75 Fun Rainy Day Activities For Kids Of All Ages

If the weather is miserable outside and your kids are going stir-crazy, these rainy-day activities for kids will brighten their faces even with the gloomy weather.

These fun activities for rainy days are the perfect solution to cabin fever, with ideas for younger children, older children and even a few outdoor wet weather activities that kids will love!

With 75 creative ideas, this will become your go-to list of rainy day activities for all future wet weather days too!

Super Fun Things To Do On A Rainy Day With Kids

If you’re looking for the ultimate list of rainy day activities, look no further. There is no excuse not to have fun, even if the rainy weather ruined your plans for the day.

That’s okay because we’ve got loads of new ways to spend the day.

And they don’t involve spending the day staring at screens either! At least, not most of them.

These rainy day family activities are the perfect opportunity to make the most of the bad weather. So let’s get to it!

Indoor Rainy Day Activities For Home

When the bad weather arrives, most of us look first for the best indoor activities for rainy days.

And thankfully there’s a whole lot of great fun you can have at home and out and about that won’t involve you getting drenched!

The rainy-day indoor activities listed below include plenty of ways to entertain self-sufficient kids and mum and dad too.

1. Play Board Games

Have a little bit of friendly competition with the whole family! Bring out your kids’ favourite board games to start a match in the living room.

You can make things much more fun by giving hilarious consequences to the losing participant, like having to do a silly dance or collect everyone’s dirty laundry.

2. Indoor Dance Party

Connect your device to a speaker and select an upbeat playlist to let the indoor dance party begin! Turn your living room or bedroom space into a dance floor. Kids get to show off their fantastic moves and get some exercise while being stuck inside.

3. Scavenger Hunt

Set up a scavenger hunt throughout your home. It’s an exciting rainy-day activity for kids who love to solve riddles and puzzles. There’s a few ways you can do this.

Set clues to lead them around the house as they solve each one, perhaps with a prize at the end. Another way is to have a list of items they need to find or collect.

4. Science Experiments

For curious children, science experiments are the perfect rainy-day indoor activity. Find easy and safe experiments that you can do at home.

Depending on the nature of the experiment and what household items you need, this might need to happen on a covered patio area for extra ventilation. Safety first, always!

5. Play Card Games

Gather around to play card games to pass the time. Aside from Uno, your children will enjoy Go Fish, Old Maid, Snap, or Crazy Eights. There are also fun card games like Exploding Kittens, Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza and Kids Against Maturity.

6. Make Ice Cream Sundaes

The dreary weather is a great excuse to treat ourselves with something yummy and ice cream sundaes are always a good idea! Let the kids add their own fun toppings like sprinkles, syrup, chocolate chips and wafers.

7. Indoor Obstacle Course

Surprise your kids with an indoor obstacle course at home. This will work best if you’ve got an open space where you can safely set up obstacles. Have them climb through cardboard boxes, jump over cushions and weave between chairs.

8. Playdough

What kid doesn’t love playdough? And you can make your own playdough at home with one of these simple playdough recipes. Join them in moulding different characters and shapes.

Play dough is also a recommended sensory play idea, which also improves fine motor skills.

9. Make Slime

What do kids love more than playdough…Slime! There are various slime recipes that you can easily do at home if you’ve got the right ingredients.

Glitter slime, cloud slime, glow-in-the-dark slime… so may fun times and rude noises ahead.

10. Bake Cookies

A batch of freshly baked cookies makes even the most gloomy day feel a little more special! Plus baking skills are practical skills your kids will benefit from learning.

11. Put On A Puppet Show

Puppet shows are great rainy-day activities for kids! You can use store-bought puppets or make your own from paper bags, paper plates, socks, and other materials. Kids will have a blast performing their show for your family.

12. Make A Sheet Fort

Turn a bedroom or living room space into an enchanting and cosy sheet fort. It’s the perfect setup to avoid feeling too cooped up at home.

Younger kids will definitely love this idea but you might be surprised by how easily your big kids get on board too! I don’t think any of us ever really outgrow a love of building forts.

13. Have A Movie Marathon

Let your kids watch their favourite movies loaded up with snacks. A rainy day is a great chance to dig into a new film series, such as our personal favourite, the Marvel Cinematic Universe or to take a trip to Hogwarts with the Harry Potter films.

14. Look Through Photo Albums

Visit old memories by flipping through family photo albums. It’s nice to reminisce with your kids and tell stories about when they were younger. This is a wonderful time to share some of their family history.

15. Watch Family Home Videos

Apart from family pictures, moments recorded on video are always fun to watch back. Play old travel videos, family wedding videos, or playback memories you’ve recorded in your phone.

