Do you sometimes struggle to come up with creative activities for the kiddos? My kids often have extra energy on days they can’t go outside. This means we get to do creative projects, make a DIY sensory bin, or practice learning new skills through play. Did you know kids learn something new from practically everything they do? Think about it. When kids ride a bike they practice balancing. When kids color they are practicing motor skills. When kids eat lunch they are discovering favorite foods or possibly trying new foods. Every day is like a maze of exploration for kids, which I think is fun! Here are some imagination-inspiring activities for kids to do on a rainy day.
Sculpt Unique Creations with Morph
When my kids are getting stir-crazy I get out our Morph. Morph shape shifting fluff is a pretty fun kids activity. It’s made from tons of tiny specks of foam-like material, so it “flows” apart, sticks together, breaks in half, and crumbles. You can make all kinds of sculptures and molded creations using Morph by Orb Toys. It also comes in a variety of colors and it doesn’t dry out!
Morph comes in a packet all crumbly and dry looking. Before you open the package you’re supposed to squish it together to form a dough-like substance. This allows you to use Morph for sculpting, and compacting the compound in the bag helps prevent a mess while you are squishing it together.
Once you have Morph in a decent sized ball, it takes on an entirely new form. Morph is hard upon contact and soft if you gently pull it apart. It has a taffy-like consistency when you pull slowly and breaks in half if you pull hard. It’s a unique compound that “flows” even though it’s not wet.
Since Morph is dry already it doesn’t dry out. I tried to encourage my kids to keep the colors separate so they will enjoy playing with it for longer. Once they start mixing colors it could quickly get muddled, and we all know that all the colors together create brown. Since Morph is made with millions of mini-spheres that are filled with air and magically stick together, it would be interesting to see what color mixing looks like, but we haven’t tried that yet. The more you Morph it the fluffier it gets!
The only thing I didn’t prefer about Morph is that it felt somewhat irritating on my hand’s dry skin. Also the packaging has cool example creations on the boxes which my daughters wanted me to replicate, with no success! I’d say as long as you moisturize your hands after playing with Morph and you don’t feel compelled to create the designs on the box, then Morph is a super fun kids activity that inspires creative design and interactive play.
Burn off Energy with an Indoor / Outdoor Play Set
On colder days my kids also like to play on our indoor/outdoor jungle gym from Lil’ Monkey. This play set is easy to fold up and take out in the yard, or enjoy in the basement or play room. My kids love climbing and going down the slide, and I like that this design is enjoyable by my 18-month-old and my 5-year-old. See our full Lil’ Monkey play set review here.
Create a DIY Sensory Bin
Kids and preschoolers also like to find treasures and explore textures in a DIY sensory bin. You can make a sensory box age appropriate too; with larger items for babies, and gems and water beads for older kids. Just collect an assortment of “themed” items and small toys from around your house, add a sensory medium such as sand, beans, or even Morph by Orb Toys, and let your kids scoop and explore away!
Easily make a DIY sensory bin for a baby using chunky toys and interesting textures.
A kids sensory bin requires 4 elements
Play Space + Sensory Medium + Tiny Toys + Scooping Tools
Play Space: Find a shallow box or bin with a lid if you want to save your DIY sensory bin for later. Use a tray for a one-time sensory play space that you plan to clean up afterwards.
Sensory Medium: Use dry beans, lentils, play sand, moldable sand, Morph shape shifting fluff, water beads, or even dirt as the sensory medium for your kids to play with in their DIY sensory bin. Any kind of moldable compound is fun to hide and bury treasures in a DIY sensory box for kids. Water beads provide a unique texture and sensory medium for preschoolers and kids.
Tiny Toys: Collect an assortment of dinosaurs, small cars, princess figurines, pet shop characters, or anything else that is small and can be gathered into a “set” for your themed sensory bin. You can also include optional decorative accents such as small beads, rhinestones, silk flowers, rocks, pebbles, marbles, or twigs.
Scooping Tools: Every sensory bin needs tools for scooping and digging! Borrow some toys from your child’s sandbox or play kitchen or use spoons and measuring cups so your kids can explore their sensory box. My kids have lots of fun burying and excavating treasures in their DIY sensory bin.
Staying indoors creates lots of opportunities for creative activities and imaginative play. Kids can come up with some pretty creative activities on their own too!
What does your family enjoy doing during cozy days at home?
Hi, I’m Katie! I live with my husband and 3 kids in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. I love Jesus, coffee, creative projects, taking photos and traveling. I’ve previously worked as a web designer, journalist and barista. I hope you enjoy our creative projects and family adventures!
We like crafts puzzles and painting.
Board games and crafts.
we love watching movies or catching up on our tv shows
We like to watch movies or do a craft project!!
Watching movies, baking, or doing a craft/project!
Cozy days at home are usually spent watching movies and doing crafts or baking.
We enjoy reading, crafting and watching TV.
We like to watch movies and play board games
We love to color and play with Play Doh :).
We enjoy board games and movie time.
We do arts & crafts!! Do-it-yourself projects! Love sharing each other’s neat ideas!
We like to snuggle up on the caouch and watch movies and drink hot chocolate!
My little girl loves to play in her princess castle, chase her pug and watch movies with mommy and daddy.
We love reading or watching movies together.We also like doing crafts.
We love to do crafts, play board games and cook
These look like some fun activities!
We love watching movies!
We like to watch movies or play board games on rainy days
We love to pop popcorn and watch movies on a cozy night or afternoon.
We like to start a fire in the fireplace, put in a good comedy, and settle down with a big bowl of popcorn. Of course, we get into out jammies.
Today was actually a dreary day and we had a fun tea pary followed by a camp out in the living room that my kids set up 🙂
We like to watch movies together and play board games!
We love watching movies.
We love to play board games or cards . My youngest son loves having nerf wars or just being silly.
we LOVE playing board games and doing huge puzzles together!
We love doing arts and craft projects or games with the children.
@tisonlyme143
We like to sip coffee, curl up on the couch and watch TV or talk.
As a family we love to play board games.
we love to play board games and do puzzles
We like to bake, do crafts, make scavenger hunts, bake and watch movies!! It all varies depending on his mood lol!!
I love that Morph does not dry out. Great for sensory play! I’m going to have try some.