Motherhood: Rainy Day Activities for Kids

Now that summer is here to stay, Ronan and I spend most of our waking time outdoors. I try my hardest to plan anything outside that we can including eating our meals on the deck, going for multiple walks, visiting the park, playing with the water table, taking his toys outside, etc. I don't know about him, but it has definitely had an impact on my mood because it can start to feel monotonous playing with the same toys inside all day, every day. However, I know rain will eventually come and the cold days will return so in this situations, I'd like to be prepared with clever indoor activities to fill our time. Sometimes, you have to make your own adventures and fellow Mom's of infants and toddlers know this all too well. Luckily, my friend Lauren was willing to share some of her favorite rainy day ideas for keeping kids boredom at bay. Her adorable son Emerson is 2 years old and you can really tell how much he loves his Mama! It's easy to see why when she's got so many of these fun tricks up her sleeve...

11 Ways to Keep Kids Entertained Indoors:

Disappearing art 
I love hanging my son’s works of art in our kitchen, but some days the thought of painting with my toddler gives me anxiety! I discovered that some brightly covered construction paper, a brush and a cup of water makes a perfect mess-free painting activity! The paper darkens as it gets wet and allows them to paint the day away without making a mess! If you’ve got an older child, a spray bottle works great too. For an added bonus - once the paper dries - you’ve got a brand new canvas to start again. (This works great on summer days using trees, sidewalks, and driveways as their canvases!)

Use your noodle

Next time you see that pasta is on super-sale as you grocery shop, buy a few boxes of fun shaped pasta.  Bowties, macaroni... buy whatever shape inspires you! Dump the boxes into a medium sized storage bin. Give your child measuring cups and spoons, small toy cars or animals, and allow them to have some fun sensory play. If pasta isn’t your thing - try cotton balls, water beads, dried beans, or even oats! 

Can you dig it?

Inspire your child’s inner archeologist with this next idea. Play doh and kinetic sand work great for this activity. Collect small plastic animals, rocks, costume jewelry, or any tiny toys your kids have laying around. Take chunks of the play doh or sand and hide the objects inside. Let your son or daughter dig to find what treasures are hidden!

Opposite scavenger hunt

Learning opposites can be fun when turned into a scavenger hunt around your house. Using note cards, write a pair of opposites, one on each side. Great examples include heavy/light, old/new, soft/hard, smooth/bumpy, dark/light, or loud/quiet. Hand your child their own flashlight (because we all know flashlights make everything cooler for kids) and help them find things that are opposites around your house. Have them shine the light on the things they find. 

Color chase 

The day my son discovered how to take photos on my phone was the same day my storage space took a huge hit! Kids love taking pictures! Set a timer for 5 minutes - and encourage them to find and take a photo of anything they see that is a certain color. Change colors after the 5 minutes is up! You’ll be surprised at the different things they find and photograph. 

Time to be productive! 

Sometimes rainy day activities need to be productive. Toddlers love to feel the pride of accomplishment and enjoy being a helper. Simple tasks as loading the washing machine, matching clean socks, restocking toilet paper under bathroom sinks, putting away their clothes, or even a bit of food prep (tearing lettuce, mixing fruit salad, making Chex mix) can be fun way for them to help their family out. 

Stuffed Safari 

This next activity seems simple, but has kept my son entertained for a shocking amount of time. Let them pick out a stuffed animal to play hide and seek with. Ask them to leave the room, hide the animal, and call them back in to find it! Let them have a chance to do the hiding too! 

Rockin’ and paintin’

Next time you pull the paints out, try and paint on a different canvas. Grab some landscaping rocks and let them make their artwork on the sides of the rocks. Since the rocks tend to be smaller, q-tips are a great paint brush. Once dry - take these pieces of art and hide them at a local park for some other kids to find. 

Working at the car wash!

Let your budding entrepreneurs open their own matchbox car wash. Give them an old toothbrush, q-tips, and some towels and water. Line their toy cars up and see how quickly they can get them sparkling again. 

The power of glue

Give a kid a bottle of glue and watch the magic unfold! Dollar stores have a great variety of craft supplies! Pom poms, pipe cleaners, tissue paper, beads, popsicle sticks, foam cut outs - you’d be surprised at what you could find. Let your toddler build a sculpture with the supplies, or make a 3-D picture. They key here is just letting the glue fly as they create works of art. 

Indoor snow

My mom was always creative with the activities she did with us - and I have memories of playing with shaving cream as a kid. Spray some directly on the table, or onto a cookie sheet for easier clean up. Kids can work on writing letters, drawing shapes, or piling up the shaving cream to make little snowmen. This activity is best done right before bath time!

1. How do you keep your kids entertained on rainy days?

You can follow Lauren and Emerson's adventures on Instagram!

Thanks for reading!