16. Story Telling

Have a storytelling session at home. This rainy-day activity can help your child hone their creativity and imagination. Take turns adding a sentence to the story for a hilarious series of events that will have you all in giggles.

17. Decorate Cupcakes

Most kids love spending time in the kitchen, especially when it involves baked goodies such as making cupcakes. You can bake cupcakes from scratch or buy ready-made cupcakes (or plain cookies) to decorate with frostings and lollies.

18. Hot Lava

The floor is lava! If you’ve ever seen the game show, then you know how this one goes. The rules of the game are simple: pretend that the floor is hot, molten lava. Your challenge is to get around without touching it and make it to your destination or a safe spot in time.

Use couch cushions and chairs to make your way across the floor to the safety of the couch or bed. So much fun!

19. Plan a Playdate

If your kid is an only child, or if you’ve been dealing with days of rainy weather, they might be craving some social time with their peers. Invite a friend or neighbour, or even their cousin over for a fun playdate.

Just having someone new to interact with is often fun in itself!

20. Virtual Playdates

Got no friends nearby? Set up a virtual playdate. Have your kids video call their friends and do activities together like playing games, watching movies or just catching up while they’re stuck indoors on a rainy day.

21. Hide n’ Seek

A common denominator between most kids is their love for hide and seek. Turn it into a whole family rainy day activity and see who the master of hiding is.

22. Hopscotch

Introduce your kids to a classic game of hopscotch. You can use washi tape or similar to mark out the hopscotch squares on your tiles or floorboards indoors. Or use chalk on your covered patio area instead.

23. Karaoke

Karaoke is always a hit with kids. Whether they’re big or small, belting out their favourite pop songs will never fail to amuse them and you! Download karaoke apps or YouTube videos on your TV and have everyone take turns singing (or screaming) their hearts out.

24. Make A Time Capsule

This rainy-day activity is a great way to document what life was like for your family during this time. Have each child create a page about themselves, draw a picture of their favourite toys, or write messages to their future selves.

Once the contents are in place, seal them up and pop them into the capsule. A shoe box or similar will work for this. Then set an agreed date in the future to open it.

25. Indoor Picnic

The rain is not an excuse to cancel your picnic plans! You and your kids can arrange a picnic setup in your living room with everything you planned to enjoy at your outdoor picnic.

26. Dress Up

Get dolled up with your daughters and sons and have fun styling one another. This could be an excuse to wear your finest outfit to the dinner table or put together the most outrageous outfits for some fun dress-up play from your costume box.

27. Play 20 Questions

Hang out with your kids by playing conversation games such as 20 Questions, Would You Rather? or asking them general conversation starters to learn more about what is on each of your hearts.

Solo Rainy Day Activities For Kids

You don’t have to be stuck indoors with your children all day. Give them some solo rainy day activities that they can do on their own while you take a break or get some things done.

28. Colouring Pages

Print out colouring pages for them from the endless resources of free printables available on the internet. Or have them pull to their colouring books instead and get busy creating.

29. Read A Book

Rainy days are the perfect moment to indulge in a good book while staying in bed. If your child is a big bookworm, they can pass some of the time by getting lost in a whole new world within the pages.

This is a skill you want your kids to continue developing throughout their childhood too.

30. Video Games

While you might not be keen for your child to have a heap of screen time, a little gaming time can be fine. In fact, there are lots of educational games out there that can help your kids learn and develop new skills.

Gaming can help promote fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination and problem-solving skills too, and games like Minecraft teach coding basics.

31. YouTube Drawing Tutorials

This is a favourite for my kids, finding drawing tutorials on YouTube for their latest obsession. This can keep kids entertained for hours, depending on the age of your child and their enjoyment of drawing.

32. Write A Letter To A Friend

Encourage your child to write a letter to a friend, whether they are a local friend that they can hand deliver their letter to or someone far away that you can post it to. This is a lovely way to encourage them to stay in touch with long-distance relatives too.

33. Scrapbooking

Compiling memories into a scrapbook is a lovely rainy-day indoor idea that keeps children busy.

Use a scrapbook kit with embellishments and supplies or repurpose a plain notebook or sketchpad instead. Scrapbooking is the chance to help them get in touch with their emotions and creative side.

34. Origami

Teach your child how to create different origami shapes and leave them to their folding, or have them follow video tutorials online to learn on their own. They can give their creations to friends when back at school.

35. Do A Puzzle

Encouraging your kids to complete a puzzle helps in cognitive development. This can be a wonderful mindfulness activity for kids as they build the image piece by piece.

