10 Rainy Day Activities Inspired by Millie Mouse

10 Rainy Day Activities Inspired by Millie Mouse

10 Rainy Day Activities Inspired by Millie Mouse. Don’t let a rainy day dampen your child’s imagination! Here are 10 screen-free, Millie Mouse–inspired activities to make any stormy afternoon magical — including fort-building, baking, storytelling, and sensory play.

Why Rainy Days Are Special in Millie’s World

Millie Mouse loves rainy days. They bring cozy corners, warm muffins, window watching, and a whole world of imagination.

These ideas invite your child into Millie’s gentle, curious world — no sun required!

1. Build a Rainy Day Fort

• Inspired by Millie Mouse and the Rainy Day Fort
• Use sheets, blankets, and pillows to create a cozy hideaway
• Add a flashlight and a few books for magic

2. Bake Muffins Like Millie

• Try a simple muffin recipe (banana, blueberry, or cinnamon!)
• Let your child mash, stir, and scoop
• Talk about “what kindness ingredient” they’re adding today

3. Create a Window Watching Journal

• Sit by the window like Millie does
• Watch the raindrops, leaves, and birds
• Draw or write what you see and feel

4. Paint with Rain (Yes, Really!)

• Use watercolor paint or washable markers on thick paper
• Let your child hold it out under light rain
• Watch the drops create magical patterns

5. Millie’s Sensory Soup

• Fill a plastic bin with water, scoops, spoons, leaves, or flower petals
• Add “forest ingredients” like stones or pinecones
• Let them mix and stir like they’re making a potion or stew

6. Create a Millie Mouse Story Corner

• Decorate a corner with pillows, stuffed animals, and a Millie book
• Let this become their rainy day reading nook
• Optional: Add fairy lights or a tea-light lantern for glow

7. Make a Kindness Chain

• Inspired by Millie’s gentle heart
• Cut strips of paper and write kind acts (e.g., “Share a toy” or “Say thank you”)
• Link them together and hang in the window

8. Design a Story Map

• After reading a Millie story, draw the path she took
• Add trees, bridges, animals, and labels
• This boosts sequencing, memory, and creativity

9. Have a Quiet Time Picnic Indoors

• Lay out a small blanket with snacks and water
• Use soft music or nature sounds
• Read aloud or let your child “read” to a stuffed friend

10. Create Millie Mouse Paper Puppets

• Print or draw Millie and her friends
• Glue onto popsicle sticks or straws
• Use a cardboard box as a puppet stage

How to Tie These Activities to the Stories

At the end of each activity, ask reflective questions:

• “Do you think Millie would like our fort?”
• “What would she add to this soup?”
• “What kind thing did you do today like Millie?”

These questions help connect pretend play with the values in the books.

Printable Bonus: Millie’s Rainy Day Bingo Card

• Includes 9 cozy activities like “read with a flashlight,” “make a fort,” “color a Millie page”
• Mark off as you go
• Add a reward or celebration at the end!

Have you ever thought a tiny mouse could cause gigantic learning moments (and a few giggles) in your preschool classroom?

Mice Theme Preschool Plans and Activities from Preschool-Plan-It

This mice theme package is a smorgasbord of ideas from Preschool-Plan-It, created by Cheryl, a practiced preschool teacher who clearly knows her way around glue sticks and tiny shoe prints. You’ll find everything from quick circle-time rhymes to full-week printable packs you can purchase, or use as inspiration to craft your own squeaky-good week of learning.

Why choose a mice theme?

You get the odd combination of cute, curious, and curriculum-friendly. Mice lend themselves easily to stories, counting, shape hunts, sensory play, pretend pet care, and fine-motor practice — all in one small, furry package. Plus, you’ll be able to teach science, math, language, motor skills, and social skills without resorting to reruns of the same craft.

Source and Materials

This pack and idea collection comes via Preschool-Plan-It, where Cheryl compiles ready-to-use lesson ideas and purchasable full-week theme packs and printables. You’ll notice many activities include printable templates, teacher notes, and variations to match different skill levels.

What you’ll need (general)

Most activities use basic classroom supplies: paper, paint, glue, scissors, cardboard, markers, and common manipulatives. Some projects reference printable stencils or precut shapes included in paid downloads from Preschool-Plan-It. You can substitute many materials to match what you already have.

Planning the Week

A solid plan keeps you sane and the children engaged. Use the theme resources to create a flexible week structure, with targeted learning goals for process skills, social development, motor control, math, and language.

