Rainy day activities for toddlers at home

Start with the body, not the craft box

A rainy day goes wrong when a child who would normally run around a park has nowhere to put that energy. So begin with something physical. Drape a blanket over two chairs and you have a tunnel. Pile every cushion in the house into a mountain on the living room floor. Tape a strip of bubble wrap to the floor and let them stomp on it. None of these take more than a minute to set up, and ten minutes of crawling and climbing changes the mood of the whole afternoon.

A big cardboard box with both ends open does the same job if you have one. Push it against a wall so it stays put, and let them go through it, sit in it, and eventually flatten it. That is a normal end for a box.

Then something to sit with

Once the running is out of the way, a quieter activity holds for longer. A bowl of large pom-poms, a spoon and an empty cup will keep a one year old scooping for a surprising stretch. Older ones can do the same with water: a basin on a towel on the kitchen floor, a few cups and a small jug, and the pouring goes on until the towel is soaked.

Keep the tray or towel under everything so the clear-up is one lift. If you are not up for water today, rolled oats in a tray work the same way with less mopping.

Use the rain itself

Rain is interesting to a small child. Sit together at a window and watch drops race down the glass. Point at one and follow it to the bottom. Talk about which one is winning. It sounds like nothing, and it holds their attention far longer than you would expect. When the light goes early, a torch under a blanket turns the sofa into a den, and the same child who was climbing the walls an hour ago will lie still and watch the light on the ceiling.

If you can get out at all, a puddle in wellies is the best rainy day activity there is. Ten minutes of jumping and you can come back in to a warm drink and a change of trousers.

What a good rainy day looks like

It does not look like a schedule. Two or three of the ideas here, spread across the day with snacks and a nap in between, is plenty. The activities below each have their own page with the steps and a switch-up for when the first version goes stale. Pick the one that matches the mood in the room, not the one that looks best.

Try this together

Blanket Tunnel Crawl from 12 months · 20-35 min Cushion Mountain Climb from 12 months · 20-40 min Bubble Wrap Stomp from 12 months · 5-10 min Pom-Pom Cup Scoop from 14 months · 5-10 min Water Pouring Station from 16 months · 25-40 min Window Raindrop Watch from 14 months · 5-10 min Torch Under Blanket from 12 months · 5-10 min Box Fort Crawl-Through from 12 months · 25-40 min

More play guides

Screen-free activities for 2 year olds At two, the best screen-free activities are real jobs: pouring, sorting, carrying, stirring. Things to do with an 18 month old at home At 18 months they want to carry, post, tip out and put back. Give them jobs that are exactly that. Activities for 1 year olds at home At one, everything is about touching, banging, tipping and watching your face.