Our Top 5 Rainy Day Activities

We’ve been feeling a little spoilt with all of this lovely weather. Trips to the park, playgrounds, bug hunts and garden play have made up most of our days, so what to do now faced with a day full of rain? These are our top 5 rainy day activities, our favourites for indoors fun. 

I like them as they require little planning and are made up of things you probably already have in the house on any day where that pesky rain sneaks up on you…

Rainy Day Activities

dressing up1. Put on a show

3 year old’s are keen on this one! The ‘show’ can have loads of elements of fun built in to it, but Boo’s personal preferences involve dressing up and dancing.

This is a photo taken last week where her poor cousin, soon to be 11, was roped into her latest performance…! If ‘performing’ is a little too much, break it down and putting some music on can provide plenty of fun, from just dancing round your kitchen (Little Man loves to be held while we spin round and dance), teaching dance moves (Boo can Time Warp now..!) and you can’t go wrong with musical statues.

Musical chairs is a good one, too, though should come with a health warning as preschoolers can get quite competitive, so shoving will ensue…The dressing up element is also a great one. While she does have a small dress up collection, anything will do.

My mother-in-law had a pile of clothes she had sorted for a charity collection the other day, and dressing up in those and a pair of old shoes kept Boo very happy.

So a wardrobe dive and the radio may be all you need for this one.

2. Foody fun

Whether it’s baking, cooking dinner together, or an indoor picnic, we enjoy them all.

The indoor picnic, or buffet spread, is always exciting to Boo, and it helps me to introduce foods to both children that they may not have liked or tried before.

I find by putting an array out in front of them, they tend to explore and try more, and we make a game out of new tastes, each popping it in at the same time and then describing it.

Little Man will try anything anyway, so when Boo sees him eating, she likes to know what it is and have a go, too.

Expanding on the picnic theme, dolls tea parties, and teddy bear’s picnic are fun, whether the food is real or not!

top 5 rainy day activities3. Grab the recycling box and get crafty and creating

Nice and easy, free, and provides hours of crafting, creativity and then imaginative play.

We all know how well a simple cardboard box can entertain children, and an empty toilet roll tube is clearly a telescope, so grab the box and see what else you can create.

Cereal boxes make a good base, washing tabs tubs are brilliant houses and old magazines can be torn up and glued on to provide the decor.

Last time we did this, we made a zoo, grabbed a few Happyland animals, and playtime began.

This is great for my 3 year old, but I can see it being something that would occupy older children equally as well, as they’d make more elaborate landscapes and objects – robots, castles, parks, pirate ships, whatever works!

4. Rainy Day Sofa Snuggles

We love to snuggle up together and read or watch a film.

There’s nothing quite so cuddly as reading your favourite picture books or watching Charlotte’s Web, safely dry inside while the rain lashes against the window.

We like to be snuggled up on the sofa underneath the obligatory blanket (temperature is irrelevant here, as Boo will demand the blanket under these circumstances every time).

This works well for us when Little Man is napping, as though he’ll happily have a few stories, his desire to then go off and explore soon takes over, and the snuggles come to an impromptu end!

DEN5. An Obstacle Course

Snuggles and blankets can easily move onto dens and obstacle courses!

Such an easy one to throw together, and one that works well for any age. Little Man giggles his way round it, Boo throws herself over it, and I just can’t see the appeal going away for years and years.

Clambering over obstacles, crawling through tunnels, grabbing dolls and books and sitting in dens, the possibilities are endless.

The photo shown is actually our living room as I type this.

They don’t know I’ve popped a few pillows and blankets out in there yet, but I’m confident that I’ve set up a popular rainy day activity here, and as soon as they’re breakfasted, the fun will commence…!

You might also want to check out Indoor Den Building and Indoor Activities to do with a 16-Month Old. 

Hope this list has provided you with some inspiration if you’re opening the curtains to a drizzly day. What do you like to do on rainy days with your children?

 

 

Sharing is caring!

24 thoughts on “Our Top 5 Rainy Day Activities”

    1. Of course! I think that’s one that’ll be added to our list when Little Man can walk – looking forward to buying him his first pair of wellies 🙂

  1. Loving the obstacle course idea. Lucas makes base camps and he has to have lunch served in them. I’ve drawn the line at moving the TV in there too!!! #PoCoLo

    1. Spoil sport!! ‘Base camps’ makes it such a boy den, whereas we have ‘princess castles’ at the moment – I’m sure Little Man will soon be trampling over them and making himself a base camp..!

  2. The obstacle course is probably the one we haven’t done in our house – I can’t bear the mess! But definitely to all the others – Grace’s favourite would be putting on a show! Thank you for linking to PoCoLo x

  3. Pingback: PBloggers | Pbloggers Favourite Blogs 2/8/2013

    1. Thank you. Hours of fun here, isn’t there?! The recycling raid is a good one – a whole new world of play and crafting lives in that rubbish!

  4. Great ideas. We love building dens too and creating stuff from recycling.
    We’ve not tried an obstacle course, will have to give that a go.
    Thanks for linking #LetKidsBeKids x

  5. Pingback: Let kids be kids linky 22/10/13 | Let Kids Be Kids

  6. Pingback: Indoor Den-Building in 5 Easy Steps - The Reading Residence

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *