Thinking of rainy day activities for preschoolers and toddlers isn’t always easy. Here’s 101 rainy day activities to enjoy even the gloomiest of days.

Imagination Activities

• Animal pretend –  act out different animals and guess what they are (our son calls this playing ‘Wild Krats”)
• Dress up – never gets old
• Store, restaurant, or library – practice counting money, writing orders and following directions
• Act out a story – act out a favorite book or bible story. Record it for another rainy day
• Indoor camping – roast marshmallows over the stove
• Closet fort – a very private, very dark fort
• Go on a trip – pack ‘bags’ and take a trip on a couch-airplane
• Shadow puppets – a great activity for that closet fort. Silly voices and a silly story make them tons of fun

Hands On Activities

• Bubble wrap – Pop!
• Dominoes – set up and watch them fall
• Build a toy city – block homes and businesses, masking tape roads
• Blanket fort – a pile of books and flashlights. Be sure to climb in and read to them in the ‘dark’
• Play Doh – change it up with cookie cutters, silverware, Lego men, matchbox cars or simply explore color mixing
• Opposites – learn what opposites ARE, then get silly practicing doing the opposite
• Obstacle course – send them through, around, over and under
• Tongs pick up – give tongs to pick up toys
• Marshmallow and toothpicks – build bridges, buildings and more
• Puddles – make good use of those rain coats and rain boots and splash like you won’t get wet!
• Foam letter tiles – call out different letters to find and stand on, put them in alphabetical order, or create words
• Float or sink bath party – put on swim suits and guess which toys will float or sink, then test it out
• Expanding foam capsules – found a pack for $1 at Target. Just as fun as when we were kids
• Balloon rockets – tape a straw to a balloon and send it down a string. Set up a few ‘tracks’ and race them

More Hands On Activities

• Giant Tic-Tac-Toe – use masking tape for a giant Tic-Tac-Toe board
• Indoor bowling – set up an indoor bowling lane with empty plastic bottle ‘pins’
• String spider web – grab a ball of string or twine and crate a web – ‘cut it out’ when it gets too tangled
• Dance or jump party – find some peppy music and let loose
• Indoor sand – fake sand is so fun!
• Paper airplane games – throw through hoops, see how far it can go, throw from top of stairs
• Board games
• Hide and seek – focus not only on hiding but on counting!
• Simon Says – we usually play this outside but it’s a great activity for a rainy day
• Puzzles – do as many as they can OR find a puzzle a little (or a lot) out of their skill level and work on it together

Hands On Activities

Kitchen Fun

• Make their own recipe – help them choose and measure ingredients. Write down their very own ‘recipe’ (yogurt parfait, french toast and toppings, trail mix). Decorate their own recipe box
• Tea Party – boys and girls will enjoy this, especially with water in the tea-pot and snacks – make it extra fun by dressing up and talking in silly voices
• Homemade popsicles – juice, fruit, blend and freeze
• Jello juice jigglers – cut out shapes with cookie cutters
• Bake – practice following directions, measuring, mixing, and making observations (smell, color, texture)
• Make healthy trail mix – practice counting and picking healthy snacks – raisins, crasins, roasted soy beans or chickpeas (or nuts), sunflower or pumpkin seeds, and maybe surprise them with a few mini marshmallows

Create

• Paper plate frisbees – decorate and toss for some indoor fun
• Create ‘rain’ with shaving cream
• Pipe cleaner fun – make shapes, decorate a colander, sort them, make flowers
• Build a box car and enjoy a ‘drive in’ movie – what to do with old boxes and paper plates? Make cars. Add popcorn and a PBS show…
• Make photo prayer cards – print and cut out pictures of friends and family and glue onto index cards. Grab a few per night to pray for loved ones
• Activity jars – a fun idea to make together!
• Glue paper scraps – one of our son’s favorite activities is to take all his paper scraps and glue them into something (they turn out amazing – birds, houses, you name it!)
• Make a Mural – stretch out a long roll of paper and create a long story or one long picture
• Diorama – remember making these in elementary school? Provide a shoe box and help them make a scene from their favorite book, or a city of landscape for Lego people or mini dinosaurs
• Record a video – record a video message or photo sign message and send it to a loved one or friend
• Rainy day art – water colors make great rainy day pictures, or just open the box of art supplies and let them create
• Decorate and celebrate – let them decorate with leftover streamers and party supplies and throw a birthday party for their favorite bear or toy
• Write and mail letters – create cards, practice writing, and mail a special note or card to a loved one
• Explore color mixing – grab paints and explore mixing different colors together

