Do you feel like some days it is hard to come up with indoor activities for kids? Whether it’s because of a day off of school, sick day, snow day, or even a day that is too hot to go outside we are sharing the Best Indoor Activities for Kids that your kids will have a blast doing!
To help try to structure your day when you are going to spend it inside, think of how schools structure their days into blocks.
Learning then recess then snack then learning…you get the drift.
Use school structured blocks as your inspiration for your family indoor activities. A block of this and a block of that. It will keep it interesting and different each day. Here is an example:
Kids’ Indoor Activities Schedule
- Wake up.
- Have breakfast. Brush teeth. Get dressed.
- Make beds.
- Educational activity
- Physical activity
- Morning snack
- Free play
- Help make lunch
- Arts n’ crafts
- Physical activity
- Afternoon snack
- Quiet time
- Help make dinner
- Dinner
- Showers
- TV
- Reading
- Bed
This schedule can inspire you to create blocks of time for kids. Some kids need the structure of a schedule. It provides consistency. Something to count on.
Physical Indoor Activities for Kids
Physical activities are great indoor activities for kids, not only move kids’ bodies but it also helps tire them out for quiet time and bedtime!
- Obstacle course. Using things you have around your house you can easily build an obstacle course. For a level up…time the runs.
- Video Scavenger Hunt. Just because you are indoors doesn’t mean your kids need to be isolated. Take advantage of real-time tech connections like Facetime, Skype, or Google Hangouts for a video scavenger hunt.
- Indoor gym. Set up an indoor workout space for your kids to lift weights (cans of vegetables), do sit-ups, and jumping jacks.
- Youtube daily physical activity. There are lots of Youtube videos that instruct kids to move their bodies. Suggestion: Cosmic Kids Yoga
- Practice their extracurricular at home. Can they practice their dance routine? Karate kata? Bridge pose for gymnastics? Stance for baseball?
- Indoor dance party. All you need is music and some space.
- Indoor bowling. Using an indoor bowling set or empty, clean, plastic bottles and a tennis ball.
- Balloon volleyball. Just blow it up and volley to keep it from touching the ground.
Educational Indoor Activities for the Family
Maintain learning skills by incorporating some educational activities into your kids’ days.
- Monopoly. You count money, spaces, and rent.
- Trivia games. What do you know?
- Operation. Learn about parts of the body.
- Chess and checkers. It’s about strategy.
- Hangman and Scrabble. Builds vocabulary and spelling skills.
- Bananagrams and Boggle. Families who are learning 2nd/3rd languages can play them in those languages to boost vocabulary knowledge.
- Curriculum books. Help keep up kids to their grade levels.
- Kids in the kitchen. Teach your kids life skills by making something together. It can be breakfast, lunch, dinner, or dessert. They learn about reading a recipe, following directions, and measurement.
Arts and Crafts Ideas for Kids
Arts and crafts not only pass time but gives you something to decorate your walls.
- Painting (paint by number, paint with water for kids, watercolors, washable craft paint). Painting is a great creative outlet for kids.
- Coloring books and pages. If you don’t have coloring books at home you can certainly download and print some off the web.
- Popsicle stick crafts. Think Popsicle stick boxes, airplanes, wishing wells, picture frames and more.
Talking about crafts for kids: You might be interested in trying one of these 12 Easy Crafts for Kids
- Making a vision board. Use old magazines to cut out words and pictures and glue to construction paper.
- Making a journal. Write a “Dear Diary” or bullet journal entry.
- Drawing comics. You can download free templates off the web or just draw comic boxes on a blank sheet of paper and fill in the action.
- Make a birdhouse out of recycled materials. Think milk carton, cardboard toilet paper roll, tin can.
- Build a little free library. You can upcycle and decorate a cardboard box or make one out of wood.
Creative Play Ideas for Kids
Creative play and free play is a great way for kids to entertain themselves.
- Build a fort. All you need are blankets and chairs.
- Play dress up. Either go to the dress-up bin or take out clothes from the parents’ closet. (Psst…Dad’s dress shirts work well!)
- Pretend kitchen play. Get out the bowls and wooden spoons and mix up pretend brownies.
- Play with cars/trains. Use a track, make a track, or make your own road using things you have around the home.
- Play pet hospital with stuffed animals. Check teddy’s blood pressure, heartbeats, and more to ensure he’s healthy and well.
- Play restaurant. With a notepad and pencil, kids can “take” orders.
- Play with action/princess/animal figures. Great way to play out the movies they have seen with those characters.
Quiet Time Activities for Kids
Kids (and parents) need some downtime during the day. These suggestions work for most ages.
- Reading. Reading with someone and reading independently is a great quiet time activity for kids.
- Listening to music. Just sitting and/or lying down and listening to music can be a great pause on the day.
- Watching a movie or TV show. Not only will it entertain the kids, but this might also be the best time for parents to schedule that conference call as the house might be at its quietest point.
- Age-appropriate computer games. Make use of parental controls on tablets and computers, set time limits, and suggest games that might be of interest.
- Legos. Follow directions, create something tangible, have fun playing.
Sometimes we are at a loss for the best indoor activities for kids. Hopefully, this list helps make the indoor time a little more entertaining for everyone.
If the kids are enjoying one activity…do not feel the need to move on to the next.
Allow them to be in the moment and enjoy. When you see them losing interest, this is your cue to move on to another activity (or pause for a snack). Snacks are always a great activity for kids!
What indoor activities do your kids enjoy? Share in the comments!
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Very useful, thanks! I will enjoy playing these games with my little girl.