Free family fun: 50 rainy day activities for kids
Dan Collins
WriterWhether it's raining or pouring, the wet weather doesn't mean you can't still have fun. Stuck for ideas? We've come up with these fabulous – and free – indoor activity ideas, which will keep everyone entertained until the sun comes out again.
Don't forget to check out our ultimate bumper list of 105 rainy day activities, too!
1 Room tidying competition
We love this one! This involves you setting a challenge for each child to see who can tidy their room in the fastest time.
You can count loudly or simply set a timer until they've finished their tidying. The winner can choose what activity you do next. Genius.
2 Pizza party
Make some pizza bases using our popular recipe. Then lay out lots of toppings and ask your kids to decorate their pizzas.
Once they've finished, pop them in the oven and lay a rug or picnic blanket down with some paper plates and cups. Children will love devouring their homemade creations.
3 Movie afternoon
Cosy up together and enjoy a film (or two!). Why not make a huge bowl of popcorn, then sit back and relax.
Check out our top 100 kids' films of all time for ideas.
4 Board games
Dig out the old board games and have some good old traditional fun. Or find a deck of cards and teach the kids some family card games.
Browse our round-up of the best board games, here.
5 Building blocks
Grab a bag of blocks and ask your little one to build different shapes. Draw a square, a rectangle or a triangle on some paper and then ask them to copy the shape, using their blocks. It's fun, and a way for them to learn their shapes, too.
6 Visit your local library
From craft sessions to storytime, there's plenty to keep your kids entertained. Below are three of our favourite library activities. Why not see what your local library has on offer?
Lego Construction Club, Fareham
When: every Monday and Saturday
Head down to Fareham Library in Fareham for the weekly Construction Club where your little ones can have fun building anything their imaginations can come up with out of Lego and Duplo blocks.
Rhymetime, Felling Library, Gateshead
When: every Tuesday
When it's miserable outside, why not head indoors to the weekly Rhymetime sessions at Felling Library in Gateshead.
Your little one will have an absolute ball, enjoying music and rhyme.
Chess Club, Basildon Library
When: last Wednesday of every month
If your kids love a game of chess – or want to learn how to play – head down to Basildon Library in South Essex for their monthly Chess Club.
7 Theatre afternoon
Get the kids to put on a show. They can make up their own story, raid the dressing-up box for costumes, make tickets for the audience and then let the show begin ...
8 Rainy walks
If being inside is proving too tricky, why not get the wellies and brollies out and have a splashy walk in the rain (as long as it's not too cold!)
Here's our favourite wellies and wet weather gear to keep you snug and dry!
You can go for a walk around your neighbourhood or even your own backyard.
Or why not find a fun woodland walk near you and look for fairies?
Below are three of our favourite woodland walks.
Long Wood Elf and Fairy Foray, Bath, Somerset
Your children will love running around Long Wood in Bath looking for the magical doors embedded in the base of the trees.
Each door leads to the home of a fairy or elf.
Enchanted Fairy and Elf Walk, Saffron Walden, Essex
As you wander through the beautiful woodland surrounding Audley End Railway, see if you can spot the resident fairies' little wooden tree houses.
Make a wish with Christabelle the Wishing Fairy, but watch out for Gormley the Troll who lives under the bridge.
Sefton Park, Liverpool, Merseyside
At a huge 200 acres in size, Sefton Park is full of stunning caves, waterfalls and magical natural features to discover.
Explore the woodlands and find the Fairy Glen and Peter Pan statue.
9 Make a magazine
Dig out old magazines and help your child cut out their favourite pictures. They can stick them on a large sheet of card to make a collage or onto pieces of paper to make their own magazine.
If they are older, get them to write 'headlines' and short stories around the pictures.
Another idea is to use different eye/face/hair/body cut-outs and mix them up to make crazy faces.
10 Make a film
Let your children take charge of the video camera/your iPhone for an afternoon and set them the task of creating their own film.
Whether they star in it themselves or use their teddies or Lego men as characters, it's a great way to encourage creative role play and fill a few rainy hours at home.
11 Fashion design
Get out lots of paper, scraps of wool ribbon, material and tissue paper and get your kids to spend the afternoon designing clothes for their favourite toy.
Start with drawing a pattern on the paper and cutting out. Then use this as a template to cut out pieces of fabric and either stitch together or use glue.
When the outfits are all done, have a mini fashion show with music and a catwalk (i.e. the kitchen table).
12 Make friendship bracelets
If your kids were loopy about loom bands they will love making paracord friendship bracelets too. Follow our step-by-step instructions.
13 Open a beauty salon
Hand over your make-up bag (with all the really good things hidden away first!) and let the kids loose playing 'beauty salons'.
