We have been quite lucky so far this holiday, despite there being heavy rain every single day we have only had one day where we really felt a bit stuck in and have so far managed to avoid getting soaked.
I do have lots of things ready to do if it does rain though and these are a few of my ideas.
Build a Den
We love building a den- it’s something you can do indoors or outdoors and it can be as big as you have space for or tiny and cosy. You don’t need loads of equipment, blankets and a clothes horse are fine or you can use other furniture and bedding or picnic rugs. If it’s outside then logs, sticks, string and tarpaulin are perfect. Once you have built it you can decorate it and make it comfortable and then decide what you want to do in there- read a book, have a picnic, do some writing. I am not sure den building is something you ever completely grow out of!
LEGO Challenge
Tip out a big box of LEGO, set a timer and challenge everyone to make something on a theme (vehicles, space, food, animals etc) when the time is up you have to stop and can pick a winner. This is great because you can have quick builds or longer builds with more difficult themes. For younger children you could do this with Duplo or even using Playdoh and you don’t even need to pick a winner, it could just be for fun.
Cinema Day
Agree on a film, and then plan to spend an afternoon watching it. Younger children might enjoy making tickets but everyone can get involved with making cinema snacks. You can pop some popcorn and make some crispie cakes to eat while you enjoy your film.
Baking Day
Spend the day doing lots of baking and hopefully you can enjoy it all for a picnic the next day when it’s nicer!
Games and Puzzle Challenge
Invite some friends over and set up lots of boards games, card games and puzzles and have a tournament. If you are allowed then you could do the same type of thing on a computer or games console.
Play Rain Games
Get your raincoat and wellies on and go and splash in the puddles and dance in the rain. You can then come back in and dry off while having raindrop races on the window!

I would love to know what sort of things other children like to do when the weather is bad?
Arts and crafts and baking!
Playing board games, arts and crafts and baking
Make a ‘den’ with the sofa cushions and have an indoor picnic.
We love playing board games and painting x
On a rainy day, my daughter and I have a list of things that we do: play doh, painting, gluing and sticking, water play, board games and hide and seek!
painting, baking, board games
I used to love painting in those colourig books where you just put water on the picture & different colours appear
I used to go baking with my mum on rainy days and then give them to my neighbours.
We loved Lego, Monopoly, Baking or a good movie!
I used to enjoy playing board games with my parents on rainy days 🙂 x
I love playing boardgames on rainy days or colouring
I bake cupcakes with my daughter x
Jigsaw puzzles
painting 🙂
Colouring, painting, baking and board games.
we dont let the rain stop us, we stick on our waterproofs and head to the park
we do painting, drawing and cutting pictures out of old catalogues
Baking or painting pebbles!
Baking, puzzles, painting/drawing or watching movies.
When I was a kid, I preferred staying at home with a good book when it rained. Or in most other types of weather, actually.
Colouring books, was a favourite of mine as a child.
Our girls love craft activities, so it’s never hard to keep them busy when it’s raining.
Hiding under the clothes horse with a blanket over it pretending it was my own little house.
Me and my boy love indoor picnics and moana!!
I loved putting on my wellingtons and jumping in puddles, much to my mothers annoyance
My kids love to do baking or arts & crafts
dressing up is always a good rainy day activity
we always seemed to play out with a balll rain or shine
playing board games which is what i do with my son aswell
Playing video games on the mega drive, love that old game systems are coming back around these days!
playing in puddles is the best fun
I love to get the craft box out and we have lots of fun making things 🙂
I used to just be stuck in front of the TV gaming when i was a kid, guess things are not so different now.
Summer rain doesn’t really put us off from going out and enjoying the school holidays but if it’s excessive I get out the crafts of Lego and just get creative. x
Baking and board games.
Wellies and raincoats on and out puddle-jumping!
jigsaws, crafts and lego
It depends what kind of mood my son is in. We will either snuggle up and watch a film or we might go swimming.
Lots of dressup
Den building.
Baking
Baking was always my favourite, and is my little girls favourite too! Shame its so messy!
Getting in the kitchen and baking
We usually do baking, crafting, den building or indoor treasure hunts
We usually have treasure hunts
Craft and baking
gardening games
playdoh seems to be the favourite this year
Lots of arts and crafts or we have a movie day.
rainy days were craft and activity days 🙂
cooking with the kids 🙂
We love to do some baking
I used to love drawing and colouring as a child on a rainy day
We get the craft box, or make cookies and cupcakes.
Colouring, or painting. Cracking the craft box out and making something.
We love playing games or doing crafts.
Drawing and colouring
When I was a kid I didn’t mind the rain, I used to head up to see my pony and snuggle up to it in the stable to keep dry! (That does sound a little snobby but it’s not supposed to 🙂 ponies = poor!!)
we had an outside den that we would stay in and do colouring and play games. My parents were also in the military so they were quite happy to drag us out in the rain to play games as well as jump in puddles
We do arts and crafts.
We do arts & crafts when it’s raining! Lots of glitter & tissuse paper
I used to have a removeable drawer full of cards, pens and craft stuff that used to keep me busy all day.
Jumping in puddles barefoot 🙂
I used to love building a den with a sheet and mum’s clothes airer
I loved doing craft as a child, I would see what random things I could find around the house to make things with 🙂
We play games, watch a family film and also get our waterproofs on to go outside
we do baking reading stories painting movie day xx
I used to love sticking my big snuggly coat on and going out in the garden when it rained. I loved looking at all the bugs and snails that came out in the rain.
playing board games, painting and jigsaws
We love baking, crafts and playing board games together.
We used to build camps with bits of sofa/blankets 🙂
Lego always seems to feature heavily in our house