Family-Friendly Rainy Day Activities For All Ages

A little rain on the windowpane can sometimes feel like a bummer, especially when you have a house full of cooped-up kiddos. But fear not, fellow parents! A rainy day doesn’t have to mean a day of meltdowns and boredom. In fact, it can be the perfect opportunity to create some cosy, creative, and unforgettable memories with your little ones.

This blog is your one-stop shop for conquering rainy days with a smile. We’ll explore a variety of fun indoor activities that cater to all ages and interests, from getting crafty and exploring the culinary world to having an epic indoor adventure. So grab your PJs, make some popcorn, and get ready to transform that rainy-day frown upside down!

Updated April 2024.

Rain, Rain, Go Away? Not Today! Fun Rainy Day Activities for the Whole Family

Home Cinema

With so many streaming services like Amazon Prime Video, Netflix and Disney Plus, it couldn’t be easier to turn your front room into your own private movie theater and settle down to watch your favourite film or box set. Why not add to your home cinema experience and set up a snack bar filled with some healthy snacks like these suggestions from womenwhowinatlife.com 

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Have A Scavenger Hunt

My boy absolutely loves a scavenger hunt, it’s his favourite prize when he’s filled his marble jar and I sneakily use them to help him with his homework as well. He’s not keen on learning or doing anything that looks like learning at home, he’s not that keen to do it in school either to be honest! To help him practice his spelling I use an editable template from Twinkl and write all his words on the sheet, then I write all the words on sticky notes and hide them all over the house. He needs to read the words to check where to stick them on his sheet so he’s practising his spellings without even noticing! Twinkl is one of the best places for child-friendly resources, I love my membership and use it a lot. It was an absolute godsend when we spent three months at home shielding from chicken pox when the Dinosaur was still undergoing treatment for leukaemia and it was also fantastic for when he was admitted to hospital for infections. 

Another indoor scavenger hunt idea for a rainy day is to draw a plan of your house, (I managed to find the floor plan from the online listing of our house from when we bought it) and then put coloured spots in different places. The idea is that the child then visits each room and using their map, finds an object that matches the colour. If you swap the coloured spots for crosses and hide small prizes then you’ve got yourself a treasure hunt!

Make Slime

Children have been obsessed with slime for ages and it’s even easier to make than ever before. When the slime trend started it could be tricky to get the right ingredients to make a good, stretchy and gloopy slime but now with slime-making kits readily available, it couldn’t be easier. Why not take your slime to the next level by adding scents, glitter or pom-poms to make it really memorable?

Bake

Children of all ages love to bake and grown-ups love it too, especially if there are tasty treats at the end. Not only is baking fun but it is also a brilliant opportunity to teach your children about food hygiene, after all, nobody wants to eat a grey and fluffy cookie that has been dropped repeatedly! Planes, Trains and Buggies share her tried and tested child-friendly recipes here. If baking isn’t your forte then a baking club might be the answer to your prayers. It’s Me Chrissy J, shares her experience of a junior baking club here.

Board Games

Board games are a classic way to pass the time and are great for getting your children to spend time away from screens and actually talking to you. Personally, I love the range of educational games for children from Orchard Toys and used them a lot when I was teaching, now I have my own children they are a favourite in our house. For more board game suggestions, have a look at these recommendations.

You could even encourage your children to get creative by helping them to make their own board games. this will also give you an opportunity to teach them more about sustainability by showing ways that you can reuse or repurpose household items.

There are so many amazing board games out there, and a lot of them are designed to be perfect for playing as a family. If you want to make sure the kids are involved and loving it as much as possible, then you might want to think about getting some Disney board games, as these are really fun for kids of all ages and you’ll be so glad to have them in the home for a rainy day.

Of course, whatever kinds of board games you play, just make sure that you are having fun with them, as that’s what really matters.

Art and Craft

Children love crafting and there are some really easy and free ways to get crafting such as junk modelling or crafting kits. Places like The Works, Wilko, Hobbycraft and your local supermarket will usually have some crafting kits for a couple of pounds. Alternatively raid your recycling for things like yoghurt pots, cereal boxes, egg boxes and toilet roll inners then add in some glue, embellishments, scissors and felt tip pens and there are hours of fun to be had. Pinterest is your friend here, there are thousands of suggestions for junk modelling.

