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1.) Make a Fort

No activity list would be complete without a fort. Forts are super easy to create and can keep kids entertained for at least 30-45 minutes. Think the time setting it up, playing in it; maybe even reading a book.

Skills: Imagination, Problem-Solving, Independence

2.) Paint

This is one of my favorite go-to things to do on those days where we are stuck inside. Painting sessions generally last about a half hour and if you have young kids, paint is an excellent way for them to express themselves.

Skills: Fine Motor, Imagination, Experimentation, Hand-Eye Coordination

3.) Building Blocks

Building blocks are easy indoor activities for kids to do on a rainy day. You can use Legos, the wood building blocks or even build your own out of boxes. Either way, it is an activity that most children enjoy and set up and take down are seamless.

Skills Used: Motor, Hand-Eye Coordination, Problem Solving,

4.) Have a Dance Party

Free and easy, simply play a few songs from YouTube and dance along to them. You can even choose songs that already have some choreographed moves to them. Such as:

• The Goldfish Song
• Baby Shark
• Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes
• Shake Your Sillies Out

Skills: Creativity along with added bonus of exercise

5.) Host a Talent Show

A talent show is one of the most simple indoor activities for kids that you can do. Make it fun by grabbing a pretend microphone and announcing each act.

Skills: Creativity

6.) Bake

For toddlers and above baking is a fun and easy thing to do on those rainy days. I prefer to involve children from the start, even allowing them to help pour ingredients into measuring cups (with parental supervision and help, of course). Make it extra official by adding in an apron and hat!

Skills: Basic Math, Hand-Eye Coordination

7.) Read Books

Grab a few books and have a reading session. Children love a good story time.

Skills: Cognitive Development

8.) Pretend Bake / PlayDoh

Not up for real baking? PlayDoh is a great alternative and has a much easier clean up time.

Skills: Motor, Creativity, Hand-Eye Coordination

9.) Give Babies or Toy Animals a Bath

If you have a washable/plastic doll or animal around the home, have your child give them a bath. Fill a plastic container with water, give them a rag, soap and towel and have them get their toy squeaky clean!

Skills: Motor, Sensory

10.) Play Ball on the Floor

Super easy! Sit on the floor with legs open and pass the ball back and forth. For older children, pass it in other directions to make it a little more challenging.

Skills: Hand-Eye Coordination

11.) Bowling

If you have a child bowling set, great! However, if you don’t you can still set this up. Create a couple towers of blocks on the floor and roll a ball towards them to see if they can knock them down.

Skills: Hand-Eye Coordination, Simple Math

12.) Perform a Marching Band Parade

Get some instruments together and host a marching band parade. March around the kitchen and living room, creating beautiful ? music.

Skills: Hand-Eye Coordination, Motor

13.) Make a Seasonal Craft

Scour Pinterest for a seasonal craft to make; these are the perfect indoor activities for kids. Look for one where you have materials on hand – such as popsicle sticks, pom poms and paper plate crafts.

Skills: Fine Motor, Creativity

15.) Go on an Adventure Hunt

Draw up a simple map and create an adventure hunt for you and your little ones to go on. If you’ve ever watched Dora the Explorer, think of the adventures that Dora and Booths go on. Fun and easy to put together on the fly.

Skills: Imagination, Problem-Solving

14.) Create a Camp In

If you have an indoor tent, now is the perfect time to pull it out. Create a camp-in, complete with stories, sleeping bags and flashlights. It’s sure to be a fun time with your little one.

Skills: Creativity

16.) Practice Colors

For young kids learning their colors, practicing colors is an easy indoor activity for them to do. One of our favorite way to learn colors is to tape construction paper on the wall and give them coordinating color stickers. They peel off the sticker and place it on the correct color construction paper.

Skills: Fine Motor, Colors

17.) Play Don’t Touch the Floor

Blow up some balloons, toss them around and play don’t touch the floor. This is one of those fun indoor activities for kids that they are sure to enjoy.

Skills: Motor, Hand-Eye Coordination

18.) Build an Obstacle Course

Use sheets, couch cushions, mats, yarn and other items to create an obstacle course.

Skills: Balance, Physical, Motor Planning

19.) Play Hot Potato

Have more than one child? Why not play a round of hot potato? This is a classic game that brings a smile to people’s faces.

