10 Rainy Day Drawing Activities for Kids (Cozy Indoor Art Ideas)
Rain hammering the windows, kids bouncing off the walls, and the park is definitely not happening. Every parent knows this scene. But here’s what we’ve learned after years of watching kids draw: rainy days are secretly the best drawing days. No one’s rushing off to play outside, the light’s soft, and there’s something about grey weather that makes crayons look extra bright.
So instead of surviving the next downpour, lean into it. Here are ten rainy-day drawing activities we genuinely love — each one ties into a free step-by-step tutorial on DrawCub, so nobody stares at a blank page wondering where to start.
Draw the weather itself
1. Sketch what’s outside the window
Set up by the window, look out, and draw exactly what you see: the clouds, the rain streaks, the drips racing down the glass. Our tutorial on how to draw a rain cloud is the perfect starting point — kids can copy it, then add their own twist (a grumpy cloud? a cloud wearing sunglasses?). Drawing from real life is a skill, and a rainy window is the lowest-pressure model imaginable. It doesn’t move. It doesn’t complain.
2. Draw the rainbow that comes after
Every rainy afternoon ends the same way in a kid’s imagination: with a rainbow. Our rainbow tutorial walks through the arc, the colour order (a surprisingly good memory exercise), and the clouds at each end. Challenge idea: draw the rainbow first, then draw what you’d put at the end of it. Treasure chest? Ice cream shop? A second, smaller rainbow? The answers kids give are never boring.
Cozy kitchen art
3. Design your dream hot chocolate
Hot chocolate is basically a rainy-day food group, so let’s draw it. Our hot chocolate tutorial covers the mug, the steam swirls, and the all-important marshmallows. Then comes the fun part: redesign it. A mug shaped like a cat? Whipped cream the size of a mountain? Ten marshmallows? Kids take “design your dream version” very seriously, and the results are always worth the fridge.
Real cookie decorating involves icing everywhere and at least one cookie eaten “for quality control.” Paper cookies have no such risks. Follow our cookie tutorial, then go wild with the decorations — draw the icing swirls, the sprinkles, the chocolate chips. We’ve seen kids spend forty minutes on one cookie. Forty minutes of quiet. You’re welcome.
After-the-rain nature
Rain is mushroom weather, and our kawaii mushroom tutorial is made for this moment — those chubby little caps with the cute faces are irresistible. Draw a whole forest of them: big ones, tiny ones, one that’s clearly the boss of the forest. Add some grass, a ladybug if you’re feeling ambitious, and suddenly it’s a whole rainy woodland scene.
Frogs love rain. It’s their whole thing. Our frog tutorial gives you that wide grin and those bulgy eyes in a few simple steps — then have your kid draw the puddle around him, complete with raindrop ripples. Bonus points for drawing the frog mid-jump with little motion lines. This one always ends up funnier than planned.
7. Draw a duck braving the storm
Ducks don’t mind rain one bit — their feathers are waterproof, which is frankly unfair. Our duck tutorial is nice and forgiving (plump bodies hide wobbly lines beautifully). Draw the duck under a rain cloud, give the cloud a personality, and you’ve got a little story on the page. Is the duck happy? Annoyed? Singing? Kids will tell you. At length.
Warm-and-snug indoors
8. Draw the coziest fireplace ever
There’s nothing like drawing warmth when it’s cold outside. Our fireplace tutorial covers the bricks, the mantel, and those flickering flames — and then your kid gets to decorate the mantel however they like. Stockings in October? Sure, why not. A row of their own drawings in tiny frames? We love a meta moment. This is the drawing equivalent of a blanket.
This one’s a little different — and a little magical. Light a real candle (grown-ups handle this part), turn the room lights low, and draw what you see. Our candle tutorial gives the shape; the real lesson is the glow. Kids can try drawing the halo of light around the flame with yellow crayon, pressing lightly. It teaches them to look at light, not just objects — and it’s genuinely calming. Ten minutes of candle-drawing can reset a whole cranky afternoon.
10. Draw your houseplants as portraits
Stuck inside? The plants are stuck inside too. Solidarity. Our potted plant tutorial is the base — then treat each plant like a portrait subject. Give it a name. Draw it from the side it looks best from. Add a little speech bubble if it seems like the chatty type. Kids who do this start noticing their plants for real, and honestly, so do the adults.
How to set up a rainy-day drawing corner
You don’t need much — but a tiny bit of setup turns “go draw something” into an event kids actually want.
- Claim one spot. The kitchen table, a corner of the living room, anywhere with decent light. Same spot every rainy day. Rituals matter to kids.
- Put out more than they need. Crayons, markers, coloured pencils, a few sheets of paper — abundance invites experimenting. One pencil and one sheet says “test.” A spread says “play.”
- Draw alongside them. You don’t have to be good. (We say this with love: you really don’t.) A parent sketching badly next to a kid is worth more than any tutorial — it says drawing is something people do, not something people perform.
- Leave the drawings up. Tape the rainy-day gallery to a wall or the fridge while the rain lasts. Kids draw more when yesterday’s drawing is still being admired.
- End with hot chocolate. Real hot chocolate this time. You’ve earned it. They’ve earned it.
Still stuck for ideas after all ten? Our list of 25 fun things to draw when you’re bored has plenty more — rainy day or not.
Make it a rainy-day tradition
Ten activities, one downpour, zero screens required. Our favourite thing about this list is that it works every single time it rains — and kids start requesting it. “Can we do the mushroom one again?” is a sentence we hope you hear soon.
Want printable practice pages to go with these? Grab our free Starter Pack at drawcub.com — tracing sheets and drawing exercises that pair perfectly with every tutorial above. Stay dry, keep drawing!