Learning goals

Each activity supports concrete skills: counting and sorting for math, scissors and tweezers for fine motor, role play for social language, and pattern/ramp play for early physics. Decide which goals are priorities for your class and adapt the activities accordingly.

Sample weekly schedule

This sample gives you a skeleton you can dress up in cheese-patterned paper if you’re feeling theatrical.

Activity Overview: What’s in the Pack

Preschool-Plan-It provides a page full of lesson plan ideas, activity lists, and links to specific activity types like art, circle time, centers, and more. Many activities offer printable templates, staff planner pages, and editable resources you can tweak to match your class size.

How to use the ready-made packets

Buy the full-week pack for a time-saver: you’ll get printable visuals, cut-lines, patterns, and explicit teacher prompts. Or pick single printables as supplements to your existing plans. The editable staff resources are handy if your co-teacher prefers everything in Comic Sans (kidding — you should all agree on a font).

Art Activities

Art is where glue meets imagination. These mice-themed projects focus on shapes, color mixing, and scissor skills while tying to storybooks for richer connections.

Shape-cut mice

You’ll help children combine basic shapes (circles for bodies, triangles for ears, long strips for tails) to assemble mice. This activity builds shape recognition and scissor control, and it looks adorable on the wall.

• Materials: construction paper, scissors, glue, googly eyes or drawn eyes, markers.
• Steps: Demonstrate cutting shapes and gluing in order; allow children to choose colors; encourage name labeling.
• Variations: Use precut shapes for younger children, or provide templates/stencils for independent cutters.

Tissue-paper collage mice

This one is delightfully messy and great for color exploration. Children scrunch tissue paper and glue it onto mouse outlines for tactile fun and layering practice.

• Materials: tissue paper squares, glue-sticks or liquid glue, printed mouse outlines, glitter/optional.
• Steps: Model tearing or scrunching tissue, show how to layer colors for texture.
• Tie-in: Pair with the book Mouse Paint to talk about colors and mixing.

Stencil and precut variations

If scissors are still a work-in-progress for some children, use stencils or precut shape kits. These keep the focus on design choices and sticker placement rather than snipping accuracy.

Block Center: “Mouse Trap” Engineering Play

Ramps, marbles, and PVC tubes become your class’s very serious-but-silly engineering lab.

Purpose and skills

This activity encourages cause-and-effect reasoning, fine motor planning, and cooperative building. Kids test gravity, angles, and predictions while they giggle at the dramatic marble escapes.

• Materials: ramps (cardboard, wooden planks), PVC tubes, marbles or foam balls, tape, small boxes for traps.
• Set-up: Build simple ramps that lead into “mouse holes” or small boxes; allow children to experiment with marble speeds by changing angles.
• Extensions: Add timers for predicting how long a marble takes to travel, or measure distances with string for a math tie-in.

Safety notes

Supervise marbles and small parts closely to avoid choking hazards. Use larger foam balls if necessary.

Circle Time

Circle time becomes a stage for rhymes, songs, and scissor practice — yes, you can do scissors in a group setting with careful rules and practice strips.

Hickory, Dickory, Dock with flannel pieces

Use a flannel board and mouse/clock pieces to dramatize the rhyme. Children will anticipate the mouse’s movement around the clock while you emphasize sequencing words like first, next, and last.

• Materials: flannel board, mouse and clock flannel pieces, props.
• How to run it: Assign a child to be the “mouse mover” or rotate helpers so everyone gets a turn.

Scissor practice with themed cut-lines

Provide strips of paper with mouse tracks or cheese borders that require snipping. This gives purposeful repetition and supports bilateral hand use.

• Materials: pre-drawn cutting strips, safety scissors, clothespins to steady paper.
• Variation: Offer straight-line, zigzag, and curved cutting lines for graduated challenge.

Cooking Activities

Cooking is curriculum in disguise: you teach sequencing, following directions, counting, measuring, and sensory vocabulary.

Mouse-shaped cookies

Shape cookie dough into mice forms and decorate with raisins and pretzel tails. This activity combines motor planning with math as children count decorations.

• Materials: cookie dough (pre-made or simple recipe), raisins, pretzel sticks, rolling pins, baking sheets, oven or toaster oven.
• Steps: Model rolling, shaping, and decorating. Use counting prompts (“Add three raisins for eyes and two for ears”).
• Food-safety: Pre-bake or supervise closely. Consider allergies and offer an alternate pretend play cookie for children with restrictions.

