Making the Most of Rainy Days: Fun Activities for the Whole Family

It’s always a good idea to have a few rainy-day activities up your sleeve. Whether the summer vacation has turned into a washout or an unexpected deluge has the kids cooped up at home, you need entertainment inspiration—fast! We’ve got your back. With the list of top fun ideas below, you’ll never be stuck on what to do when a rainy day strikes again.

Contents:

• Indoor Rainy Day Activities for Families
• Indoor Rainy Day Activities for Siblings or Groups of Kids
• Indoor Rainy Day Activities for One Kid
• Fun Outdoor Rainy Day Activities

Indoor Rainy Day Activities for Families

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Hold an Epic Board Game Tournament

Take board gaming to the next level by creating an entire tournament of games! Let each family member choose their favorite board game or two (that are age-appropriate for everyone), make a schedule, and let the tournament begin! Award points for first, second, etc, place of each game, to crown the overall winner at the end of the session. And at the end of such an exciting day? A family movie is surely the best way to wind down.

Build a Mega Fort

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It may be a classic rainy-day activity, but it’s a classic for a reason! Get the whole family involved in some indoor fort-building fun: the kids will love your help in creating the fort of their dreams.

The best thing about fort building as a family is that you can bring anything into play—chairs, blankets, cardboard boxes—the only limit is your imagination. Want to add an element of competition? How about a fort-building contest? The winning fort can be the one that you eat lunch in.

Hit the Museum

OK, so your family plans to visit the park may have gone out of the window now the heavens have opened—but how about a trip en famille to the city museum, instead? If you haven’t visited a museum since you were a kid yourself, you may be surprised at just how child-friendly most museums are today.

As well as a range of fascinating and often interactive exhibits, many museums have specific family activities to enjoy, particularly if you’re visiting during the school holidays. From walking with dinosaurs to having fun learning about some of the most famous artists of all time, a family trip to the museum is one of the best things to do on rainy days.

Have a Go at Family Pizza Making

Why not get together as a family in the kitchen and have a go at pizza making? Either use pre-made pizza bases or, if you’re feeling confident, make your own dough. Put out an array of ingredients in small bowls and have each person create their perfect pizza.

Your homemade creations can be enjoyed during a break in some of the other rainy-day activities you’re planning—or eaten in your family fort!

Make Sorting Out the House Fun

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Having a house sort-out may not sound like the most exciting of rainy-day activities, but you may be surprised! Put on a family-friendly playlist, supply everyone with a large box, and have a go at sorting out the spaces in your home. Ask kids to do their bedrooms, and place any items they no longer need or want into the box for donation or sale.

Once this is done, why not have a go at moving the furniture to create spaces with an entirely new feel? Kids often love changing their bedrooms around from time to time. Get together the items collected in the boxes and plan a yard sale for when the weather clears. Ask kids to write and attach price labels, and make a sign advertising the sale.

Related: Bored Kid? 53 Activities That Will Keep Kids Busy And Happy.

Indoor Rainy Day Activities for Siblings or Groups of Kids

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Fun Indoor Games

If you’ve got siblings or a group of kids stuck indoors due to the rain, bring some classic fun games into play, such as Simon Says, hide-and-seek, or the Mummy Wrap game. The latter involves each team wrapping up a designated teammate in toilet paper within a set time limit—and before the competition manages to!

For young kids, a game of Fruit Salad could be ideal—it’s perfect for six or more players. The aim of the game is to avoid being without a chair and stuck in the middle. To set up, simply place one chair per child in a circle. Then pick one of the children at random and ask them to stand in the middle of the circle, and remove their chair.

The person in the middle asks the group an easy question, such as ‘Does anyone have a cat?’ Kids who answer ‘yes’ must leave their seats and swap with another child who has also answered ‘yes.’ The kid in the middle must try to sit in a vacant chair, and the last one to do so is eliminated. At any point in the game, the child in the middle can call out ‘Fruit Salad’—and when this happens everyone must swap seats!

Arrange a Treasure Hunt

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Treasure hunts aren’t just great for kids’ parties, they make for one of the best rainy-day activities, too! You’ll need to spend a little time on the set-up, but the fun your kids will have makes the effort worthwhile.

There are several different ways to create a treasure hunt. The easiest is to ask each child to find, say, as many blue items as they can within a set time, or give each kid a list of objects to seek, such as a hairclip, a wooden spoon, and a red pencil.

