7 Fun Indoor Sensory Activities!

Rainy Day Fun: Indoor Sensory Activities for Kids

Pre-kids I would be so happy to chill at home on a rainy day, but my eldest really struggles to be indoors, he is very physical and needs exercising, whilst simultaneously being unwilling to leave the house…
I dread rainy days and the holidays can be really tough for us as behaviour escalates without enough physical activity. For us, indoor sensory activities are a must.

This half-term I am putting together a list of indoor sensory activities we can do in the house on rainy days and also gathering some craft activities to have at the ready. Take a look at our list below!

1. Sensory Bins:
Create a sensory bin using materials you have at home, such as rice, beans, or even dried pasta in a deep tray or plastic tub. Add small toys, scoops, and containers, we like to use little diggers and dumper trucks! Let your child dig, pour, and explore the textures while engaging their sense of touch and sight.

You can theme the bin based on your child’s interests, whether it’s dinosaurs, farm animals, or vehicles. My eldest liked to bury toys in lentils and use a digger to dig them up. This is one of the indoor sensory activities we did a LOT in lockdown.

2. DIY Playdough:

Making homemade playdough! Of course I couldn’t write a blog post about indoor sensory activities without including this staple 😁

The great thing about play doh is it’s great fun to both make it AND play with it! Get your kids involved in the process of measuring, weighing and mixing flour, salt and water. Choose and mix food colouring to create vibrant dough and explore the various colours you can create. You could even split the dough and add different primary colours to each piece. Kids love to add two different dough colours together and see what new colour they create! You can even add scents like vanilla or lavender for an extra sensory dimension.

Encourage your kids to knead, stretch, roll and squeeze the dough, this is a great activity for strengthening hands and practising fine motor skills. This is one of the ideal indoor sensory activities to do if you have a real sensory seeker as it ticks so many boxes!

3. Painting:

Rainy days are perfect for unleashing creativity with mess-free painting activities. Set up a painting station with materials like washable paint, brushes, and paper. For a twist, try painting with unconventional tools such as cotton swabs, sponges, or even toy cars. You can also explore painting on different surfaces like foil or cardboard to introduce new textures and sensations.

We have fabulous Crayola window paint pens, my two love having the giant canvas of our windows to decorate and there’s something about being able to paint on the windows, like they’re being allowed to do something naughty 🤭

4. Sensory Storytime:
Transform storytime into a multi-sensory experience by incorporating props, sounds, and tactile elements. Choose books with interactive features like textured pages, flaps to lift, or scratch-and-sniff panels. If your kids like to perform, encourage your kids to act out the story using props or dress-up costumes, you can even add in food to stories like the Very Hungry Caterpillar and have your child play the caterpillar!

We sometimes create a reading den/tent and read books by torch light, while all snuggled up in blankets.

We also like to set up cuddly toys as an audience to read to, my eldest especially likes to play schools and has us all sit on the floor while he reads us a story.

5. Indoor Obstacle Course:

Set up an indoor obstacle course using pillows, cushions, chairs, and blankets. This is a great one if you have a child that really NEEDS to move their body and is bouncing off the walls if you spend too much time indoors (I have one of these!) and this is one of my eldest’s favourite indoor sensory activities.

We set up a line of cushions to jump on, things like throw the ball in the box, crawl under the chair, spin around on the office chair, climb up the side of the bed, leap off onto a cushioned surface, hop to the next obstacle, 5 jumping jacks, 2 forward rolls etc etc, see how creative you can get and how long you can make the obstacle course. My son enjoys creating the course almost as much as he enjoys actually doing it!

6. Music and Movement:
Turn up the music and encourage your child to dance, jump, and move their body freely. This is one of the easiest indoor sensory activities! My kids love a dance party (as long as no one outside of the family is watching). Experiment with different genres of music to explore varied rhythms and tempos, we have an Echo dot device and the kids have found all kinds of crazy songs by just saying ‘Alexa play lions’ or ‘Alexa play hot dogs’.

If you’re not too sensory sensitive, you can also introduce musical instruments or household items like pots and pans for your child to create their own sounds. Or this might be a good time to dig out the ear plugs…

Turn off the main lights and add torches or coloured flashing lights and have a rave, I know many parents have bought those flashing swords or balls at events, these are perfect for creating your own disco at home.

7. Sensory Scavenger Hunt:
Create an indoor sensory activity scavenger hunt by hiding items around the house for your child to find using their senses. Include items with different textures, scents, colors, and sounds. Encourage your child to describe each item as they find it, engaging their observational skills and vocabulary while having fun.

We play a scavenger hunt game where we make it a race to find ‘2 red things’, ‘3 super soft items’ or ‘4 tiny things’ for example. This is a great game for when you’re really tired and need to just lie on the sofa but the kids need occupying! This is probably one of my favourite indoor sensory activities for this reason…

Here are some ideas for things to search for:

• Sizes: Big, tiny, giant
• Different smells: sweet, salty
• Feels: furry, smooth, rough, cold, bendy, stretchy, rigid
• Weight: heavy, light
• Bouncy

Rainy days may limit our outdoor adventures, but they are a good opportunity to indulge in some brilliant indoor sensory activities indoors as a family. So, the next time the raindrops start falling, embrace the opportunity for indoor sensory exploration, I’m going to try hard to keep things positive and active this half-term and keep us all busy, even when it’s miserable out!
I hope this list helps you, please do let us know what you got up to, I’ll try to remember to share some photos too.

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