11 Indoor Activities for Families (Rainy Day + Screen-Free)

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Are you in desperate need for indoor activities for families? We’ve all had one of those days where the kids are home during break, a wonderful outdoor activity is planned, and suddenly…it’s pouring rain, there’s a heat wave, or [insert extreme weather event of your choice]. And you’re stuck inside the house with energetic kids and no idea what indoor activity will work for your family. 

We've been there, so we created a list of our favorite indoor activities for families that we know our kids like and can be set up by either our nanny or us. Our list has a range of activities — some for burning off energy and some for calming down before bedtime. 

Below are our 11 favorite indoor activities for families. A lot of these we do regularly after school or on the weekends. Our kids are currently 3 and 5 years old, but many of these indoor activities will work for kids of all ages. We chose these 11 indoor activities for families for two reasons: they teach your kids skills, and they are fun for the kids as well as us, the adults.

Best Indoor Activities For Families: Puzzles

Puzzling is a classic indoor activity for families and one of our family’s favorites. It’s meditative and can help teach your kids to slow down, breathe, and feel productive without a screen. It also helps them develop cognitive and fine motor skills. Plus, it’s fun! Once our kids turned two and we didn’t need as much crawling space on our living room rug, we bought a table specifically for doing puzzles as a family. We also selected a cabinet nearby to keep all the puzzles in, so the kids can easily access it on their own. We want them to be able to choose which puzzle we put together so that they feel more excited and involved. Even when we don’t have a kid-friendly puzzle out, they still enjoy watching dad work on one of his puzzles and helping him sort the pieces by color. 

The best advice I have for any parent wanting to introduce their kids to puzzles is to start with an age-appropriate one. And be prepared for it to take triple as long as you think it should because they will need to rotate every piece 90 degrees to finally get it to fit, and even then, they might struggle at first, get upset, or ask for your help. Remain patient and be willing to guide them. But try not to actually do it all for them because then they won’t experience the magic of a puzzle piece fitting juuust right and that’s what will keep them coming back for more. 

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Best Indoor Activities For Families: Playing "Uppy" With The Balloon

We were playing “uppy” with a balloon before it was made cool by Bluey — just sayin. It is by far my favorite indoor activity for families because I get REAL joy from keeping that damn balloon off the ground. I have dived over ottomans to make sure it stays off the ground, only to watch my kids fall over in laughter at their mom being so silly, and then inadvertently let the balloon touch the floor. *sigh* 

But really, it’s the best game ever because of how cost-effective and efficient it is! It takes one measly balloon that you blow up with your mouth and you are guaranteed many belly laughs from both the kiddos and parents. 

We try not to play this before bed, because it gets our kids all riled up, but it’s such a fun thing to do at home with your family when you’re stuck inside on a rainy day and your kids need to burn off some energy. Plus, it gets you moving and energized to spend more time as a family.

For a tabletop version of Keepy Uppy from Bluey, check out this game. It feels a little like the Hungry Hippo game from when I was a kid, but lasts longer. Even as an adult, I get competitive about not wanting that ball to knock over one of my hedges — it's legit really fun!

Best Indoor Activities For Families: Melt Beads

Some of the best indoor activities for families are nostalgic ones. I remember making melt beads — or you may know them as Perler beads — as a kid and I LOVED it. For those of you unfamiliar, it consists of putting colorful plastic beads on top of little peg boards that come in different patterns and shapes (think butterflies, hearts, circles, squares). Then, you apply heat using an iron to fuse the beads together. And, voila! You have created a colorful design. (You can watch a full step-by-step breakdown, here. Obviously, the ironing portion needs to be done by an adult.) 

It’s another great indoor activity for families that requires focus, patience, creativity, and calm energy, which are all great things to be teaching our kids. My daughter loves to keep all of her creations in a special drawer in her room and we’ve even given a few as presents to teachers and grandparents. I would never have thought of bringing this back into our lives as a fun craft for the kids if my nanny (who was a former preschool teacher) hadn’t suggested it. Funny enough, I think she has made more melt beads than my kids because she loves the calm and quiet focus it takes, and truly gets lost in a trance picking out all of the best colors. Like I said before, the best indoor activities for families are whichever ones you enjoy just as much as your kids do! 

