Are you looking for fun indoor activities for kids for when you’re stuck indoors due to cold, wind, rain, or other weather? Here are my top 15+ fun kids activities for just such an occasion. I’ve also added a bonus activity for you to have on hand!
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Indoor Activities for Kids
Whether you’re looking for rainy day activities, snow day activities, or fun indoor activities for kids, I’ve got a lot below that you and your kids will love. I’ve found it can help to have ideas of things for when this happens so you’re not caught off guard! Below are some of our favorite fun indoor activities for kids at home.
Rock Painting Kit
The all-inclusive rock painting kit includes everything you need for painting rocks, down to the actual rocks! Not many kits include everything you need but this one does.
This kit includes 10 river rocks, 2 wooden pieces, 12 non-toxic acrylic paints, 3 paint pens, 2 paint brushes, 1 art smock, transfer stickers and river stand.
Even better? It all comes in a backpack! This way, your child can work on painting their own rocks at home or on the go at a park or outdoor family gathering.
Painting rocks aids in promoting creativity, fine motor skills, problem-solving, and neural connections within the brain. All that to say, it’s a great activity for kids of all ages.
Paper Snowflakes for Snowy Days
Remember these from your childhood? Just fold up some white printer paper three or more times and start cutting shapes. Once done, open it up and yay! Snowflake!!
If you want to go really fancy you can use different colors of construction paper or even try to cut hearts out! I thought this was so basic but my 2 year olds and 4 year old were so amazed by this!
Playing with shaving cream
I have to say, I only let them do this when they’re strapped in their high chairs with bibs on because otherwise the mess would freak me out. A way to make it even more fun is to add some food coloring! If you’re worried about them eating it, use something such as whipping cream, as long as they’re not allergic to dairy.
Finger paint, the clean version!
If you’re hoping for something a little cleaner, this one is for you. My oldest has some sensory difficulties including hating being dirty so finger paint has never been his thing. I came across the idea of putting a piece of paper and finger paint inside of a large zip-top bag and it’s a game-changer! He’s able to create with finger paint and there is NO mess!!
I actually have started to use regular Crayola Kids Tempura paint instead of finger paint because finger paint is so runny and annoying to deal with. The Tempura paint works just as well for us and is more versatile. Below I have links to both types of paint. There are plenty of ways you could use this to help your kids practice drawing shapes, letters, and numbers.
Online Painting Classes
I started taking online painting classes in March of 2020 when COVID first hit and shut down so much around us. Being an introvert and a sober person I never attended the wine and painting classes with a group of friends so it was great to do in the comfort of my own home!!
After a while, my 4 year old wanted to take the classes with me which I wasn’t sure he’d enjoy but it has gone well! I’ve even found classes on Facebook that are free! In addition to all of the paintings I’ve created over the past several months, we’ve painted penguins and snowmen together. I’m sure we’ll paint much more together in the future.
One thing I learned is having him paint the background before the class starts helps because then it can dry and he tends to be a very slow painter who uses a lot of paint, so the background takes him quite a while.
Below is his setup for painting. The top right is his penguin painting and the bottom right is my penguin painting.
If you want to learn more about online painting classes or even painting as an adult, read my post about how I started taking painting classes online when the pandemic hit.
Baking
Kids love baking…well at least mine do. They love being part of the baking process, even if sometimes they just watch from a distance when I don’t have the patience for them to help. Ha! Generally, though they are great helpers, especially my 4-year-old. He loves to stir, pour things into the bowl, etc. They love eating what we bake as well. With my 4-year-old and my food sensitivities, we often eat something different than the twins but when we bake we all can eat it so that adds more fun! Some of our favorite things to bake are muffins, cookies, and on special occasions, cupcakes.
Here are some of our favorites:
- Vegan Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Easy Vegan Gluten Free Banana Bread Muffins (not gonna lie, we add Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips to these and tend to make them mini muffins for the kids and some regular sized muffins for adults)
Want to know what else you can do with these cooling racks?! Click the image below for another blog post!
Washing Dinosaurs (or anything else water proof)
It’s amazing how long a bin, a little bit of water, some dish detergent to make bubbles, and something like dinosaurs to “wash” can occupy children. We use bins from our toy organization to “wash” dinosaurs. We have four colors so one for each kid and one for the dinosaurs. I always put the bins on a hand towel for the inevitable messes, give the kids a washcloth to wipe the dinosaurs off with if desired, and about an inch of water in the bin after I put some dish detergent in so it makes bubbles. Depending on their mood, this has entertained them for 20 or so minutes at a time. It’s awesome. You could also use a plastic shoe-sized bin.
