Rainy Day Activities for a Preschooler

Shaving Cream Activities

• Fill a plastic zipper bag with shaving cream and tape it on a desk. Children can use their fingers to draw letters and numbers on the bag. For added decoration, allow each child to add a few drops of food coloring to his bag. If you do not mind the mess, allow the children to play directly in the shaving cream. Spray a glob of shaving cream on each child's desk or on a kitchen table. Preschoolers can use their fingers to draw letters, numbers and pictures in the shaving cream. Remind the children not to put the shaving cream in their mouth or around their face.

Bean Bag Games

• Make a bean bag game using a cardboard box. Draw the face of an animal on a poster board with the mouth open. Glue the poster board to the bottom of a cardboard box and cut out the mouth. Have the preschoolers try to toss the bean bags into the mouth. Another idea is to place buckets scattered on the ground with a point value on each bucket. Have the children toss the bean bags into the buckets. The child who scores the highest amount of points wins the game.

Educational Activities

• Teach preschoolers numbers and letters of the alphabet with a memory match game. Print pictures of letter and numbers, two of each one. Mix the pictures up and place the cards face down on a table. The first player must flip over two cards. If they match, she keeps the pair and goes again. If the cards do not match, the turn goes to the next player. Alternatively, use colors instead of numbers or letters. Other educational activities include sorting. Give the preschoolers a bag of colored blocks and have them sort the blocks by color.

Other Games

• Other games preschoolers can play on a rainy day include charades and indoor golf. Print pictures of animals on small slips of paper and place the slips in a bowl. One child must draw a picture and act out the animal. The first player to guess the animal gets to go next. For indoor golf, help the preschoolers roll up newspaper in the shape of a golf club and tape it together. Use tape to mark a circle on the ground for a "hole." The preschoolers must use their golf clubs to hit the ball in the hole. The player who hits the ball closest to the hole wins the game.