We keep a clear container full of mixed colors in the playroom at all times and bought a few different patterns that both sexes would enjoy making. The pegboard patterns also come with the ironing paper that you need.

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Best Indoor Activities For Families: Yoga Pose Memory Game

Let's get into some off the beaten path indoor activities for families. There is this adorable children’s boutique called Moon and Sun near the nail salon I go to with my daughter every 3 weeks, and I can’t NOT go in there and buy something. It’s wild because I have pretty decent self-control, but this boutique has loads of new unique stuff every time I go and there’s always something that I want to try with the kids. They are known for their clothes, but it’s the toys and books that I’m most drawn to.

I picked up my favorite children’s book of all time What Do You Do With An Idea and this memory game that involves yoga poses (also available on Amazon). The memory game works like any other you would play, but you’re matching yoga poses. Once we match a pose, we all stand up and do the pose together. I can’t tell you how happy I am when we get to do ragdoll or butterfly! This is one of my favorite weekend morning activities to do in pjs.

It’s also fun to see the kids get excited by yoga. As you may know, I invest in private in-home yoga sessions two days a week. On these days, my kids come downstairs to find me halfway through the class in the early morning. They always “teach me” a new pose that they’ve learned from the memory game. I love that we can connect over yoga and it makes me feel like I am teaching them a valuable skill when it comes to slowing down, taking care of your body, breathing, and just keep swimming (as Dory would say).

Best Indoor Activities For Families: Playing Cards

Back to the classics! No list of indoor activities for families would be complete without card games. That round marble table I mentioned for puzzles is also clutch for all the card games we love. UNO is an all-time favorite, in part because my partner and I both played it A LOT growing up so it brings back memories. And playing UNO really does help with number recognition (those damn 6s and 9s will always get you!). Games are also great for teaching kids about following rules even if they reeeallllly don’t want to (I’m looking at you Skip or Draw 4).

Any card game that gets their minds thinking strategically is a win in my parenting book. Some of our other favorites include War, Go Fish, SkipJack, and Spot it. We usually play these games after school and before dinner, since they are played in 15-20 minute intervals, which is easy to fit in. Guess in 10 is another favorite indoor activity for families that’s great for young kids since it provides visual clues, instead of relying on reading skills for numbers like some of the card games.

Best Indoor Activities For Families: Dance Party

One Christmas, my mother-in-law gifted my husband a 30-second dance party button that was meant to be funny and get him out of his seat at the office to take breaks. Who knew it would become one of our favorite indoor activities for our family?! The kids LOVE this thing because it’s the best hyped-up techno music that you can sustain for only 30 seconds. There has yet to be a person who has pushed the button and not given in to moving their body to the ridiculous beats. 

This is by no means a long indoor activity for families since there is only a rotation of 5 songs or so, but the kids love being in charge of pressing the button and it gives us all a lot of joy to bounce and move and not have a care in the world — at least for 30 seconds at a time. We love using the button for the ease, but you could also play the classic “freeze dance” game where one person plays a song, and when they pause it everyone has to freeze in whatever position they are in until the music starts again. Or, play one of these YouTube videos that includes the freeze pauses for you. 

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Best Indoor Activities For Families: Sand Sculptures

As you can probably tell, craft projects are one of our favorite indoor activities for families. Creating sand sculptures is another craft that our kids love doing. It entails layering different colors of sand on top of each other in uniquely shaped bottles to create a work of art. Amazon sells these sand sculpture boxes that are super easy to use. They come with all the colors of sand pre-packaged, a funnel, and 10 bottles in different shapes from a dolphin to funky-shaped bottles. The kids get into layering the colors, and no matter what they do it ends up looking really cool and like a true work of art. They always feel proud of their end result.

It’s a great morning indoor activity to have the kids do with the nanny or babysitter while the parents sleep in. It’s also a good indoor activity to bring to Grandma and Grandpa’s house since it doesn’t require too much work from them, and they enjoy seeing the kids create their masterpieces. 

