My son was given an awesome saucer sled as a hand-me-down the other day, and he was so excited! The problem? We live in North Carolina where it rains but hardly ever snows (not to mention that it is April now).
Together, we came up with what has been the most fun indoor rainy day activity in our home to date just so that he would get to use that sled.
We simply used stuff that we already had around the house to create a “snow hill” for the sled to race down. The result? Hours of laughter and energy-burning fun despite the pouring rain outside!
Indoor Rainy Day Activity for Kids
For our snow hill, we placed two twin mattresses on the stairs and then placed dufflebags full of clothes (my husband had just gotten home from a trip) at the bottom to keep the mattresses from sliding down and to keep the kids from smashing into the wall opposite the stairs. The kids then slid down with and without the sled!
If you don’t have mattresses to put on the stairs, you can always substitute them with something else somewhat sturdy and smooth, such as gym mats or large pieces of cardboard.
People are always giving away free mattresses on Craigslist! Then you can always pass them on to someone else if you don’t have the space to keep them. That may seem like a lot of work just for this activity, but it will be worth it. SO fun!
The kids eventually got so comfortable flying down the mattresses, that they came up with “trick moves” and didn’t even stop for water breaks…
Climbing back up the mattresses every time burns so much energy, and this activity helps develop gross motor skills as well. The kids loved racing each other to see who could get back up to the top first.
Happy, active kids make for a happy momma. I originally thought that I was going to get a ton done around the house while these shenanigans were going on, but I ended up joining in on the fun and had such a good time giggling with them.
Thus, the photo above has a couch full of clean, unfolded laundry in the background… but my kids will remember the fun they had with mom that day rather than the slightly wrinkled clothes now hanging in their closets.
Have you done anything like this with your kids before? Leave a comment below with more rainy day activity ideas, or let us know how things went when you tried ours!
This is so fun, especially because I used to do this as a kid! Actually, we used a sled on the stairs without mattresses first until someone got hurt. Then we decided mattresses would be a good alternative! I love these ways to have play time inside the home! Thanks for sharing!