When we talk about spending the day indoors, we usually give it a negative spin. It's always, "We're stuck inside today," and never really, "Hooray, we get to spend the day inside." But, if you keep these indoor activities for kids on the top of mind, the next time a storm rolls in, a sick day happens or a school closes unexpectedly, it won't feel like a disappointment.
You can still fill the hours with active, enriching or creative activities — and get some family bonding in along the way — without having to venture into the great outdoors. In fact, you might start to look forward to these inside days — and not just because you can declare it "Pajama Day."
These are the best indoor activities for kids: Most of them can be done with the items you already have around the home — hooray for free! — which means that indoor days can be good for the wallet, too. There are some, though, that require certain ingredients or activities, so it might be good to check this list even on a sunny day and to make sure you have the supplies on hand for the next time the rainclouds blow in. There's a mix of learning activities, creative crafts, active games and some just-plain-fun diversions for everyone from toddlers to teens.
Tell Riddles
Take turns challenging each other to figure out some challenging riddles, giving kids' minds a workout and letting them work on their logic and criticial thinking skills. You can buy a book, do some from memory or even try to come up with your own.
See our list of the best riddles for kids »
Hosts Arts and Crafts Hour
An indoor day is the perfect time to break out all of the ribbons, craft sticks, pipe cleaners and googly eyes that are just begging to be turned into DIY masterpieces. (And, if you need a refresh on all those supplies, there's always the Kid Made Modern Arts and Crafts Supply Library.) When the glue and paint are dry, you can have an at-home museum experience. For 2D work, grab clothespins and hang them from baker's twine for a real gallery feel.
See ideas for 50 fun crafts for kids to try »
Make a Movie
The process of making fine cinema has gotten a whole lot easier now that most of us have the equipment to make films in our pockets and bags at all time. And yet, even if they just make a quick movie on a phone, they'll get hands-on experience at lots of parts of the creative process: They can write a script, plan out shots and scenes, gather or make props and even try their hands at special effects. (Something like the VTech Kidizoom Creator Cam even lets them do editing in-camera.) If they're shy about appearing on screen, they might have better luck with stop-motion animation, and things like Stickbots or the Hue Animation Studio will help.
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Have a Paper Airplane Competition
Who doesn't have a few leftover shipping boxes lying around? With just a few modifications, those can be targets for a fleet of paper airplanes. Experiment with how folding the paper in different ways affects the trajectory of the flight.
See Good Housekeeping's preferred method for folding a paper airplane »
Make a Scrapbook
Go through the miscellaneous loose photos, ticket stubs, handouts, school notices and more and turn them into a memory book that you all can enjoy for years to come. You can choose one event to focus on, like a family vacation, or go broader and try to encapsulate a full school year. (Something like the HP Sprocket photo printer can help if you don't have printed photos lying around — it prints onto sticker paper.) Decorate the pages with stickers, drawings, quotes and other mementos. There are even scrapbooking sets geared towards tweens and teens. And hey, if you never get past the going-through-old-photos phase, that's a fun way to spend an indoor day, too.
Make Homemade Modeling Dough
There are many benefits to playing with modeling dough. Kids work on their hand strength when they manipulate the dough, and they can also practice their pincer grasp or improve their fine-motor coordination when they do things like roll it out or pinch it into smaller balls. But to make the experience even more engrossing, kids can get in on making the dough themselves! (Plus, this way, you get to keep an eye on the ingredients.)
See the tutorial for making homemade modeling dough »
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Do a Room Makeover
When was the last time their rooms were spruced up? If you want to go all-out, you can let them choose a new paint color and re-arrange their furniture for a fresh new look. For something with less effort, they can find new art for their walls — perhaps a DIY wall collage? — or decorations for their shelves. What vibe are they feeling? Cottagecore? VSCO aesthetic? They'll have fun looking up inspiration.
See our favorite kids' room ideas for inspiration »
Build a Rube Goldberg Machine
Gather the dominoes, marbles, LEGO bricks and other construction toys and challenge their STEM skills by building a (simple) Rube Goldberg machine. Tinkerlab has tips for what materials to use, stunts to try and how to get started. (Their biggest tip? Figure out what you want to happen at the end first, from popping a balloon to ringing a bell.) It's best to keep your homemade machine simple, but it's always fun to get inspiration from really elaborate ones: Check out OK Go's "This Too Shall Pass" video, the breakfast-making machine in the beginning of Pee-Wee's Big Adventure or the videos @RubeGoldbergTV for ideas.
