Kids are pretty self sufficient when it comes to entertaining themselves on rainy days. However, after a few days of being cooped up inside, or sometimes even a few hours, they can start to get tired of their same old go-to games and activities. You might be tired of their proclamations of boredom and incessant hassling of each other, if you have more than one child. You are in need of some fresh ideas for indoor fun before you all go stir crazy!

These rainy day ideas for kids may not all be new to you, but perhaps you’ve forgotten about them or maybe you’ll learn to play them in a new way. I hope you enjoy these kids activities and please share your own favorite indoor games in the comments!

28 indoor activities for kids on a rainy day

1.  Lego City

Sure you’ve played with LEGOS, but perhaps your kids are normally confined to the table, or a small area. I urge you to let them dump the whole box, make a mess (temporarily), and allow them to have the whole living room, if not the whole house, to expand their creativity. Let them create without limits, without needing to check if they’ve made a mess, mixed up pieces from different sets, or worry about LEGOS in a walk way. Of course they’ll need to clean up when they are finished playing or at the end of the day, but let them make a big LEGO mess, without constraint, and see where their imaginations will take them! My kids will play for hours, sometimes the full day if I let them. They create pretty elaborate LEGO worlds and I love to listen to the stories they make up.

They don’t seem to have any problem with Disney Princess Ariel’s Undersea Palace from The Little Mermaid being right next to the Star Wars Mos Eisley Cantina Building or alien robots hanging out in front of their hodgepodge Police Station and a hotel. I love to hear the dialogue and story lines they come up with, which get more elaborate as the day goes on.

2.  Indoor Teepee

All kids love forts, but have yours ever made their own teepee? Take 4 mops and brooms, wrap a rubber band around the top to hold them together, spread them apart at the base and balance them to stand alone. Then take a bed sheet and wrap it around the outside of these and clip the sheet to the poles with bag clips to hold it in place. This is so quick and easy to set up and take down. We’ve made it many times outside, but one day I decided to set it up inside and it was a whole new experience! My kids played in it till evening and then it became even more exciting as they brought in pillows, a lantern (the battery powered kind) that also projects stars (Discovery Kids Starry LED Starlight Lantern), and turned off the overhead lights. I had to pull them away for bed time. If there was a bit more room, I might have let them sleep in it!

3.  Paper Airplane Extravaganza

Paper airplanes may not sound very thrilling at first, but don’t discount them just yet. You can get  books with many types of airplanes such as the Klutz Star Wars Folded Flyers: Make 30 Paper Starfighters Craft Kit or stick with classic paper airplane models to fold. Have competitions to see which types of planes or flyers fly better and travel farther. You can make some that do tricks such as turn, twist, and loop the loop. Set challenges, such as who can land the plane in a bin across the room or through the stair railings!

Mark with masking tape on the floor how far each paper airplane flew as soon as it touches down. Or roll out masking tape ahead of time and measure and mark off each foot or yard.  Design your own planes and hold a challenge of who’s will fly best. Problem solve to make your design fly better. There are so many ways to have fun with this simple activity.

4.  Magic Show

Are your children performers? Hold a magic show in your home. Suggest they plan a show and you will sit and watch it at a set time later that day. Let your kids plan it all out on their own, as much as possible. Let them come up with costumes, props, create tickets you’ll need to present, and plan their own magic tricks they will perform. Choose the best place for the performance, that may be the living room, or a clear space such as the dining room, move the table, line up chairs, somewhere you can best create a theater atmosphere. Can you hang a curtain or sheet? Make it as complicated or simple as you want, but the more you act as if this were serious, very important business, the more your children will get into it and enjoy the whole process! You could even get a Magic Show Kit so they can learn some real magician tricks.

Arrive for the show dressed in your formal attire and have your ticket ready. Don’t critique, but just enjoy the fun and let  your kids’ do their magic, so long as it’s safe. Play along if they ask you to pick a card or pull a rabbit out of a hat. Sometimes it takes just a bit of enthusiasm, even from a tired, busy parent, to turn the day around from cranky kids (and parents) to a joyful family.

My son would take a pot with a lid and show me it was empty, then very (non) discreetly sneak a stuffed animal rabbit into it while waving a wand over it and chanting “Abracadabra”. When I lifted the lid, I’d feign complete astonishment! He thought it was the best trick ever. I just enjoyed that he was having so much fun! I love to watch my kids eyes sparkle while they laugh!

These are four activities have been keeping my kids entertained for the last few days while it’s been raining. Because we will soon need new entertainment to turn to and I wanted to share lots more fun with you, I have linked up with some wonderful mom bloggers who are each sharing four more rainy day activities to fill your home with laughter while you’re confined inside for a time. That’s 28 ideas for rainy days total and I hope they inspire creativity and help keep you from pulling your hair out this winter!

Anne at My Learning Table

Andrea at Home Made for Elle

Salma at The Write Balance

Corinne at Wondermom Wannabe

Nicky at Little Family Adventure

Sharisse at Savvy Sweet Life

These activities all promote quite play as well, even if it’s not raining, these playful activities can encourage your kids to work together, get busy thinking and problem solving, learning, creating, and playing cooperatively. Boredom is very under rated in our society. Kids that get bored have the opportunity to use their imaginations and get really creative.

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It may take half an hour to get past the whining and begging for T.V., but they will. Trust me, they will, and once their wheels start spinning, you’ll be amazed at the creative ways they find to amuse themselves. These suggestions for indoor activities for rainy days may also keep some of the more destructive creative ideas at bay!

Please share in comments your favorite family games and kids activities that your kids enjoy. I would love to know what your family favorites are!