The Best Rainy Day Crafts to Keep the Kids Busy Indoors (2024)

Animal Masks

Gather up an empty cereal box or two and some assorted papers (patterned or solid) and help kids make cool animal masks that'll ensure playing pretend is way more exciting. Everything from tigers, lions, and bears can be designed just with paper plates and an array of crayons and markers. Don't forget to cut out eye holes so the kids can take a peek at themselves in a mirror in your home.

Supersize Coloring

Coloring is always fun for little kids, but you can put a twist on the usual draw-in-the-lines illustrations by printing a three-by-four template out of a wide-format printer. Start by having your child do a line drawing in black marker on a piece of white printer paper (the more detail in the picture, the better). Then, bring the drawing to a print shop to enlarge the image.

Shop Now: Tony Tony Tony World of Cute Animals Coloring Book, $8, amazon.com.

DIY Playdough

All you need to do is raid your kitchen pantry for the household ingredients necessary to whip up your own batch of clay. The rest is in their hands (literally). Common essentials include water, flour, and vegetable oil. Make this even more of an exciting experience for the kids by adding food coloring. This way, they can mix and match their molding clay to make a colorful creation that can hold onto beyond just a rainy day.

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Costume Party

Pulling out a box of costumes and props (anything from old clothes and play jewelry to Halloween costumes) is a surefire way to keep kids busy for hours on end. Especially on rainy days, children will love setting up a fun display in the home to match their attire, whether it's a makeshift fairy-tale castle or adventure scene right in your living room. Join in on the fun and put on costumes with them, too.

Pom-Pom Animals

On the next rainy day, round up the kids and make fun pom-pom animals that they can play with or even adorn on their clothes. Whether children want to make a ladybug, a baby chick, or a caterpillar, all they'll need to do is follow our instructions (with you there to lend a hand, too). But thanks to the easy steps, just a slight change in color, size, and placement of the pom-poms can make nearly any animal.

Pressed Flowers

Making a flower arrangement with kids is a fun way to brighten up the home during a rainy day, but preserving flowers means you'll make something the entire family can enjoy for longer. One of our favorite methods? Pressing flowers. Plus, it only requires three steps. Just make sure to pick a bloom before rain starts to come down to ensure it isn't wet. Then take a bloom, place it in a closed book lined with parchment paper, and then come back to it 10 days later for the finished product.

Clay Necklace

Do your kids love to wear jewelry? Then they will enjoy making a stunning clay necklace. You'll need to round up some supplies, like molding clay, so they can sculpt beads or make a pendant in a half-moon shape. Then, the little ones can stack on other colorful, stylish accents, such as brass beads, and tie the leather cord together to keep the entire necklace intact.

Chess Set

A game of chess will be perfect for the whole family to play together, especially if it's a handmade set. In turn, you'll have an heirloom that the kids and adults alike will enjoy for years to come. This is perfectly set for two players to go at it in a game of strategy on a square, checkered board with 16 chess pieces. Half of the wooden piece sets are painted to match the chess board, while the other half is unpainted to add a contrast.

Solar System Mobile

Turn a rainy day around with activities that are just as exciting to make as they are educational, like this solar system project. Help kids spot the nine major planets out in the galaxy: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. This colorful mobile can double as decoration and a science project in their room when you attach them to the ceiling. Tie monofilament around the center seam of each planet, and then tie monofilament to one of the various bends or points of the star form.

• See More Ideas from Martha's Space Party for Her Grandkids

Miniature Animal House

A day spent inside calls for extra creativity. Why not channel that energy into piecing together a project with what's around your home? Thanks to this miniature animal house craft, you can bring the great outdoors inside with animal figurines surrounded by décor and furnishings that are easy to make. Plus, items like shoeboxes can create the structure for the playhouse, toilet-paper rolls can serve as the chimney, and scraps of wrapping paper can become the wall coverings.

Fluffy Slime

This ooey-gooey substance is always a classic crowd pleaser. This recipe uses household ingredients, like shaving cream, white glue, and food coloring. The fluffy slime doesn't include one common staple: Borax, which is a laundry booster. Instead, this recipe features saline solution to create its slimy, fluffy texture. Another plus? You can grab this key ingredient at your local pharmacy. This creation will last for one to two days if it's in an air-tight container.

Memory Jars

That memorabilia piled up from your last family trip? Collect everything—ticket stubs, photos, small souvenirs, and more—and curate them into a small handheld jar. The jar, which kids can decorate, will serve as a sweet souvenir of its own. Plus, other keepsakes (think: flowers or even shells from an outdoor adventure or beach getaway), can also be added to this memory keeping vessel. Once you label the jars with the place and date and line them up on a shelf, you'll have a time capsule display of trips past.

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Rock Collection

This is a bit of a two-parter: On a day when it's not raining, go on a trip around your neighborhood or a local park with your kids and have them pick out different rocks and stones that they like, and tell them that you're going to save the rocks for a rainy day. When that day comes, pull out the rocks, craft paint, glue, and any other supplies, and let kids come up with their own stone creations.

• Get More Rock Craft Ideas

Crayon Hearts

Even with the rain pouring down, kids can make a nice display to hang from the windows once the sun comes out. Light will shine through these colorful translucent hearts, which are easily made from waxed paper and crayons. You'll also need kraft paper, a handheld pencil sharpener, iron, pencil, scissors, and silk thread to create these beautiful pieces of décor. Once you trace and cut out the heart shapes, simply help your children string them on the ceiling with the silk thread.

Culinary Arts

The fridge is your home's coolest gallery, no question. With this genius setup, it can serve as a pop-up, easy-to-clean studio, too. Repurpose Magna-Tiles to hold up paper, and place paint supplies at the ready in magnetic tool bins meant for the garage. Then leave mini Mirò to his masterpiece while you complete yours: dinner.

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Kinetic Sand

Make the most of any recent beach trips by collecting sand and turning it into a colorful project. This craft only requires a few other ingredients and supplies you likely already have in your home, such as cornstarch and a mixing bowl. This activity for kids is taken up a notch by adding bright shades to create a memorable and malleable project.

Crystal Egg Geodes

Take a closer look at these glittery geodes: they're not rocks at all—they're eggs. This is a science project that will make the kids say, "Wow!" Plus, it's easier than you think since these geodes don't even need egg dye to create them. The little ones can play a key part in creating the unique project, like blowing out a large white chicken egg, and creating the crystallization process, which will result in milky white, like quartz, crystals.