With the Spring rainy days upon us, I thought I would share some fun rainy day activities you can do with your kids. These activities are sure to keep your kids busy, whether you prefer to stay indoors or adventure outside!

Below I am sharing with you my personal faves – the best of the best! But there is ONE rainy day activity that is better than all the rest. Playdough! Grab your free summer themed playdough mats right here:

Ready for more? Here are my tried and true rainy day activities. They are organized by age range so you can easily find activities that are appropriate for your children.

Rainy Day Activities You Can Do Indoors

Rainy day activities you can do indoors with your kids include art projects, sensory bins, gross motor movement activities and fine motor skills activities. 

Indoor Rainy Day Activities for Babies

Flower Sensory Play from Baby Related Inspirations – This simple sensory play brings the outdoors inside with a colorful bouquet of flowers.

Rainbow in a Bag – No Mess Art by Powerful Mothering. Babies will love smooshing around the color paint in a bag to create some mess free rainbow art! It’s the perfect activity to brighten up a rainy day. 

Homemade Taste Safe Finger Paint by Powerful Mothering. Taste safe homemade paints are a great way to let babies and toddlers explore painting on a rainy day!

2 Ingredient Taste Safe Moon Sand by Little Learning Club. Moon sand is a fun sensory material that can be made at home! This recipe is just two ingredients and taste safe for little ones!

Walking on Pillows by Hands On As We Grow. This simple gross motor activity is fun for crawling babies as well as walking, jumping toddlers and preschoolers. 

Indoor Rainy Day Activities for Toddlers

Blossoming Spring Craft – Toddlers and older kids will enjoy creating this nature-inspired, spring craft! Especially on a rainy spring day.

The Ultimate No-Cook Playdough Recipe –  Play dough is a great activity for toddlers to pull out on a rainy day. Whip up some fun with our ultimate no-cook play dough recipe!

Flashlight Games by Mom in the Six. A dark, rainy day is the perfect time to break out the flashlights and have some fun! These seven ideas will keep your toddlers having fun and learning all day long!

Sock Toss by Joyful Bunny. This super simple gross motor activity is sure to be a hit with toddlers! All you need is some socks rolled into balls and an empty laundry basket!

5 Different Activities for 6 Lines of Tape by Hands On As We Grow. With just 6 lines of masking tape or painters tape and a large, open space toddlers will have fun moving around and working on gross motor skills.

Indoor Rainy Day Activities for Preschoolers

To Get ‘Em Moving on a Rainy Day – Build this simple obstacle course using kitchen chairs and some 2×4 boards for a fun gross motor movement activity that works on balance!

The Ultimate Rainy Day Activity for Preschoolers – This awesome rainy day activity is indoors, but also kind of outdoors. All you need is some chalk, toy cars and a large covered area like a garage, carport or covered patio.

A Very Cheery Spring Bunting – Add some color to a gray, rainy day with this colorful bunting! All you need is some paper towels, markers and water!

LEGO Duplo Ring Toss by Stir the Wonder. With some Duplo bricks and pipe cleaners you and your preschooler can work on fine motor skills while making a fun ring toss game! 

Spaghetti Cutting Bin by Busy Toddler. This is an excellent rainy day sensory bin that also invites preschoolers to work on their fine motor scissor skills. 

Indoor Rainy Day Activities for Kids

Colorful Spring Art Project for Kids – This simple art project will brighten up a dull, rainy day. All you need is some paper and watercolor pencils or paints.

10 Indoor Ball Games for Kids by Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls. With some little plastic balls and some basic items you probably have around your home, you can set up these 10 indoor games that are perfect for a rainy day!

DIY Hallway Laser Maze by It’s Always Autumn. All you need is some crepe paper or maybe one of those extra rolls of toilet paper you have stashed away you can create this fun hallway laser maze for your kids to find their way through.

Plastic Cup Boredom Buster by All For the Boys. Grab some plastic cups and card stock, then challenge your kids to build the tallest tower, or the most unique tower!

 

Rainy Day Activities You Can Do Outdoors

It can be lots of fun to head outside on a rainy day! Here are some fabulous outdoor rainy day activities you can do with kids of all ages, including art, sensory play, gross motor movement and fine motor skills activities! 

Outdoor Rainy Day Activities for Babies

So it might be hard to take a baby outside on a rainy day, but I found a few fun activities that I think a crawler or newly walking baby would enjoy!

Carry Your Baby Outside During a Warm Rain Shower – Even though you might not think to take your baby outside while it’s raining, I think it would be a good experience for them to feel a light rain shower. Remember everything is new for a baby, so you don’t need to do anything fancy to give them the experience. 

Musical Pots and Pans by Life Unexpected. Bring some pots, pans and wooded spoons outside on a rainy day and let your baby experiment with different sounds they make when filled with rain water or when the rain is hitting them. 

Take a Walk in the Rain – Put on some rain gear and head outside to take a walk in the rain. Let your walker splash in the puddles!

Outdoor Rainy Day Activities for Toddlers

An Invitation to Play in the Rain – Grab some pots, pans, spoons and whisks! Bring them outside in the rain to let your kids play in the rain and mud!

Give Animals a Mud Bath, Then Clean Them Off from The Crazy Outdoor Mama.

Fizzy Puddle by Simple Fun for Kids. Toddlers will get a kick out of this cool outdoor science experiment which creates fizzy puddles with baking soda and kool-aid! 

Make Mud Paint by Learn.Play.Imagine. Mix up some colorful mud paint and let your little ones paint outside in the rain!

Outdoor Rainy Day Activities for Preschoolers

Painting a Puddle by Simple Fun for Kids. With some powder tempera paint, preschoolers will have so much fun painting a puddle and playing with animals in it!

Rain Painting by Housing A Forest. Take some basic art supplies outside in the rain and experiments to see how the different art supplies react when used in the rain!

Search for Soggy Animals in the Rain by Mother Natured. Some critters just love the rain. Take some time to search for slugs, worms, frogs, toads etc. 

Bottle Top Leaf Boats by Learning 4 Kids. Grab some recycled bottle lids and some clay, add a leaf and float some boats in the rain puddles!

Make Mud Pie Nature Art by Rhythms of Play. Making mud pies is a classic rainy day outdoor activity! Add some nature elements like flowers, leaves and rocks to create some mud pie nature art!

Outdoor Rainy Day Activities for Kids

Float Origami Boats inPuddles– This is a fun indoor and outdoor activity to do on a rainy day. Fold up some origami boats and see if they float in the rain puddles!

Measure Rain Puddles by Creative Star Learning. Take your kids outside in the rain to measure the length of rain puddles! You can use sticks or measuring tape and compare different sizes of the puddles!

Sidewalk Chalk Art Spring Puddles by Lemon Lime Adventures. This is such a cool thing to do with rain puddles! All you need is some sidewalk chalk to create vibrantly colored rain puddles to splash in!

Fill Containers in the Rain by Mother Natured. Gather up some water safe containers of various sizes and see which one fills up the quickest or make guesses on how much each container holds. 

Homemade Rain Gauge by The Imagination Tree. Rain can provide lots of opportunities for learning outside! Build a simple rain gauge with a plastic bottle and measure how much rain you get!

There you have them friends! Loads of ideas for rainy day fun whether you are looking for indoor activities or outdoor activities.

I hope this list is helpful to you and your little ones. Sometimes a little inspiration is all that is needed to brighten a rainy day!

xo
Sarah