October in the Pacific Northwest typically means the start of RAINY season. I had to put that in all caps because it is seriously RAINY some years. Today I’m sharing a quick rainy day fun list. All of these rainy day activities for kids have been tried and tested by my family and given an enthusiastic thumbs up.
10 Creative Rainy Day Activities for Kids
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Scavenger or Treasure Hunt
What kid doesn’t love a treasure hunt? We haven’t done a scavenger hunt for quite a while, so I’m excited to surprise my kids with one some rainy day this winter. A treasure hunt entails following clues to find a “treasure” at the end. Whereas a scavenger hunt typically has a list of items to find in order to win a prize. You can check out THIS post from My Kids’ Adventures for ten scavenger hunt ideas, or make up your own using items you have around the house.
Family Olympics
A few years ago, our family started holding Family Olympics. We brainstormed “events,” and each decided which events we wanted to enter. Our events range from monkey bars and wall sits, to balancing on one foot and dance-offs. We had such a blast with the first one that it has become a recurring family event. There aren’t too many rules, but we make sure to include at least one event idea from each family member. The kids decreed that we will hold at least a Winter Family Olympics and Summer Family Olympics every year. Get creative and make your own medals, make a music playlist to get pumped up, or come up with silly uniforms. Our kids have such a great time with this and bonus…they’re burning off lots of that nonstop energy, too! Find out How to Hold a Family Olympics and download a free template to plan your own.
Make a Video
My youngest daughter loves to make videos for her pretend YouTube channel! She does drawing and painting tutorials, interviews with her sisters, and sometimes throws in a little musical theater. With technology so accessible and intuitive these days, your kids can easily perform a one-kid show, or write a script for siblings to follow. You could have them review their favorite toys or books, encouraging them to be as detailed and descriptive as possible.
You Tube Tutorials
Most kids love “How-to-Draw” tutorials, and you have free access to so many great ones on YouTube. And it doesn’t necessarily have to be aimed at kids. My girls have painted “happy little trees” with Bob Ross and loved it! We have also had fun with Ed Emberley’s how to draw books. If your child is interested in knitting, building models, cooking, or almost anything, you can find a video to help them learn.
Make Your Own Board Game
I think all of my kids have made up their own board games at one point or another. Dollar Tree has poster boards that are perfect to draw out their game. Legos, small toys or even tiny household objects (bottle caps, buttons, magnets, or pencil erasers) can be the players. Encourage them to create a theme (superheroes, space, or jungles) or send players on a quest. They might create a game based on a favorite TV show or whatever character they’re into right now. Let them make up whatever wild nonsense they like, and watch their natural creativity explode.
Board Game Marathon
We love games in our house, but we don’t all love the same games. We usually default to card games like gin rummy, Nerts, or Golf. But the kids especially love when we have a board game marathon day. We try to see how many different games we can play in one day, and everyone gets to pick at least one game. Some of our favorites are classics like Boggle, Dominoes, Yahtzee, and Clue. We also like Mastermind, Chinese Checkers, Monopoly, Trouble, checkers, Crokinole, Pictionary, and Memory. I have distinct memories from my childhood of combining multiple games of Memory into one giant game covering our dining room table. My sister almost always won, and I was probably a sore loser, but years later, I only remember the fun. Those are the kind of memories I hope to create for my own kids.
These are a few of our favorite games…
Paper Airplane Contest
As I write those words, I see in my mind Kevin from The Office sitting at a table piled with paper airplanes, trying to make one that flies. Hopefully a paper airplane contest between your kids won’t end with them dejected after having used an entire case of paper and bottle of Elmer’s glue without a single flyer! But you CAN take the opportunity to make sure your kids, unlike Kevin, know the difference between Orville Wright (of airplane fame) and Orville Redenbacher (the popcorn guy). If you are not a fan of The Office, you can ignore all the references I just made, and send your kids to watch THIS YouTube video for an easy description of how to make a paper airplane. Give them some crayons to decorate their flyers any way they want, and some masking tape to mark a starting line.
Family Newsletter
Grab some paper and pencils, and let your kids get to work writing their own family newsletter. Have them write about family outings or activities, interview family members, draw cartoons, and include reminders about upcoming events. Here’s an example of one my daughter worked on last year. This one was obviously done on a computer, but your kids can draw their own if they are younger.
If you want to help them get started, I have a printable Family Newsletter Template you can download. Older kids who can navigate Microsoft Word can find several newsletter template options to create a typewritten version.
Jigsaw Puzzle
We typically do a jigsaw puzzle over the Christmas holidays, but there’s no reason you can’t try this activity any time of year. If you have space, set up a card table or designate a play table and do a puzzle that is too hard for your kids to complete in one sitting. Leave it out for them to come back to and work on over the course of a week or two. In the past, we have placed a large, thin sheet of plywood or a simple oversized picture frame on a tabletop to work on a puzzle. When it’s time for dinner, it’s easy to slide the whole frame under a couch or bed to be pulled out and worked on later. You could also buy a puzzle mat and make it super easy on yourself!
Lego Building Contest
My girls have spent countless hours with their Legos. They start out enthralled by one of the “sets” that show a spectacular horse stable or swimming pool, but very few of those sets are still standing at our house. Instead, we have two gigantic Rubbermaid totes (the under-the-bed kind) full of every imaginable Lego brick. Try having a building contest based on a theme, like fantastic beasts, or dream house, or a Mars colony. You can offer prizes for most creative, most colorful, or most symmetrical.
List of 10 (No-TV) Rainy Day Activities for Kids
Here’s my list of ten awesome rainy day activities that keep your kids away from the TV in order from least to most parental involvement required 🙂
- Jigsaw puzzle
- Lego building contest
- “How-to-Draw” YouTube tutorials
- Make your own board game
- Paper airplane contest
- Make a video
- Family newsletter
- Scavenger hunt
- Board game marathon (this one could be limited involvement if your kids are old enough to play a variety of games on their own)
- Family Olympics
I hope your kids enjoy some of these activities as much as mine have. If you still have stir-crazy kiddos, you can follow this advice:
“When life gives you a rainy day…play in the puddles.”
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