40+ Screen-Free Indoor Activities in the Winter for Kids (When You’re Stuck Inside)
Looking for indoor activities in the winter to keep kids busy during cold, rainy (or snowy), dark days? This post will give you a variety of options, all without relying on screens to keep your children entertained and engaged!
Utilizing mostly basic equipment around the house, such as colored pencils, white copy paper, glue, scissors, tape, and common toys, this list of winter indoor activities is meant to be flexible, budget-friendly, and mostly child-led (depending on the age of the child).
This is the list I draw from with my own five children when the dreary winter weather sets in, and I hope it is useful and helpful for you as well!
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How to set yourself (Mama!) up for fun rainy day activities:
Winter can feel long when you have young children. Grumpy kids, over stimulating noise, and feeling cooped up in the house are not easy!
One rainy afternoon stuck inside is one thing; several days of cold weather, rain, or snow in a row is another!
But I want to encourage you toward a few things (as someone who grew up in the Pacific Northwest of the USA with LONG rainy winters) regarding YOUR approach to rainy days:
1. You don’t have to entertain your kids all day.
As a loving parent to your child(ren), it is good to give them the gift of learning to SELF entertain and learning to “struggle” through uncomfortable feelings.
Sometimes it is hard to be stuck indoors. But if your child can learn to find things to do even when they are in that hard place, it will pay off dividends for years and years to come in their lives.
So don’t rush to entertain them – brace for a bit of whining or complaining until they get into their groove, and hold firm!
2. Keep a few simple materials accessible.
Providing open-ended, creative-oriented materials will support your child(ren) learning to play indoors without screens.
And in my experience, sometimes the “non-toys” are actually the most popular things: baby wash clothes and food storage containers transform playing with dolls into building a doll kingdom, and cardboard in the recycle bin and masking tape create ramps and tracks for hot wheel world.
Keep some classic supplies handy, but also allow your kids freedom to access your household things (within reason, of course! No knives!!) to engage in their creative play.
3. Limit “done for you” activity options.
If your kids are not yet to the place where they will dive into engaging in their own imagined world for long stretches of time, go ahead and offer 2 activity ideas at a time. Your child(ren) can choose between those two, or they can come up with something on their own.
Don’t present them with 10 ideas all at once, or you’ll likely overwhelm them or set up the house as “mom provides the perfect thing to keep me happy” which is NOT going to bode well for a fun, rainy days indoors!
In addition, I like to adhere to the idea that you CAN have too much of a good thing, and it is best to wrap up and put away an activity while it is still appealing and interesting.
This provides kids with a “final note” of an activity that is going to draw them back into the activity the next time they do it, rather than having it become a worn-out, former interest.
A “Menu” of Fun Indoor Activities for Rainy Weather:
With that philosophical piece in mind, here are some of my favorite indoor activities in the winter. Some are completely child-led, some require a little setup or supervision, and some are activities that I enjoy doing alongside my kids.
I’ve loosely grouped them by the kind of activity we’re looking for, because sometimes what you need isn’t just something to do—it’s something quiet, something creative, something that lets everyone move their bodies, or something that gives you an opportunity to connect together.
Don’t feel like you need to work your way through the whole list! Pick a couple of ideas that fit your children’s ages, your available supplies, and the mood of the day.
Creative Arts & Crafts Type Rainy Weather Indoor Activity Ideas:
When everyone needs something creative to do, pull out a few basic art supplies and let them go. You don’t need a fancy craft kit or a Pinterest-perfect project. Paper, scissors, tape, glue, and something to draw with can go a long way.
1. Make a card to send to someone via snail mail
2. Staple together a couple pieces of paper into a little booklet, color a beautiful front and back cover, and then create an “all about me” journal
3. Decorate for a holiday (Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, Valentine’s Day, etc) – snowflakes, turkeys, heart buntings, etc
4. Create paper “baskets” by folding the paper in half and stapling up each side, and then write notes of encouragement for friends or neighbors. Or make coupons for family members to gift to each other, such as “one 3-minute back rub” or “good for one of your chores” and put them in the baskets.