Make

• Indoor snow storm – cut paper snow flakes and string them up all over
• Create a blog post – I’d love to post something the kids wrote if they are interested in doing so!
• Paper chain – make enough loops to count down to the next big activity, birthday or holiday
• Make up a song – encourage them to sing a silly song or make up their own words to a familiar tune
• Crazy crayons – you kept those broken crayons for a reason!
• Jewelry – practice fine motor skills with beads and string
• Life size portrait – trace their body (use the backside of wrapping paper if you don’t have a big roll paper) and let them decorate it
• Write and illustrate a story book – fold paper to create a book to illustrate and help them write their own story
• Make photo pendants – yes, even a child can do this with help
• Cut straws – cut straws into ‘beads’ then string together or glue onto paper
• Large connect the dots – on the biggest roll of paper you have – as high as they can count (and higher with your help!)

Science

• Explore capillary action – use food coloring and celery or some fresh-cut flowers
• Plant beans in a jar – you know that bag of beans you bought for soup but didn’t use? Plant some beans and learn about the plant life cycle
• Watch a documentary – find a kids animal or nature documentary on Netflix (watch for G ratings and be prepared to fast forward through animal hunting scenes as needed for your child)
• Make your own rainstorm – by exploring steam and condensation
• Tornado in a bottle – with two 2-liter bottles, water and duct tape
• Baking soda and colored vinegar – pour baking soda on a baking sheet + drops of food-colored vinegar = foamy colored bubbles
• Oil and water – explore both mixing and freezing
• Measure rain fall – put a container outside (bucket, cup, anything will do) and measure the rainfall as it comes down
• Learn about rainbows – and why God made them
• Explore speed and distance – set up a ramp and see which car goes the furthest and which is the fastest

And More

• Non standard measurement – see how many body-lengths a room is, then measure with their feet, their favorite blanket or toy. Measure with a measuring tape to tell them how big it really is
• How Crayons were Made – old school Mr. Rogers Neighborhood video of how crayons are made – and then do some drawing
• Homemade balance – explore weights
• Sensory guessing box – have them feel inside and guess what the items are
• Play I Spy
• Clean pennies – using vinegar and salt. Vary times and make observations
• Extract DNA from a banana – did you know you can extract DNA that you can SEE right at your kitchen table with supplies you have in your house? It is so cool! A preschooler can than do this (and yes, even YOU who may not know much about science)

Be Together

• Watch the storm – count the time between lighting and thunder. Explain what thunder and lightning are
• Read – start a chapter book or read as many picture books as they want
• Encourage – make a game out of telling each child what you like about them, what makes you proud of them, and what they are good at

Practice

• Sort change – dump change on a baking sheet and sort by size, color, or cleanliness
• Flash cards – numbers, letters, sight words
• Tape hopscotch – use masking tape – practice motor skills and counting
• Somersaults
• Learn and recite scripture memory verses
• Write the alphabet – big and small letters

Develop New Skills

• Gratitude list – help them write their own or start a gratitude journal
• Quiet time – set them up in a comfy space with their bible and those prayer cards – model what to do by doing your quiet time too
• Learning while cleaning – sort the toy box by color or shape as you clean it out and put things where they belong together
• Chores – at this age, it’s still fun to ‘help’. Put them to work matching socks, folding their own laundry and putting it away
• Photography – let them pick what to photograph and explore what different camera settings do
• Make music – find musical instruments (or make some). Record it
• Listen to classical music – explain what instruments are being played
• Tape balance beam – create a long straight or zig zag ‘balance beam’ out of masking tape
• Indoor scavenger hunt – make a list and send them hunting
• Yoga – kids can do yoga and they think it is pretty fun, especially with their own mat
• Hammer time – let them hammer golf tees into dense styrofoam, or for the more skilled child – nails into a board
• 10 Minute Challenges – so great!