Last night it was Storming here and kids couldn’t get outside. I remember when I was a child and it would rain more times that not my sister, brother and I would play outside. Fast forward to when Suzzane was here she and I would also play in the rain. She didn’t have a computer or phone when she was little so we had to make our own fun and that included Storms.
Then Charlie came along and when he was little we didn’t let him on the Computer and he didn’t even have a game system until he turned nine but we found plenty to do without a screen. Honestly I wish we didn’t have them now because we spent more time as a family without them.
If it’s this way in your home I thought I would share Screen-Free Things to Do When “Going Outside” Isn’t an Option. Rainy days have a way of changing the entire mood of a house. The sky is gray and the yard is wet. The children have been inside for what feels like forever. And eventually, somebody says the words every parent knows: “I’m bored.”
Normally, you might send them outside. Go ride your bike or go outside and play. Run around the yard and find something to do. But not when it’s raining especially if it’s pouring. Maybe there is thunder and lightning so it wouldn’t be safe to go outside. Maybe the backyard has turned into one giant mud puddle.
Whatever the reason, outside isn’t an option. So what do you do? I used to make the inside of the house the adventure. We didn’t need a Special Rainy-Day Kit. The first thing I want parents to know is that you don’t need to run to the store every time the weather changes.
You probably already have plenty to work with. Paper, crayons, and books. Blankets and pillows. Boxes and cards. Board games and puzzles. Building toys. Old magazines. Kitchen supplies. And, most importantly, imagination. One of the most important things about this post is a rainy day doesn’t have to cost money.
Build a Blanket Fort which is a classic for a reason and it was one of Charlie and Suzzane’s favorite things to do. Grab some blankets and pillows and let the children build. It can be a fort or a castle. A reading tent or a campsite. A pretend house or a secret headquarters.
Let them decide. And once it’s built, the fort can become something else. Read books inside it. Have a snack. Tell stories. Play with toys. Have a pretend camping trip. Sometimes the building is half the fun especially when you invite your friends or family and pets inside with you.
Have a Reading Day– Rainy weather practically begs for books. Let each child choose a book. Make a comfortable reading spot. Build a pile of pillows and turn on a lamp. Or read by flashlight. Make a snack. Then settle in. You don’t have to make reading into schoolwork.
No worksheet. No quiz. No assignment. Just read. If your children are younger, read aloud together. Older children can choose their own books. And if everyone reads different books, that’s perfectly fine. Then collect your ticket in our 10 minute reading challenge for your reading jar.
Make a Story Together– Here’s an activity that costs absolutely nothing. Start a story with one sentence. For example: “One rainy morning, we opened the front door and discovered something very unusual…” Then let each person add a sentence. Mom adds one. Dad adds one. The kids add theirs.
Keep going. The story can become completely ridiculous. That’s okay. In fact, ridiculous is often better. Write it down if you want. You might end up with a family story you’ll laugh about years later. For even more fun let everyone draw a picture to go with the story and turn it into a book you can have for years to come.
Have an Indoor Scavenger Hunt– Give the children a list of things to find around the house. Something blue. Something soft. Something round. Something older than you. Something that makes noise. Something you haven’t played with recently. Something that belongs in the kitchen. Something with letters on it. Something you can build with. You can make the list as simple or silly as you want. The house suddenly becomes an exploration zone.
Turn the Kitchen Into an Activity– Rainy days are perfect for cooking or baking together. Make cookies or pop popcorn. Prepare sandwiches. Make homemade pizza. Mix up muffins. Let children help measure ingredients. Have them set the table. Make a special rainy-day snack.
It doesn’t have to be complicated. Sometimes the best part is simply standing in the kitchen together. And if something doesn’t turn out perfectly? You’ve got a story and a new recipe to share with your friends and family that can be made over and over tunring it into a Family recipe to be handed down through the years.
Have an Indoor Picnic– Who says picnics have to happen outside? Put a blanket on the living-room floor. Pack everyone’s lunch or let everyone make there own lunch but it must be something they can eat with there fingers. Add a few snacks. Maybe make lemonade. Then have your picnic right there. You can even pretend you’re camping. The food hasn’t changed. The location has. And that’s enough to make an ordinary lunch feel special.
Create an Art Table– Put some paper on the table. Pull out crayons, pencils, markers, or whatever you already have. Then give everyone a challenge. Draw your dream house. Draw the funniest animal you can imagine. Draw what you think is behind the clouds. Create a picture of your family. Draw a picture using only shapes. Design a new toy. Make a comic strip. There are no wrong answers.
Make Your Own Board Game– This one can take up quite a bit of time. Give the children paper and ask them to create a board game. They need to decide: What is the goal? How do you move? What happens when you land on certain spaces? How does someone win?
They can draw the board. Make cards. Create rules. Then everyone gets to play. They aren’t just staying busy. They’re thinking, creating, writing, counting, and problem-solving. That’s a whole lot of learning hiding inside a rainy afternoon and children will not even think there learning just that there having fun.
Sort the Toys: Now, I know this one isn’t going to be everyone’s favorite. But rainy days can also be a good time to tackle something that has been ignored. Have the children go through their toys. Put similar things together. Find missing pieces. Choose toys they no longer use.
Make a pile of things to donate. Organize books. Clean out a game shelf. It doesn’t have to become an all-day cleaning project. Even fifteen or twenty minutes can make a difference. And afterward, they may rediscover something they forgot they owned giving them something new to play with or do.
Put on Some Music– Sometimes everyone is simply getting restless. That’s when you turn up the music. Have a dance party. Play musical statues. Make up silly dances. Have a family sing-along. Let the children choose the songs. You don’t need fancy equipment. You just need enough room to move. And if Mom doesn’t feel like dancing? Mom can be the audience.
Let Them Be Bored– This is important. You don’t have to fill every minute of a rainy day. At some point, children may still say: “I’m bored.” And that’s okay. You can say: “I know. It’s raining. What would you like to do?” Give them some choices if they need help But don’t feel like you have to pull out a new activity every thirty minutes. A child can sit quietly. They can look through books. They can play independently. They can stare out the window and watch the rain. They can simply be. There’s value in that too.
Watch the Rain– Sometimes the simplest activity is the one right outside the window. Watch the rain. Count how many cars drive past. Look for birds. See how quickly puddles form. Listen to the thunder. Talk about where rain comes from. Let children draw what they see. For younger children, this can become a simple science lesson without ever feeling like school.
Make a Rainy-Day Memory– Maybe the rain keeps falling all afternoon. Maybe you never leave the house. Maybe everyone ends up in pajamas. Maybe the cookies get a little too brown. Maybe the blanket fort collapses. Maybe somebody laughs so hard they can’t stop. Those are the moments worth remembering.
Because childhood isn’t made up only of vacations and big adventures. Sometimes it’s made up of ordinary afternoons. A rainy Saturday. A blanket fort. A stack of books. A family game. A kitchen full of flour. A living-room picnic. And a child who started the day saying: “There’s nothing to do.” Only to discover that there actually was.
The Rain Will Stop– Eventually, the clouds will move. The yard will dry. The children will go back outside. And the rainy day will become just another memory. But maybe that’s the best thing about rainy days. They remind us that we don’t always need to go somewhere.
We don’t need to spend money. We don’t need a complicated schedule. Sometimes we simply need to look around our own home and ask: “What can we make today?” And that’s when an ordinary rainy day can turn into a really good family memory especially if you invite your friends and family over but sometimes you just need mom, dad and the kids. No, extra people needed.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
