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Rainy Day Activities for Home and School

April 5, 2025 by Sarah White Leave a Comment

Years ago when my daughter was still a toddler and still at home all day, I compiled a list of 64 rainy day activities to do with your toddler (also great for sick days, or any other day you need something to do without a lot of effort or leaving the house). Some of these would work in a classroom or with a small group of kids, though some are pretty at-home specific.

I’ve also shared rainy day crafts before, but it feels like there’s always a need for fresh ideas of things to do when the weather is yucky.

It’s always good when you can get kids moving on inside only days, so why not build an indoor balance beam like this one from How We Learn, or make a full on obstacle course with things from around the house or in the classroom? You can use lines of tape for jumping or other motor activities; get ideas from Hands on As We Grow. They’ve also got a post about walking on pillows that is great for doing at home or adding to an obstacle course.

If you’ve got a garage or covered outdoor area you can make a chalk obstacle course, track for playing with cars (that’s How We Learn again) or just let kids draw with chalk.

Building with blocks is a classic rainy day activity, and you can also use blocks to make games, like this block ring toss game from Stir the Wonder. Or grab some balls and make up games like these from Frugal Fun 4 Boys and Girls.

Of course crafts are great for rainy days, too, and you can even make crafts you can enjoy when the weather is better, like this recycled wind chime craft (add some bells to make it really chime rather than just being decoration) from Rainy Day Mum.

I’d love to hear about some of the things you do with kiddos at home or in the classroom to make rainy days a little more fun!

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Have you read?

Book Review: The Festival of Lights

As if Diwali weren’t colorful and fun enough, The Festival of Lights: A Lift-the-flap Diwali Celebration by Namita Moolani Mehra, illustrated by Darshika Varm, makes it even more fun to read about with flaps and things to lift and pull to see more information or details in the illustrations. 

The book is a story about a family getting ready for Diwali and what happens on the different days of the five-day celebration. There’s cleaning, shopping, crafting, food preparation and getting the home altar ready for the big day. 

It covers decorating the outside of the house with rangoli, diyas and lanterns, buying sweets to share with family and friends, the sights and scents of the mandir (home temple), getting dressed up in new fancy clothes, the story of Diwali and celebrations with relatives.  

Flaps (there are more than 140 in all) give you vocabulary words for different foods and definitions, as well as fun things like what’s inside the shopping basket or where the cat is hanging out. They also help illuminate the story of Diwali, which is the triumph of good over evil as Lord Ram defeated the demon Ravana to save his wife, Sita. 

This pretty and colorful book helps kids understand what Diwali is and how it is celebrated, regardless of whether they practice it at home. This would be a nice book to keep in a classroom (it’s rated for kids ages 3-7) or to have at home to teach kids about Diwali even if it’s not something you celebrate. Where I live there are a lot of people from India so we are probably exposed to Diwali more than some other regions of America, but it’s a nice holiday to know about wherever you live. 

Combine with the book Diwali and check out some fun lantern crafts and printables for kids to round out your experience. 

About the book: 24 pages, hardcover, published 2025 by Wide Eyed Editions. Suggested retail prices $22.99.

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