Indoor Activities for Kids when it's too HOT Outside

This post contains affiliate links. I may earn a small commission (at no cost to you) if you buy one of the products by using the link in this post.

We moved to Las Vegas two summers ago and let me tell you something, that place gets hot in the summer. I like warm days. I like to be outside in nice weather. But I don't really enjoy being outside on those 110+ days. If you're like me or you're just sick of being outside all day then here is a list of activities for you and your kids to do indoors.

1. Coloring - This is a great activity and always a go to at our house. The key is to have multiple different colors of paper and lots of different coloring utensils. Crayons, markers, twistables, colored pencils, etc help keep my daughter entertained for longer than five minutes and as long as I'm sitting close by to talk with her she'll color for quite a while. We also have various coloring books for her to choose from. You never know which one will be your kid's favorite so it's best to keep a few handy. If coloring books sound boring then break out the colored paper and let them draw whatever comes to their imagination.

2. Cardstock cut-and-glue - This is an idea that morphed from the coloring idea and if your kid loves using scissors and glue then this is a great activity for you! One day my little one just wasn't in the mood for coloring, but you know what she was in the mood for? Using scissors. She's recently developed this skill and enjoys cutting up any papers she can find, so we got out our gigantic pack of plain colored papers (which I bought at dollar tree) and started cutting out shapes. We spent a good hour making fun colorful scenes by cutting out shapes and glueing them onto another colorful page of paper.

3. Painting - Grab yourself some of those dollar watercolor paints and you've got yourself another great indoor activity. Painting is a great way to entertain kids and allow them to get creative as they develop their fine motor skills to hold and control a paint brush. We love to pick a page from a book and try to paint the picture on that page (this is especially useful if you have a difficult time thinking of something to paint). Then we discuss which colors we want to use for each thing on the page and talk through what shapes we can use to paint that object. Of course, our pictures don't always turn out like it looks in the book, but it gives us something to do together and helps my daughter learn at the same time.

4. Painting rocks - What little kid doesn't like rocks, right? Mine sure does. It's a bit of a problem because she tries to take the neighbors decorative rocks while we're out on walks. Anyway, we've gathered enough rocks to our house that we have plenty to paint. You can use water colors or washable paints and have a blast coloring rocks. The nice thing is, with washable paints, if you want to paint them again another day all you have to do is rinse them off. No need to find more rocks. The washable paint we like can be found at the following link.

5. Legos/building blocks - Anything that has a lot of pieces that can all fit together in different ways is gonna be a big hit. Legos, Lincoln Logs, marble sets, or even just wooden blocks to stack and build out of can provide lots of entertainment for little one. We also boost our building time by putting on some music to listen to which leads into the occasionally dance party.

   1. The Lincoln Logs we use can be found here.

   2. Marble set (Note: This isn't the exact one we have but it looks similar and has great reviews. Our set was made in the 90s (passed down from my mom) and I doubt they make that brand anymore.

   3. Simple building blocks link.

   4. If you search "building toys" on your favorite online shopping app it'll bring up a ton of awesome different things your kid might like. Buy your favorite and try it out.

6. Rocking horse - We bought a rocking horse for my daughter's birthday one year and she doesn't ride it every day, but every so often she'll just go in her room and ride on her rocking horse. She also loves when I bring it into a different room of the house, somehow riding it in the living room just makes it that much more exciting. Plus when friends come over it's a big hit with all of them, as long as we can keep the "turn taking" going then it provides quite a bit of fun with minimal effort on my end.

7. Obstacle course - Houses are full of objects that we have to constantly not run into. Tables, chairs, books, blankets, kid toys that they haven't picked up despite you asking them to over and over and over. Yes, most of the time these things have a place in the house that isn't right in the middle of the floor, but with a kid at your house, I'm sure that's where they end up most of the time. So make it into a game. Move your kitchen chairs or fold-up chairs into the living room and hallway, put toys on the ground that your kid has to pick up and twirl around with. Make piles of blankets for them to jump onto before rolling off, and put it all together for one giant obstacle course. If your kid isn't the best at "avoiding obstacles" then make it into an activity course where they have to stop at each thing and do something with it. Get creative and have fun!

8. Reading - Sometimes I get tired of being creative, and that's when I'm very grateful for library books. We check out anywhere between 15-25 library books at a time so that we always have something to read. Of course, my daughter decides on about three books that are her favorites so we end up just reading those over and over, but at least we always have options. Once you're ready for some peace and quiet, cuddle up on the couch with your little one and some library books and read together. Not only does this provide some rest time for you, it also helps your little one develop a love of books. If you have multiple little ones this might take some serious time and rules to ensure that everyone enjoys reading time, or you might want to split it up so that each child gets individualized time reading with you. If they all want to hold the book, then make a rule that only mommy holds the book, or try making a chart or schedule to help everyone take turns holding the book. After reading time your kids might be ready for quiet time, or like mine they might be ready to get up and play again.

9. Baking - This is a fun activity to do with your little one but it can quickly turn into a stressful activity, so use with caution. Just know that your kid is going to want to help you pour, measure, and stir everything you put in the bowl so you might get some flour spilled on the floor, as well as an eggshell or two that you have to fish out. Also have a backup activity (ie. coloring) to have your child do if they get bored halfway through making your delicious treat. If you try it out and decide baking with your kid is the most amazing thing you've ever done and you want to do it every day, buy some paper plates and take all of those extra goodies to your neighbors and friends. That way you have one more activity to do (although yes, it involves going outside), and it teaches your child that it can be fun to do things for other people.