36. Cardmaking

Cardmaking is a great creative activity for kids and teens. Kids can create cards for specific upcoming occasions or general birthday and celebration cards to give to friends and family later in the year.

If you happen to have a cardmaking machine like the Cricut Joy, you can teach the kids how to use it too.

37. Write & Illustrate Their Own Story

Give your child a pen, paper, and drawing materials and leave them to their imagination. Some kids might need a few writing prompts to get them started.

38. Gratitude Journal

Learning gratitude at a young age is an essential part of growing up. Through gratitude journals, your children will grow up with a thankful heart. They will learn to be grateful for rainy days and quiet moments almost as much as they will for the big moments.

These gratitude prompts are a great way to encourage your children even more, especially for beginners. 

39. Painting

Aside from colouring and drawing, your child might love painting as well. Set up a mini easel in the kitchen to let your child get creative. Different paint mediums can be fun to experiment with or stick with kid-safe water paints if you’re nervous about damaging any indoor surfaces.

40. Make Bracelets

Allow your child’s crafty and creative side to flourish by making a friendship bracelet or beaded bracelet for friends and family!

41. Watch Favourite Cartoons

Watching a favourite cartoon show or movie is always great entertainment for kids for a couple of hours on a rainy day. Make some kid-friendly snacks, get them comfy on the sofa, and let them choose something you know will keep them happy for a while.

42. Rock Painting

Collect a few rocks from your garden or from a rock painting kit and let your child create their own masterpieces on the rocks with whatever colours, patterns, or designs they wish.

You can keep the painted rocks together as decorations or spread the joy by finding people to give them away to!

43. Sensory Bin

Create a sensory bin for your child with items like dried rice, dry pasta, shaving cream and other textured materials. It’s a great way to keep kids entertained for hours and it’s also an opportunity.

Depending on the age of your child, make sure you give them items that are play-safe for their age. You can find loads of sensory play ideas here.

44. DIY Sock Puppets

Create sock puppets before putting on a puppet show for the rest of the family! This creative activity will boost their artsy and imaginative side. Give them coloured paper, yarn, buttons and glue and let them have some fun with it.

45. Declutter Their Room

Sure, decluttering sounds like an awful chore to most kids. But if you give them a little bit of motivation, such as a bonus way to earn pocket money or the promise of decorating a space in their room afterwards, they might be keen.

46. Build A Lego Set

Set your child up to build a brand new LEGO set or encourage them to sort through their LEGO storage to put together one of their existing sets that have been disassembled.

For more ideas, check out these LEGO activities.

47. Paper Dolls

Bring back the retro fun of playing with paper dolls. Fellow 80s kids will remember the simple joy of this activity. Get some paper doll sets ready for your next rainy day and let your child become absorbed with some simple pretend play.

48. Write Poems

Being able to write literary pieces is a talent that kids can enhance at an early age. For younger kids, encourage them to do a simple poem, such as an acrostic poem, coming up with a word to describe them using each letter of their name.

49. Clay Figurines

If you have some air-dry or oven-baked clay, you can have your kids create their own little clay sculptures. Little mini play food for their dolls or tiny superhero sculptures. Wherever their imagination takes them.

50. Solitare Card Game

For older kids, teach them how to play variations of solitaire with a deck of playing cards and leave them to their newly learned activity.

51. Play Musical Instruments

Playing musical instruments is an activity that allows your child to practice their skills or attempt to learn from scratch by watching tutorial videos online.

52. Craft Kits

Encourage your child to get the creative juices flowing with a craft kit or a variety of craft supplies they can use to create something of their own design. Things like popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners, pom poms, stickers, construction paper in different colours, and whatever else you can find.

53. Subscription Boxes

If you subscribe to a kids’ subscription box and haven’t yet had the chance to dig into the activities, this is a great opportunity to do so. I always have a couple of extra kits from KiwiCo for days like this or for keeping the kids entertained over the school holidays.

Our favourites are the Atlas Crate and the Tinker Crate but they have crates for each age group (including teens and adults).

Places To Go On A Rainy Day With Kids

No need to hide at home! Head out to one of these fun indoor places on a rainy day and enjoy getting out of your potentially cramped quarters by spending all your time at home.

55. Local Library

A young bookworm will love a visit to the local library to borrow some books for home or join a library reading session. This is a great way to get them motivated for reading.

56. Local Museum

Your outdoor plans might be cancelled but local museums can still give your child an adventure full of historical and cultural knowledge. It’s the perfect activity to learn outside of school.

