Parents have all been there in terms of finding fun games for kids. It’s a rainy day and the kids are tearing up the house on their trikes causing general mayhem. My toddler’s favourite habit is to rip towels out of the linen cupboard, scatter her Barbie dolls all over the living room and bring sand in from the sandpit into my newly cleaned kitchen floor.
A full day of these antics is enough to drive any parent to the pantry to chomp on some Tim Tams or head to the fridge for a glass of wine at the end of a long day. But we still want our kids to be kids. Mostly kids get up to mischief when they are bored and are lacking in exciting activities to indulge in. This is especially true for little ones who attend childcare. Their days are full of activity so when they are home they expect the same level of activity!
Rainy day fun
This list is designed for those rainy days during the school holidays or for generally keeping kids occupied at home during the day. Instead of going to a mall and spending money on the kids so you can get out of the house, action a few activities on this list. While the kids are occupied you can catch a breather too! You may even get through a chapter in a novel uninterrupted! Well, dreams are free anyway! Or perhaps you need to get those important taxes done. Well, this list will help you a little space in the day.
Miniature cities
One idea is to build a miniature city. Start collecting little cardboard food boxes and gather some art and paint. The kids will thoroughly enjoy building a miniature city and it is a project they can do ongoing. You can also get involved and add little pieces to the beautiful city. Alternatively act like animals together, bake some chocolate brownies or call people on Skype! Whatever you do, this list will cure the boredom and keep the kids occupied these school holidays or any weekend day when they are indoors.
Play these games for kids in the Savings Room
Act, bake, colour or cook
- Act like animals
- Bake biscuits
- Bake chocolate brownies
- Build a miniature city
- Build an indoor village
- Call people or Skype them
- Camp inside
- Colour experiments
- Colour theme day E.g. Red
- Colouring in fun
- Computer time
- Conduct housework training
- Cook gingerbread
- Cooking lessons
- Cool fashion competition
- Costumes and photo session
More money games for kids here
Get creative
- Create a board game
- Create a dream book
- Create a housework roster
- Create a photo collage
- Create a sand world in a box
- Create a scrapbook
- Create a short play
- Create a travel art pack
- Create an indoor garden
- Create an indoor restaurant
- Create an indoor tunnel
- Create mazes to navigate
- Create photo books
- Create your own puzzles
- Dance to great music
- Do a massive jigsaw
- Do laundry together
- Do the vacuuming
- Draw the garden
- Explore new music genres
- Fairies theme day for girls
- Fashion show down hallway
- Flower experiments
- Frame a dream
- Frame artwork
- Give each other cool haircuts
- Have a French week
- Have a pyjama day
- Hold a different culture week
- Indoor bath play
- Indoor obstacle course
- Indoor pet show
- Indoor sandpit play
Learn something new
- Learn about recycling
- Learn hello in other languages
- Learn how to measure stuff
- Learn Origami
- Learn YouTube magic tricks
More games for kids and ideas for the school holidays
Make stuff
- Make a cardboard car
- Make a delicious pizza
- Make an Xmas wreath
- Make a Zorro mask
- Make an indoor cubby
- Make and wear weird hats
- Make boats
- Make chocolate cake
- Make cool fridge magnets
- Make cupcakes
- Make fairy wings
- Make fruit kebabs
- Make gift cards
- Make ice-blocks out of juice
- Make ice cream
- Make instruments
- Make jelly
- Make jewellery
- Make movies out of photos
- Make muffins
- Make pancakes
- Make paper clip chains
- Make paper dolls
- Make paper Mache
- Make paper plate masks
- Make puppets from socks
- Make the bathtub a beach
- Make Xmas gifts
- Make YouTube videos
- Measure yourselves
- Mop a floor
- Movie afternoon
- Nail and string art
- Online treasure hunt
- Organise a play co-op
- Paint each other’s nails
- Paint plaster models
- Pirate’s theme day for boys
Play money games for kids in the Savings Room
Play, play, play…
- Play a Rubiks cube
- Play a will power game
- Play blindfolded taste testing
- Play card games
- Play charades
- Play computer games
- Play dress ups
- Play fake tennis
- Play hallway bowling
- Play Hide and Seek
- Play horsey
- Play indoor catchy
- Play indoor soft soccer
- Play indoor soft volleyball
- Play Knucklebones
- Play marbles
- Play Monopoly
- Play musical chairs
- Play Op shop board games
- Play pretend shops
- Play put toys away game
- Play rock, paper and scissors
- Play Scrabble
- Play skipping games
- Play the slapping hands game
- Play the staring game
- Play Twister
- Press flowers in books
- Print online colouring pages
- Puppet show
- Rearrange a room
- Record noises and sounds
- Repair and fix things session
- Revamp a room
- Run around with streamers
- Sailboats in the bath
- Shoulder rides
- Skype grandparents
- Sleepover for friends
- Start a collection
- Start a diary
- Start and bury a time capsule
- Swap toys with friends
- Take up a new hobby
- Talent quest
- Teach the kids to sew
- Throw balls into buckets
- Tie-dye some clothes
- Trace and draw stuff
- Travel on Google Earth
- Try scrap booking
Watch it or get writing
- Watch YouTube
- Wizards and spells day
- Write a book series
- Write a creative story
- Write a letter to a relative
- Write a script
- Write some songs
Want more games for kids and things to do on a boring weekend or during the school holidays?
Read more and access all these fab cheat sheets in the Savings Room.
Things to do and more games for kids here
- 50 things to do in your community this Christmas
- 50 things to do indoors this Christmas
- 180+ budget adventures with bubs
- 20+ things to do in the garden this Christmas
- 45 things to do in your region this Christmas
- 130 little adventures in the garden for kids
- 150 indoor activities for kids
- 200+ random school holiday outings for kids
Got some great games for kids? Be sure to leave your comments.