Skills: Hand-Eye Coordination

20.) Decorate a Cookie or Cupcake

Either bake treats or use store bought cookies or cupcakes. Whip up some colored frosting (or use store bought) and let them decorate their own sweets. Sprinkles and other toppings are a bonus!

Skills: Creativity, Hand-Eye Coordination, Motor

21.) Put Together a Puzzle

One of the many simple indoor activities for kids. Pull out a puzzle and put it together.

Skills: Motor, Cognitive

22.) Create a Scavenger Hunt

Hide some items around the home and put together a scavenger hunt. Older children can practice reading. For younger children, you can use images along with words. This is a great way to get kids moving about and fun for the whole family.

Skills: Observation, Problem-Solving

23.) Host a Tea Party

Take out the tea cups and measuring spoons and have yourselves a tea party. Don’t forget to invite the babies and stuffed animals!

Skills: Imagination, Fine Motor

24.) Have an Indoor Picnic

Make lunch extra fun. Instead of eating at the table, set up shop on the floor. Lay down a blanket, have your little one help you with set up and enjoy lunch on the ground for a day.

Skills: Direction Following

25.) Play Hide & Seek

A classic game that never gets old.

Skills: Problem-Solving, Counting

26.) Make Salt Dough Creations

With only needing 3 common household ingredients this is one of the easier indoor activities for kids on the list. Have your little ones help you from start to finish.

Skills: Creativity, Basic Math

More Indoor Activities for Kids

27.) Play Pretend (or Real) Cleanup

Need to get some household chores done? Have your little one help along. Perfect time to pull out those toy brooms and vacuums.

Skills: Responsibility, Motor

28.) Don’t Drop the Egg

Boil up some eggs, balance them on a spoon and make it a game to where the egg can’t drop. Prefer not use real eggs? Plastic eggs or even cotton swabs are great alternatives.

Skills: Balancing, Motor

29.) Plant Something

Grass is something that grows easily and can be grown indoors. It’s a perfect opportunity to discuss how plants, vegetables and fruits are grown. Interested in giving it a try? Check out this page to learn more.

Skills: Fine Motor, Observation

30.) Make a Homemade Pizza

Pizzas are always a crowd pleaser. Gather up all of the ingredients and make a homemade pizza. Or make individual pizzas and allow the little ones to put on their own toppings!

Skills: Motor, Direction Following, Independence

31.) Tie-Dye Shirts

Another classic that never gets old. Grab some plain, white 100% cotton t-shirts and create some tie-dye shirts.

Skills: Motor, Colors

32.) Red Light, Green Light

Cut out some stop lights in red and green construction paper and play red light, green light. Red paper means stop and green means go. If you have more than one little one, add some competitiveness by seeing who reaches you first.

Skills: Motor, Observation

33.) Leap Frog Onto Puddles

Cut out puddles with blue construction paper. Tape them to the floor and have the little ones hop from one puddle to the next.

Skills: Motor

34.) Play Musical Chairs or Simon Says

Turn those listening skills up. Best when played with more than one child and can be enjoyed at any age.

Skills: Listening, Observation, Motor

35.) Make a Noodle Necklace

Another one of those simple indoor activities for kids. Create a noodle necklace out of uncooked noodles, color them if you wish and string them.

Skills: Fine Motor, Creativity

36.) Play Freeze

Play music and when the music stops, everyone freezes in the position they were in.

Skills: Motor, Listening

37.) Play Cards or a Board Game

Memory, Go Fish anyone? Rainy and wintery days are perfect times to pull out the family card and board games.

Skills: Varies depending upon the game

38.) Indoor Basketball

Either use the kid basketball hoop you have or set up buckets for the hoops. Get some light bouncy balls and play ball.

Skills: Motor

39.) Create Closed Sensory Boxes

Place items in boxes and have little ones put their hands in to guess what it is. These can be season specific or general items found around the home.

Skills: Problem Solving, Sensory

40.) Play with Kinetic Sand

Who says sand is just for outdoors? Kinetic sand is fun and perfect as one of the indoor activities for kids. Make castles, molds and more and then enjoy watching it “melt” apart.

Skills: Creativity, Motor, Sensory

41.) Paint Rocks

Your community may participate in rock painting. But if not, this is still a fun and affordable indoor activity for kids to do at home. Gather up some rocks, paint and paintbrushes and let them get to work.

Skills: Creativity, Fine Motor

42.) Make Easy Peasy Suncatchers

Take some clear contact paper, cut it in the shape you wish. Cut out different colored tissue paper and let the kids place it on the sticky side of contact paper. Hang in window.

