Kid-Approved Rainy Day Solutions: Indoor Entertainment Ideas for All Ages
Queensland. Beautiful one day, perfect the next. Unless its school holidays, in which case you can 100% guarantee that for at least one week straight, it will rain. Then, of course, when it is time to send our cherubs back to school - sunny days return!
Each time the weather forecast throws up some showers during school holidays, my brain seems to freeze and I can't think of what we can do to get out of the house for a few hours. So I decided to throw it all down in a list to refer back to when the next wet (or incredibly hot) week of school holidays hits.
And this is that list! Because my family photography studio is located in North Brisbane, these linked activities are all located nearby, but if you are reading this from the south side you are most welcome to come visit us up here! Lots of my friends are from the south side.
Anyways, enough chit chat - lets get to the ways to entertain your kidless when the outside is not ideal!
FREE
AT-HOME ACTIVITIES
Some free and easy ideas to do at home and keep the kids from climbing the walls - and most don't include a screen! I haven't included board games, colouring or baking in this list, but they are certainly good options too!
1 - Super Mario "Game"
If your kids are young enough, they might not notice that this game is not live! They can play along themselves doing the jumps and ducking and walking through the game.
There are lots of other "games" on YouTube like this Just Dance one:
2 - Fancy Restaurant
Choose your dinner (spaghetti and meatballs is a good simple team option)
Make a sign with the name of the resteraunt
Make the menus
Set the table
Cook the dinner
Serve the dinner
Most important - Wash the dishes!
3 - Home Spa Salon
The kids will need to:
Make a sign with the name of the salon
Take the phone booking
Set up your salon for the appointment
(our salon Streaks offers back massages, foot soaks, face masks, manicures and pedicures. Oh and as a VIP client, I also get a complimentary cheese platter and drinks at the end!)
My kids go all in on this with a YouTube channel showing fish with relaxing music behind, candles, towels everywhere and even put on characters - one is really lovely and one is a rude grump to make us all laugh!
4 - Indoor Treasure Hunt
Simply download this PDF, print it off, cut them up and hide the pieces of paper around your home. Hand the first clue to the kids then sit down with a cup of tea for around 10-15 minutes of un-interrupted me-time!
Ideal for ages 6+
Clues are suitable for most homes
5 - Trial a New Streaming Service
If you havent got Disney or Prime or Netflix or Stan or Binge yet, you can do a free 7 day trial! Perfect for some fresh tv and movies to chillax with some popcorn for a few hours a day.
6 - If You Cant Beat Them, Join Them!
Younger kids love to get dressed up in their wet weather gear and go out to play in the rain. From a simple walk around the block to playing Barky Boats in the gutter or driveway, theres lots of ways to enjoy the rain.
make mud pies
build a bridge across a puddle
biggest puddle splash challenge
paint rocks with mud
make leaf boats and float in puddles
catch rain in your mouth
make a muddy footprint trail
7 - Make Your Own Movie
My girls love making stop motion movies like this. You can use lego, toys, food, random objects with stuck on google eyes - whatever their imagination likes!
8 - Make Playdo / Salt dough
For younger kids, a batch of play dough will make for hours of entertainment. If your kids are older, they might like to make it themselves.
The other option for older kids is salt dough, which you can dry out in the oven and paint. From necklaces to Christmas tree ornaments, jewellery bowls to pet paw print memories, salt dough crafts can be lots of fun.
9 - Make Slime (for Fun Mums)
Slime. Gross, messy, stainy bloody slime. If you're one of those fun mums who lets your kids play with slime, my hat goes off to you. I let my kids have it ONE time in the house and my couch is stained for life.
As a result, this cold sludgy stuff is now in the "banned forever" file along with glitter.
If you have not yet been scarred for life by the stuff, here is the recipe that every kid was going crazy for over the past few years:
10 - Make Oobelek (For Fun-Police Mums like me!)
My backup for slime is oobleck. Its literally just a small amount of water mixed into cornflour and it has a cool consitiency that is soft and wet when you handle it gently but goes rock hard when you put sudden pressure into it. Pretty fun, easy to clean up and the kids get almost as excited about it as they do about slime.
11 - Rock Painting
There was a big craze for this a few years ago and my girls went NUTS for it! You collect up rocks from home, or for perfect rocks do a Bunnings trip (bonus - free indoor playground!) and paint cute designs on them. Then when you head to a park, you can leave the painted rocks as a surprise for other kids to find!
If you find a rock when out and about, you can choose to keep it or re-hide it for another child to enjoy.
