100+ Fun Indoor Activities for Kids | Boredom-Busting Ideas for Rainy Days

Looking for fun indoor activities for kids? Discover fun, easy indoor activities for kids of all ages — from quiet-time crafts to games that burn energy.

Whether it’s rain clouds, snowstorms, or scorching heat outside that keeps you and your kids inside, a day spent indoors doesn’t have to be wasted. There are plenty of ways to have fun when an indoor day strikes.

You don’t need a Pinterest-worthy playroom or a stack of expensive toys to keep your kids entertained indoors. Most indoor activities use stuff you already have lying around: paper, tape, pillows, kitchen supplies, and a little imagination.

Being a parent, you must bookmark this list for the next time an indoor day strikes, and you won’t be caught off guard when your kids are yelling, “I’ve nothing to do.”

In this giant list, I’ve compiled fun indoor activities for kids of all ages, sorted by type, so you can actually find something useful in the moment instead of scrolling forever.

So, let’s get started.

Quiet & Calm Activities

You want your kids to be entertained, but don’t want chaos. Here are some quiet and calm activities for kids.

1. Set up a cozy reading atmosphere with blankets and a flashlight.
2. Organize a puzzle game together (or race to finish one solo).
3. Try guided coloring pages or mandala books.
4. Let your kids listen to audiobooks or kids’ podcasts.
5. Let your kid draw something out of their imagination.
6. Do a sensory bin with rice, beans, or dry pasta.
7. Try simple origami folds with your kids.
8. Let your kids write and illustrate a mini comic strip.
9. Play a calm matching or memory card game.
10. Do a “quiet time basket” with rotating small toys.
11. Try pinwheel breathing to help children—and adults—master deep, regulated breathing.
12. Relive memories by looking through old family photo albums together.
13. Build with sticker books or reusable sticker scenes
14. Let your kids practice cursive or fancy lettering.
15. Play a word search or crossword made for their age.
16. Try shadow puppets with a flashlight.

Arts and Crafts Ideas

You can have a craft time with your kids to get creative — it keeps hands busy and imaginations busier.

17. Make homemade playdough and mold shapes.
18. Have fun painting with cotton swabs instead of brushes.
19. Let your kids make a collage from old magazines.
20. Make friendship bracelets, which they can gift to their friends.
21. Try salt dough ornaments or figures.
22. Do paper plate crafts (animals, masks, clocks).
23. Make a DIY sensory bottle using a clear plastic bottle, warm water, clear glue, and glitter.
24. Try tie-dye with washable markers and rubbing alcohol.
25. Make a family tree poster. It’ll help your kids learn about their ancestors.
26. Make homemade greeting cards for relatives. Let your kids add sweet phrases for their grandma, grandpa, cousins, uncle, and aunties.
27. Try string art on cardboard.
28. Make a shoebox diorama.
29. Make paper airplanes and challenge each other.
30. Decorate rocks with paint. Let your kid draw their imagination on the rock. Later, place it in the garden.
31. Make a DIY kaleidoscope using an empty toilet paper roll, reflective Mylar paper, clear plastic, and colorful beads.
32. Try marbling paper with shaving cream and food coloring.
33. Let your kids design their own board game.
34. Make Pom-Pom creatures out of a few yards of yarn.
35. Try coffee filter butterflies using simple supplies like paper coffee filters, washable markers, water, and a clothespin or pipe cleaner.
36. Create a vision board of favorite things.

Active, Energy-Burning Games

If your kids love energy-burning games, here are a few options for indoors.

37. Set up an indoor obstacle course with pillows and chairs. Kids always love this stuff.
38. Organize a freeze dance. Let your kids move their hips and freeze.
39. Try indoor bowling with water bottles and a soft ball. You can organize in the kitchen floor.
40. Grab some balloons and have a balloon volleyball match.
41. Play “The Floor Is Lava.” My kids love this game.
42. Set up an indoor mini scavenger hunt. Write clues on sticky notes.
43. Try a sock-skating race on hardwood floors.
44. Play Simon Says. It’s a fun game that brings giggles.
45. How about doing a dance-off with a favorite playlist? This is the time to show your dance skills.
46. Try a hopscotch game with painter’s tape. You can try this game if you have a large space.
47. Play hide-and-seek. The classic game everyone played at some point, and it never gets old.
48. Have a bean bag toss game. It’s also called cornhole game.
49. Try a “how many jumping jacks in a minute” challenge to assess your kid’s fitness.
50. Play musical chairs. It’s a fun family game that brings everyone closer.
51. Build a blanket fortress and defend it in a pillow fight.
52. Have a yoga session with your kids. Try yoga poses using an animal-themed printout.
53. Use recycled cans to play indoor mini-bowling.
54. Try a “walk like the animal” relay. It’s super fun and brings giggles to everyone’s faces.
55. Try a balance beam using painter’s tape on the floor. You can add challenges to make this exciting.
56. Play charades with animal themes or movies

Learning & Brain Games

Here are some learning and brain games for bored kids. Don’t worry, they are super fun to play. Your kids won’t complain.

