Rainy days don’t have to be dreary. With these 10 rainy day activities for kids, your little ones may actually look forward to stormy days!
Couch Cushion Obstacle Course
Physical challenge is the name of the game when it comes to rainy day activities for toddlers. Since they can’t run and climb outside, you can help them expend all that energy with a couch cushion obstacle course. Spread out and stack couch cushions and throw pillows and let them climb, crawl, and toddle their way across the room. Add in a blanket fort tunnel, and even older kids will want to get in on the fun!
Living Room Campout
Whether you use a full-size tent, a blanket fort, or a child’s teepee, indoor campouts are always a hit. Plus, they give a little extra magic to movie nights, storytime, or anything else you’re doing that day.
Dollhouse Decorating
Rainy days are a wonderful time to encourage pretend play. Come up with a scenario that requires the dollhouse to be decorated such as a royal ball, a favorite holiday, a visit from grandma and grandpa.
Supply them with craft supplies like pipe cleaners, crafting pom poms, construction paper, colors, or whatever you have lying around to let them design their own decorations. Once they’ve completed their master design, they’ll have a blast playing out the pretend scenario with their dolls.
Make a Work of Art
Bust out the art easel, paints, and colors to make a rainy day masterpiece. Make the activity last longer by helping younger kids mix their own DIY fingerpaint. Older kids will enjoy the added challenge of a kids’ drawing tutorial (or drawing book to keep the activity screen-free). Mail those masterpieces to family and friends for the added fun of using stamps and envelopes!
Build a City
Combine block sets and train sets to turn the playroom into a mini-metropolis. Add in dollhouses or playsets to make your city even more fun and let the kids’ imaginations take over!
DIY Enrichment for the Pets
The kids aren’t the only ones cooped up in the house, right? They’ll love the chance to do something nice for the family pet by creating a simple enrichment activity. It’s easy to build treat puzzles for cats out of cardboard and paper towel rolls. For dogs, let your child hide a treat or two in a few small boxes (or any container or hiding place) for a “nose work” activity. For hamsters and rabbits, tear up paper towels to create new nesting materials and enjoy watching them get cozy!
Dance Party
When the stir-craziness starts to set in, crank up a kid-friendly playlist and get everyone on their feet! Bonus points to whoever comes up with the silliest dance moves.
Bake Together
Nothing says cozy, rainy day like the smell of warm cookies. For extra fun, let your little one measure, pour, and mix kid-safe ingredients (i.e. no raw eggs) at their own play kitchen. They’ll find the chance to complete a real task at their own level empowering and fun.
Start a New Book
Cozying up with a page-turner is practically mandatory during a thunderstorm, right? For independent readers, pull up a chair next to your kid’s reading nook and get lost in a book of your own. (And don’t forget to bring a few of the cookies you made earlier!) For pre-readers, make reading together extra special today with your best character voices.