Rainy Day Activities for Kids: 15 Ideas That Aren't Just More TV
By The PaintPal Team · 2026-04-08
The rain is coming down, the kids are bouncing off the walls, and you've already heard "I'm booored" four times before lunch. Reaching for the TV is tempting — and sometimes that's totally fine — but a long rainy day usually goes better with a mix of activities. Here are fifteen ideas to get you through it, grouped so you can match the activity to the energy in the room.
Screen-free creative activities
1. Build a blanket fort. Couch cushions, every blanket in the house, a few chairs. The building is the activity, and then they've got a cozy hideout for reading or snacks.
2. Make an indoor obstacle course. Pillows to jump over, a "river" of paper to leap across, a crawl-under-the-table tunnel. Great for burning off energy when they can't go outside.
3. Start a craft project. Paper-plate masks, pasta necklaces, a cardboard-box rocket ship. Save a box of "junk craft" supplies (toilet rolls, bottle caps, scrap paper) for exactly these days.
4. Bake something together. Even simple no-bake treats turn into an hour of measuring, mixing, and (let's be honest) licking the spoon.
5. Have a living-room dance party. Pick a playlist, turn it up, and let everyone get the wiggles out. Bonus points for a freeze-dance round.
Quiet-time activities
6. Read together. Pile up the pillows and read a chapter book aloud, or let early readers practice with picture books.
7. Do a puzzle. A jigsaw puzzle on the dining table can become an all-day, come-and-go project the whole family adds to.
8. Write and illustrate a story. Fold some paper into a little book and have your kid write (or dictate) a story and draw the pictures. Instant keepsake.
9. Quiet coloring. Coloring is one of the best calm-down activities there is. A coloring book and crayons, or a coloring app, can buy you a genuinely peaceful stretch.
Connected screen time that's actually good
Not all screen time is created equal. A kid passively scrolling videos alone is a different thing from a kid creating something with a friend. On a rainy day, "connected" screen time — creative and social — is the kind worth reaching for.
10. Draw with a friend who's also stuck inside. Odds are your kid isn't the only one indoors today. With PaintPal, two kids can draw on the same canvas in real time with built-in video chat — so a rained-out playdate becomes a virtual one. They draw, color, and chat together from their own homes.
11. Color a page together. Pull up a coloring book page in PaintPal and let two kids color it together, swapping pages whenever they get bored. It's calmer than free-drawing and very rainy-day appropriate.
12. Video call a grandparent with an activity. Skip the awkward "how are you" call and give it a purpose — read a story, draw together, or play a quick game over video.
13. Make a stop-motion movie. Older kids can use a free stop-motion app and a pile of toys to make a short film. It's screen time that's all creation, no consumption.
When you just need a reset
14. Sensory bin or water play. A bin of dried rice or beans with cups and scoops, or a towel-lined table with cups of water, can absorb a toddler for ages (with supervision).
15. Quiet basket "rest time." When everyone's fried, hand each kid a basket of books and quiet toys for a solo wind-down. Not every minute of a rainy day needs to be programmed.
Mix it up and roll with it
The trick to a rainy day is variety — a little active, a little quiet, a little creative, and yes, a little screen time. When you do reach for a screen, lean toward the connected, creative kind: a kid drawing with a friend beats a kid scrolling alone every time. PaintPal is free, has no ads, and uses private rooms so kids only draw with people you've invited. Try it on the App Store or at paintpal.fun next time the forecast looks grim.