Host a Comedy Show
Doing an at-home comedy set actually helps them work on a lot of public-speaking skills, including timing, speaking clearly and self-confidence. (Magic tricks work, too.) See if you can work together to come up with a "set" of three to five jokes each, and then gather the family around for laughs. The book LOL 101, a 2023 Good Housekeeping Best Kids' Book Award winner, even takes kids through the steps of writing their own jokes.
See our favorite jokes for kids »
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Do a Learning Activity
There are lots of fun, hands-on learning activities that secretly give kids extra practice in reading, math, social studies or STEM concepts. Whether you have an elementary school student, a preschooler, a toddler or even a 1-year-old, they'll love these projects — which, as a bonus, mostly involve materials you already have around the house.
Get ideas for learning activities for kids »
Go on a Hunt
It's easy to rig up an indoor finding game. You could come up with scavenger hunt-style list of items your child has to find all over the house, or put together a series of clues that lead to one big prize at the end. On Etsy, you can find customizable clue cards that you fill in and print yourself.
Get more ideas for scavenger hunt themes »
Make a Friendship Bracelet
You might not have made a friendship bracelet since your summer-camp days, but the craft is back and hotter than ever. Break out those embroidery threads and teach your kids the art of making stripes, chevrons and spiral staircases. You can get a kit that'll help you make intricate patterns, or just do it the old-fashioned way.
Get the instructions for 20 different friendship bracelet patterns »
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Do a Science Experiment
You can do a ton of at-home science experiments with very little prep and set-up, often with items you can just grab from around the house. For example, if you sit a "cloud" of shaving cream on top of a jar of water, then add drops of blue water one-at-a-time, when the "cloud" becomes saturated, you get blue rain — and the water cycle in a jar. (Good Housekeeping Amazing Science book offers even more at-home ideas.)
See our favorite at-home experiments »
Host an Open Mic Night
It doesn't matter if you have an official karaoke machine or not. All that matters is you can hit the high notes when it counts. So, what's your go-to, belt-it-out-to-the-rafters song?
See our list of the best songs of the decade »
Bake and Decorate
Indoor days are the perfect time to try and get creative in the kitchen. Whip up some kind of make-your-own dessert bar by putting out toppings (frosting, sprinkles, M&Ms, etc.) that kids can add to either a cupcake or ice cream sundae.
See 45 different cupcake recipes »
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Break out the Board Games
It's the oldest idea in the book, but if you really want some screen-free family time, old-fashioned board games still do the trick. Get your competitive spirit up and get ready to play.
See our list of the top-tested family board games »
Make a Sensory Bin
Fill a bin with rice and other treasures, plus a few toys, and you have yourself an instant hit with the little ones. Kids can scoop and pour the rice or dig through to find the prizes you've hidden (in this example, they had fake bugs, a magnifying glass, and tweezers to "collect" them). Just be warned that you'll probably have to vacuum after.
Get ideas for different sensory bins here »
Movies and TV Shows
Sure, if you're worried about screen time, movies and TV shows are always a last resort. But if you're stuck indoors for an extended period of time, at some point you're going to want to get something accomplished. Make every second of screen time count by making sure you're choosing the best kids' TV shows and movies available.
See our picks for the all-time best movies for kids »
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Start an Indoor Garden
You don't even need empty planters to get the garden growing — an old egg carton will do the trick at first. To make it more of STEM activity, give kids journals so they can take notes on what they've planted and keep track of their garden's progress. They can even draw the heights of their seedlings as they grow. Bonus: Plant basil seeds or other herbs, and you'll have delicious ingredients for a cooking project. (Tip: If you don't want to go the DIY route, Creativity for Kids offers kits for growing sunflowers or a pizza garden that have all the materials you need.)
Indoor Obstacle Course
This activity is great for young ones working on their gross motor coordination or older ones who might need to get some energy out. Set up an obstacle course in as many rooms of the house as you dare.
Cardboard boxes can transform into tunnels to crawl through. You can tie strings around furniture and pretend that they're laser beams that kids have to step over or crawl under. (Pool noodles also work.) And you can use indoor stepping stones, pillows or cushions and invoke The Floor Is Lava rules. See who in the family has the fastest time getting through the obstacles, and then see if anyone can break the record.