Math tie-in during cooking

Ask children to divide cookies into halves, count how many tails they used, or sort decorations by color and size. Cooking becomes a multi-skill station rather than just a tasty outcome.

Dramatic Play

Dramatic play is where language, empathy, and social negotiation get practiced.

Pet store setup with stuffed mice

Set up a pretend pet shop with stuffed mice, a cash register, play money, and child-made brochures. Children will practice turn-taking, counting coins, and writing menus or adoption papers.

• Materials: stuffed mice, small display cages or boxes, cash register, toy money, paper for brochures.
• Literacy connection: Encourage children to write short captions or price tags; adults can scribe for emergent writers.

Role-play prompts and expansions

Give prompts like “You work at the mouse boutique” or “A parent is picking out a mouse” to spark dialog. Rotate roles so children try cashier, customer, and pet-caregiver roles.

Easel Activity: Mouse Paint Color Mixing

Following the Mouse Paint book, set up a color-mixing station where children combine primary colors to make new hues using finger paint or tempera.

Process and learning targets

Children will practice descriptive language, predict outcomes, and develop fine motor control. This is messy in a magically educational way.

• Materials: washable paints (primary colors), paper, droppers or brushes, smocks.
• Steps: Read Mouse Paint, then demonstrate mixing colors on the easel; let children experiment and record results with photos or drawings.

Variation for older preschoolers

Introduce color wheels or have kids predict outcomes using simple charts: “What happens if red and yellow mix?”

Large-Group and Movement Games

Large-group activities work well outdoors and help with gross motor skills, listening, and social dynamics.

“Where Can a Mouse Live?” nature walk

Take a nature walk to observe habitats. Have children look for small spaces, make a photo record or a simple illustrated list back in class, and discuss where a mouse might live.

• Preparation: Review safety rules and boundaries before leaving the yard.
• Follow-up: Create a poster of possible habitats and have kids place photos or drawings under categories like “under logs” or “in fields.”

“The Old Gray Cat” song/game

This movement game lets children act out predator and prey in a safe, playful manner. Use clear rules to reinforce gentle touch and spatial awareness.

• How-to: Sing a song while children move like mice; when the cat appears, children freeze or change movement pattern as directed.

Library and Book Suggestions

Books are your curriculum backbone for the theme. Read aloud often and connect stories to activities for comprehension and vocabulary growth.

Curated list of books

Here are recommended titles to make your mouse week literary and memorable.

How to use books for learning

Read often, ask predictive questions, and use story props (puppets, felt pieces) to engage non-readers. After reading, tie activities directly back to the book: “Remember when the mouse mixed colors? Let’s try that.”

Math and Fine-Motor Activities

Mice-themed manipulatives turn small hands into math superheroes.

Colored cookie-chip sorting with spatulas

Children use spatulas to pick up colored “cookie chips” and sort them into bowls. This builds fine-motor strength, bilateral coordination, and early sorting skills.

• Materials: colored chips (cardboard circles, pom-poms), plastic spatulas or tongs, sorting bowls.
• Progression: Move from large chips to smaller ones and progress to counting and simple addition/subtraction scenarios.

Cutting and manipulative stations

Design stations that include thread-the-needle beads for tails, peg boards for counting whiskers, and puzzles of mouse shapes. These activities support small-muscle control and persistence.

Sand and Water Sensory Play

Let children get tactile with sensory tubs that mimic baking or mouse-living spaces.

Sensory cookie-ingredient play

Use oatmeal, flour, or moon sand as a base and hide plastic mice and cookie cutters for discovery play.

• Materials: oats, flour, moon sand, scoops, cookie cutters, plastic mice.
• Learning links: Children practice tactile vocabulary (gritty, soft), measure scoops, and develop fine-motor skills while hunting for mice.

Hiding and seeking plastic mice

Turn the sensory tub into a search-and-count mission: “How many mice can you find?” This supports math skills and persistence.

Science and Visitors

Science and real-world connections make the theme feel authentic.

Classroom pet option and visiting pets

Coordinate with families who have pet mice or a small animal experience. If a classroom pet is feasible and approved, set up observation journals for daily notes.

• Considerations: Vet checks, allergy lists, humane care plans, and classroom responsibilities must be in place before bringing animals into class.
• Alternative: Invite a veterinarian or animal-care specialist to talk about mice rather than keeping a pet.

