Rainy Day Ideas for Little Learners

Did you know that child development experts say that the average amount of time a typical child can maintain focus on a specific task is his or her age multiplied by two? So for example, a six-year-old, on average, can hold his or her attention for about twelve minutes at a time. This called for a LOT of brain breaks in first grade! :-)

Based on this data, my one-year-old can hold her attention, on average, for two minutes at a time. During a five-hour wake window, we have 300 minutes together. Add in some rain and the task of keeping her busy and entertained seems pretty daunting!

So today I’m going to share some of our favorite rainy day activities. I’d say they’re developmentally appropriate for about one to two-year-olds (maybe a little younger, maybe a little older- as always, it really just depends on the child).

Let me start off by saying, you definitely don’t need to fill every minute of every day (rainy or not) with a planned “activity.” Letting toddlers independently rummage through a closet, cabinet, or drawer, is great for development! Research has proven that there is a direct correlation between the amount of freedom children are given and their later cognitive abilities. So encourage exploration and remember that these activities are offered, but never pushed!

5 Rainy Day Activities

These ideas were created from materials we happened to have around the house. I usually only introduce, at most, one new activity per wake window. Since her attention span is so short, I leave the activity out for her to go back to if she wants for a few days. Sometimes she goes back to them, and sometimes she doesn’t. I chose to share the ones she tends to gravitate back to (so I’m assuming she likes them!).

1. Sticky Note Grab - This was great for sensory, fine motor, and gross motor development! I stuck a bunch of sticky notes on a door/ wall and let her pull them off. Super simple! Feeling the “sticky” side of the notes was great for her sensory development. Pulling the sticky notes down helped her continue to develop her pincer grasp. She also practiced squatting/ standing up, which helped her gross motor. This could easily be adapted for older kids by adding in color identification (“Find me a pink sticky note!”).

2. Animal Rescue - Similar to the sea animal rescue that I previously highlighted, this was also great for fine motor development. I took some of her toys (here I used some small animal trinkets) and used blue painter's tape to stick them to the wall. She peeled them all off to “rescue” them. She always loved doing activities like this! Anything sticky is interesting to her.

3. Straws in a Cup - Toddlers always seem to want what we have! L loves trying to take whatever I’m drinking or eating. It’s no different when I have an iced latte from our local coffee shop. She always loves taking the straw out of the cup and putting it back in. So I took her hint and created this activity, which actually kept her busy for over 15 minutes! She’s gone back to it several times. It’s just a plastic iced coffee cup, with plastic straws cut into about 1-inch pieces. Always supervise this activity since the pieces are small! I just loved watching her determination during this activity!

4. Clothespins on a Bowl - Exactly as it sounds! I put some clothespins around a metal bowl and let her practice unclipping and clipping. It was great for fine motor development! She quickly realized she could toss them into the metal bowl so it would make a loud clinking noise. It was clearly such a satisfying sound (for her anyway!) because she did this over and over for a while! She laughed each time she made the loud noise. We used colored clothespins. As she gets older, we’ll use this activity on color identification too.

5. BOOKS! - Last but definitely not least, BOOKS! We do a lot of reading throughout our days. I provide a variety of books, but I let L pick out which ones she wants to explore or read. We have books all over our house… they’re displayed differently, but always in a toddler-friendly manner. We have some clear floating shelves in her room and play area that are GREAT. We like to switch up reading areas to keep it interesting. One rainy day, I even put a bunch of books in a suitcase and let her climb in and explore. She loved it! Get creative! Maybe books in the tub? Or books under a fort? The possibilities are endless!

I hope your little one is able to enjoy some of these activities! We’re always looking for new ideas, so please, share your favorites below in the comments, too!

Next week, I’m going to share all about L’s super fun MUSIC GROUP!

Thanks for reading! I hope you continue to follow along to find (and share!) inspiration, information and innovation! :-)