25 Rainy Day Fun Activities for Boys

June 16, 2015

It's always tough to fill our days with lots of fun when it's raining out. We all just seem to shut down and spend the day reading, watching TV and playing video games.

While I don't think that's a horrible way to spend the day now and then I don't like to see us spending every rainy day on the couch. I think the boys, like me, get so used to seeing what we have around the house that they forget what great, fun things we have around. It used to be a bit easier when they were younger and I could make any type of play with small animals or characters better by adding shaving cream, soap and water, or goop (cornstarch and water) to a tray. They'd play for hours that way.

Now that they're getting older I have to think of other, more age appropriate ways to pass the time away.

Yesterday, I did a bit of scouting around in our closets, a bit of searching on Pinterest, and came up with a list of ideas:

Make Slime, Flubber, or a new type of Play- dough-- Every time I think my kids are getting too old to enjoy playing with these they ask me to make some with them. Alec was disappointed that we missed the tent that was making slime at Touch Tomorrow this weekend so I offered to make some with him at home. He wanted to make two different colored ones in honor of Minecraft slime balls & magma cream. (here is a link to 15 different play dough, slime and goop recipes)
Silly bands-- I mistakenly thought this was a "girl" thing when it first came out; soon I was hearing how we had to get some. Now all three of my boys are quite content to spend time making bracelets. We have so many containers of silly bands and my boys haven't played with them in ages. A rainy day is the perfect time to pull out the bands and start creating. We usually pull up some YouTube videos and learn a few new bracelets too. Yesterday, Alec made a butterfly bracelet & a floral bracelet while the other two boys made a few traditional bracelets.

working on his butterfly bracelet

Can you see he butterfly design?

Evan's completed glow in the dark starburst bracelet

Alec decided to make a firework bracelet complete with beads

We thought it looked more like flowers when he was finished.
Kits-- if your kids are anything like mine they get all sorts of art, craft, science, and various building kits for birthdays and Christmas. We're great about using them but sometimes we only use part of the kit before putting it away or other times a kit gets pushed to the back of the closet and we forget about it. A rainy day is a great time to work on any of them. Ian worked on putting together a model car from a kit he had gotten a long time ago. This is the first time he had to paint & use glue since the first model he made was one that snapped together with some stickers. He also had a few building kits from Lowe's and worked on putting the loader together following directions and using his hammer.

Starting on his model car

Painting his car

Starting on his loader

The completed loader
Board games-- We usually take some time on rainy days to re-play some old family favorite board games or try out some new ones that we haven't yet made time to play. (Here are 25 of our favorite family board games)
Craft Stick Chain Reactions-- This is something I've been wanting to try out with the boys for quite some time now. I thought they'd get quite a kick out of it and it sounded simple enough that I thought they could keep going without getting too frustrated. Alec really got into it and even watched a few YouTube videos on turning corners with them. He really enjoyed watching a few YouTube videos of the Kinetic King that auditioned for America's Got Talent a few years ago.

