100 Screen-Free Things to Do on a Rainy Day
Image Credit: Joshua K. Jackson
If it's the school holidays, a Bank Holiday or just the weekend, it always seems like there is a pretty good chance it will rain!
If you are scratching your head for an idea of what to do and need some great ideas of things to do when it is raining, here are 100 ideas for things to do without resorting to putting on the TV or computer.
- Put on a Play
- Try to take a Pet Portrait - trying to get a picture of the Cat or Dog could take hours!
- Have a Dressing Up session.
- Make an indoor obstacle course.
- Pretend that you are a spy and write secret messages.
- Make music with whatever instruments you have; grab a tambourine and shake it along to your favourite song if that is all you have!
- Make a Puppet Show.
- Find a big cardboard box. Your children will know what to do.
- Read a Book
- Build a pillow den.
- Play The Name Game
- Crank the radio up and dance, dance, dance!
- Play Simon Says.
- Play Hunt the Thimble - or hunt any item small enough to be hidden fairly successfully.
- Do a Jigsaw
- Start writing a diary.
- Read a book aloud.
- Play Charades.
- Have a room tidying contest to see who can tidy their room the fastest. Yes, they may fall for this one, but only once, so save it for an emergency!
- Make Sock Puppets
- Do a Wordsearch
- Play Hide and Seek
- Learn to do some magic tricks. Here are some easy magic tricks for kids to learn.
Science Fun
- Plant a Cress-Head in an eggshell.
- Make a tornado in a jar.
- Build a LEGO Egg Decorating machine. This is awesome.
- Make Saving Foam Mountains
- Make your own Indoor Volcano
- Make a Flying Dragon - an exciting STEM activity.
- Find out just How Strong is Spaghetti.
- Discover how plants absorb water with this cool Celery Stick Experiment.
- Make a Paper Bridge
- Make your own Lava Lamp. So Retro!
- Do these experiments to find out which side of your body is dominant.
In the Kitchen
Image Credit: Taylor Grote
- Have a Posh Tea Party. Get out the best china (depending on your kids age) and enjoy the finer things in life. Crustless sandwiches? Earl Grey Tea? The choice is yours.
- Make some Slime
- Let the kids play with their food as they make Edible Finger Paint.
- Bake a Cake.
- Make popcorn.
- Make something in 3D with Salt Dough Modelling
- Make no-bake refrigerator biscuits.
- Try these Wheels on the Bus cookery ideas.
- Decorate biscuits.
- Make Ooblek
- Have an Indoor Picnic
- Make your own playdough
- Make crayon muffins from old broken crayons.
Crafty Ideas for Rainy Days
Image Credit: rawpixel
- Make a Pinata
- Make your own Carnival Mask
- Write your own newspaper or magazine.
- Make a Friendship Bracelet
- Make boats out of old margarine tubs - add a lolly stick mast and paper sails.
- Make a firebreathing dragon from a toilet roll.
- Make a pasta necklace.
- Teach your children to knit
- Try some origami. For example you could learn how to How to Fold Paper Ninja Stars.
- Make some Postage Stamp Crafts
Get Arty
Image Credit: Tim Arterbury
- Paint a Picture
- Try making some Coin Rubbings.
- Draw a really big picture - use a roll of cheap lining paper from a DIY shop and make a freize.
- Have a go at Toy Car Painting
- Make a card for a friend with a birthday coming up soon.
- Make a Falling back in Space Portrait.
- Make Bubble Prints
- Have a go at Pebble Painting
- Have a really good colouring session. Colouring Pictures
- Draw your own comic strip
- Make a Leaf Collage
Craft Ideas with Recycled Materials
- Make your own bangles from a plastic bottle.
- Make a wind turbine from a coffee can for when the rain stops.
- For older kids - Make a Duct Tape Wallet. This does require some use of a craft knife, so must be supervised.
- Make a Tree out of newspaper or cardboard.
- Build your own Dinosaur Island from Papier Mache.
- Make your own Soup Can Bowling Set
- Make and wear a Newspaper Hat.
- Make these fab Decorative Storage Containers from Cans
- Make a Toy Parachute
- Make Egg Carton Turtles
Playtime!
Image Credit: Markus Spiske
- Play paper and pencil games - Noughts and crosses, Heads bodies and legs, hangman or battleships.
- Have a Board Games afternoon.
- Make your own playdoh and make some models with it.
- Teach the kids a new card game.
- Make a LEGO Fidget Spinner
- Create an indoor Treasure Hunt
- Play "I Went Shopping and I Bought....." How long can you remember the list of items?
- Find every piece of LEGO in the house and build a massive building. (Bonus - the kids will have tidied up all their LEGO!)
- Make a pretend shop.
- Have a Letter Sounds Scavenger Hunt
- Blow bubbles.
- Invite all your toys to a pretend party.
- Play I-Spy.
Brilliant Places to Visit on a Rainy Day
Image Credit: Daiga Ellaby
- Visit an Art Gallery
- Go Bowling
- See What's On at the Cinema
- Go Roller Skating
- Visit a Museum
- Go to an Indoor Trampolining Centre
- Make mud pies in the rain.
- Go to a Hands on Science Centre.
- Try out Ice Skating
- Go to the Theatre
- Go to the Library - it's not just for books remember, there may be special events during school holidays.
- Visit your local Indoor Soft Play Centre
- Go Swimming
So there you are, 100 things to do on a rainy day. I hope that has given you lots of ideas for next time it rains!
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