Four Fun Rainy Day Craft Ideas for Toddlers

The rain has finally found its way back to Kentucky soil and though it’s a blessing, it can also be a challenge for moms to find rainy day activities, especially for toddlers.  There’s no doubt about it – toddlers can be a bundle of energy and if you add rain to the mix, things can get a little rambunctious. Next time you find yourself couped up due to the rainy day outside, try out some of these fun rainy day craft ideas to keep your toddler occupied.

Start an Alphabet Collage with your toddler. Go through old magazines and have them cut out letters from the titles of articles. These will generally be much larger and will be easier for your toddler to cut out. Glue the same letter on a sheet of paper, and then go back through the magazine looking for pictures of items starting with that letter. For instance, A – apple, alligator, adding machine, etc. You’ll end up with 26 pages, one for each letter, as well as a front cover and back cover. Your toddler will begin to learn their letters and the sounds the letters make.

Another way to teach them while they have fun is to let them use finger paint. Give them several sheets of paper and finger paint, and let them loose. However, you may want to teach them to “write” their name with finger paint or show them different shapes. Of course, they may have so much fun feeling the squishy paint between their fingers they may not want to stop once the sun comes back out.

Make a sock puppet with a couple of the unmatched socks you have lying around. Your toddler can glue pieces of yarn on top for hair, glue google eyes on if you have them, and cut out shapes for the mouth. Be sure to let the puppet dry completely before your toddler begins playing with it or the pieces may come apart and end up where they don’t belong. You can do a similar craft using paper bags.

It’s quite possible your toddler has started a collection of rocks; many toddlers do. If they have some larger smooth rocks, they could make paperweights out of them. Let them paint and decorate rocks however they’d like. When it’s dry, they can give it as a gift or keep it for themselves.

These are just a few fun rainy day craft ideas for toddlers you may want to try. The internet is also a great resource for more fun ideas you can use on rainy days, as well as your local public library. Your greatest resource, however, is your toddler’s own creativity and having someone to share that creativity with.

Extra Tip: Before the next rainy day, set up a box of craft items you can use with your toddler. Glue, glitter, feathers, construction paper, yarn, pony beads, finger paints, google eyes, pieces of felt, unmatched socks, old magazines and safety scissors are a few of the items you may want to have on hand. If you have things available, a rainy day won’t catch you by surprise.