5. Color in coloring books (this is our favorite coloring book!) or print off coloring pages on a topic of interest (monster trucks, princesses, etc)
6. Draw something from nature or your imagination
7. Color a picture using only 3 colors
8. Paint whatever you want with watercolor paint
9. Paint or draw your favorite animal
10. Choose some rocks to paint
11. Color by number (there are lots of printable options online!)
12. Paint by number (Lots of options on Amazon)
13. Finger crochet
14. Kid-friendly cross stitch (To be honest, I kind of like doing these too!)
Supplies Needed: white printer paper, scissors, scotch tape, glue, washable markers or colored pencils, envelope and stamp, stapler, coloring book, watercolor paint and paintbrush, rocks, Color by Number book or free printable pages online, Paint by Number kits or regular watercolor paint and some paint by number pages
Open-Ended Play Ideas for When You’re Stuck Inside:
One of my favorite ways to help my kids play independently is simply to remind them about toys they already own. We don’t need a new activity every time they’re bored! Sometimes they just need a little nudge to see an old toy in a new way.
Our toys are primarily open-ended toys, which I love because they are tools for creative play rather than toys with one specific purpose.
An open-ended toy can be used in many different ways, and kids often have fun combining different toys to create an entirely new world—dolls with Magna-Tiles, animal figurines with Duplo, or cars with blocks and cardboard.
Here are a few scenarios our kids enjoy, but don’t feel like you need to recreate them exactly. Use these as starting points to remind your kids of what they already have, and then let them take it from there!
15. Build a farm yard for animals from MagnaTiles
16. Build a doll house from Duplo
17. Pretend play a coffee shop with stacking cups and MagnaTiles and felt balls
18. Build a road for cars with MagnaTiles
19. Take your dolls to a hot pool (ie: the bathroom sink or a bowl of warm water)
20. Take turns playing hide-and-seek with your Magnetic Figurines
Supplies Needed: farm animals, MagnaTiles, Duplo, stacking cups, felt balls, cars, dolls, magnetic figurines, and household items like rubber bands, wash clothes, tooth picks, etc
Quiet(er) Indoor Activities for Winter:
Since we have an age range spanning 8 years in our home, we have “Quiet Time” most afternoons when the youngest kids nap. Our older kids don’t need naps every day, but I still like to have a household “rest” period where the noise levels stay low.
These are the activities we gravitate toward during our quieter time indoors during the winter:
21. Puzzles (floor puzzles, wooden puzzles, and regular cardboard ones – choose the number of pieces that work for your kids)
22. Paint by Sticker books
23. Activity Books (Maze books, Word Search, Logic Puzzles, Diverse Activities, etc)
24. Read one chapter per day of a chapter book aloud to your kids
25. If your kids can read, let them pick out some books at the library to bring home to enjoy
26. Even if your kids can’t read, grab a bunch of beautiful picture books from the library that have things your kids are interested in – my toddler son loves to look at Richard Scarry books and admire all the cars, and my pre-reader daughter enjoys flipping through our Usborne Book of World History or our James Herriot Treasury for Children
27. Check out some audiobooks from the library (old school CD’s, utilize an app like Libby and bluetooth speaker, or use YouTube and find books read aloud like the Caribou Public Library’s Channel. We play it on the laptop and black out the screen)
28. Teach your child a form of solitaire (Beehive Solitaire, Clock Solitaire, etc)
29. Set your child(ren) up to host a tea party (the “tea” can 100% be water, and the guests can be dolls or stuffed animals or hot wheel cars, if desired!)
Supplies Needed: puzzles, paint by sticker book, activity books, deck of cards, books
Physically Active Indoor Activities:
Sometimes, kids have energy to burn and it is helpful to find a way to direct that energy while staying inside. I will preface this section by saying these activities often result in a lot of noise and sometimes someone getting a bump or falling over, but they are also very helpful to have in your back pocket when the household needs a reset!
