With colder weather and rainy season coming up, I thought it would be a good idea to make a master list of indoor activities for you (and me!) to have on hand. Some of the things that I list might make you think, “Well, duh” but sometimes when you’re in the moment it’s hard to think of things you have on hand or squirreled away in cupboards. I’m also all about activities that don’t require a lot of prep or materials, so these are all things that are quick and easy, as well as a good mix of things for younger kids, older kids, and things that can be adapted for either age group. So without further ado, here’s the master list!

Regular everyday things with stuff you likely have on hand:

-Kinetic sand

-Card games-taco cat goat cheese pizza, happy salmon, uno, uno flip, matching games

-Board games-Candyland, Fishing Game, Hungry Hippo, older kids-Ticket to Ride, Asana, Parks

-The story add-on game: someone starts the story, and everyone takes turns adding on one sentence at a time.

-Indoor games-hide and seek, sardines

-Readathon with snacks

-Blanket forts

-Bake together

-Cut out different shapes for build a dinosaur: she uses foam, but I just used paper! Think tangrams (remember those different shape blocks that you would use in elementary to build different shapes like a bunny or a flowerpot?) but with more circles and triangles.

-I Spy Printables-Free and easy with a ton of different fun themes

fun/Unique/physical activities:

-Bowling with a ball and solo cups

-Obstacle courses-use masking tape, toys, jump ropes, anything you have on hand to create a fun way to get those wiggles out.

-Indoor blow up house

-Sliding downstairs on a thin sleeping pad

-Pokemon movement cards: draw a card, do the fun action that goes wtih the pokemon on the card, and repeat. Here’s some animal movement cards if your kid isn’t interested in Pokemon

-Nerf gun war/laser guns: split into teams, or go solo

-5 Activities with 6 lines of tape: the activities in this post are great for toddlers and younger kids, but this can be endlessly adapted for older aged kids as well.

Crafts:

-Perler Beads

-Coloring-print pages out from internet if you need to switch it up! We have coloring books but my kids get way more excited if they get to pick whatever they want.

Paper crafts: for older kids these geometric paper bowls are super fun, I love these print and fold corner bookmarks, my older boys love these 3d minecraft characters, , there are seriously soooo many free resources on pinterest!

-Watercolor-try taping off lines on the page, paint in between them, and then remove the tape after it dries for a cool design

-Q-tip painting: excellent for toddlers or younger kids. Think bigger easier shapes like a tree (the dots will be the leaves on the tree), candy corn for Halloween, etc. If you want to make it more of a fine motor skills practice, they have printables on pinterest.

Science Experiments:

-Baking soda and colored vinegar-put baking soda in the bottom of a dish like a cookie sheet/8x8 pan. Use food coloring to dye vinegar different colors, then let your little one use droppers/tablespoons, etc to watch fun colorful fizziness happen.

-Exploding colors in milk: all you need is dish soap, milk, food coloring, and a cotton swab to watch the colors explode

-Dish soap and pepper: fill a bowl with water, put some pepper in it, put some dish soap on your finger, and watch what happens with the pepper!

-What will float/sink: fill a mixing bowl with water (put on the ground on top of a towel for younger kids), have everyone gather a bunch of random objects, predict if it will float/sink, and test out your theory!

-Cornstarch Goo: this one gets a bit messy, but it’s seriously so fun to play with! Mix two parts cornstarch with one part water and have fun playing! It can also be a lesson on color theory if you want to use food coloring to combine and mix colors.

There you have it! This is by no means an exhaustive list, but sometimes those huge lists overwhelm me (anyone else?) so we’re going to keep it here for today. Hopefully this’ll help pass some of those rainy days!