Up for something a little more challenging? Prepare clues that lead teams from one point in the house to another, eventually ending up at the ‘treasure.’ This could be a cache of sweets, or the opportunity to choose the next game.

Bridge-Building Challenge

This is a great rainy day activity that’ll keep siblings or a group of kids engrossed and entertained for—possibly—hours! The idea is simple: each team must build a bridge using just straws and straight pins, capable of holding a small paper cup full of 100 pennies.

Obviously, the straight pins (used to connect the straws) mean this challenge isn’t suitable for young kids, but older children will love the opportunity to work together and test their abilities. If you like, you can set a time limit, or simply let each team continue until they’re satisfied and ready to find out whether their bridge can bear the required weight.

Throw a Dance Party and Indoor Picnic

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Ask each child to curate a playlist—say five of their very favorite songs. Then get everyone started making some homemade decorations using whatever craft stuff you have to hand, such as colored paper, string, or sequins. Hang these up around the space, pull the curtains, dim the lights, and have a dance party with the kids’ combined playlists.

While the children are having a great time showing off their dance moves, prepare an indoor picnic for them to enjoy afterward. Sandwiches cut into small rounds, bowls of sliced fruit, and cubes of cheese are all perfect. Simply lay a couple of blankets on the floor, arrange the food, and let the dancers dig in once the disco is over.

Perform a Play

Gather together a selection of fancy dress items and ‘props’ and challenge siblings or a group of kids to put on a play, based on a book. For very young kids this could be a picture book, while older kids could choose a story they all enjoy.

You could suggest the group assigns roles, writes a script, thinks about staging, and even add their own music or sound effects. Once they’re ready, the curtain can come up and they can perform their masterpiece for you.

Indoor Rainy Day Activities for One Kid

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Get Crafty

Need some fun rainy-day activities for a single kid? Crafting could be a winner! No matter how old your child is, there’s a craft activity to suit, whether it’s some simple papier mache modeling, rock painting, or friendship bracelet making.

Why not have a go at making some simple DIY birdfeeders? Once the weather clears, your child will love to watch the birds visiting to make the most of the tasty treats! All they’ll need is a cored apple, some sticks, string, and a handful of seeds. Thread the string through the cored hole in the apple, and then make an X shape with the sticks and tie them to the string so that the apple sits on top. Children can have fun making a pattern by sticking the seeds into the apple—and then it’s ready to hang up once the sun comes out!

Enjoy a Movie—with Homemade Popcorn!

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Once your child has decided on a movie they’d love to watch, why not suggest you make homemade popcorn together, to enjoy the film? You’ll need 1 ½ tablespoons of vegetable oil and 100 grams of popcorn kernels. Optionally, you can also add 50 grams of melted butter, a pinch of salt, one tablespoon of icing sugar, and a pinch of ground cinnamon.

The oil should be added to a deep lidded pan, and given a little swirl around to coat the base. Add the popcorn, spreading it evenly over the base of the pan. Carefully place the pan on medium heat, shaking a little from time to time to turn the kernels, until the first kernels start to pop—the fun bit! Once this happens, place the lid on the pan, leaving a crack open to allow steam to escape.

Cook for about one minute or until the popping stops. Tip the popcorn immediately into a large bowl, adding either the melted butter and salt or icing sugar and cinnamon (if you choose), stirring to coat the popcorn in the yumminess. And now you’re ready to curl up and enjoy the movie.

Get Lost in a Great Book

Create a cozy, snuggly space for your child, with plenty of warm blankets and soft cushions—and maybe even a string or two of fairy lights—and provide them with a stack of great books to choose from. Rainy days can be the best time to get totally lost in a great story, so help your child start their reading adventure by setting the scene. A mug of hot chocolate and a plate of biscuits may make a rainy day read-a-thon even more appealing!

For younger kids, spend some time reading together, or simply looking through the pages of a picture book and talking about the images. You may be surprised at just how imaginative your little one is as they come up with their own stories to go with the pictures.

Relax with a Mindfulness Exercise

Mindfulness exercises are wonderful ways for both kids and adults to unwind, release stress, and be more present in the moment. They’re good for mind, body, and soul, and a rainy day is the perfect way to try one out with your child.

