Rainy Day Rescue - 5 Rainy Day Activities for Children

We understand that rainy days can sometimes feel like a challenge, especially when little ones are bursting with energy and raring to go. But fear not! With a bit of creativity and a splash of imagination, indoor playtime can be just as exciting as outdoor adventures.

We’ve got you covered with a list of engaging rainy-day activities that will keep little ones entertained. From vibrant art projects to hands-on crafts, this guide will turn those drizzly days into fantastic indoor memories.

1. Bring the Outdoors Inside - Decorating Plant Pots

*Recommended age: 3-5 years | Skills supported: Arts & Crafts, Safety Ensure plastic plant pots are used and this experience is supervised. Although the weather may be keeping you inside this is the perfect rainy day activity to support your child in learning more about the outdoors whilst developing their creativity.

Encourage your child to help decorate their very own plant pot. Invite your child to think of what resources they will need to decorate their plastic pot. For example, they may suggest using paint or sticking materials which could be natural items such as grass, leaves and foil.

As your child starts to decorate, encourage them to use language to talk through the process of what they are creating. For example, you could ask them what they are going to use next or how are they going to use the foil to decorate the pot.

Once your child has finished and the pot is drying, look at parts of a plant with your child through a book or on the computer. Use keywords such as stem, petals, pollen, and roots. Once the pot is dry, invite your child to plant a flower or seeds within this along with some soil. Watch over time to see how it grows! Exploring outdoors is a fun and exciting method to support your child in learning more about the world around them. Growing and tending to plants and flowers or even just examining leaves and soil helps children start to understand life cycles and where food comes from.

2. Cling Film Printing

*Recommended age: 2-3 years | Skills supported: Arts & Crafts Ensure that all clingfilm is removed from children’s reach after this activity.

Get messy with your child while making patterns with this arts and crafts-based indoor activity.

First, cover your surface with a plastic tablecloth or newspaper taped to the table. Next, pull out a strip of clingfilm and using masking tape, secure this to the table covering.

Invite your child to put on their apron and encourage them to squeeze a small amount of different coloured paints onto the clingfilm. Show them how they can use their fingers (or brushes or sponges!) to move the paint around and make different patterns.

When they are happy with the patterns they have made, show them how they can press a piece of paper onto the paint and make an imprint of their picture.

Talk about their picture together, commenting on the different patterns you can see. This activity can help support children with fine motor skills that are crucial to their development, such as having strength and dexterity in their hands and fingers before being required to hold a pencil correctly and begin writing activities at school and throughout life.

3. Create Memories With a Family Mural

*Recommended age: 2-3 years | Skills supported: Arts & Crafts Ensure that all clingfilm is removed from children’s reach after this activity.

Get messy with your child while making patterns with this arts and crafts-based indoor activity.

First, cover your surface with a plastic tablecloth or newspaper taped to the table. Next, pull out a strip of clingfilm and using masking tape, secure this to the table covering.

When they are happy with the patterns they have made, show them how they can press a piece of paper onto the paint and make an imprint of their picture.

4. Make a Spinner for Creativity and Entertainment

*Recommended age: 3-5 years | Skill supported: Arts & crafts, Safety Children must be supervised when using scissors. Ensure this activity is supervised and put away once complete due to the length of the string.

When it comes to thinking of things to do when it’s raining, quick and simple activities like this are perfect! The only things you’ll need are a piece of cardboard, some string, scissors, and some colouring pens.

Develop your child's scissor skills and creativity as they create their own spinner. Firstly, cut out a large circle from the cardboard. If you have child scissors, why not invite your child to help you? Can they draw a circle and then follow the line to cut this out? Once this has been cut out, invite your child to decorate both sides of the cardboard circle. They can use any decorative resources you have to hand such as colouring pens or crayons. Ask them questions about their designs or make suggestions.

Next, poke two holes in the centre of the cardboard circle. Thread the string through the holes and tie a knot (the string will need to be around 28 inches long). You now should have the cardboard circle in the middle of the string, so you have lengths of string to hold each side of the circle. The spinner is now ready! Invite your child to hold a piece of string in each hand with the circle in the middle and go in circles to get the string twisted. Now you pull, relax, pull, relax as the circle spins around and will make a humming sound! Children make millions of new brain connections (called 'synapses') in early childhood as they make sense of the world. Having lots of opportunities to be creative helps link all the different parts of their brains and bodies.

5. Shake and Write

*Recommended age: 3-5 years | Skills supported: Arts & Crafts Make sure the space is clear and free of obstacles, and that paper is securely taped to the floor or table.

The best rainy day activities keep kids busy and simultaneously improve important development skills! Carry out this great mark-making experience at home and support your child's early handwriting skills. Prepare by finding a song or some music that you and your child enjoy listening to and also securely tape a large piece of paper to the table or floor and find some crayons or chalk. Next, in a clear space, play the music and dance together. Try making different shapes with your arms, for example moving your arms up and down in opposite directions, moving them side to side or round in a circle. To be able to make the fine motor movements needed for forming letter shapes, your child needs to experience making them on a gross motor scale and dancing is a great way to do this! When the music finishes, sit with your child where you’ve laid the paper out. Have a crayon, pen, or pencil in each hand for both you and your child. Listen to the same song again, this time making shapes with your hands on the paper. Try making similar shapes as you did when you were dancing. There is no right or wrong way for your child to complete this activity, it encourages them to get creative and practice mark-making, all while enjoying time together listening to music. Try using different types of music, fast rock music, slow classical music or folk music with a strong beat. Afterwards, talk with your child about the patterns you have made on the paper. Children begin to make marks for meaning, which are usually for writing and drawing. They are starting to make a connection between print and drawing within the environment and the fact that symbols they see carry meaning.

Busy Bees have proudly been providing excellent childcare for over 40 years, so we have plenty of experience in keeping little minds entertained with wet weather! We hope that these rainy day activities have given you some inspiration for times when you’re stuck indoors with little ones!