These indoor summer activities are the best boredom busters for kids on a rainy day or when you need an easy no-prep activity.
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Summer means plenty of time outdoors enjoying the sunshine and warm weather, but that doesn’t mean your kids can’t have fun with indoor summer activities too. Maybe you don’t have a big backyard, or the weather isn’t great. Or maybe, like most kids after a few weeks of summer, yours have already gotten bored with those outdoor play ideas.
If you’re planning your own backyard summer camp activities, it’s important not to over-schedule your days. Include plenty of downtimes for kids to rest or have unstructured play. This also gives you a chance to take care of other tasks while kids entertain themselves. (Use your best judgment in choosing activities that can be unsupervised.)
We sorted this list into a few categories to make it easier to find the perfect idea.
The toddler activities are simple and require little prep for kids age 2 to 5. Quiet activities are great to have on hand for naptime with a kid who doesn’t like to nap.
If you have multiple kids, group activities will get them playing together. And the easy kids’ activities are all-purpose fun without any planning needed.
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Indoor toddler activities
- Practice tying shoelaces.
- Sort coins, beans, or blocks.
- Play with play dough or slime.
- Set up a restaurant or grocery store with playfood.
- String cereal onto yarn for a necklace.
- Build a tower with plastic cups, kitchen sponges, or another unusual material.
- Let your child give you a makeover with hair and makeup.
- Tape a path on the floor for your child to follow.
- Set up a sensory bin.
- Wash plastic toy animals in the sink.
Quiet activities
- Read a book or comic.
- Flip through old family photo albums.
- Write a letter to someone.
- Draw or color with pencils and crayons.
- Listen to a podcast or audiobook.
- Start a journal.
- Watch the people, cars, or animals out the front window.
Group games and activities
- Play a board game.
- Put together a puzzle.
- Play “I Spy.”
- Have a dance competition.
- Play “Charades.”
- Have a picnic in the kitchen for lunch or snacktime.
- Turn on the radio and lip-synch.
Easy kids’ activities
- Make collage art from magazines and junk mail.
- Build an obstacle course to race toy cars.
- Make a paper airplane.
- Let the kids “shop” your closet and put on a fashion show.
- Put on a puppet show with stuffed animals.
- Decorate an empty shoebox.
- Write a list and go on a scavenger hunt.
- Find a sunny window and trace shadows onto paper on the floor.
- Make something from an empty cardboard box.
Save this list of indoor summer activities for a rainy day! They make great boredom busters for kids of all ages. After your kids think they’ve done it all, inspire them to try something on this list that they haven’t done in a while.
Plan your summer with the DIY Summer Camp Planner!
Our step-by-step guide will help you organize a day, a week, or a whole summer of fun activities for your kids.
