Most rainy day activity lists are all about staying indoors – but not this one! These 14 outdoor rainy day activities for kids are all about getting outside, getting muddy, and actually having a blast in the rain.
I’ll be honest – I’m a self-proclaimed fair weather camper. But there’s something magical about watching kids discover how fun the rain can be when you just lean into it. Grab a raincoat (or in a pinch, a poncho – or even a bag with a hole cut in it!), head outside, and try some of these ideas.
P.S. There’s a free printable rainy day scavenger hunt waiting for you at the bottom of this post!
FYI – Check out all 50 of my spring outdoor activity ideas for kids here!
Already got a rainy day camping trip? Check out: 16 Rainy Day Camping Ideas for Kids (with PDF Printables!)
Table of Contents
1. Paint with Mud
Mix up a bowl of mud – aka nature’s paint – and let kids go wild! They can use a paintbrush, a stick, their hands, or literally anything else they find. Give them paper, or just let them paint trees, rocks, the porch, whatever they can reach. There are no rules with mud painting and that’s exactly why kids love it.
2. Give Plastic Animals a Mud Bath (Then Clean Them Off!)
This one is genius in its simplicity. Set up a mudpit or bowl of mud and let kids give their plastic animals a proper spa day. My son preferred to use a paintbrush to get them thoroughly muddy – and then of course used the rain to rinse them off. Find toys with lots of nooks and crannies so it takes longer to get them clean!
3. Make a Puddle Boat and Race It
Cut a small section off a pool noodle, stick some twigs in the foam, and attach leaves or flowers as sails. Then see whose boat can make it across the puddle the fastest! This is a great STEM activity sneaked right into rainy day fun – you can talk about what floats, what sinks, and what makes a good sail.
4. Leapfrog Puddle to Puddle
Pretend the ground is lava and the puddles are the safe spots – then leap from puddle to puddle! This works best on a really rainy day when you have plenty of puddles to work with. On a lighter rain day, one big puddle works just as well for repeat jumping.
5. Transfer Puddle Water with a Syringe or Turkey Baster
This sounds random but kids are obsessed with it! Syringes (the kind from kids’ Tylenol bottles – not the pokey kind!) and turkey basters are perfect for transferring water from shallow puddles that a cup can’t reach. It’s also sneaky fine motor skills practice. Give them two containers and a “mission” to transfer as much water as possible.
6. Make Rain Art
Decorate a paper towel with washable markers, then set it out in the rain and watch what happens. The rain spreads and blurs the colors into something totally unexpected. My son wanted to do this one over and over – he eventually just put out a plain paper towel to watch the raindrops hit it in real time. Simple and mesmerizing!
7. Save the Worms (and Other Stranded Bugs!)
Rain pushes worms out of the ground and onto roads and sidewalks where they’re in danger. This is a surprisingly engaging outdoor rainy day activity — kids love having a “rescue mission.” Show them how to gently move worms and displaced bugs to safe spots in the grass or garden. It’s also a wonderful way to build empathy and compassion for every living thing, no matter how small.
Related: Worm Hunt Sensory + Counting Practice Game — a perfect follow-up activity!
8. Make Rain Soup
Rain soup is a nature sensory staple in our house! Grab a bucket, collect “fresh water” (as my son calls it), and add whatever nature goodies you can find – sticks, leaves, flowers, rocks, mud. Stir it all together and you’ve got soup! You can also try sink or float experiments: collect items and test which ones float in your soup and which ones sink.
Related: Sensory Soup — A Fun Kid’s Nature Activity | Rock Rescue Nature Sensory Bin
9. Build a Bridge Across a Deep Puddle
Gather rocks and sticks nearby and engineer a bridge across the puddle so their toys can walk over it. Younger kids will need help, but even the building process is engaging! It’s a great time to talk about what makes a strong bridge, which materials work better, and what happens when it collapses (it will collapse, and that’s half the fun).