57. Trampoline Park

Bounce together at indoor trampoline parks! It’s a laughter-filled indoor rainy day activity both parent and child will love.

58. Laser Tag

Team up together or compete with one another in a friendly game of laser tag! The whole family can use all their pent-up energy from being stuck indoors together for days. Laser tag will keep everyone running around with laughter and possibly victory. 

59. Indoor Pool

Rain doesn’t always mean cold. The indoor pool can be a fun way to enjoy a swim, even if it’s stormy outside. Some indoor pools have water slides too for adrenaline junky kids.  

60. Arcade

Your child’s boredom will instantly vanish at an arcade! Let them go from one game to another seeing which one they can master. This is a fun way to introduce them to your favourite retro games from your own childhood too.

61. Cinemas

Catch the latest release film you’ve been wanting to see together at the cinema. Popcorn, frozen drink and choc top ice cream are optional but highly recommended!

62. Go Shopping

If your kids have been saving up their pocket money for a while, why not head to the shops and let them spend it on what their heart desires? This is a change of scenery from home too, which can be exactly what you all need.

63. Indoor Playground

For a time of pure joy and play, take your kids to an indoor playground and let them run around with other children their age. Climbing walls, ball pits, slides and obstacle courses can be found at many indoor playgrounds.

64. Bowling Alley

At the bowling alley, they will get to enjoy some friendly competition among siblings or family members while having fun. All ages will love the thrill of trying to throw a strike or spare.

65. Go-Karting

Head to your local indoor go-kart centre for some zooming around the track. This one might be better suited to older kids rather than little kids, depending on the minimum age requirement.

66. Planetarium

Stars don’t show when it’s raining. But visiting a planetarium can still give your kids a chance to do stargazing on rainy days. This educational day out is a great activity to add some learning to your outing.

67. Arts and Crafts Class

Enrol your kid at an arts and crafts class of their choice. Let them explore their crafty side in pottery, crocheting, knitting, painting, and more, so they can add a little creativity to their day.

68. Indoor Mini Golf

Mini golf is a lot of fun for the whole family with challenging holes to conquer and each with a chance to be the reigning champion.

69. Indoor Batting Cages

Playing baseball may not be happening on a day like today but your child can still practise their skills at indoor batting cages.

Outdoor Rainy Day Activities

Just because it’s raining, doesn’t mean the kids have to be stuck inside all day. If you’re brave enough to venture outside and face the wet weather, then these outdoor rainy-day activities will help make the most of those downpours.

70. Jump In Puddles

Wear your rain boots and jump from puddle to puddle. It’s exciting to splash around without worries and enjoy the rain, just like Peppa Pig and her love for muddy puddles. Also, jumping in puddles is a fun exercise for kids to strengthen their legs and enhance their balance. 

71. Make Mud Pies

Children are naturally curious and that’s why it’s great to let them explore. Doing outdoor rainy day activities can gratify their curiosity such as making mud pies.

It helps them to learn how mud can be used for art and imagination. Making mud pies also serves as a sensory activity.

72. Jump On The Trampoline In The Rain 

Kids will definitely have so much more fun with your trampoline backyard during rainy days. It’s like jumping in puddles but they are bouncing on wet surfaces. Your backyard will be filled with contagious giggles and loud laughter despite the gloomy weather.

Our kids love putting the sprinkler under the trampoline on hot summer days so this is essentially a similar experience but letting Mother Nature do her thing! Easily one of the best outdoor activities on a summer rainy day.

73. Go On A Rainy Day Nature Treasure Hunt

Treasure hunts are a fun rainy-day activity for kids. Make it even more exciting by having them hunt for nature treasures like feathers, pine cones and leaves or wildlife sightings in the light rain!

They can write down their observations, in a journal, tick off a nature scavenger hunt list or create art with their findings.

74. Make Paper Boats for Puddles

Create some little boats using paper and see how they float. Find a puddle where they can launch their boats and watch them float along the water… or sink to the bottom.

75. Measure the Rain

Measuring the rain is an engaging and educational activity that can be done in various ways. The activity helps children learn more about the rain and how to create DIY rain gauges.

You can create one with plastic bottles or empty jars. The DIY rain gauge might also need a ruler.

76. Duck Race

Take the rubber duckies out for an adventurous rainy day trip. Your kids can make them swim in puddles and create a story out of it. Aside from gearing up their imagination, they will be cheering as they watch their ducks race one another. 

The best rainy-day activities are often the simple moments that have us making the most of our time together and reminding us to focus on the simple things. A rainy day stuck at home is a great time to learn a new skill or bond with family members, but don’t let the weather stop you from having adventures away from home too!