Screen Free Activities to Keep Kids Indoors and Busy on a Rainy Day5 min read

Spending time outdoors is so important for kids. They need to be outside and play in order to stay active and healthy – physically as well as mentally.

But what about days when the weather doesn’t cooperate and your kids are forced to sit at home?
As a mom, it can get pretty frustrating to deal with kids who are bouncing off the walls and don’t want to stay indoors on such days, and especially when it’s raining.

So, what to do during these days?

How do you keep your kids indoors, engaged and happy all at once?

Do you let them aimlessly sit in front of screens all day? Absolutely not!

It’s always a great idea to have some go-to activities ready to keep your kids occupied on days when the weather is not best-suited to outdoor play.

While it’s a good thing for your kids to get bored and find different ways to entertain themselves, it is also advisable to have some things at hand to help them. This will make every rainy day easier and happier for everyone!

Try out these 10 interesting screen-free activities to keep your kids busy and indoors on a rainy day

1. Bring out a new puzzle

This is an activity that the whole family can get involved in. Get some jigsaw puzzles and keep them ready and accessible for days when everyone is stuck indoors with seemingly nothing to do.
Bring in some yummy snacks and gather around the kitchen table to put together your jigsaw puzzle as a family.

2. Bake some yummy sweet treats

The best solution to surviving wet and gloomy weather is to get together and bake some mouth-watering, sweet goodies. Who doesn’t love to bite into warm chocolate chip cookies or some fresh cake right out of the oven? Baking with your kids is a really nice way to spend your rainy day indoors. Baking can be super therapeutic. Additionally, your kids get to learn some hands-on math and science as well as important life skills!

3. Listen to a podcast or an audiobook

Listening to podcasts and audiobooks is a super smart idea! And the best thing is that you’ll find something for everyone. You could listen to a story, or a language audiobook, the possibilities are so many!

You can also have your kids listen to audio in the background while they’re doing some quiet activity like coloring or solving a puzzle.

4. Build a fort

Kids love to build stuff if given the opportunity. So, allow them to build a fort with whatever you can spare them for the day – some chairs, bedsheets, pillows, blankets and so on. You could help them to prepare some easy but yummy snacks and have them pick out their favorite book to read.
Once their fort is ready, they can grab their snacks and their books and snuggle up to read!

5. Set up an indoor obstacle course

Turning your living room into an impromptu obstacle course is always fun! You can rearrange your furniture and play your own version of The Floor Is Lava with the kids. Watch them hop, skip and jump around the house trying to avoid the imaginary “lava”.

6. Do some art-and-craft projects

If your kids love art and craft projects, then bring out those supplies and let them get artsy. You can recycle some of that junk that has been lying around the house. Encourage your kids to work their imagination and do creative things with whatever they have.
Don’t worry about the mess! Surely cleaning up after a messy art-and-craft project is easier than dealing with whiny kids who complain about having nothing to do on a rainy day!

7. Play some board games

Board games may seem old-fashioned and outdated but they’re really not! Bringing out some board games that the whole family can sit together and play is great for when the weather outside is just plain horrible. You can listen to the heavy rain outside while you and your kids work out plans to beat each other in your game!

8. Have a dance party

Cause why not? Switch on some fun, upbeat music and bust out those dance moves in the living room! This activity will also help your kids to have some of that exercise they would otherwise be missing on a typical indoor day. You could have a mini competition where the person with the coolest dance moves wins an extra piece of candy!

9. Host a family karaoke session

For all those melodious families out there, a rainy day is perfect to bring out a mic and sing your lungs out! Karaoke sessions are super fun because nobody has to be the perfect singer. Everyone just has fun! It’s a great way to bond with your kids too.

10. Play games

Games like “I spy”, “20 questions”, “Would you rather” and so on are the best to play when everyone is indoors. It will not only keep your kids engaged, but will also be an amazing family bonding experience. Everyone will get to know a little more about the others.

Conclusion

It can get challenging when all your kids want is to go outside and do their own thing but the weather is just not willing to cooperate. We hope that this list of activities will give you an idea of what to do in such situations. You can always improvise and do other things that you know would be really fun for your family. The next time your kids are stuck indoors on a rainy day, you know how to keep them engaged and happy!