Top 15 Rainy day/Snow day activities for kids

Last week we were snowed in and, if I’m honest, by day three my patience was being stretched thin! My kiddos are one, four and seven and finding activities they can all get involved in can be tricky, when you add in that the schools and nursery were shut and we had to do a weeks home-education as well, well, it was a very long week!

So I thought I would share a few of my go-to activities for when you’re stuck indoors listening to “I’m bored” and “can I have a snack” on repeat! None of them are ground-breaking and you probably already know them all, but when the pressure is on sometimes its handy to have a list to refer to!

In no particular order:

1. Decorate a biscuit. We always have those little tubes of icing left over from baking kits in the cupboard, fish them out, throw some sprinkles or little sweets on a plate and give them a rich tea or digestive biscuit and get them to decorate it. It doubles as a snack and keeps them busy for a while and I tell myself its building their fine motor skills so its really an educational activity… I often ask them to make a biscuit face of a family member which keeps them going even longer trying to get all the details correct-and usually gives a hilarious result. We always text a photo to the person so getting a message back later in the day adds to the excitement. Top tip-if your icing isn’t coming out easily enough for little fingers, chuck them in a mug of warm water for a few minutes and they work much more easily!

2. The floor is lava. Enough said? Fun, easy and keeps them going for ages. add in rescuing a soft toy for bigger ones, or time them getting across if they need more encouragement. Great for building balance, co-ordination and gross motor skills.

3. Puppet shows-w. we don’t actually have many puppets, but the kids hide behind the sofa and use barbie, spider and a cast of stuffed animals to put on shows. They love being filmed and watching it back too. Bonus parent points if you make your own puppets first out of old socks with hot glue gunned buttons for eyes or other crafty things, but my kids loose interest quickly if they need to much help. Great for imaginations, and I have given them some prompts to get started in the past and used this to help build emotional intelligence-things like, “what if barbie was being mean to rabbit in the playground? How could big rabbit help? What should rabbit do?”

4. YouTube. yes, I know its screen time, but we all need a five minute break and a hot coffee. Stick on an old Joe Wicks PE session or there are plenty of gamified PE things-we did “elf run” every day during the Christmas holidays and they absolutely loved it. Call it your PE class and don’t feel guilty.

5. Simon says/musical statues/musical bumps. yes friends, I pull out the party game classics. They compete for “Grand Mystery Prizes” things like, a banana, or being lifted onto my shoulders and paraded around the room. If you have boys like I do, you know how important it is to keep exercising them as if they were a puppy. They have way more energy than should be legal.

6. Treasure hunt/find me something the colour… If you have a printer this is extra easy-just google around for some treasure hunt clues and hide them while the kids are distracted (or stick them in one room and tell them to count as if they were playing hide and seek). Our compete for “Mystery Grand Prizes” which have been things like choosing what I make for dinner or being allowed squash in their water bottle. If you use written clues I call it “literacy learning” because they’re having to read the words, if they’re still too little asking them to find you something the colour…red for example helps with colour recognition.

7. Playing dress up/Role play. I find if I give my kids some prompts with this they will play for longer, and you can use it to support social interactions in a fun, no-pressure way. For example, one of you is a shop keeper and the other two are customers-and if you don’t have any play food don’t worry-just give them some tins and packets from the cupboard.

8. Obstacle course. Yes the living room will be trashed but brand this as family name Ninja warrior and its a winner in our house. Like I said earlier-boys need exercising and it helps build balance, coordination and gross motor skills. You can even make it a relay race or team sport if they need to help each other to complete it. I keep a few rolls of masking tape around to turn the hallway into something from a heist movie and then make them jump across pillows and under blankets slung between chairs. Fun.

9. Build a den. Again, your living room will be trashed, but they will have fun-and you can stick a movie on and let them sit in it to watch a film for a bit of quiet time-especially if any of your littles still need a nap time. Great for encouraging team work-although it does depend what mood they’re in as sometimes I end up refereeing so much I wonder if it was worth it.

10. Cardboard box. Sometimes I just chuck a cardboard box in the living room and just leave them to it. Ideally a large box, something at least one of them can sit in. Theres usually a fight over what its going to be/who gets to sit in it/what to colour in on the sides, but I like to tell them that they’re all very good negotiators and they should use their negotiation skills with each other to work as a team and figure it out. Honestly, it often ends in tears, but it keeps them occupied for a while, and sometimes I just need to get a load of washing sorted and chop something for dinner without everyone being underfoot.

11. Easy STEM activities. Build the bridge that can take the most tins from the cupboard or make a paper aeroplane that flies the furthest-obviously there’s an amazing “Grand Mystery Prize” for the winner, maybe a single chocolate coin that fell down the back of the cupboard at Christmas, or a tangerine that I’ve drawn a smiley face on. You can either tackle this by raiding the recycling bin and giving them a load of tape, or giving them Playmags of Duplo or another construction toy. You could even stick a time limit on it of you have older kids to make them race against the clock.

12. Cosmic Kids. Similar to the YouTube above, but instead of using it to get the wriggles out, use it for a moment of calm-try one of the meditations if everyone is sky high and needing to take a breath. Jamie deserves a damehood for saving my sanity on more than one occasion. Call it some guided mindfulness if you feel guilty about the screen time.

13. Hide and seek. Its another oldie but goldie-pro tip-if you’re the seeker and you need a minute without all the tiny humans touching you, just wander about calling out of good at hiding they are and give yourself five minutes before you actually “find” the child in who thought you couldn’t see them because they stood in front of the curtains in a jumper the same colour as them.

14. Quick craft. Nothing fancy, just some finger painting, pasta necklaces or making a shaker from some old lentils that no one will ever eat and an old pringles tube.

15. Make overs. this is not for the faint of heart, but giving my kids an old palette (from the days when I had a social life before I had them) and letting them give each other make overs will honestly keep them occupied for a solid 30 minutes. There is a bit of clean up afterward, but they treat it more like face paint than make up and try drawing tigers and butterflies on each other. Bonus parent points if you let them give you a new look. You are a brave person.