If you’re at a loss on what indoor activities your tween can do when they’re stuck inside on a rainy day, this list of rainy day activities for tweens is full of fun ways to make your kids put down the remote and have a blast when outdoor activities are simply not possible!
Rainy Day Activities For Tweens
Rainy days can be challenging and boring for tweens. They’re trapped inside, and they often turn to electronics or social media to pass the time. As a parent, it’s worrying to see your child wasting their day away with their face in a screen; you want to see them having fun and staying active.
You’ve probably already made a few suggestions including baking, craft ideas or an indoor obstacle course only to be rebuffed? Are all your ideas considered to be boring stuff that they’ve done before and they won’t even consider? They need some fresh ideas so check out these great options and screen time will quickly be forgotten!
Here’s a list of rainy day activities for tweens to inspire your kids to take up a new challenge.
rainy day activities for tweens List
Try A Science Experiment
Tweens are at an age where their curiosity is growing, which is why science experiments are such a great rainy day activity. Even a simple science experiment is the perfect opportunity to encourage critical thinking, creativity, and inquisitiveness, making them an excellent way to pass the time.
Many experiments only require items you probably already have in your home, like, creating a speaker for a phone or having an egg drop challenge.
When your tween has to figure out how to construct an item out of materials they would never have considered, it forces them to think outside the box and creates a sense of pride in their accomplishments!
Create A Comic Strip
Comics are timeless, and many tweens enjoy reading them and bringing the characters to life in their minds. Have your tween create their own comic, complete with original characters and plotline.
Encourage them to write dialogue and create colorful images that bring their vision to life. They can make their own superheroes and villains or draw a funny comic story based on their own experiences.
This simple task only requires some pens and pieces of paper and they may end up with a new passion!
Learn A New Dance Move
In a world where TikTok reigns supreme, learning a new dance move may be right up your tween’s alley. Although they may know all the latest fad dances, chances are, they are entirely unaware of what was popular when you were a kid yourself.
Why not spend some time teaching them some of your favorite moves from when you were growing up?
Dancing is a great way to exercise and boost endorphins, and you’ll have so much fun you may have a hard time busting a move through all the laughs.
If you want to take it to the next level, why not suggest they try to make a modern take on dances from the past. Who knows, it may just be the next viral craze!
Explore Photography
Photography is a fantastic way for your tween to express themselves and fulfill their creativity producing exciting shots of everyday items throughout your home.
Whether they have a disposable camera, polaroid, or a phone camera, challenge them to look at the objects they see every day in a different light and try to create a picture that makes them feel new.
It’s a new skill they will need to learn as they go along, but chances are, once they start capturing unique and artistic images, they won’t want to stop!
Stage A Play
The next idea on the rainy day activities for tweens list, helps kids build confidence and display their creativity.
If your tween loves to act, then having them stage a play is an excellent way to spend a rainy day in your living room. You can allow them to be the director, scriptwriter, set designer, and actor and watch as their creativity shines.
Give them some time to write a short script or choose to make it an improve-based play if they prefer not to write. You can get in on the fun, dressing up as different characters and seeing how the scenes develop.
Not only do they get to use their imagination ( a skill often lost as they enter their teenage years), but they can develop their talents for acting even further.
For a kid not into acting, encourage them to learn a magic trick and show it to friends and family.
Create Wall Art
Older children love decorating their rooms and making them their own. Giving them the freedom to craft their own wall art is a fun and easy way to give their space a personal touch.
They can make paper mache wall hangings or decorate a poster board with pictures of their friends.
Not only will they enjoy using their talents to customize their room, but it will give you insight into their ever-changing interests and style. They will appreciate the decor more knowing they took the time to design and make it on their own.
The important thing is to let them be expressive and create something which they love even if it is not to your tastes or style!
Redecorate Their Room
On the theme of decorating, allowing your tween to move their furniture around and redecorate their room will help encourage their individuality and give them a sense of freedom.
As kids age, they develop an innate sense of independence and want to discover who they are. Giving them the freedom to set their furniture up how they like it or swap out their decor allows them to explore this independence in a safe and semi-controlled manner.
Cabin fever will soon disappear as you reorganize and declutter to create a space they are proud to call their own.
Play Card Games
Card games were once all the rage and are making a comeback among the younger generation. Sit down with your tween and spend some quality time together as you teach them some of your favorite card games, and watch the hours fly by.
