Kids can be a handful when they start getting restless with boundless energy, especially when they have to stay at home. But you can still have plenty of fun bonding time with kids around the home. Here are some fun indoor activities for kids that you can do at home.
Indoor Activities For Kids
1. Bake a Batch of Cookies
Get your child involved by having him or her help you out in the kitchen. If you are a baking maestro, whip up the dough from scratch. If you are culinary-challenged, there is no shame in buying a premix. Kids will have plenty of fun with this indoor activity for kids you can do at home. Plus, you get to eat the results too!
2. Read a Book Together
There is no more-classic indoor activity for kids that you can do at home than reading a book together. Cuddle up with your favourite tome and spend time reading together.
3. Play a Tabletop Game
Personally, one of our favourite games for younger children is Monopoly Junior. There is no need to be uber competitive, it is just a bit of fun. With older ones, try games like Sushi Go or Saboteur if you have enough people available.
4. Make Popcorn and settle down for a Family-friendly Show
Family movie night (or day) can be a thing. Elevate the experience by popping some popcorn and having everyone settle down with some cushions to watch the show. If you have Netflix, we have some suggestions of shows to watch.
5. Compete in a LEGO Face-Off
Pull out your LEGO bricks and have a building competition. Set a theme and give five minutes to come up with the most creative interpretation of the theme. How about trying themes like “flying machine” or “friendly monster”?
6. Have a Home Treasure Hunt
Take a small trinket and show it to everyone so that they can identify it. Next, the Treasure Hider will have 20 counts to hide the trinket around the home. After that, it is a game of “hide and seek” as the Treasure Hunters go in search of the Home Treasure trinket.
7. Have a Campfire Night
At night, create a “campfire” by lighting a small scented candle or just switch on a torchlight while all the rest of the lights in the house are off. Add on some shadow play and silly songs. You can also narrate stories to your children off the top of your heads. For added points, break out the bag of marshmallows.
8. Make Food Paints
With some salt, flour, water and food colouring, you can make your own food paints. Half the fun is in the making as kids get to concoct their own colours. The other half of the fun is in using them to make something colourful and creative.
9. Water Bottle Bowling
Take spare water bottles you have at home and half-fill them with water. Alternatively, you can use paper cups turned upside down for stability. Next, line them up like bowling pins and use a ball to knock them down. Strike!
10. Create a DIY Home Obstacle Course
Find a corridor or spot at home which isn’t too wide and crisscross the spac with some string or raffia to create an obstacle course. Kids can imagine it is a laser maze that they have to get across without getting zapped by the laser. Mission Impossible!
11. Make a Rube Goldberg Machine
When it comes to indoor activities for kids that fuse creativity with perseverance, let your imagination run wild by creating a Rube Goldberg Machine at home. Make use of household objects in completely unnecessary ways to perform a simple task.
12. Experiment with Oobleck
You can whip up a batch of oobleck at home and experiment with the non-newtonian fluid. Kids will be amazed as it oozes about when grabbed with the hand and yet acts like a solid when it is smacked.
13. Make an Origami Jumping Frog
Ribbit, ribbit. Using some paper, you can make your own origami jumping frog. Once the frogs are assembled, see which one can jump the furthest. Get the instructions here.
14. Build a House of Cards
This indoor activity for kids will take plenty of patience. Find out how high you can make a house of cards go.
15. Toothpick Tower
A simpler alternative to stacking a house of cards is to put together a toothpick tower. What you’ll need are some toothpicks and plasticine. Use the plasticine to join the toothpicks together. Set a challenge for kids to reach – for example the height of a bottle.
16. Play Five Stones
Introduce your kids to the classic childhood game of five stones.
17. Make Fingerprint Cards for the Next Holiday
Craft a card to give away to family and friends for the next holiday. You can use paints to make simple fingerprints on the cards and turn them into figures. Decorate them appropriately with holiday greetings.
18. Craft a Bookmark
Encourage kids to read by getting them to make their own personalised bookmark. All it takes is some card and a bit of string or ribbon to attach to one end.
19. Paper Helicopter
Another easy indoor activity to do with kids is to make a paper helicopter. With a few simple snips and folds, you can watch as the paper helicopter floats down spinning away. Alternatively, experiment to see who can fold a paper aeroplane that flies the furthest.
20. Create Your Own Board Game
To stir up your child’s creativity, help him or her make a brand new board game. First, brainstorm about the theme. After that, create the gameplay board and come up with the rules on how to move around the board.
21. Build a Blanket Fort
A blanket fort is a chance for kids to exercise their creativity and their imagination in one activity. It is super-adventurous to be able to crawl inside and pretend to fend off the monsters outside. Something that parents can enjoy and bond over with their kids too.
22. Music Listening and Movement Activities
Staying at home presents a good opportunity to engage in some listening and movement activities to encourage your child to imagine, play and move. Not sure what to listen for? This story by The Music Circle shows you how.
