1. Draw the rain onto any picture
Print any outline and add the weather yourselves. Children can draw rain lines across the sky, puddles under the wheels, an umbrella over a flower, or ducks in a pond that was not there before. It turns a finished design into a page that is about today.
Good free pages to start with: the Hatchback from Cars and Road Vehicles (draw puddle splashes under the tyres), the Sunflower from Flowers Up Close (add raindrops on the petals) and the Tugboat from Boats and Ships (a stormy harbour). Download them from each book’s free sample section.
2. Make a weather report
Choose a landscape page, such as the free Grand Canyon page from Nature's Big Views, and ask your child to colour it as if it were raining there. Grey sky or blue? Dark rocks or shiny ones? When it is finished, they can “present” the weather report to the family. It is colouring, talking and a bit of acting in one.
3. Puddle-jumping drawing pages
Several of our free samples end with an open drawing page. Use them for rainy-day drawing prompts:
- The “A bird’s-eye view” page in the free Birds of Many Feathers sample: draw the garden from above, with puddles shining like mirrors.
- The “My garden patch” page in the free Know Your Salad sample: what does a vegetable garden look like after the rain?
- The “A place to explore” page in the free Zoo Wonders sample: where would a giraffe shelter from a storm?
4. Colour the day from morning to night
Rainy days often feel long. Print the free Before Sunrise page from From Dawn to Night (the free PDF includes its matching colour guide) and talk about what the sky looks like at different times. Then look out of the window and compare: what colour is the sky right now?
5. Story time with a colouring page
A story is a good way to settle after an energetic morning indoors. Our story colouring books for ages 4–8 each have a free three-page sample: a note for the grown-up, one story page to colour while you read, and a drawing activity. Try The Little Seed's Long Wait (waiting patiently for a seed to grow) or The Lantern Path (a calm evening walk). See all of them on our kindness colouring pages.
6. Build an indoor “colouring café”
Clear a table, put out a tray of crayons and pencils sorted by colour, and print a small “menu” of three pages to choose from. Children order a page, colour it, then “pay” by telling you one thing about their picture. It is a simple way to give a long afternoon some structure.
7. Fold a boat to go with the boat page
After colouring the free boat pages from Boats and Ships, fold a simple paper boat from scrap paper and float it in a tray of water or the bath. Compare the folded boat with the ones in the pictures: which would cope best with a storm?
8. Colour on screen for a short session
If you want a short screen session, the free online colouring studio has a handful of garden pictures to colour with a finger, stylus or mouse, with no download or sign-up. Our guide to using the online colouring studio explains saving and the tools. For keeping the rest of the day screen-light, see screen-free quiet time ideas.
Make it easy for yourself
- Print a small batch. Three or four pages is plenty for one afternoon. See the best paper for colouring pages if your child loves markers.
- Mix sitting and moving. Alternate a colouring page with a dance break, an obstacle course of cushions, or a walk to the letterbox in gumboots.
- Keep the finished pages. Pin them up as a “rainy day gallery”, or staple them into a book (here is how to make a colouring book at home).
For more themes, browse our nature colouring pages and books or all of our free colouring pages.