10. Coloring water - Yep, you heard me right. Coloring water, not water colors. For this activity you need a few cups, a stir stick of some sort, water, and food coloring. Fill those cups with water and get to work. Let your kid pick which colors they want to dye the water and if you're feeling adventurous (and spill proof) let your kid drop the food coloring in themselves. Hand your kid the stir stick and watch the magic happen. If you use primary colors then you can have fun mixing them to make secondary colors. This is also a great time to teach your child about colors and how two colors can mix to make a new color. (ie. "Yellow and blue mixed together make green. What do yellow and blue make?" ... (wait for child's response). "If you put more blue than yellow, you'll get a darker green" etc)

11. Science experiments - This kind of goes along with coloring water (or baking if you want to get into exothermic/endothermic reactions and breaking/making chemical bonds) and often the magic of science experiments is so fun that kids will want to do it again and again. See my blog post "Science Experiments" for a few great examples of things you can do with kids. Some of these take a bit more time and are better suited for older kids, but you may want to try them out anyway, who knows, maybe your kid will be the next Einstein.

12. Music time - There are several variants of this depending on how much patience you have. Some days I can handle the banging pots and screaming children, other days I need an actual melody with beautiful chords and notes. Here is a list of things you can use for music time:

    1. CDs - if your kid loves to dance and sing more than they love to drum, turn on a CD and let them go!

    2. Piano keyboard - if you are so lucky as to have a piano keyboard that has pre-recorded music demos turn those on and let your kids jam! My daughter loves to use these and she and her friends spend hours choosing songs and dancing (or running) to the music.

    3. Piano - if you have a regular piano, take a few minutes to teach your kid some of the notes and help them play chopsticks. My daughter loves to sit on my lap with her index fingers out while I move her hands to the correct notes for this song. Speed it up or slow it down and have a great time. This music time usually ends the quickest but we have fun while we do it.

    4. Egg maracas - Find some easter eggs and fill them with sand, rice, mini-m&ms, you name it. Once they're half filled tape them up so there is no worry of an explosion (if your kid decides to throw it halfway across the room) and then let your kids jam and dance to their own music.

    5. Pots, pans, and spoons - if you're in a position where you wouldn't mind having your ears explode then get out those kitchen pots, grab a spoon or ladle, and have fun drumming with your kid. For a softer drum you an also use empty cereal or tissue boxes, or drum on something soft like a pillow.

13. Painting nails - This is a nice quiet activity that my daughter loves to do, plus she knows that after they're painted she has to sit at the table for 5-8 minutes while they dry. We've had to put down some rules about this because otherwise we'd be painting nails all day, but now that she knows we only paint once a day and she absolutely cannot touch other things while her nails are drying it's quite a fun activity. We shake up all the bottles together and then I open whichever one she wants, she paints a finger, then I close the bottle and she picks another one for me to open. While we wait for her nails to dry we have fun talking to each other.

14. Bath time in the middle of the day - Sometimes my daughter really wants to swim, but I really don't want to be outside (110+ degrees, remember), so instead I fill up the bathtub and let her "swim" in there. We just have a standard bathtub so she's not really swimming, but with toys and mommy sitting close by she is plenty happy. There are some cool bath toys you can buy as well. They have pods that you drop in the water and it changes to another color, wall soap for kids to write on the walls with that washes off into the water, and when those fail, my daughter loves to play with a simple straw and bowl. Teach your child how to blow bubbles with the straw and they'll keep themselves entertained. This is a great option if you forget to give them a bath one night as well. I've fallen into that habit lately so daytime baths are an awesome way to keep my kid clean.

15. Fort building - gather all the chairs, blankets, and pillows in your house and build a fort with your little one. They'll love playing in it all day and you might or might not get some time to yourself while they play. Make it big enough for you to sit comfortably because at some point they'll want you in there as well.

16. Play-doh - This is a great indoor activity during those hot summer days. It's pretty cheap and really fun. You can get all different colors of play-doh at Walmart for 50 cents each, or if you want to shop from home check out this link to Amazon that get's you 12 play-dohs and a bunch of cool toys to go with it. If you don't want to spend that much money, you can buy a simple play-doh pack here and get some forks and knives (I prefer using the plastic ones for play-doh) and some of your own cookie cut-outs to use instead.

17. Petsmart Visit - If all else fails, something I like to do on occasion is take my little one to the local pet store to look at the fish and hamsters. If you don't give your kid the idea that these can be bought then they'll just think it's a cool trip to see animals. It's like a free mini zoo. The fish are a big hit because there are so many different types and colors.

18. Ads - You know those really wasteful food ads that you get in the mail every week? Yep, the ones that immediately go in the trash? Well start saving those occasionally and let your child use them. My daughter has so much fun picking the foods she wants and cutting them out. Then we get a big sheet of paper and glue them on. This is a great time to talk about different foods and healthy eating habits. If your child isn't old enough to use scissors then let them pick which foods they want and you get to cut them out. Have a blast!