4 Rainy Day Activities Toddlers Will Love

Rainy days, especially when they are consecutive, can put a real damper on fun outdoor activities. When a classroom of toddlers is missing out on playtime outside, teachers have to get creative with how to engage their class to make up for having to be indoors all day.

Below are a few indoor rainy day activities that will surely be fun and memorable for all. These can be done at home or at your child’s daycare center.

1. Sticker Sorting

Here’s a simple yet engaging learning activity that is just right for 2-3 year olds. This sticker sorting activity is quick and easy to set up.

Materials needed:

• dot stickers
• construction paper

Since you are using dot stickers that come in just four colors (red, yellow, green and blue), you only need four pieces of construction paper of the same colors as the dot stickers. Next, you will need to tape the four sheets of construction paper to a wall. Once you have done that, let your toddlers know that they will need to place the red stickers on the red construction paper and so on.

Sorting activities like this one are a wonderful way to introduce and reinforce the math concept of identifying similar characteristics in a group of objects and analyzing data. In this activity, children are also working on fine motor skills as well as practicing their color words.

2. Paper Plate Tennis

This is another easy and fun game that will make toddlers forget it’s pouring outside. Ultimately, they are playing a version of tennis, an outdoor sport, inside their class. They’ll love paper plate tennis so much that they’ll likely ask to do this at home.

Materials needed:

• 2 paper plates
• 2 craft sticks
• duct tape
• paint (to decorate the paper plates)

To make the paper plates, have toddlers decorate their plates with paint. They can get as creative as they want. Once the paint dries, help them duct tape the craft stick to the back of the plate.

Then blow up the balloon that will act as a tennis ball. We recommend that you under fill the balloon to make the balloon easier to direct with each whack of the paper plate “racket.”

You’re sure to hear lots of giggles as toddlers try to whack the balloon back and forth. It’s such a great activity for improving hand eye coordination.

3. Torn Paper Rain boot

The torn paper rain boot craft is an excellent activity for toddlers and preschoolers. This craft is not only great for keeping your little one busy indoors, but it also strengthens their fine motor muscles, which is necessary for when they will eventually learn to use scissors, writing and doing up buttons.

This activity is a lot of fun because children enjoy tearing paper up.

Materials needed:

• construction paper in various colors
• white paper
• washable school glue
• pencil
• black Sharpie

Below we are listing the steps on how to create the torn paper rain boot craft:

Have your group of toddlers start tearing the construction paper into small pieces. Model how to do this if they have never done it before.

While they are tearing, you can draw the outline of a rain boot on a piece of white paper (or already have copies of the outline to distribute).

Once your toddlers are done with tearing the paper, which you may need to help them finish tearing, help them glue the torn pieces inside the outline of the rain boot.

When they are done, you can cut out the boot and glue the boot on a separate piece of white paper.

Tear some pieces of blue paper or have the toddlers do that. This will be the rain drops that you can help them glue around the boot.

Tear a large piece of brown paper and glue it underneath the boot. This will be the muddy puddle your boot is splashing in.

All that is left to do after that is have the class take these home to put them on their refrigerator.

4. Tape Game

We know what you’re probably thinking. Do I want to let toddlers play with tape? What would that look like? But we’ll clear up what we mean by the tape game.

If you thought the other rainy day activities were easy, we left the easiest one for last. All that is needed for this is blue painter’s tape. That’s right! Just one thing and we promise it is an exciting game that will help toddlers develop fine motor skills in the process.

With the blue tape, you will tear off six strips. These can be at least 2 feet in length. Those strips of tape will need to be placed about a foot apart from each other. If you can, do this on carpet or tile flooring as it can do a little damage on hardwood floors if left for too long.

We have highlighted a few games toddlers can play with the tape:

• Jump from line to line, skip over a line or jump the first line and see how far they could jump from the starting line.
• Jump with one foot to help with balance. You may have to hold their hand at first.
• Reach as far as you can by standing on the first line and then bending over to touch the next line with your hands. Then walk forward with your hands to see how far you can reach without falling.

The Learning Experience is proud to have a team of creative teachers eager to provide fun and engaging learning activities whether it’s raining outside or not. Find a TLE Center today to schedule a tour!