50 Rainy Day Activities (To Save the Day!)

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When rain is in the forecast, do you panic a little? Sometimes a rainy day can spoil your plans, but with these rainy day activities, you don’t have to have a boring day. Get your thinking cap on and have tons of fun anyway! There are great ideas for daycare activities here!

50 Rainy Day Activities for Kids

Giving kids something fun to do when they are stuck inside on a rainy day always prevents them from keeping you busy with something negative. These seed bombs are something we like to pull out to do in a pinch. And check out all these daycare activities that 5 minutes or less to prep! There are 5 minute games too!

Rainy day boredom busters

Finger paint. Let kids explore their paints with their hands for a great creativity builder as well as sensory play.

Coloring is very relaxing, even for kids. My kids love it. I like to give them crayons and colored pencils and let them go to town. Click here for free printable color sheets.

Make Paper Dolls. You can get free printable paper dolls online as well. Kids can color them and then cut them out and dress them.

Rainy day crafts

Collages. Give kids different kinds or colors of paper and let them make rainy day crafts. All you need is a variety of things they can glue on their papers in any way their imagination leads them. You can use buttons, stickers, googly eyes, glitter, scraps of torn or cut up paper, old puzzle pieces, pasta, beans, sequins, plastic jewels, pom poms, feathers, or anything else you can think of. Even make some eco-friendly glitter to use! These are great boredom busters for any day.

When doing collage activities with my preschoolers and toddlers, I just squirt glue all of their papers for them so they have a whole sheet of potential places to put their stuff or I give them glue sticks. Another way to cut down on glue waste is to put a little in a cupcake paper and let them dip their items or give them a popsicle stick to spread it with. (Hey, they could make their collages with popsicle sticks too)

Draw a picture of yourself. Give kids a variety of art materials to draw themselves and a mirror. I like to offer markers, colored pencils, and crayons. You can even use paint.

Make Paper Airplanes. I love making paper airplanes with my kids or any other day. I’m kind of awesome at it too. It’s something I’ve always loved.

Playdough is a great rainy day activity for toddlers or preschoolers. You can even make up a batch of homemade playdough.

Rainy day creative play

Make Sock Puppets. A great rainy-day activity for preschoolers is making sock puppets. All you need is an old sock and a few things to attach to it. You can use buttons for eyes and draw a mouth on with a sharpie or hot glue felt lips for the mouth. You are only limited by your imagination. Then you have hours of fun playing with your puppets after you make them. Puppets are great boredom busters

Making instruments is super fun. Then you can have a music party or make a band for great rainy day fun! Some things that can be used for instruments are:

• Old sour cream containers filled with beans or gravel for shakers
• String some bells on a string and tie them in a loop for bells to ring
• String some rubber bands around the bottom of a shoe box for a guitar
• Fill a discarded plastic Easter egg with gravel for a shaker
• Use a cardboard box, even a shoe box, oatmeal can, tin vegetable can or coffee can for a drum to beat on
• Use sticks to drum on your drums or on the ground
• Make a rain stick by wadding up some paper and stuffing it down a paper towel or wrapping paper tube and adding rice or pea gravel. Then take the end closed and turn it over to hear the rain.
• Place a piece of waxed paper over the end of a toilet paper tube. Glue the edges down and secure with a rubber band for a kazoo the kids can blow in. You can even color the tube and decorate it.

Think you can’t make cool instruments from trash, check this out.

Make a Bird Feeder. There are tons of bird feeders you can make with what you might have around the house. Just smear some peanut butter on a pine cone and roll it in birdseed. Tie it to a tree with a piece of yard and watch the birds devour their snack. Click here for another bird feeder idea you can make for a rainy day activity. And you can make bird houses too!

Make Popsicles. You can make popsicles out of just about any fruit. Just toss it in the blender and pour it into some popsicle molds. Don’t have molds? You can use and ice tray, fill it and then cover it with plastic wrap. Poke toothpicks into each cube and freeze. You can also use Dixie cups and stick a popsicle stick in each one. Yummy rainy day fun!

Cook Something Together. Dig out grandma’s favorite cookie recipe and make it together. Cooking together is so much fun and it’s a rainy-day activity that teaches kids a lot. Measuring, pouring and stirring are all great skill builders for life. Little Sprouts Learning has tons of recipes you can make with your kids. Click here for cowboy cookies, click here for yogurt parfaits or just search around and explore all the things you can make together.

Having a picnic with your teddy is great rainy day fun! Click here to see how we throw teddy bear picnics around here.

Have a little tea party with friends. It can be as simple as water in teacups and some crackers or you can go all out and learn to make scones and have real tea. Throw on some dress up clothes and have a great time enjoying the fanciful merriment.

• Put on a Fashion Show
• Create a Puppet Show
• Make Pom Poms and Cheer
• Make a Car Track on the Floor with Masking Tape and Play Town
• Build Forts with Blankets and Sheets
• Play Dress Up
• Have a Camping Party. Turn off all the lights and set up your tent (or blanket fort). Get inside with your pjs still on and use a flashlight to read books or play with a pretend campfire.
• Use Halloween costumes or your Sunday dresses or whatever you have around to make believe.

Rainy day science

Make a Volcano. You can sculpt a volcano out of clay, make one from a pile of dirt, or just do one in a cup, but baking soda and vinegar is always a fun chemical reaction to watch. Put a sprinkle of baking soda in the bottom of your bowl or volcano and pour in the vinegar. Make sure you put something down to catch all your spills like a cookie sheet or something to cut down on the rainy-day mess.

Make a popsicle stick catapult.

Plant a Seed. All you need is a cup of dirt and a bean from your cabinet or other seed to have some super fun rainy day science fun with your kids. Click here to see how to teach kids about germination.

Boredom Busters for a Rainy day

• Play Board Games
• Make an indoor obstacle course
• Play Cards
• Scavenger Hunt
• Make a list of things to hunt and cut them out of magazine pictures, draw them, find them in the house or 100 different things for rainy day fun with preschoolers and toddlers.
• Simon Says
• Ring Around the Rosie
• Duck, Duck, Goose
• Hokey Pokey
• Red Light, Green Light
• Red Rover
• Write a Letter and Draw a Picture to Send to Grandma
• Read a Pile of Books
• Play in a Cardboard Box
• Clean Your Room
• Sing Karaoke
• Dance Party. Crank up the music and party on!
• Dance and Sing in the Rain. As long as it’s not cold and there is no lightning, playing in the rain in one of the most fun rainy-day activities I can think of!
• Bubble Wrap Stomp. Get a roll of bubble wrap and jump up and down barefoot until you pop all the bubbles. It’s a great sensory activity for your feet too!

Places to Go on a Rainy Day with Kids

• Aquarium
• Play place
• Kid’s museum
• Arcade
• Bowling Alley
• Skating Rink
• Chuck E. Cheese or Incredible Pizza
• Butterfly House
• Aviary

There are so many fun things you can do on a rainy day or any day. Don’t let a little rain dampen your mood. Get out your imagination and get a move on! And if you’re looking for more low maintenance ideas, check these mess free activities out.