9 Free Printable Activities for a Rainy Day With Kids

A rainy afternoon is easier to plan when you have a few small activities ready, rather than a whole day to fill. These nine free printable activities for kids turn coloring pages, mazes and simple worksheets into things to make, solve and talk about. Choose two or three, print only the pages you need, and let your child decide where to start.

Disclosure: LittlePaper Club, linked below, is a related project. This guide uses its free resources as examples; you can also use suitable worksheets you already have. Cover image: LittlePaper Club.

What to prepare before you print

You need a printer, plain paper and pencils or crayons. A glue stick and child-friendly scissors are optional for the final activity. Preview each page first: choose large shapes or short paths for children who prefer simpler tasks, and more detailed sheets for those who want a challenge.

For PDF files, select your paper size and check the print preview for clipped edges. Use "Fit" if the page would otherwise be cropped. Print one test page before making extra copies. The suggested times below are flexible starting points, not targets your child needs to meet.

1. Color an animal and invent its rainy-day adventure

Turn a single coloring sheet into a story prompt by asking what the animal would do if it were stuck indoors, too.

Start with a pet from the free printable pet coloring pages. Let your child choose the colors, then give the animal a name, a favorite snack and a problem to solve. Ask, "Where could it build a cozy hideout?" Write down a sentence your child dictates, or invite them to add a speech bubble. Allow roughly 15–20 minutes, with no need to finish the whole picture.

2. Solve a maze twice, using two different methods

Explore the route with a finger first, then try it with a pencil. This makes one printed maze useful for more than a single attempt.

Choose a sheet from the printable maze collection and find its entrance and destination together before starting. If a route reaches a dead end, trace back to the last junction. For a second round, describe the route aloud while someone else follows it. Keep it cooperative rather than timed; five to ten minutes may be plenty.

3. Guess the picture before joining the dots

Make a dot-to-dot worksheet into a guessing game before anyone picks up a pencil.

Look at the arrangement of dots and take turns suggesting what it might become. Connect a few numbers, pause, and ask whether the guess has changed. Choose a number range your child can follow comfortably, or read the next number aloud together. After revealing the picture, add a background: a garden, a room or an imaginary planet.

4. Turn a counting sheet into a "find and check" game

Count each group once, mark the objects as you go, then check the answer using a different method.

The free worksheets collection includes counting, tracing and dot-to-dot pages for this activity and the previous one. On a counting sheet, your child can touch each picture with a pencil tip, say the number, then add a small mark to avoid counting it twice. For a change, ask which group has more or fewer objects. Stop after a few groups if interest fades.

5. Make a personalized place card

A name-tracing sheet can become a place card for a pretend café, a family meal or a toy's birthday party.

Use LittlePaper's free name-tracing generator to prepare a name, then print the sheet. Trace one row and decorate around it. Fold a separate piece of paper into a standing card and attach the chosen name strip with adult help if cutting is needed. You can use a toy's name instead of a real one; the generator processes the entered text in the browser.

6. Create a two-color pattern challenge

Reuse a coloring page by setting one simple rule: alternate two colors across a series of shapes or details.

Choose areas your child can identify easily, such as petals, spots or sections of a border. Start red–blue–red–blue, then let them invent another pattern. If the picture has no repeated shapes, draw a row of circles around it. There is no need to correct a pattern that turns into free coloring—the point is to offer a different way into the same page.

7. Draw a friend for the printed character

Place a finished printable beside blank paper and invent a companion for its main character.

Use the printed animal as a starting point, then change its ears, tail, expression or outfit. Children who want a little structure can follow our step-by-step cat drawing guide. Put the two pictures together and decide how the characters met. This is also a useful option when you have only one printed sheet left.

8. Add a tiny poem to a finished picture

Combine a printable with a short spoken or written poem to make a picture-and-words page.

Ask your child for three things they can see or hear on a rainy day, then arrange those words into a few lines. Rhyming is optional. For an autumn afternoon, browse our short autumn poems for kids and choose something to read aloud beside the artwork. Younger children can dictate their own words while an adult writes them down.

9. Build a mini gallery from the afternoon's pages

Finish by giving the completed sheets a place to be seen, rather than adding another worksheet.

Lay three or four pages on a table and let your child choose an order. Add handwritten labels with the picture's title and one sentence about it. Invite a family member on a short "gallery tour." Alternatively, fold a sheet into a cover and place the pages inside as a loose activity book. Keep the originals intact if your child wants to return to unfinished parts later.

How to keep the afternoon manageable

Offer a small choice, keep spare sheets out of sight and switch activities when your child is ready. A coloring page, one puzzle and a movement break can be enough.

You do not need to complete all nine ideas. Save unused sheets for another day, and use the blank backs of test prints for stories or drawings. LittlePaper's free downloads are individual sheets; check the site's printable license before sharing files beyond personal or classroom use. No paid activity book is needed for the ideas above.