15 Rainy Day Crafts for Toddlers {beat the boredom!}

April showers bring May flowers and serious boredom for toddlers. There’s nothing like being stuck inside on a rainy day with nothing to do, especially with little ones in the house. Rainy days are perfect for crafting because it keeps them occupied and helps to pass the time. Not to mention, mama needs a break, so crafting it is.

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Enjoying crafts on a rainy day is also a great alternative to keep kids off the screen for extended periods of time. Most of these crafts only require minimal parental support and are fun for this age group.

Enjoy our list of the Best Rainy Day Craft Ideas for Toddlers!

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Rainy Day Duck Craft for Spring

When you can’t go outside for fun, let’s craft inside and make this adorable duck with an umbrella and rain boots. For these, all you need is cardstock, tissue paper, and glue. Such a good way to pass the time by.

Invisible Ink Paintings

Your toddlers will be astonished as they create invisible art. They will draw a picture with a white crayon, then watch it come to life as they paint over it with watercolors. This activity never goes out of style and can be used with older kids as well.

3 Ingredient DIY Puffy Paint

You won’t have to worry about boredom when you show your kids how to create their own puffy paint. Once they are finished making it, they can stay busy for quite a while making their own creations with the paint.

Styrofoam Robot Craft

Mystery and imagination go hand in hand when you make these little robots. These are available in craft kits, or you can purchase your own supplies by getting the list from the tutorial. Toddlers will need some help and supervision for this one.

Simple Rainy Day Craft: Paper Plate Instruments

Kids love making homemade instruments and using them once they are finished. To make this “Tamborine” you’ll need a couple of paper plates, a stapler, popcorn kernels, and markers to decorate. You can also use rice or beans for the noisemaker.

Cotton Ball Flower Painting for Spring

Fair warning, this rainy day craft is a little messy but toddlers enjoy it so much. Create several flowers out of cotton balls on a large piece of cardboard. The kids will add the colors by using an eye dropper filled with water dyed with food coloring.

Craft Foam Window Puzzle

Talk about hours of fun! While the raindrops fall you can keep younger children busy with a window puzzle. Make any scene you would like. Simply cut different shapes out of craft foam, then let them create the picture on the window. The foam clings by adding a little water. Think of how foam letters stick in the bathtub, same concept.

Paper Plate Fishbowl

Fishbowls are so fun to make especially for the ones who want a real fish but aren’t quite ready for the responsibility. It also makes me think of the Dr. Suess movie when it’s raining outside and they are staring at their fish through the bowl. Gather a paper plate, some paint and a brush, cupcake liners, and some paper. For the most part, toddlers can do this alone once is cutting is complete.

Zig-Zag Pom Pom Rainbow

Draw some zig-zags in the different colors on a large sheet of paper. Have the little ones glue on pom poms in matching colors. Not only will this craft pass time by while it’s raining, but it also helps with fine motor skills and color recognition.

Rainy Day Umbrella Craft

The swirled colors on the umbrella are beautiful and the secret ingredient is shaving cream! Some toddlers may not even finish the craft because they are so entertained by the different colors in the shaving cream. Once the paper is dipped it does take about 30 minutes to dry, then you can glue on the umbrella. The tutorial also shows you how to make marbled raindrops.

How to dye Pasta Noodles with Paint for Sensory Play

This rainbow pasta activity is fun when dying the noodles, but once you are finished use the pasta to make other crafts. The options are endless when it comes to their imagination. You can also print out different things such as nature scenes, animals, or flowers and let them glue the noodles on that way.

Diy Kaleidoscope

This craft might take the cake when it comes to curing the boredom blues on a rainy day. The supply list is a little longer, but you should have all of this stuff at your house already. Toddlers will need a little help to make these but are so satisfied once they are finished. The kaleidoscopes are fairly durable, so they can keep this one and always play with it again later.

Cloudy Day Sticky Wall

If you’ve never created a sticky wall before you are missing out because they are so much fun for little ones. Basically, you take a piece of contact paper (sticky side up) to your wall. Then provide them with cutouts that they can stick on. You can make any scene you would like, but the tutorial for this one is a cloudy day that uses cotton balls and strips of paper.

Pool Noodle Pom Pom Shooter

This craft is actually considered a stem activity, but I knew younger kids would love these. All you do is cut a pool noodle and duct tape a balloon onto the ends. Then you can put in the poms poms and pull back the balloon so it shoots out. Talk about staying busy on a rainy day. You can also keep these and let them play later.

Incredible Ice Paints

If you want to paint with ice, you will have to prepare ahead of time. Add water to an ice cube tray with a few drops of food coloring. Then place a popsicle stick and freeze overnight. When you’re ready to craft, pop the cubes from the tray and toddlers are ready to paint!

The next time it’s pouring rain and you want to combat toddler boredom, be sure to come back to this list of crafts. There are quite a few that you can incorporate into lessons about weather seasons for homeschool or in the preschool classroom.