Skills: Fine Motor

43.) Create a Laser Maze Obstacle

This is one of the fun, challenging indoor activities for kids. Take come crepe paper and cris-cross tape it throughout a hallway. Have the kids try to make it through the maze without touching the crepe paper.

Skills: Observation, Motor

44.) Make a Raised Salt Painting

With some Elmer’s glue, table salt, liquid watercolors and paintbrushes, you can make super cool raised salt paintings. Create any image you want or make something season specific.

Skills: Fine Motor, Creativity

45.) Sensory Bin with Rice or Beans

Fill a bin with dry rice or beans and give the little ones a spoon and cups. Or place some (non-choking) toys in there and let them “fish” them out. This little simple activity can surprisingly provide a great time for them.

Skills: Fine Motor, Creativity, Hand-Eye Coordination

46.) Make Slime

With so many different recipes for slime, you are sure to find one that fits your family. Add glitter or other materials so they can make it their own. A traditional and fun kid and family favorite.

Skills: Basic Math, Motor, Creativity

47.) Put on a Show with Paper Bag Puppets

Take some paper bags, add eyes, nose, mouth and hair and you’ve got yourselves a puppet. After they are complete, take turns putting on a show. Invite the teddies and dolls to join you ?.

Skills: Creativity, Imagination

48.) Create a Personalized Picture Frame

Take pictures or use an already printed picture. Decorate a paper, foam or wood picture frame and place the picture in there. Perfect gifts for parents, grandparents or just to add as decor to their room.

Skills: Creativity, Fine Motor

49.) Put on a Fashion Show

Let the kids dress up as their favorite super hero or princesses and have them put on a fashion show. Create a runway to give it that extra oomph!

Skills: Creativity, Imagination

50.) Set Up a Store and Shop

If you’ve got play food, now is a great time to put them to use. Set up a store and let your little ones go shopping. Make it official by pulling out your check out register, if you’ve got one!

Skills: Basic Math, Imagination

51.) Fix a Toy Car

Play pretend by fixing up a toy car. Grab toy tools and explain how each one works. Let your little one twist bolts and hammer away.

Skills: Imagination, Motor

52.) Make a Hat

One of those simple, but fun indoor activities for kids. Cut out a strip of construction paper and let your kid(s) decorate them. After they are decorated, make any adjustments to the strip of construction paper and adhere the two ends together with tape.

Skills: Creativity, Fine Motor

53.) Nothing

Down time for kids is good. If your little ones are complaining they are bored, don’t immediately turn on the electronics. Invite them to do something on their own. You might be surprised what their imagination and creativity cooks up.

Skills: Imagination, Creativity

Did you skip down to the bottom? Here’s a summary of the 53 indoor activities for kids to do on those rainy, wintery days.

• Make a Fort
• Paint
• Building Blocks
• Have a Dance Party
• Host a Talent Show
• Bake
• Read Books
• Pretend Bake/ Play Doh
• Give Babies or Toy Animals a Bath
• Play Ball on the Floor
• Bowling
• Perform a Marching Band Parade
• Make a Seasonal Craft
• Create a Camp In
• Go on an Adventure Hunt
• Practice Colors
• Play Don’t Touch the Floor
• Build an Obstacle Course
• Play Hot Potato
• Decorate a Cookie or Cupcake
• Put Together a Puzzle
• Create a Scavenger Hunt
• Host a Tea Party
• Have an Indoor Picnic
• Play Hide & Seek
• Make Salt Dough Creations
• Play Pretend (or Real) Cleanup
• Don’t Drop the Egg
• Plant Something
• Make a Homemade Pizza
• Tie-Dye Shirts
• Red Light, Green Light
• Leap Frog Onto Puddles
• Play Musical Chairs or Simon Says
• Make a Noodle Necklace
• Play Freeze
• Play Cards or a Board Game
• Indoor Basketball
• Create Closed Sensory Boxes
• Play with Kinetic Sand
• Paint Rocks
• Make Easy Peasy Suncatchers
• Create a Laser Maze Obstacle
• Make a Raised Salt Painting
• Sensory Bin with Dried Rice or Beans
• Make Slime
• Put on a Show with Paper Bag Puppets
• Create a Personalized Picture Frame
• Put on a Fashion Show
• Set up a Store or Shop
• Fix a Toy Car
• Make a Hat
• Nothing

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