Observation journals

Use simple templates where children draw or place stickers each day to record changes, behaviors, or new facts about mice. This develops observation vocabulary and scientific curiosity.

Writing Activities

Turn mouse moments into print work with collaborative books and labeling projects.

Class book: “If you give a mouse a ____”

Create a class book where each child contributes a page: they fill in the blank with an item and illustrate it. This builds story structure, sequencing, and emergent writing skills.

• Materials: stapled book pages, drawing supplies, adult scribe for those still developing letters.
• Process: Read the original book as a model, brainstorm items together, assign pages, and perform a reading of the final product for families.

Labeling and menus in dramatic play

In the pet store dramatic play, have children design price tags, menus, or instruction posters for mouse care. This promotes functional writing and emergent print concepts.

Assessment and Differentiation

You’ll want simple ways to assess learning and differentiate for varied skill levels.

Informal assessment ideas

Use checklists and quick photo-documentation to record milestones: scissor use, counting to 10, speaking in full sentences, or cooperative play during dramatic scenarios. These quick notes can become part of portfolios.

Differentiation strategies

• For children needing more support: Offer precut shapes, scribe their stories, use larger manipulatives, and provide hand-over-hand assistance when needed.
• For children needing enrichment: Challenge them to design marble runs with specific constraints, write multi-page class stories, or lead a small-group demonstration.

Classroom Management Tips

Running a theme week smoothly takes a few tried-and-true techniques.

Rotation and transitions

Use mouse-themed transition cues (“Time to hide like a mouse!”) and visual timers. Create center rotation cards showing icons (paint palette, block, book) so children know where to go next.

Clean-up songs and routines

Encourage responsibility with themed clean-up songs or charts. “Tidy tails and mouse trails” can be your mischievous little rhyme.

Safety and Hygiene

Always consider allergies, choking hazards, and food safety with cooking or sensory bins. Wash hands after sensory play, and label areas with allergy-safe alternatives.

Allergy and choking considerations

Avoid using small food pieces around younger children unless supervised; offer alternative materials like colored pom-poms. Keep a list of allergies accessible and inform families when you plan to cook.

Extras and Printable Resources

Preschool-Plan-It provides downloadable and paid weekly planning packets, editable staff resources, and a free newsletter with monthly theme starter packs. These extras save prep time and often include colorful visuals and teacher scripts.

What the printables typically include

Expect printable name cards, center signs, activity templates, lesson plan pages, and parent notes. Editable resources let you change names, dates, and classroom-specific needs.

Putting It All Together: A Mini Unit Plan

If you want a concentrated plan, here’s a concise mini unit you can run in three days.

Day 1: Introduce books (If You Give a Mouse a Cookie; Mouse Paint), start class book page, and do shape-cut mice art. Centers: block mouse trap engineering, dramatic play pet store.

Day 2: Mouse paint easel mixing, tissue-paper collage, nature walk to record habitats, sensory cookie-ingredient tub. Centers: math sorting with cookie chips and cooking cookie shapes.

Day 3: Read Mouse Count, set up marble ramp challenge with prediction sheets, create final class book, perform a small puppet show review and share cookies. Close with parent-sharing photos and summary notes.

Final Tips and Teacher Wisdom from Cheryl’s Approach

Cheryl’s materials are classroom-tested, meaning she’s either very brave or very patient — likely both. Her emphasis on ready-to-use printables, clear activity links, and practical center ideas means you’ll spend more time teaching and less time cutting out tiny ears at midnight.

Quick teacher hacks

• Precut ears and tails for the first day if you need to pace the scissors practice across the week.
• Use photos to document each child’s participation rather than relying solely on written assessments.
• Rotate messy activities to the end of the day when possible to reduce transition stress.

Closing Thoughts

A mice theme is unexpectedly wide-ranging: you get stories, art, engineering, counting, sensory play, pretend pet care, and food-based learning all in one compact unit. With Cheryl’s Preschool-Plan-It resources and these activity breakdowns, you’ll have a week of lessons that are as rich in learning as they are in giggles and little mouse footprints on your rug.

If you’d like, you can ask for a printable materials checklist tailored to your class size, or request a one-day ready-to-teach plan that includes a detailed schedule, shopping list, and parent note — and yes, there will be a jaunty mouse pun included. Visit us again for more great books reading and recommendations at: https://booksforminds.com/