57. Let your kids play a trivia game suited to their age.
58. Try times-table bingo.
59. How about doing a science experiment? (Baking soda volcano, anyone?)
60. Build with magnetic tiles or building blocks.
61. Let your kids try coding basics with a free kids’ app.
62. Place a world map on the table and do a geography quiz.
63. Try a word-building game like Scrabble Junior.
64. Here is another fun science experiment: make a homemade lava lamp.
65. Be a spelling bee superstar with letter tiles.
66. Try a logic puzzle book.
67. Play chess or checkers. Challenge your kids’ brains.
68. How about doing a “mystery jar” science experiment (i.e., density, floating objects)?
69. Challenge your kids’ memory with Simon-style pattern games.
70. Let your kids practice a new language with apps like Duolingo.
71. Play riddle games. Ask age-appropriate riddles that encourage kids to think creatively.
72. Create various patterns (star, circle, triangle) and ask kids what comes next.
73. Play a true or false game. Give statements and let kids decide whether they are true or false.
74. Play the guess-the-object game. Describe an object without naming it, and let kids figure out what it is.
75. Play an alphabet game. Name a letter and see how many objects or words kids can name beginning with it.

Pretend Play & Imagination

It’s time to play some creative games and have fun. Give your kids the props they need and step back — imagination does the rest.

76. Set up a pretend restaurant with a menu they design.
77. Build a pretend post office and let your kids work as postmen and mail letters around the house.
78. Play dress-up with old clothes and accessories. Let them be creative with props.
79. Set up a puppet show with sock puppets.
80. Build a pretend campsite, complete with flashlights.
81. Build a pretend storefront with price tags and pretend money.
82. How about setting up a pretend vet clinic? Your kids’ stuffed animals need treatment.
83. Set up a pretend talent show stage. Let your kids show their talents.
84. Play pretend airplane or space mission.
85. Build a pretend school and let them be the teacher for a moment.

Kitchen & Cooking Activities

Let’s cook something with your kids. It keeps them busy and helps them build cooking skills.

86. Bake simple cookies with your kids. Let them help measure.
87. Let your kids decorate homemade pizzas.
88. Make a fruit rainbow skewer snack.
89. Try a no-bake energy ball recipe.
90. Let your kids build their own trail mix.
91. Let your kids make homemade lemonade from scratch.
92. Put your kids’ taste into testing. Try a taste-test blind challenge.
93. Let your kids decorate cupcakes with different toppings.
94. Make DIY yogurt parfaits.
95. Let your kids practice basic knife skills with a butter knife and soft fruit.

Screen-Free Group Games

Great for siblings, cousins, or a rainy playdate.

96. Let your kids play Uno or other card games with their siblings or cousins.
97. Try a game of Twister.
98. Organize a family game, “Would You Rather.” The whole family can participate.
99. Set up a board game tournament for the family.
100. Play “telephone” with a silly phrase.
101. Try a family trivia night.
102. Play a cooperative building challenge (tallest tower wins).
103. Play “guess the drawing” (a kid-friendly Pictionary).

Activities for Toddlers & Preschoolers

Toddlers and preschoolers need shorter, sensory-friendly activities. You can think of: sorting colored blocks by size, stacking cups, water play in the sink with cups and spoons, simple shape-sorting toys, and dancing to nursery rhymes.

Rainy Day Activities for Older Kids (Tweens & Up)

Older kids want independence and a little more challenging activities. For example: a DIY escape room built at home, a stop-motion animation project on a phone, learning a new skill from a video tutorial (knitting, drawing, juggling), journaling, or organizing a room makeover.

Let them choose what they want to do.

Tips for Making Indoor Play Actually Work

Here are a few things that keep indoor activities fun and exciting:

• Rotate indoor activities. Don’t do the same thing again and again.
• Let your kids get a little bored first. It’ll help them to think about what they want to do. You don’t have to think of anything to sweep away their boredom.
• Choose the activity according to their energy level. A playful kid can’t be happy with quiet, calm activities.
• Don’t think about the mess for active, energy-burning activities.

The Bottom Line

You don’t need to try all of these indoor activities in one week. Just pick activities that are suitable for your kids.

The point of this giant list is to provide you with ideas to sweep away boredom when an indoor day strikes.

Pick a few, keep the supplies handy, and let the kids surprise you with what they turn a simple activity into.

Have a favorite indoor activity that didn’t make the list? Let me know in the comments.

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• 17+ No-Prep Activities for Bored Kids at Home (That Actually Work)