Rainy days can be hard if you’re the kind of person that likes to spend the day outside. They can be doubly hard if your toddler is not easily entertained. It doesn’t have to be miserable! Rainy days can be just as wonderful as sunny beach days. Well. They can be almost as wonderful. A sunny beach day is pretty much… the perfect day. But let’s forget about that right now. And focus on rainy days, the mood, the ambiance, the vibes. Things can be pretty immaculate on rainy days. My first thought on a rainy, overcast day, is that I want to curl up in bed and watch Pride and Prejudice for the 47th time. With a toddler, that’s not the cozy afternoon it sounds like.
Until my daughter turns two, she doesn’t get any screen time and even then, it’ll be a family movie night once a week at the most. That leaves me with a lot of rainy days to fill up.
Puddle stomping is the number one rainy day activity in my house. Boots + rain jacket (even better is a rain suit) = hours well wasted. I try to make sure we get outside for at least an hour every day, rain or shine. I want her to know that outside can be enjoyable in most conditions. Now, if she doesn’t want to run around in a snow suit for longer than ten minutes, I don’t blame her. But rain is pretty manageable for us. She has a rain suit and absolutely loves puddle stomping. I can’t lie, I enjoy it too. We have a blast. That leads me to our next rainy day activity.
Fancy bath! Usually, she gets washed and rinsed with the shower head. No muss, no fuss, probably no fun. On rainy days, I like to make it special for her– especially if she got a little chilly while we were puddle stomping. Add bubbles, music, toys. This is something my toddler could do for hours. She loves water play.
Maybe unconventional, but my next rainy day activity that my toddler loves is chores. She absolutely loves helping me put dishes away, switch laundry, sweep, and vacuum. If you haven’t tried letting your toddler help with chores, I highly highly recommend it. Yes, it makes a 5-minute task take 45 minutes. Yes, it’s worth it. They love to do what mama does and they love to make mama smile. This is a twofer!
Once the living-room is nice and tidy, let me suggest completely undoing that with playdough :). This is especially fun when I am working with air dry clay and she is working with play dough. We share utensils, I show her how to make things, we both have fun. If she puts it in her mouth once, we finish the activity. I wouldn’t recommend this for children who are still in the phase of constantly putting everything in the mouth.
A bit more hands on for mom than toddler, bake something! Rainy days call for dessert. Baking with a toddler is certainly a unique experience but they will love it. And you will too. And if you both hate it, at least you will have dessert at the end of it. I recommend getting a ladder like this for your toddler. My parents sent one like this for my daughter and we absolutely love it. (I am affiliated with amazon so I’d get a commission if you buy from that but it doesn’t change the price for you.)
After baking, set the ladder up in front of the sink and get another hour of water play with a bowl and a measuring cup. All you have to do is turn on the water! I usually let my daughter do this while I clean the counter after baking or cooking. There will most likely be a bunch of water on the floor afterwards, so be ready with a towel.
Stickers. Stickers occupy my child extraordinarily well. We have a reusable sticker book that she loves to stick and unstick and stick again, all over the house and all over herself. They have mostly lost their stickiness by now, so I need to order some real stickers for her to mess around with.
Stacking… anything. We have blocks for stacking that are wonderful but if you’re in a pinch, I have never met a toddler that wont stack random things. My daughter found our jenga the other day and had a blast trying to stack it while I was trying to clean it up. Stack blocks, bins, jenga pieces—anything goes! Just show your toddler the intention and after seeing you do it, they will give it a go & develop their own spin on the activity.
Just put on music. This one is so simple and so easy. My baby girl looooves to dance around and be silly. I usually play her whatever I’m in the mood to listen to and she loves it. You can also play kids music like Super Simple Songs. A lot of them have dances on youtube you could learn and teach your little! Personally, I stick with just jumping around but I know other people are more coordinated than I am.
When I am tired of getting up, I get her a bowl of blueberries and cup of milk, and I sit down, and she does her own thing. Somehow, blueberries have yet to let me down.
Enjoy your rainy day!