Get them to practise their skills on you – and on each other. All you need is a bag full of make-up, some hair accessories and a mirror. Oh, and some make-up remover for afterwards ...
14 Making and decorating cress heads
Get some dried-out egg shells and let your child use pens to create funny faces on the surface. Fill the shells with damp cotton wool and cress seeds and pop them on a sunny windowsill.
Over the next few days watch their crazy cress hair start to grow.
15 Shoebox scenes
From miniature dolls' houses, train stations and bird boxes to airports, swimming pools and zoos, there are stacks of ideas that will make great projects.
All you need are some crafts materials, plasticine, paints and glue.
16 Spot the difference
All children love a game of spot the difference. Either sketch out your own or cut out printed 'spot the difference' pictures from old magazines or newspapers.
17 Make music
Dig out a variety of kitchen utensils, pots, pans and accessories and let them create their own little steel band.
Try putting pulses or dried pasta inside empty bottles, making sure the lids are on tightly, to see what different sounds can be made. Then get banging, shaking and boogying.
18 Marble runs
Use old cereal boxes, loo rolls and empty containers to make a home-made marble run.
Start by making a solid base and build it up as high as you want to – glue and sellotape should be enough to hold the pieces in place – and you can use sturdier cardboard on the base to ensure it holds the upper levels securely.
This is a great activity for school holidays as you can add to it each day, creating new sections, slides and tubes as you go.
19 Toy parachutes
Make a parachute for a small toy.
To make the parachute canopy, cut an octagon shape out of a plastic bag – make it about the size of a small side plate.
Put sellotape along each edge of your octagon to strengthen the edges. Then, use a hole punch to make eight holes round the edge.
Cut some string into eight pieces of equal length and push a piece through each hole. Tie to the hole and then tie the bottom of all eight pieces together in a knot. Your parachute is ready.
Tape the knot of string to the small toy and then throw in the air to see how well it floats.
20 Margarine tub boats
Make margarine tub boats and see which one floats for the longest. You can do this in the sink or bath. Card and old lolly sticks make great sails.
21 Homemade snap cards
Use old catalogues and magazines to cut out pictures, glue them onto some hard-backed card and make snap cards.
The images don't have to be identical as you can help your child recognise the comparisons by writing on the bottom of each card – i.e. dog, man, lady, car, house.
22 Moving hide and seek
If your little ones are bored of the traditional game, try 'moving' hide and seek, where the hider tries to move from one hiding place to another without being spotted.
23 Chase the drips down the window panes
Remember playing this one as a child? Line up at the window and everyone has to place their finger on a large drop of rain. Then you trace your finger down as the drop drips. The first one whose drop makes it to the bottom wins.
24 Toy-swapping party
Kids insisting they are bored of all their toys and have nothing to play with? Hold a toy-swapping party.
Sort out toys that your kids don't mind lending to their friends and then you all swap. A brilliant way to get loads of new toys to play with, for free!
If they're reluctant to give them back at the end of the swap, it gives you good ideas for what to buy them on their next birthday, too.
25 Photography days
Turn the kids into mini photographers for the afternoon. Try to get them thinking creatively by asking them to choose a theme or perhaps tell a story through their pictures.
Print out the photos and put in a scrapbook as a reminder of their day.
26 Paper aeroplanes
Lay out lots of old scraps of paper and set everyone the challenge of building paper aeroplanes.
If you can't remember how to fold them, there are some quick and easy online tutorials that will help you master a basic plane. Let them choose their own designs and paint or colour them in.
Then have a competition to see whose can fly the furthest.
27 Origami
Origami is great fun for older kids. If you already own an origami book, dig it out and teach your children how to start making basic figures and shapes.
You can also try a website like the Origami club, which splits each exercise into categories from easy to difficult, allowing you to pick and choose projects according to your child's level.
28 Make some puppets
You can make puppets out of loads of things – wooden spoons, odd socks or gloves – even washing-up gloves. We've got some great puppet-making ideas.
29 Old drawing games
The likes of 'hangman', 'battleships', 'noughts and crosses' and 'dot to dot' might be associated with boring car journeys but, on rainy afternoons, they make the perfect activity. All you need is a pad and a couple of pens and you're ready to start.
30 Keep a 'buddy diary'
Get your child to choose their favourite buddy (this could be anything from a special doll or transformer figure to a teddy or comfort blanket) and ask them to make a diary of their adventures together.
You can fill the diary with photographs of your child with their buddy, stories, tickets of places they've been together, plus any other holiday memorabilia.
It's a lovely activity for imaginative children and you can add something new to it each day.