Once he got the hang of it he was able to weave quite quickly
Minute to Win It games-- look up Minute to Win It ideas and you'll be flooded with all sorts of fun, quick, and easy games to play with the kids. I've been wanting to host a Minute to Win It game day with the boys. They all look like so much fun!
Make your own Temporary Tattoos-- here is a great tutorial on how to do that. My kids love temporary tattoos and with some gel pens and tracing paper they can turn any picture of their favorite characters into a tattoo for themselves.
Making sun catchers-- as long as it's not so rainy that I can't open the windows in the kitchen we'll often make sun catchers out of the cheap plastic beads. I also found this great tutorial on making earrings out of old plastic water bottles and though we could tweak that to make a great sun catcher too.
Make tin can luminaries-- It's a great way to recycle to old cans. The luminaries usually work better when you fill them with water and let them freeze first. Pick a simple design, trace it on the can and then using a nail and a hammer punch out the design. I find any time my kids can use tools they love the project.
Bake or Cook up a new recipe!-- My kids are at that age where they're finally ready to help out in the kitchen. They enjoy reading and trying out new recipes if I let them lead and give them free reign to experiment. (You can read all about the benefits of teaching kids to bake and cook here)
Make a fort-- even though they're getting older they still enjoy building forts in the middle of the room with pillows, chairs and blankets. They often spend a long time getting the fort just right and then spend the rest of the day playing in and around it with various books, toys, or even a movie.
Play in the rain-- this may sound counter intuitive on a post about what to do on a rainy day but my kids enjoy getting wet, muddy and messy. On warmer rainy days when I don't have to worry about them freezing I absolutely let them go out and play in the rain. There is a lot to be learned watching nature and all the changes the rain brings.
Spy Day-- have a day centered around being spies; set up an obstacle course with string, write using ciphers, write with invisible ink and compare which kind works best
Go on field trip-- Bowling, Zoinks Fun Factory, Launch trampoline park, & museums are all great ideas for ways to pass the time on rainy days.
Giant Dry Erase board-- set out a plastic shower curtain liner from the dollar store and give the kids some dry erase markers. If you have a little artist this could occupy them for hours. They can draw a map and set up a town complete with roads and play with toy trucks, they can build a landscape and play with animals, the beauty is they can draw anything they want.
Paint!-- My kids love to paint and we have so many different supplies to use with paints of all sorts; tempera, watercolors, acrylics, etc. Yet, we're usually so busy they don't take the time to paint and pull everything out to even see and remember all we have. A rainy day is a great day to allow them to create and have fun.
Invite some friends over-- there's no better way to make a rainy day fly by than having someone to share it with. If you don't mind a little added noise and chaos it's great fun.
Make a Home Movie-- grab a camcorder or a cell phone with video option and set the kids to making their own movie. Have them decide on costumes, a director, a writer, etc. and let them go to town making their own movie. They can also try their hand at making a stop motion film using a traditional camera.
Play cards-- we enjoy a lot of different card games and often play. I reminded the boys yesterday that they can play cards alone too. There are lots of solitaire games and if all else fails it's lots of fun to create a house of cards. The challenge of building with cards was something new but I think they enjoyed it. A few tips though-- don't use new shiny, slippery cards and don't try to build on a slick surface; there's reason the Brady Bunch used their card table for this! After finally getting out a felt tablecloth and trying a different older set of cards we managed to get a small building started.
Create an obstacle course around the house-- I think it's best to let the kids help out or even make it themselves but I don't mind helping; think pillows on the floor to avoid the lava rug, string tied from wall to wall and floor to doorknobs that they have to step over and crawl under, etc.
Write &/or Record a song-- if your kids enjoy singing or playing a musical instrument they could record themselves singing or playing their instrument. They can make up a music video to go along with a popular song that they belt out the lyrics too.
Nerf Gun Wars-- load up with ammo and weapons and duck, dive and run around the house with a full out Nerf gun war. Not your style? Set up a target/ shooting range by drawing on the windows with dry erase markers or setting up disposable cups and assign points for various targets. My kids have been known to keep score for up to 10 or 15 rounds getting in lots of added math practice as well!
Clean, organize or rearrange a room-- my kids often take rainy days to tackle larger projects like clearing out old toys or rearranging furniture. It's not always fun while we're doing it but we love to stand back and look at how different things are when we're done.
Duct tape fun-- making things out of duct tape is something all my boys enjoy. We've made pillows, winter sleds, & masks. This summer we want to try making our own pool floats using duct tape and packing materials. Look up duct tape projects and pick one you like then give it a try.
Lego day-- My kids love their Lego sets but often get stuck building the same things over and over again. I've often thought it would be fun to have a day where we post different challenges to each other-- build the longest Lego bridge, build the strongest Lego bridge, build the tallest tower, build some famous building and see who can guess what you built; the possibilities are endless!