It’s Spring Break and like many others around the world, we canceled our travel plans and opted to stay home and practice social distancing. I also broke my driving foot right before the break so now I am limited on collecting supplies for any activities. We are relying on things we have at home to entertain us and of course, there is Amazon Prime for anything else.
Indoor Activities for Kids
While my son Xen would happily sit and play video games all day, I would prefer to make the most of this time. Although he is getting a little extra screen time, we are still making sure to incorporate plenty of other fun indoor activities.
Here are some ideas of indoor activities you can do with your kids during this extended time spent at home.
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Puzzles. I discovered we did not have one age-appropriate puzzle in our home. Thank goodness for Amazon Prime. We went online together and picked out one that interested us and when it arrived the kids couldn’t wait to put it together. We spent two hours putting together our 300 piece Pokemon puzzle and the kids are begging for me to order more puzzles.
Board games. This is the perfect time to break out those board games that have been collecting dust on a shelf. You can even make a game out of playing board games.
This year on New Year’s Eve we opted to stay home. One of our fun indoor activities for the evening was making a game out of playing board games.
I wrote down on little slips of papers 12 different games. We put those slips of paper in the balloons and took turns popping the balloons throughout the night. Whatever game was inside the balloon was next on our list to play.
Make Your Own Board Game. We recently made our own board game incorporating science, reading, math and some dares. It was a great way to sneak in education and it made for hours of entertainment. We had a lot of fun playing it once it was finished. We made ours using a cardboard tri-fold, but you could also use a poster board. The dice and character pieces were just borrowed from other games.
Blocks and Magnets. Blocks and STEM Building block magnet sets are great fun indoor activities for kids. As I write this my kids are currently building a village out of Legos that haven’t been touched in months.
Reading. This is a great time to encourage a little extra reading. We made a challenge out of it to see how far we can get through our current family read of the Harry Potter series.
Fashion Show. If you have read any of my other posts you may know our family loves costumes. I even wrote an article with Ideas to Inspire Your Next Themed Family Halloween costume.
A fashion show with pieces from a dress-up box or perhaps even a parent’s closet makes for a fun indoor activity for the kids. I am always so amused by the zany outfits my two kids create.
Time Capsule. Although we created a time capsule at the start of 2020, I think any time is a great time to do this activity with kids. The kids completed sheets with their current height, age, things they like, what they would like to accomplish in 2020 and so on. We also added little mementos that reminded us of the current moment. We plan on opening it on New Year’s Eve next year and repeating it for 2021.
Cooking. This can be a really fun activity for kids. Eden and Xen love to bake but also have had fun learning new culinary skills like making sushi.
Physical Indoor Activities for Kids
We are still making sure we are getting fresh air during our social distancing with activities like walks and bike rides, but I know they are not getting the level of physical activity they are used to during the school day.
Indoor Games like Red Light Green Light, Freeze Dancing, and Hide and Seek are the perfect way to get up and moving. We even have been having a little Nerf war fun indoors.
Scavenger Hunt. This is a fun activity for kids at home that incorporates creativity, art, and physical activity. Let your child pick several toys or objects to hide around the home and create a map for the other children or perhaps you to find.
Exercise Videos. With a little Google search for fun exercise videos for kids, you will have a ton of options to engage your child in some physical activity. It may take some time to figure out what your child enjoys. Not every kid’s exercise video out there is for everyone. My kids actually prefer my Beachbody workouts, but Eden has been doing them with me since she could walk.
Arts and Crafts Indoor Activities for Kids
We love arts and crafts. Eden and I just made this lovely leprechaun trap for a crafting project yesterday, in hopes to catch a leprechaun on St. Patrick’s Day! She used things we found around the house and it made for a fun indoor activity. The possibilities are endless.
From making slime to paper bag puppets, there are probably plenty of things around your house that could provide hours of arts and craft activities for your kids.
Educational Indoor Activities for Kids
There are plenty of educational games online, but right now due to the school closures around the nation many educational companies are offering free subscriptions to their learning platforms. You can find the entire list here.
Perhaps a Virtual Field Trip or a virtual tour of one of the 12 Famous Museums around the world is in order? Both of these make for great educational indoor activities for kids and you can do it from the comfort of your living room. How cool is that?
In Conclusion
The ideas for indoor activities are endless. Of course, the activities will vary based on your child’s age, but I hope the ideas I shared inspired you. What is one of your favorite activities to do with your kids at home? Please share it below.
So many great ideas! especially great right now as many of us are facing several weeks at home to help reduce exposure to the coronavirus. Thanks!
These are some great indoor activities for the kiddos!
oh wow, I LOVE the balloon pop idea to help figure out the next activity. That is an activity in itself and since my son and I have bad aim, it’d probably take us a while to even get through that 🤣
Thanks for the idea of playing Freeze Dancing! I hadn’t thought of that to play with my 3 year old, but he will love that. And I think he would also love doing some family exercises together. He’s used to being able to go to preschool a few days a week so I’m having to look for new ways to keep him entertained!
Thanks for the great ideas! Grateful that we live in a rural area and we are still able to go outside. Although the weather hasn’t been super warm, we make sure to spend some time outside every day jumping on the trampoline, swinging, playing with the animals, planting, etc. I ordered some seeds to start indoors and we are going to plant them tomorrow.
That’s great! What a fun idea to start seeds indoors. I will have to be sure to do that with the kids. They did it last spring as a school assignment. Unfortunately, it’s 90 degrees here even in March so we have to go back and forth between fresh air and indoors.
Such a great list with fun activities for kids and families! I love a good puzzle, and my family definitely like board games and card games too!
These are great ideas! Especially at a time where everyone is stuck in the house and vacations are being cancelled.
Thanks for the ideas. I like the idea of making your own board game!
Thank you for sharing. Although some were on my list, some were not. Didn’t think of Red Light, Green Light. I used to play it and loved it. Working on a non-egg Easter hunt with those plastic eggs. Will put in candy, trinkets from Oriental Trading or Party City, coupons/gift certificates, fortunes, charms, jewelry, etc. Love the balloon popping activity. Great for ADD children. Going to organize a Family Chopped activity. Love the ideas.
A Family Chopped Activity sounds fun! 🙂