Rainy Day Activities for the Summer Holidays

It is the third week of the summer holidays. It has rained since Tuesday. The garden is a swamp, the living room floor has disappeared under something unidentifiable, and someone has just announced — with genuine outrage — that there is nothing to do.

Welcome to the British summer.

The good news is that a wet day indoors doesn’t have to mean surrender. What it does need is a shortlist you can reach for without thinking, because nobody makes good decisions at half past nine in the morning with three children and a leaking gutter.

So here it is: rainy day activities grouped not by age or theme, but by the thing that actually matters when the rain sets in — how much time, energy, and patience you’ve got left. (For sunnier days, our summer holiday boredom busters has twenty more ideas.)

When You Need Something in the Next Five Minutes

For those moments when the mood is turning and you need to change the subject fast.

Run an indoor scavenger hunt

Call out things to find around the house: something soft, something that starts with B, something older than you, something blue and smaller than your hand. It takes no preparation, works for almost any age, and buys you a solid fifteen minutes. Older children can write the list for the younger ones.

Make sock puppets

An odd sock, a marker pen, and a scrap of wool. Two minutes to make, an hour to perform with. Drape a blanket over the back of two chairs and you have a theatre.

Start a kitchen band

Wooden spoons, saucepans, a rice-filled jar, an elastic band stretched over a tub. Loud, yes — but genuinely brilliant for rhythm, listening, and turn-taking. Try copying each other’s patterns: one child claps, everyone repeats.

Play a proper game

Sometimes the fix is simply sitting down together. Our Tic Tac Toe (£16) lives in a drawstring bag and comes out in seconds, and Birdie Skittles works surprisingly well down a hallway.

For a Whole Absorbing Afternoon

When you’ve got a long stretch to fill and you want something that will genuinely hold their attention.

Take on a cardboard box project

The single best rainy day resource is a large cardboard box. Not decorated, not pre-made — just a box, some tape, scissors, and paint. It becomes a car, a rocket, a shop, a post box, a castle, or a bed for the dog. Children will work on it for hours, and the making is at least half the joy.

Build a museum

Let children curate an exhibition of their favourite things — shells from the beach, LEGO builds, drawings, a fossil, a very good stick. The key is the labels: little folded cards explaining what each item is and why it matters. Then they give you a guided tour. It’s writing practice, public speaking, and pride all at once.

Do some real building

The Tap Tap Tool Box (£46) is a rainy day hero — a wooden toolbox with a hammer, nuts, bolts and screws that lets children build and fix for hours. Pair it with our wooden blocks and set a challenge: the tallest tower, a bridge that holds a toy car, a house for a specific animal.

Write actual letters

Almost no child receives post any more, which is precisely why it feels like magic. Write to a grandparent, a cousin, or a friend from school. Draw pictures, add stickers, walk to the postbox in wellies. The reply, when it comes, is a whole other event.

Set up a small world

Rainy days are perfect for the big, sprawling version. A tray, some wooden animals, and whatever scenery you can improvise. The My Forest Floor and My Little Rock Pool tinker trays are made for exactly this kind of absorbed, self-directed small world play.

When Everyone Needs to Burn Off Energy

Because a day indoors with no physical outlet is a day that ends in tears — usually everybody’s.

Build an obstacle course

Cushions to jump between, a chair to crawl under, a line of tape to balance along, a cushion to hop around three times. Time each attempt and try to beat it. It uses the whole body and it is genuinely tiring, which is the entire point.

Play the floor is lava

An old classic that has survived generations for good reason. Scatter cushions as safe islands and don’t touch the carpet. Excellent for balance, planning, and risk assessment — and free.

Try animal moves

Bear walks down the hallway, frog jumps, crab crawls, flamingo balancing on one leg. Toddlers love it, older children get competitive about it, and it’s brilliant for gross motor development.

Have a balloon rally

One balloon, and it must not touch the floor. Endlessly entertaining, surprisingly knackering, and safe for indoors.

When Everyone’s Had Enough

For the late afternoon slump, when what’s needed is quiet rather than more stimulation.

Bake something

Slow, sensory, and it produces cake. Let children weigh, pour, and stir — an apron like our Fox Linen Apron (£15) makes it feel official. The play usually continues afterwards in the play kitchen.

Make a reading nook

Cushions, blankets, a torch, a pile of books, and a rule that it’s a quiet zone. For younger children our rag books and a favourite soft toy are enough to make it feel like a nest.

Do a proper puzzle

Puzzles are the ideal rainy afternoon activity — calm, focused, and quietly satisfying. Our puzzles and games range covers everything from chunky toddler puzzles to trickier challenges for older children.

Disappear into the dolls house

There’s a particular kind of quiet that descends when a child settles into dolls house play. Whole afternoons vanish into rearranging furniture and giving voices to characters. On a wet day, it’s worth its weight in gold.

The Rainy Day Box

Here is the single most useful thing you can do, and it takes ten minutes on a dry day. Fill a lidded box with rainy day supplies and put it somewhere out of reach, only to be opened when the weather turns.

Inside: a pack of cheap paper, glue, tape, string, pipe cleaners, stickers, and a few printed sheets from our free printable activities. Add a small toy they haven’t seen for a while, plus something from your crafts page pile.

The novelty does the heavy lifting. A box that only appears when it rains becomes something children almost look forward to — which is quite a trick to pull off in the third week of August.

Or Just Go Out in It

One last thought, and possibly the best one. There is no rule that says rain means staying indoors.

Wellies, waterproofs, and twenty minutes of jumping in puddles will reset everybody’s mood more effectively than any indoor activity on this list. Children are almost never bothered by the rain — it’s adults who mind. Go out, get thoroughly wet, come home, put everything on the radiator, and have hot chocolate. The whole thing takes half an hour and it will be the bit they remember.

Then come inside, open the rainy day box, and let the afternoon look after itself.

Rainy day rescue

Puzzles, building sets, and absorbing indoor play for when the weather turns.

Puzzles & Games    •    Building & Stacking    •    Free Crafts & Printables