Looking through Photo Albums
One day I decided to bring up the photo albums that I’ve created since my kids were born and I couldn’t believe how interested they were in them! Of course I supervised closely but they did a great job going through them and kept them busy for quite a while! More recently, I started making digital scrapbooks and having them printed and somehow ended up with an extra copy so they love having their own to look through.
If you want to learn more about my photo album journey click here to read a blog post about it.
Sink or Float
Using a container such as a plastic shoebox sized box, test different things to see if they float or sink. Fill the container part way with water and go around the house with your children finding things that they want to test, of course making sure they’re all safe for use in water. Using different foods can be fun as well to see if they sink or float.
Twister and Board Games
Though my kids are too young to understand the full rules of Twister, I’ve found it’s a neat way to help teach them colors, parts of the body, and their left from their right. If nothing else, it gets them up and moving.
We also have board games including the classic game Connect Four which I pulled out a bit ago and after explaining strategy to my 4-year-old he gets it somewhat. The 2-year-olds don’t get the concept but do have fun separating the two colors and taking turns randomly putting the pieces into the grid.
We also came across the game Found It! recently and it’s good for kids as young as age 2!
Though it’d be awesome for all of us to play board games as a whole family, especially a classic game like Candy Land, but our kids tend to want to play games 1:1 so if it’s just myself with my kids I end up playing 3 games at once. Lol
Sensory Bins
We have a few sensory bins that whenever I pull them out, the kids are entertained for up to an hour! It’s craziness! We have one shoebox-sized container with colored rice, another one with Kinetic sand, and a third with Pom Poms. I give the kids toy spoons, little shovels, and toy construction equipment that they use to “scoop and dump” as they’d say. Generally, they use them in their high chairs with bibs on reducing the mess.
I also have a blog post that I linked below of how I made a DIY sensory table!
![Caydo [400 pcs] - 300 Pieces 1 Inch Assorted Pompoms with 100pieces Wiggle Eyes Multicolor Arts and Crafts Pom Poms Balls for Kids DIY Art Creative Crafts Decorations](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51J4bxAVK3L._SL160_.jpg)
Imaginary Play
There are so many fun ideas of imaginary play your kids can do indoors!
- Play School: One child can be the teacher and the other(s) the students. This is a great activity for a
- Grocery Store: Set pretend food around an area, such as on bookshelves or in the living room, and have your kids go around and pretend they’re grocery shopping. You can even include some math practice by setting prices for the items and have them add them up! If you don’t have play food you could use shelf stable food or things such as Easter eggs if they’re handy.
- Cardboard Boxes: it’s amazing what kids can come up with using cardboard boxes. Our kids have used cardboard boxes as pretend cars, pretend beds, filling boxes with stuffed animals and pushing them around, and even making a puppet show stand using two boxes we taped together!
Science Experiment
There are great science experiment kits for kids available on Amazon and elsewhere. They’re a great way to entertain children without screen time and enhance child development and learning! Fun things such as ice cream in a bag, crystal growing, rock candy, baking soda and vinegar volcanoes, and more can be the perfect activity to add to your list of things to do on a day you all need to be indoors.
Little Passports
We have started to have Little Passports kids activity boxes on hand for when we are stuck inside or simply need something different to do that is a little more structured but yet allows for free play as well.
You can either sign up for a subscription where you’d get a box of your desired category and age per month or just buy them one at a time. We like having an extra box or two on hand so we are never left without an activity if we run out of ideas on a particular day.
Here are a few blog posts I’ve written about Little Passports kids activity boxes that explain more of what they are. As we get more boxes I’ll be sure to write blog posts about them!
Fun Printables for Kids
Looking for some great activities for indoors that you can print out from your computer or use on your device? Check out my store, full of 100+ printables you’ll love at low prices!!
Click the picture with the cart to visit my online store or click one of the individual products below to learn more about it! This is a very small sampling of what’s available on my shop!
What are some ideas you’d like to share with others that keep your kids occupied when stuck indoors?
As a mom of identical twins and a son two years older, I have gained invaluable experience in the realm, and chaos, of parenting. With a Master's Degree and Education Specialist Degree in School Psychology, I spent years as a school psychologist, helping children navigate through their educational and emotional challenges. Now as a stay at home mom and professional blogger, I combine my areas of expertise to help you in your parenting journey.