When you have kids at home over the school break, rainy days can feel like a challenge. Whether you’re stuck indoors because the downpour is a bit more than the splashy puddles you would normally enjoy, or you’re about to have a week of dreary weather, it can be very tricky to keep them entertained.
Rainy days can, however, offer the perfect opportunity to you all to really get creative and try new activities that can be fun for the whole family. We’ve put together a short list of fun rainy day ideas that will keep your kids engaged and entertained and they’ll even allow you to sneak in some down time.
- Bust out the iPads. Sometimes, the simplest ideas are the best ones. Busting out the iPads and giving the kids a chance to have some screen time also gives you a chance to unwind and have some screen time, too. Whether you just want to doom scroll on social media or you want to go and play a game of spades that you found online, busting out the iPad is a great idea for a rainy day. The kids could engage on their screens and they’ll be able to have fun chatting to their friends while you also get to sit together and play too.
- Put together an indoor scavenger hunt. Scavenger hunts are a good way to keep kids moving, even when the rain is pouring so hard you really can’t take the umbrellas outside. Create a list of items for them to find around the house such as a blue sock, or a plastic spoon, or a red toy cart. You get the picture. You don’t have to hide any of these items yourself, but you can just make them fun items for the kids to find easy ones for the youngsters. If you want to add a little twist, create a themed scavenger hunt, such as a colour hunt or a nature hunt where they find items to match the theme.
- Take out the craft box. From painting to gluing and sticking, crafting is a good way to spark creativity and pass the time. Kids can stay entertained for hours simply by using the supplies for crafts that you’ve got in the house. You could encourage them to create collages or construct recycled models. You can even start making homemade play dough or salt dough so that you can do footprints and handprints to oven bake and paint. They can practise their fine motor skills and allow their imaginations to go crazy.
- Build a Fort. Pull out all the towels, sheets, and bedding that you can find into one room with some chairs and tables and start draping them. You could create forts that have multiple rooms and even corridors. They can work together to build the perfect fort, decorating it with their favourite stuffed animals and books. Once it’s built, they can go inside and spend time pretending to camp and read stories. For added fun, equip them with some torches and turn off the lights for a spooky atmosphere.
- Do some baking. Find ingredients in your pantry and plug them in to ChatGPT to find out what dishes that you could make. Get the kids involved in the kitchen by cooking or baking something together, from simple things like cookies and cupcakes, to pizza and homemade bread. They can help you to measure the ingredients, crack the eggs, and even pour the batter into the dishes. Kids love to bake, because not only is it messy fun, they get to eat the results. For you, it’s a great way to teach them the harmony of ingredients and is a little bit of math and science thrown in.
- Watch your favourite movies. Put on a new movie or even an old classic and have fun together. All of the baking that you did earlier can serve as your snacks, or you can bust out some popcorn or chips and have fun. You could even stretch out the fun by getting them to write a short story of their own after the movie to add a scene onto the end and see what they think happens next.
- Go outside anyway. A great way to have fun on a rainy day is to wear waterproof clothing and rainboots, grab an umbrella and go outside and splash! Get the kids as messy and muddy as possible, because after all, they can just have a bath!