and thread, but for younger kids use glue. You could create a puppet theatre in a cardboard box, and let the kids put on a puppet show for you – be sure to record it though. 38. Make Play DoughChildren will adore making play dough and they will have fun exploring different food colourings to give the dough that lovely vibrant colour. Non-toxic, cheap and easy. Watch how to make play dough here:
39. Make tie-dye clothesIf your child is tired of their boring white socks, why not have a tie dye day? You will need white clothing, bucket, water, various dyes, rubber bands, rubber gloves to protect your hands. How you fold and secure with rubber bands, helps determine the pattern that results. Best to start with lightest colour, if using more than one, and follow dye instructions carefully. More tips here 40. Science FunWhy not while away a few hours with some science fun? See our 5 Fun Science Experiments to try at home, Halloween Science Experiments for Kids & Summer Science Experiments for Kids. Or try your hand at making some gooey, messy Oobleck – kids seems to love it!
May also also like 18 Easy Science Activities for Preschoolers 41. Play ShopSet up a little grocery/mini supermarket with tins and packets. If you have a play till set up a checkout table and they can take it in turns to be the checkout person or the shopper. The ironing board made a great checkout in my youth! Have some bags ready to put the purchases in. May also like 21 Fun Toddler Games Every Preschooler Parent Should Know 42. Paint Paint PaintCover the table with newspaper sheets and get out the poster paints or watercolours and some paper and have an art session at the kitchen or dining table. Marble painting is also great fun. All you need is a plastic holder/tray or square basin, add your sheet of paper. 2/3 colours of paint, and a marble. Allow the kids to move the box around to create their designs. Here are 8 Awesome Art Projects for Kids You’ll Want to Treasure.
43. Balloon Ping-PongAll you need is some balloons, and either table-tennis bats, or make your own bats using paperplates and sticks for handles. Clear some space in the hall and off they go. 44. Play some outdoor games, indoors!Not all outdoor games can move inside, and swingball is best left outside, but can easily play skittles in the hall, or hold hula-hoop competitions. Can setup indoor hopscotch with masking tape and a beanbag as your “stone”. Here are Ingenious Ideas for Indoor Games for Kids. Recommended : 15 Entertaining Indoor Games for Kids 45. Head OutdoorsSometimes, you have just got to get out of the house, even if it’s raining! And we have lots of ideas for entertaining the kids once they are out:
You might also like 50 Outdoor Activities for Kids & 60 Fun Outdoor Activities for Entire Year 46. Measure rainfallTake a large jar/ cut the top off a large plastic water bottle and put outside in the rain. At regular intervals or when the rain has stopped, measure the height of the rain that day or hour and make a chart of the rainfall over time. 47. Life sized drawings on large sheetsGet a large roll of paper, like have on easels/boards, and draw their outline(s) on the paper. They can then colour in, adding features, clothes etc. This is also a great winner at parties. 48. Misfit CharactersGive kids old magazines/catalogues and get them to cut out pictures of heads,torso,legs and shoes. They can then have some fun mixing them up, and gluing on blank sheets of paper. 49. Make HomeMade PizzaWith some simple ingredients, the kids can enjoy helping make homemade pizza and putting their own toppings on. Perfect for lunch/dinner on that rainy day.
50. Make Chef’s hatsAll you need is 1 single use table cloths from any big supermarket, as they are easy to cut, but also easy to stick with regular pritt stick.
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