For more info, ideas and inspiration, join the QLD Rocks Facebook page here:
12 - Library Visit
On top of the obvious - borrowing library books - there are also DVDs and toys you can borrow. But even more so, a library visit during the school holidays usually also includes a fun activity! From treasure hunts to craft or technology activities, the local library always has something awesome to entertain for a good hour or so.
Here is what's on at your local library:
PAID ACTIVITIES
LEAVE-THE-HOUSE
Most of these activities come with a OSHC Excursion warning. You may get stuck behind an OSHC group at check in so arrive early for your time slots.
1 - Ice Skating
We had the most epic Mum Fail on our first trip ice skating - it was January and my kids went in t-shirt and shorts. Turns out... its really cold in the rink! Of course, ever the problem solver, I raided the lost-and-found to borrow some warm jackets for our visit. Kids were not impressed but a core memory was made!
2 - Roller Skating
Lots of fun for the kids, just turn up at the session times. I take my laptop and do a bit of work while the kids do laps of the rink. The music is great and the DJ will play games and give out prizes too. If your kids are still learning you can hire a balance frame. The kids always want a slushy as skating is quite hot work. They will also want to take breaks from skating for the same reason so dont expect them to skate the full 2 hours.
3 - Flip-out / Urban Extreme / LaserZone
https://flipout.com.au (trampolines only)
https://www.urban-xtreme.com.au (tramps, climbing frames, ninja courses and laser tag all in one)
https://brisbane.laserzone.com.au (laser tag and indoor play area)
Kinda bunched these three together as they're same/same-ish. Great to get the kids moving if they've spent a lot of time on the old Xbox!
4 - Indoor Mini Golf
https://www.holeymoley.com.au Chermside
Recommend booking this activity in advance! These are also handy for hot summer days as the course is air conditioned
5 - Brookside Day
This could be any of the shopping centres but we always do it at Brookside as it is our small local centre. We usually tie it in with the school holiday
haircut
a "kids manicure" for around $5 at a nail salon
a kids High Tea at Shingle Inn for lunch
a $5 "shopping spree" at a cheapie store
enjoy whatever the free holiday entertainment is
6 - Queensland Museum
Alongside the Dino exhibits, there is also a fully-interactive science exhibit at the Queensland Museum and its a lot of fun! We always find there are other interesting exhibits on different floors too, like bugs or ocean life.
7 - Chermside Day: Time Out / Laser Tag / Movies
You cant go pas a classic old "walk around the shops" or movie day when its raining, and of course Chermside has it all covered.
If you havent done a 4DX movie yet - definitely do it! The whole movie seat moves with the action, there are little air jets near your head and around your ankles that are timed with on-screen action, when it rains, water will mist out of the roof, there are extra lights and smoke machines and even scents released like coffee in coffee shop scenes or burning rubber in car chases!
8 - Tenpin Bowling
Depending on how competitive your kids are, there are the options of gutter guards and ramps to help them out! There are a few time-zone style games here as well which my kids always want to have a go at while we are here.
9 - Escape Room
https://www.cubeescaperooms.com.au Everton Park
https://www.redlockescaperooms.com.au Northlakes
http://www.strathpineescape.com.au Strathpine
It might sound a bit crazy to get out of your whole house only to lock yourselves into a small room and try to escape, but it really is a pretty fun experience! We have done one of the rooms at Cube in Everton Park and it was more challenging than we expected so definitely best to keep an adult in for some help on this activity! Strathpine have rooms specifically for kids.
10 - Mt Coot-tha Planetarium
This is actually a really cool trip out! The planetarium located at the Mount Coot-tha Botanic gardens has this large dome movie theatre. You sit backwards and look up into the dome roof which turns into a massive movie screen that almost feels 3D. From a tour of the solar system to alien-based cartoon stories, theres 5 screenings a day - one for each different movie and they last around an hour each.
11 - Brisbane Arts Theatre Show
Located in Petrie Terrace in the city, this small theatre company put on children's story shows with amateur performers every school holidays. We have seen lots of plays here, from Robin Hood, The Little Mermaid, Alice in Wonderland, Shrek and more. My kids LOVE it!
Tickets are well priced and do sell out!
And thats the list!
We wont be doing every one of these of course, but it's handy to have as a reference to pick an idea of two from next time the weather puts a shower in our plans.
If you have any great activities that I have missed - please let me know! My own kids always love to have new experiences themselves.
Thankfully, our wet days are usually short and sweet here in Brissy, so enjoy the cool wet days and make the most of the sleep-ins, no lunchboxes to wash or school uniforms to iron!
PS. While I love writing and sharing blogs about family stuff like this, my real job is a full-time family photographer. So next time you are looking to update your family photos - give me a call!
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