31 Write some postcards
Who says you need to be on holiday to send a postcard? Your lounge or back garden is as good as anywhere and your kids can make it even better by designing their own picture.
Ask who they want to send it to and help them write a message. Then pop your waterproofs on and head out to the postbox to send it on its way.
32 Patchwork pillowcases
Look around the house for old pieces of material or, if you have clothes you no longer want, cut them up into squares. Now teach your child to stitch them together and make your very own patchwork blanket or pillowcase.
33 Design a robot
Grab any old cereal boxes, loo rolls and tin foil and let your child make their own robot model.
If you have lots of spare craft materials, let them loose with the buttons, ribbons, sequins and string to create something truly unique.
34 What floats?
Fill the washing-up bowl or sink with water and ask your child to gather a series of objects to test if they float or sink. You can make the exercise fun by drawing a chart listing the objects with yes/no written at the top.
Your child has to guess in advance whether the object will float and if they guess correctly, they receive a tick or a sticker.
35 Wrapping paper
If your child has a birthday party coming up, get them to design some wrapping paper for their special friend. This can involve paints, crayons, pens or lots of craft materials to create something with real wow factor.
36 Painting in the bath
No, we haven't lost our minds. This is, honestly, the best mummy sanity-saver as the day's drawing to a close!
Simply take the kids, strip them and put them in the bath without water. (Make sure the heating is on to stop them getting cold). Give them some water-based paint and paintbrushes ... and sit on the loo and drink tea while they paint each other, themselves and the bath.
Once the fun's over (good news: they'll do this for hours), simply turn on the shower and wash it all away!
37 Midnight feast (at 7pm!)
Midnight feasts can be huge fun – there's something inherently naughty about eating food late at night and children will love the change in routine. Let them stay up a little later than usual, then put a variety of treats out on a blanket on the floor so they can help themselves.
If you want to add to the midnight theme, you can use torches to light up the room and keep the television off so it feels like a genuine night-time treat.
A word of warning though – sugary treats may mean they'll want to stay up at night, so it's probably best to stick to sandwiches, savoury snacks, carrot sticks and fruit if you want to avoid an all-night party.
38 Drawing class
Ask your kids what they've always wanted to draw – it might be a picture of a bird, a plane or a car. Then, Google a step-by-step guide on how to draw the item. This will teach them a new skill and will put their creativity to the test.
39 Build an indoor fort
Gather lots of pillows and blankets to create a fort for the kids to hide under. Bring a torch in and read books together – it will feel like a secret little club.
40 Make pasta pictures
Find some dried pasta, paper and PVA glue and make some pasta masterpieces. Or, dye it different colours with food colouring or watercolour paint and make jewellery creations by threading it through ribbon or string.
41 Throw a party
Everyone loves a party so why not have one at home! Get dressed up, blow up some balloons and even bake a cake together that you can eat off napkins. Hip, hip, hooray!
42 Make an indoor obstacle course
No doubt they're going stir-crazy if they've been cooped up indoors all day so an obstacle course will use up any extra energy.
Get them rolling around the living room or transferring dried pasta with their teeth from one bowl to another – it's all about using your (and their!) imagination to come up with the zaniest ideas.
43 Have a stand-up comedy hour
Create a stage in your living room and give everyone a chance to stand up and tell their best jokes.
Give everyone a score card to rate the jokes – the highest score, wins.
44 Paint rocks
Gather some rocks or stones from your yard and let your kids go wild, painting them in bright colours and patterns.
45 Have a fashion show
Lights, cameras, action! Lay a sheet on the floor in the shape of a catwalk and if you've got some fairy lights in the cupboard, put them around the edge to create a fancy effect.
Take turns strutting down the catwalk – the most ridiculous moves, wins!
46 Have a tea party
Whether it's a tea party or a teddy bears' picnic, they'll be occupied for hours. All you need is a blanket to sit on, lots of toys (to join the party!) and some snacks. Enjoy!
47 Play the 'Mystery bag' game
Use any bag you have and fill it with random objects – a carrot, a hairbrush, a set of chopsticks – the crazier the better! Then each person must be blindfolded and given 30 seconds to feel around the bag .
The person who can identify the most objects is the winner.
48 Vegetable printing
Chances are, you've got some veggies hiding in the cupboard! Their odd shapes make for the perfect paintbrush – cover them with paint and get printing.
49 Make a fairy house
This is a super easy idea and one they'll continue playing with even when the weather clears up. All you need is some loo rolls, some patterned paper and bun cases, and you're good to go. Check out our step-by-step guide to making a fairy house, here.
50 Make skittles
This will keep them busy for hours. Find some empty loo rolls and paint them in bright colours. Once they've dried, line them up and try to bowl them over with a tennis ball.