Build a Fort or Den

Children love building their own den or fort in the house. In fact, this is a fun activity for the grown-ups too, remember the Friends boys in Chandler and Joey’s apartment or Amy and Sheldon in Big Bang Theory? You can easily and quickly make a den by throwing a blanket over a table or a couple of chairs but if you want to get even more creative, Hobbycraft sells these cardboard colour-in playhouses that are two activities in one.

Have A Carpet Picnic

This activity fits in really well with the baking activity and the den-building activity. You could pack up a picnic of all your homemade goodies as though you were off out on an adventure and instead of just sitting down to eat it straight away, you could walk around your house imagining you are on an adventure and then eat your picnic in the den you built.

Lounge Camping

For children there’s something really exciting about sleeping somewhere different so why not have a sleepover adventure in your lounge? Make a den, pitch a small tent or just put up some camp beds and sleep in the living room for a change of scenery. You could even pretend to have a campfire and sing songs or tell stories to really set the mood.

Home Spa

Children need to have a wash on a regular basis because let’s face it, they can be pretty disgusting at times! Every so often we like to make bath times a little bit special by having a bath bomb, these ones from The Fizzy Fairy are our favourites, some music or a good book for me to read to them, and a bath light or two. Once they are squeaky clean, for a special treat, my daughter likes to have her nails painted and some moisturiser gently rubbed in all over.

Bathtub Messy Play

One of the things my children love to do at home is have a messy play bath time, the beauty of it being that they get clean at the same time as getting messy! We use things like shaving cream so they can sculpt it or bath crayons so they can write on the wall – this is also a great one for spelling practice! I do like to sneak learning opportunities in where I can.

Homemade Play Dough

Who doesn’t love Play-Doh? Why not have a go at making your own so you can get exactly the colours you want plus making it yourself with your little helpers adds to the experience. For a fun and sensory activity, you could make your own using this BBC easy-to-make recipe.

Salt Dough

As the next step from making your own play dough, you could make your own salt dough. Once it has been moulded into the desired form, bake it gently in the oven, leave it to cooler then paint and decorate. This is a brilliant activity for making keepsakes and gifts, babies’ footprints and handprints anyone? Or for making ornaments and decorations for Christmas, Easter, Halloween or any other occasion. Have a look at my easy salt dough recipe here.

Play Video Games

Of course, no rainy-day activity list would be complete without mentioning the magic of video games! Whether it’s a friendly dance competition on “Just Dance,” teamwork to conquer a tricky level on a cooperative game, a good-natured rivalry in the classic game Mario Kart, or even grabbing a virtual reality headset, video games offer a chance for families to bond over laughter, friendly competition, and the joy of a shared experience. Plus, with so many genres to choose from, there’s a game out there that everyone can enjoy, from the littlest gamers to the grown-ups!

Have a Fashion Show

This activity is a great opportunity to get crafty and a great way to be eco-friendly at the same time. You could gather up fabric scraps or clothes that are on their way to the bin because they are of no use to be passed on and use the fabric to make clothes for dolls then have a fashion show. You don’t even need to be able to sew, you could just use fabric glue or tie pieces together for this one. Why not create something a bit edgy and use staples to secure the pieces together?

Have A STEM Day

STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. It’s all about encouraging kids to explore these exciting fields through play and hands-on activities.  And guess what? A rainy day is the perfect time to get started! Have a look at our Connetix Tiles review for STEM ideas you can do with magnetic tiles.

Build An Obstacle Course

I’ve spoken about building an obstacle course in the garden for a free activity to do in the holidays but when it’s a dreary day you might not want to head outside. Build an obstacle course in your house to get the kids active and burning off some energy. They could crawl under a duvet, cross the room without touching the floor, do some star jumps, or climb over a pile of sofa cushions, the possibilities are endless. Make sure you get them to help tidy up afterwards!

​Go For Ice Cream

Sometimes you just need to get out of the house so put on your wellies and wrap up then head out to a local coffee shop for a refuel for you and an ice cream or piece of cake for the children. Embrace the rainy day by jumping in puddles on the way and the best part is you could support a local business instead of heading to a chain.

Make Bird Feeders

As the colder weather draws in, a great activity to do is to make bird feeders with your children. Once made, hang them up outside and then you can have even more fun by working out which birds you can see coming to eat them.

For even more rainy day ideas, have a look at this article from Issy at A Suffolk Mum and of course, with the right gear, there’s no reason why you can’t get outside and embrace the rain. Helen from 2 adults, 3 children has some tips to help you there.