Most days, I’m trying to come up with ideas to make it fun for my kids to play outdoors to keep them from becoming permanently attached to the couch as they play video games or watch TV. Many days, especially as winter draws near, the weather does not cooperate with this initiative.
So, I came up with some rainy day kids activities to keep the kids entertained indoors without relying on the television. These are fun activities for kids they can play no matter what the weather!
If you have an only child, try some of these one player games. If you have two or more children, try one of the activities below.
Lip Sync Battle
One of my family’s favorite activities is lip sync battle. We turn on the radio and blast our favorite songs, taking turns lip syncing and performing to them. Usually we just take turns performing, with an occasional duet or group performance, so there is no actual “battle.”
But other times we face off against each other and let the other family members vote on a winner. Performers pull out their best dance moves or impress us with their mastery of fast-paced songs with complicated lyrics.
If, unlike my family, your family possesses reasonable singing ability, you can skip the lip syncing and put on all-out performances American Idol style.
Hide and Seek Item
One of my kids’ favorite indoor games is Hide-and-Seek or any one of several variations (e.g. Sardines). If I don’t want the kids running around the house chasing each other, I have them hide an item like a stuffed animal instead.
This eliminates kids sprinting through the house to try to make it to “base” since the item can’t move once it’s hidden. Another benefit to this version of hide-and-seek is that you can even confine the kids to one room or area of the house by giving them a smaller item that they have to hide in one room to make it easier for the seekers to find.
Memory Game
I love the memory game if I want the kids to stay relatively quiet and calm (shh, mommy’s working ๐ ). I give the kids a cookie sheet and several different random items (e.g. a refrigerator magnet, a paper clip, a pencil, a spoon, a playing card, a penny, a rubberband, etc. — basically I raid our junk drawer).
They choose several items and lay them out on the cookie sheet. Everyone closes their eyes or leaves the room except one person who is “it” and that person removes one item when no one else is looking. The others have to guess what item is missing. The first person to guess correctly then becomes “it.”
Indoor Obstacle Course
When we play outside, one of our favorite activities is to set up obstacles courses for each other. One rainy day my kids asked if we could try to create one indoors and though I was skeptical (picturing kids jumping off couches and crawling under the table, knocking over lamps) I agreed as long as they stuck to a few ground rules.
- No climbing on furniture
- No use of items without first getting mom’s approval
- No projectiles
They agreed to the rules and managed to construct a pretty challenging indoor course that didn’t violate any of the rules. They used old washcloths that I use for cleaning to make hopping squares down the hallway (you had to land on each square and had to start over if you touched the carpet around them at all).
They used pillows from their bed as obstacles they had to jump over. They set up plastic cups on the kitchen table that had to be stacked in a pyramid and then deconstructed.
They marked different stations with various activities you had to perform before moving on (waddle like a duck across the room, 25 jumping jacks, perform “I’m a Little Teapot,” say the alphabet backwards). I suppose you could time each participant if you wanted to make a race out of it, but my kids always had plenty of fun just coming up with the course and running through it.
Lapbooks
Lapbooks are a nice, calm (and educational) activity that can be used anywhere. Basically, they’re homemade books you can fill with any type of content you want.
Learn how to make a lapbook if you don’t already know, then have fun customizing it for your child!
Fun ideas! A lip sync battle would be a riot!
A lip sync battle would be loads of fun. My kids would throw in an air guitar or two for good measure. Thanks for these great tips.
I love your indoor obstacle course rules, haha! They made me laugh. Your kids came up with some creative obstacles. That’s a really fun idea for a rainy day that will work off some of that built-up energy too!
These all sound like awesome ideas! I can imagine the lip sync battle being a blast and same with the indoor obstacle course!
These are great ideas! I really love the memory game idea – I think my 5 year old would get a kick out of playing that. Thanks!
I completely forgot about that memory game! Thanks for the great ideas to keep my kids busy when we’re stuck indoors
Haha! Lip Sync reminds me of my group karaokes at office events.It’s really hard to pull this when you have no idea of the song yet fun.
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