23. Instruments of the Orchestra
Staying with theme of music, you can engage with your child by play-pretend that he or she is in the orchestra. The Hornpipe from Handel’s Water Music is an ideal piece of music to use. Find out how here.
24. Simon Says
Young children never tire of Simon Says – that’s why it is a classic! Simon Says touch your toes; Simon Says spin three times. It all works until Simon Says, “Go to bed”.
25. Don’t Let the Balloon Touch the Ground
This one is self-explanatory. Blow up a balloon and pass it from one person to another and see how many times it can be passed around before the balloon touches the ground.
26. Exercise with GoNoodle
GoNoodle is a YouTube channel with plenty of movement and action videos. Rather than passively watch videos, get kids moving and grooving with this channel.
27. Welcome to the World of Household Chores
Perhaps it is time to introduce the kids to ways they can help around the house. Show them some age-appropriate chores and get them to help out. Give them a role to be responsible for and let them take ownership!
28. Learn to Do the Vanishing Coin Trick
Want to give kids something to work on, introduce them to the Disappearing Coin trick. It requires a bit of practice and also help to develop fine motor skills. Once they have mastered it, they can impress their friends.
29. Try Science Experiments
Stay at home, kids can still carry out hands-on activities to learn about science. For simple science projects, check out Science Sparks for ideas at the Early Years and Primary levels.
30. Learn to Play an Instrument
For older kids, being stuck at home could be just the right opportunity to get them learning an instrument. Some that you can start off with are the ukulele or the cajon. There are instructional videos online which can get them started.
31. Create a Mini Terrarium or Potting
With the right container or pot along with some soil, you can get your mini garden going at home.
32. Make a Pizza
Kids love pizzas. Have them make their own from scratch. This activity allows them to learn more about how food is made.
33. Start a Family Newspaper
This is a fun way to get kids to apply themselves and practise some writing too. The family newspaper need not be a long one – it can just be an A4 sheet folded into two. Get them to include pictures too!
34. Make a Collage
Want creative indoor activities for kids? Take out some old magazines and get them to cut out the pictures to create a collage. Set a theme such as a “picnic” to get started.
35. Have a Freeze-Dance Party
Another fun and silly thing to do is to have a Freeze-Dance Party. Get your favourite music blasting on the speakers and when the music stops, everyone must freeze! Watch out for all the funny poses and get ready for some silly laughs.
36. Paper Mache Mask
Using some flour, water and old newspaper, you can easily create a custom paper mache mask. After it has dried, be sure to paint it together.
37. Animation Flip Book
Take an old book and show the kids how to create their own animated story by drawing on the edges. All it needs is a pencil and some creativity.
38. Fix a Jigsaw Puzzle
Jigsaw puzzles can range from the simple to the super-complicated. 10 pieces to 1000 pieces. Depending on what type of challenge you are up for, take your pick.
39. Clear out the Cupboard
Perhaps there are toys or old items in the kids’ cupboards that you haven’t seen for ages. If you are at home with the kids, use the opportunity to have them sort through the items together. Who knows, you may come across some hidden treasures.
40. Make Upcycled Toys
Teach kids about how items can be reused and upcycled. For example, you can turn a milk carton into a boat.
41. Make Your Own Play Dough
Making your own play dough isn’t that difficult and can be made with simple items found at home.
42. Sensory Play
For those with young children looking for indoor activities for kids, sensory play at home is something easy to do. Create your own sensory bottles or use coloured rice for little ones to get scooping and pouring. Find out more here.
43. Make Slime
The slime craze may have died down a little but kids will still jump at the opportunity to make their own slime at home. It is one of the indoor activities for kids they will jump on.
44. Create a Routine
Get the kids to help make a routine for their week. This not only helps to ensure that they don’t miss what they need to get done but also involves them in the decision-making process. Find out how here.
45. Compile a Family Recipe Book
Together with the kids, compile a book of recipes that the whole family can try. Use the opportunity to also teach them about healthy eating habits.
46. Start a Family Scrap Book
Memories are too often kept in the digital realm nowadays. Start a family scrap book to not only hold pictures of precious milestones but little pieces of memorabilia too.
47. Make a Learning Shelf
Why not create a corner where you can fill with learning materials for kids to learn about different topics and subjects. Don’t waste the opportunity to spend some quality times bonding and teaching them new things too.
48. Make a Fruit Loop Necklace
For young children, stringing together Fruit Loops is a chance to practise their fine motor skills. Once they are done, it is a colourful necklace they can munch on.
49. Stage a Musical
Take a classic story and turn it into a musical. Kids can let their creativity flow, rehearse it and stage it for the family to enjoy!
50. Make Cute Bentos Together
A good excuse to play with food and prepare a meal at the same time.
51. Create a Countries of the World Book
Choose a country and create a thematic scrap book based on the country. Together with your child, you can work through topics like its location, geography, language, traditions and landmarks. It is a great way to learn about another culture. It can even lead to trying out the foods from the country or even visiting it in the future.