There are plenty of child-friendly mindfulness exercises and meditations you can find online, usually lasting around ten to fifteen minutes. Create a relaxing space, suggest your child sit or lie down comfortably, and start the exercise. If your kid enjoys the experience, you may want to consider making mindfulness exercises a regular part of your family routine.

Spend Time Writing Letters

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Supply your child with some plain paper or postcards, and a selection of pens or pencils, and suggest they write letters to friends and family members, telling them their news, and all about their rainy day. Letter writing is becoming something of a lost art, and your kid may enjoy the novelty of putting pen to paper to write to a pal.

Once your child is finished, help them address their missives and, when the rain stops, walk to the post office together to send them to the lucky recipients. You never know, it may be the start of a letter-writing habit!

Read also: Challenge Young Minds: Kids Trivia Questions with Answers They’ll Love.

Fun Outdoor Rainy Day Activities

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Make and Race Boats

Embrace the rainy day and get outdoors with the kids to have fun making and racing boats! Ask the children to find natural items such as pine cones, twigs, and leaves to build their own boats before racing them either down a small stream or street run-off. Of course, as with all outdoor rainy-day activities, it’s vital to supervise kids (especially little ones) at all times and ensure the space where they’re playing is safe.

Encourage the kids to try out different boat designs, depending on what happens in the races. Is there a way they can make their boats go faster, or be more stable? Children may not know it, but they’ll be flexing some serious problem-solving muscles as they’re having fun.

Go All In with the Water Fun

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Sometimes, if you can’t beat a rainy day, the best thing to do is join it. If the weather is warm, set kids up in the yard with water balloons, water guns, and buckets of water for refills (you may want to supply lukewarm water, to help prevent kids from getting chilly), and let them go to town.

Be sure to have plenty of towels and changes of clothes ready for afterward—and after expending all that energy, kids might be ready to cozy up on the sofa with a book or a movie.

Related: The Best Water Games for Kids.

Try Out Some Outdoor Rainy Day Games

Wondering what to do on a rainy day? Get the kids outside for some super fun rainy-day games, of course! Have a puddle jumping contest—see who can jump in the most puddles on a walk, or even make the biggest splash—or who can make the most mud pies in a set time.

You could also help your children create a rainy-day obstacle course. Slippery grass is perfect for sliding (be careful though!), and you could place basins of water as stepping stone obstacles. Why not set up a gauntlet for each kid to run, while others toss water balloons or squirt water guns as they pass? The winner could either be the person who completes the course in the quickest time or the one who gets the least wet.

Exploring the Rain

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Bring out the scientist in young kids and get their curious minds whirring by getting outside to explore the rain. Give children a sheet of kitchen roll or blotting paper each and ask them to catch a few drops of rain on it. Ask them what they notice about the size, shape, and spacing of the drops of water they’ve caught. Next, cover a sheet of paper in paint, and ask them what they think will happen if it’s taken out in the rain… and then have them go test out their idea!

Try asking your children to leave out a variety of containers in different shapes and sizes; which do they think will collect the most water? Why? After a few hours, or the next day, have them check the containers to see if they were right, and talk together about their findings.

Simply Enjoy the Weather

Many kids—particularly young ones—enjoy being out in the rain. The sound of the raindrops, the feeling of them on the skin, and the running water and puddles are all a source of wonder to little minds. Simply allowing your kids to spend some time outside on a wet day, catching raindrops on their tongue, dancing in time to the rain’s rhythm, or playing with their bath toys in puddles, is all you need to do to entertain them.

Explore the great outdoors safely even on rainy days with the Findmykids app! Ensure your children’s safety during walks and outdoor games, even when the weather is less than ideal. With real-time location tracking and smart alerts, Findmykids offers peace of mind for parents, rain or shine.

Rainy Day Fun: Every Cloud Has a Silver Lining

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We’ve all been there: the rain has set in, the kids are bored, and the sun’s not forecast to make a return any time soon. Fortunately, there are plenty of things to do indoors that’ll keep children entertained and happy until the skies clear, and you can use our guide above for ideas. And don’t forget, just because it’s raining, there’s no law that says you have to stay inside. Why not get the kids kitted out in their waterproofs and have fun exploring the downpour, making and racing boats—or let them have a blast making a wet and wacky obstacle course?

Do you have any go-to rainy-day activities that are sure-fire crowd-pleasers? We’d love to know about them—and we’re sure other parents would be equally keen to find out, too! Drop us a line in the comments box below to inspire us.

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