Everyone will have a blast, especially if they have a bit of a competitive streak! The classic game of UNO is something tweens can play with younger kids and other family members. Kids of all ages will find the rules easy to learn and the game is enjoyable.
Write A Song
If your tween loves music, why not challenge them to spend the day writing a new song? Songwriting is a great way to engage their mind and promote creativity without costing any money.
If they don’t know where to start, you can give them a few topics to choose from or encourage them to think of areas in their own life they could draw inspiration.
It may take them a little while to get started, but once they get the hang of it, you may find you have the next pop or rock star on your hands.
If they don’t feel inclined to write a song, how about hosting a dance party. Whack up the music and switch on your disco lights and away they go!
Create An Indoor Carnival
Everyone loves going to the carnival, and one of the best parts is all the midway games. Why not create an at-home carnival and set up a bunch of different games for your tween.
You can have them pitch in and use their creativity to craft the games out of items they find lying around the house. You can use large cardboard boxes and cut holes in them to use as a target for bean bags or ping pong balls. Or you can play a round of balloon football or tennis, where you toss a balloon instead of a harder ball.
Whatever games you decide to create will bring a ton of terrific enjoyment to an otherwise gloomy day!
Play A Board Game
Again, like cards, board games may not feel like fun at first. However, once you get started, your tween might discover how exciting they can be.
If you’re up for the challenge, you could take on a game of Monopoly and spend the entire day creating fun backstories and learning the ins and outs of money management.
If you prefer something more lighthearted, Twister is always a favorite. Games like Scrabble and Cluedo encourage your tween to use their critical thinking skills adding some sneaky educational fun into their rainy day activities.
Go Bowling
Bowling was once a common weekly activity for teens and tweens but has fallen out of popularity in the past decade or so. Why not revisit these old favorites and hit the lanes.
Your tween will enjoy discovering how challenging it is to keep the ball in the center of the lane and learn the hard lessons of how a gutterball feels. Once they see how competitive the game is, they’ll want to come back again and again!
There really is nothing quite like the inside of a bowling alley, so ensure your tween can create these fun and unforgettable memories.
Try a new craft idea
Upcycling a trash item into a new creation is a great environmental message to teach to kids. How about recycling a plastic bottle into a cute terrarium? We have full instructions here. This is so cute, it would be perfect as a gift for your Mom on Mother’s Day or as a teacher appreciation gift.
Go To A Museum
Museums are an educational and exciting way to spend a rainy day so they have to be on our list of rainy day activities for tweens.
Depending on the type of museum you choose, you can introduce your tween to incredible artwork or let them learn new facts about history they may not have known before.
Museums allow us to open our minds and see life in a new way; they also help us remember the past, so we can learn from it and appreciate the advancements of the present.
To get the green light for this activity, let your tween guide you into the type of museum that you visit. Arty types might want to look at paintings or sculptures whereas more analytical kids might prefer an aircraft or science museum.
Read A Book
Reading transports us to a new world, allowing our imaginations to run wild. Unfortunately, many tweens don’t spend much time reading anymore, choosing instead to play video games or watch TV.
Challenge them to spend an hour reading a good book they’ve never read before that maybe in a genre they never considered. It may be a challenge to get them on board at first, but they may end up connecting with the book and discover a love for reading they never knew they had.
For reluctant readers, suggest non-fiction books to pique their interest such as the National Geographic series or the Guinness Book of Records. The interesting pictures will get them reading almost without them realizing it!
Mad libs, ‘would you rather’ or riddle books are another great choice and can be enjoyed by the whole family.
Let your tween create a reading nook of their own style to encourage reading. You don’t need much space! There’s a certain cozyness to a large cupboard with cushions, rugs and a light or reading in a blanket fort.
Treasure Hunt
A good treasure hunt with clues aimed at older kids is the perfect way to make the most of the bad weather. Clues might include mazes, ciphers and a map element and should take around an hour to complete.
We have a wide selection of treasure hunts here and there is sure to be one themed to your kid’s interests.
If you have more than one kid, then print the treasure hunt out once for each child then set them going at timed intervals.Make sure they know not to tell each other the answers. Alternatively, get a different theme for each child so each does a different fun game.
Little kids might prefer a scavenger hunt so if you have kids of different ages, get one of each.
Rainy days don’t have to mean a bored tween who spends their day glued to their electronics. We hope this list of rainy day activities for tweens will get them out of their comfort zones and encourage them to use their creativity and thinking skills, you can help them have a good time.
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