10. Make a Mud Pie
Honestly? You could skip all the other activities and just hand your kid some bowls, spoons, and access to mud and they’d be busy for the entire storm. Mud pies are an absolute classic outdoor rainy day activity. Set out a “kitchen” with different containers and let them create their masterpiece. Garnishes encouraged.
11. Observe Which Leaves Collect Raindrops (and Why!)
This one is more of a slow, curious activity – perfect for kids who love to observe and ask questions. Walk around and look at different plants: which leaves funnel the raindrops toward the stem? Which ones let water run right off? Comparing a lupine leaf to a sunflower leaf, for example, is surprisingly fascinating. Even toddlers love spotting the big water droplets!
Related: Nature Frame Impressions Craft — a fun follow-up craft using leaves and nature finds
12. Who Can Make the Best Muddy Footprint?
Find the best texture of mud – not too runny, just right – and see who can make the darkest, most detailed footprint on paper. It’s surprisingly interesting to experiment with different types of mud from different spots in the yard. Shoes on works fine too!
13. Collect Rainwater in Different Containers
Set out a collection of different containers – big, small, wide, narrow – and challenge kids to fill them up using only rainwater. Look around for where the water is naturally funneling: gutters, downspouts, slanted surfaces. My son was completely fixated on our gutter drain because the water came so fast. Pro tip: make the goal container a big one so it takes a loooong time!
14. Catch Rain in Your Mouth
I still do this at 29 years old and I’m not ashamed. Tip your head back, open wide, and catch raindrops on your tongue – pure joy, zero supplies required. Do it together and watch your kid light up. Sometimes the simplest outdoor rainy day activities are the best ones.
15. Make a Mud Kitchen
Even if you have no wood or knowledge of how to build one, you can still make a *really* awesome DIY Mud Kitchen… just use wire cubes! The mud is plentiful when it’s raining, so why not make some mud pie? =D
Free Printable Rainy Day Outdoor Scavenger Hunt!
Not going to lie — I was skeptical about how much fun you could really have in the rain before we tried all of these. But it turns out it’s actually sort of magical! And even if I had hated every second of it, the joy on my son’s face when I said I’d come out and play in the rain with him made it completely worth it.
To make it even more of an adventure, grab this free printable rainy day scavenger hunt and give the kids a mission before you head out!
👉 Click here to download the FREE Rainy Day Scavenger Hunt PDF!
Want even more? This Rainy Day See and Do Scavenger Hunt includes both activities and finding challenges in one!
More Outdoor Activities for Kids You’ll Love!
- 10 Easy Outdoor Crafts to Keep Your Toddler Busy
- 4 Free Nature Scavenger Hunts for Kids
- Neighborhood Walk Scavenger Hunts for Kids (Free PDF!)
- Nature Scavenger Hunt for Kids and Little Explorers
- Sensory Soup — A Fun Kid’s Nature Activity
- Rock Rescue Nature Sensory Bin
- The Ultimate Guide to Camping with Toddlers
- 51 Camping Crafts for Kids
Thanks for sharing- love your rainy day ideas for little ones. Under our current Lockdown in New Zealand, I will be using your Rainy Day Scavenger Hunt for my 5 year old students Home Learning programme.
Thank-you Stacy and God bless you and yours.
Hi Maria,
Thank you! Yes we’ve been using it quite often too with the lockdown here in the US. I hope your 5 year old enjoys their rainy day even more with the scavenger hunt!!! God bless you too =) – Stacy
I want to send these 14 Fun Outdoor Activities to my families from my Infant Classroom. But don’t know how? I tried to just send your site to myself to copy and paste the link. But when I click on it, it says it’s pass protected.
Hi Jody!
That’s strange, was it just the url you were sending or the image? Regardless, I’ll email it over to ya. Hope your families are able to enjoy the rainy days (we have 5 days straight of rainy days here in Wyoming this week, I’ll be using it too!) <3
All the best,
Stacy
These are such creative and amazing ideas! Thank you!
I’m happy you like them Carrie! You’re welcome!