30. Play “The Floor is Lava” game
31. Build an indoor obstacle course
32. Construct a fort using furniture, pillows, and sheets or blankets (My kids love these giant towel clips for fort making)
33. Blow up a balloon and play balloon volleyball (this was a favorite of my childhood!)
34. Turn on music and Freeze Dance
35. Teach the kids Simon Says
36. Play a round of Hide and Seek
37. Use masking tape to create a balance-beam course
38. Choose different types of music and have a dance party with play silks (classical, pop, disco, etc)
Supplies Needed: blankets or sheets, pillows, towel clips, balloon, masking tape, music, play silks
Rainy Day Games to Play Together When Stuck Inside:
When the rain is pelting the windows, we love to clear off the table, pull out some games, and set up a family-fun activity to do together!
(I also enjoy lighting a candle and making a cup of tea, but those are usually best off to the side of the table!)
Here are some specific categories of games to consider:
39. Game-specific card games
40. Regular Deck-of-Cards Card Games
41. Board Games
Some of our favorite game-specific card games are:
- Sleeping Queens
- Gnoming Around
- Nuts About Mutts
- Bears and Bees
- Slapzi (great for a crowd, can be easy to play with pre-readers)
- Memory (great for younger kids)
- Spot-It
- Sequoia
- Flip 7
Some of our favorite regular Deck-of-Cards Games include:
- Solitaire (also known as Klondike or Patience) which can also be played as a doubles version
- Trash
- Speed
- Nerts (Racing Demons for my UK Friends)
- War
And some Board Games we enjoy:
- Qwirkle (we like the travel version)
- Cascadia (this has been an unexpected hit! It’s targeted to adults, but we taught it to our girls and they love playing it with us, or on their own together, or our 7-year-old will even play it solo!)
- Cribbage
Supplies Needed: deck(s) of cards, games of your choice
Bake or Cook Together As An Indoor Winter Activity:
Baking or cooking with the kids requires a bit of patience and setting my own expectations in a reasonable place (ie: there WILL be messes!), but if I can relax into the process, I enjoy it! And the kids seem to ALWAYS enjoy it, as long as I’m not grumpy or stressed!
I also love that getting kids into the kitchen helps to develop real-life skills. Measuring, pouring, cracking eggs, mixing, and having patience while things bake or freeze are all things that they really will need to do in their life at some point.
And having kids familiar with how to do things in the kitchen foster independence and helps them grow in capabilities. It’s a win almost all the way around (except for the clean up aspect! But I suppose that’s a learning opportunity too!)
42. Bake bagels, bread, or cookies together (our favorites cookies are Oatmeal Chocolate Chip, and my kids love helping me make cinnamon swirl bread or chocolate chai swirl bread!)
43. Teach your kids how to make breakfast (we’ve just taught our eldest to make our Swedish Sheet Pan Pancakes. We help her with getting the pans in and out of the oven, but otherwise she can do almost the whole thing herself)
44. Make a no-bake treat, like energy bites
45. Mix things up for a fun learning experience and have your kids make their own butter in a jar out of whipping cream.
Supplies Needed: ingredients for baking cookies, ingredients for making breakfast, ingredients for popsicles or frozen yogurt bark, heavy whipping cream for butter
Indoor Winter Activities Can Be FREE:
One of the reasons I love these ideas for indoor activities in the winter is that most of them don’t require much money. Winter can already be an expensive season, and while children’s museums, indoor play centers, craft kits, and special outings can be wonderful treats, they aren’t realistic for every family or necessary for kids to have a good day.
A stack of printer paper, a deck of cards, some library books, a blanket fort, a cardboard box, and the toys you already own can provide hours of creative play.
You don’t have to make every rainy day a “special treat.” Sometimes a successful winter day is simply one where everyone stayed reasonably content, the kids found something interesting to do, and Mama didn’t have to spend $75 to make it happen!
Choose Simple Indoor Activities in the Winter for Rainy Days
I hope this list gives you some ideas for indoor activities in the winter to tuck away for the next stretch of rainy, cold weather. Our family rotates through these options all winter long, and they keep us busy and engaged in simple, screen-free winter fun inside.
Let me know in the comments if you have more ideas to add to this list, or if you choose to do one of these activities and it turned into a fun moment for your family! I’d love to hear about it.