Pro Tip: Have each kid assemble their sand sculpture over a baking sheet to help contain the mess.

Best Indoor Activities For Families: Indoor Basketball 

We got our 5-year-old an indoor basketball hoop that also glows in the dark (because why not?). It hangs over the door of our playroom and we have the best time shooting hoops. But dang, it is hard! You’d think the small balls and kid-friendly hoop would be a piece of cake, but I struggle more than I’d like to admit. It’s all part of the indoor fun though. Our 3-year-old still shoots underhand, or likes to be picked up to place the ball in the hoop (which requires a lot of work on our part). 

Like “uppy,” shooting indoor hoops keeps us all together and focused on something that makes us laugh. It’s another fabulous weekend morning indoor activity to help boost your energy and get you started for the day, or keep you busy when you are stuck indoors. 

Pro Tip: Make sure to set this up in a room where you’re not worried about anything getting broken. 

Best Indoor Activities For Families: Coloring

Coloring sounds like such an obvious indoor activity for families, but it’s one we typically only think to offer to a bored kid at a restaurant (partially because they provide the free crayons). But give a kid some special pens, stickers, and their very own themed coloring book and you’ve got a happy kiddo. 

As you may know by now, adult coloring is one of my favorite types of self-care. It is truly a joy for me to color with my kids, side-by-side, enjoying the space together. I’ve even bought my kids their own junior mandala book to match mine, but most of the time they prefer to sit on my lap, use my glittery pens, and color one of my mandalas with me. It’s my absolute favorite thing to do during our special time before bed because it’s a quiet activity, but also one that keeps us connected.

Besides being fun, coloring has a bunch of benefits for kids, like helping to teach them self-expression, color awareness, and hand-eye coordination. It’s another meditative activity that they continue to practice as adults too (just focusing on the design while breathing in and out is seriously relaxing!).

Best Indoor Activities For Families: Board Games

My partner and I love board games mostly because they hold our attention too! Candyland was our first board game, but the kids got very excited when we moved on to playing Sorry since they got to start using dice, which is just plain fun for a kid! It gets them thinking about the chance of it all, and wondering what may happen that isn’t in their control. Will they roll a 2, 1, or a 12? We’ve also had to learn about getting bumped when you draw a Sorry card, and even though that was a hard lesson to learn with lots of tears, it’s definitely a lesson worth teaching. 

Yahtzee has been a new favorite indoor activity for our family. We skipped straight to the adult version, but made all the suggestions for what kind of straight, flush, or run our kids should go for. It's been fine, but I recommend Junior Yahtzee because it probably would have helped them learn the logic and strategy a bit better. This is another indoor activity for families I played with my own parents when we were at dinners growing up. We’d bring the travel version along with us to restaurants so that we could be contained. 

Best Indoor Activities For Families: Indoor Scavenger Hunt

This is one of the cooler indoor activities for families: Found It, an indoor scavenger hunt. The cards will give you prompts like “find something that’s the same color as a flamingo,” or “find two things that start with the letter P.” The prompts make it feel slightly educational even though you are just finding something that ticks the box. This is another indoor activity we like to do in the mornings because it gets us all moving around the house and talking through where things are and what they do. The Found It cards make it super easy to play, but you could also come up with your own prompts or find a sample list on the internet. This is such a fun indoor activity for families! It gets you exploring the house, but requires very little setup and investment.  

Making Time For Indoor Activities With Your Family

One reason I delegate household chores is to ensure I’m able to spend quality time with my family and actually enjoy parenthood. While our housekeeper takes care of the laundry or our nanny tidies up the kitchen and unloads the dishwasher, I can spend my indoor time with my family playing uppy, coloring mandalas, or doing the yoga memory game with my kids. On the flip side, sometimes our nanny sets up sand sculptures with the kids, while my partner and I sleep in on a Saturday morning. Having a solid, trustworthy support team enables us to achieve that elusive work-life balance and focus on quality time, our relationships, and activities that bring us joy. 

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