If spring showers promise to bring flowers, then this summer’s flowers should be gorgeous. Rainy days can be fun if you know how to make the most of them. With a little bit of creativity, you can turn a rainy day into a fun-filled adventure. If you’re feeling bored and stuck inside, here are some of our favorite rainy day things to do.
Rainy Day Things to Do
Have a picnic lunch inside
If you have little ones at home, an indoor picnic lunch can feel pretty magical when the weather outside doesn’t want to cooperate. Layout a favorite blanket, spend time together in the kitchen crafting the perfect lunch and then enjoy a leisurely meal listening to the raindrops. After lunch, you can even take that blanket and curl up on the couch with some favorite library books. It’s the perfect gateway for an all-afternoon nap.
Paint, Draw, or Color
One of our favorite rainy day things to do is get out the paintbox and a fresh box of crayons and spend an afternoon painting and coloring. Coloring is relaxing for both children and adults. Hello, adult coloring books! It’s a great way to bond and enjoy time together. Add some relaxing music and see what comes.
Make homemade pizzas
This is a fantastic activity no matter the weather, but there’s nothing like a little comfort food on a dreary day. You can make homemade pizza using premade dough if you don’t want to roll out your own, or you can make French bread pizzas by slicing a loaf of French bread lengthwise. Kids always love adding their own sauce, cheese, & toppings.
Bake cookies
Channel your inner Betty Crocker and make good use of all that butter in the refrigerator. If you’re like our family, we always have the ingredients for chocolate chip cookies on hand. If you’re not much of a baker, the premixed cookie dough at the grocery store will also do the trick.
Indoor scavenger hunt
If you have little ones that need to burn off some energy, create a simple scavenger hunt for them to go on inside the house. Write fun clues, create a mystery, and maybe it all leads to a favorite movie and a bag of popcorn.
Watch a movie
After the scavenger hunt, it’s time for a movie! With countless streaming services at our fingertips, you can pretty much bank on all your favorite family movies being ready to play. Rainy afternoons are perfect to curl up with a blanket and watch your favorite Disney movies. We love the Disney Nature series on rainy afternoons.
Make a fort out of pillows & blankets
Making a fort out of pillows & blankets has been a favorite of our rainy day things to do for generations. This activity never seems to get stale, even as your children get older. The forts just become more complex. In fact, our kids have been known to drag all kinds of things into a fort.. iPads, televisions, couch cushions, board games, twinkle lights. Everything but the kitchen sink! Blanket forts don’t need to be elaborate to be fun. Let the kids use their imagination and soon the residents of Fort Pillow will be demanding snacks.
Tinker & Build
With so many fun subscription boxes out there for kids, these boxes make a great rainy day activity. We like to tuck our boxes (literally) away for a “rainy day” — it’s a fun way to engage as a family and enjoy a slower pace. Then there’s no rush to complete the activity. We’ve done lots of STEAM activities this way and it never gets old.
Go to the library
If you’re feeling stir-crazy, you could brave a little bit of wetness and head out to your local library. In addition to shelves filled with books, most libraries also have tabletop games with blocks, magnets, or puppets for children to enjoy some quiet games.
Play a board game
A rainy day is a great time to dig out your favorite board games and get the whole family involved. Some of our favorite board games include Memory, Connect 4, Sorry, Trouble, & Candyland.
Visit a museum
Kids museums, art museums, science museums – luckily, they never close on a rainy day. Visiting a museum is a great way to forget about the rain altogether and bring a little sunshine back into your life.
Art museums often have kids’ classes or interactive areas for kids to use their imagination and be creative. Children’s museums are obviously made for them and therefore a perfect outing and science museums are fantastic because they’re engaging and interactive.
Rainy day things to do for adults
-catch up on your favorite TV show or reading material
-try a new recipe
-paint, draw or work on another creative project you’ve been meaning to start
-dust off your treadmill
-have an indoor picnic lunch
-make homemade pizzas
-bake cookies
-indoor scavenger hunt
-watch a movie
-make a fort out of pillows & blankets
What’s your favorite thing to do on a rainy day? Let us know in the comments!
