At-Home Activities For Kids

Here are 35+ At-Home Activities For Kids!  These simple ideas are great for when you’re stuck at home due to illness, weather, or a break from school. Most can be modified for a wide range of ages.

Hi friends!

I’ve got more at home activities for kids to share with you today. Last week I shared my Indoor Activities for Kids and for the past two weeks I’ve been keeping a list of all the activities we’ve done while stuck at home. I thought I would round them up into a post so you can save it for easy reference. (Don’t forget I also have an Indoor Activities for Toddlers post!)

We’ve been using the Pre-Kindergarten Daily Schedule I created to help us come up with ideas for the day and then we’ve been working our way through the activities my five-year-old chooses, plus some extras for entertainment as needed. 

There’s no right or wrong when it comes to this list. No rules on how many of them you need to do in a certain amount of time. Just browse the list for inspiration, modify as needed based on preferences, available supplies, etc and most importantly…have fun!

Without further adieu, here are some activities we’ve done over the past couple of weeks! (Check out my IG highlights to see us doing all of these things)

At-Home Activities For Kids

• Do a tabata workout – we loved this Avengers Tabata. OR make up your own tabata, take turns picking movements and then do it together!
• Check out Glenn Higgins Fitness on Youtube for tons of other workouts for kids!
• Find all the letters of the alphabet on a walk or on things in your pantry. Have siblings race to see who can find them all first!
• Play exercise Simon Says – give commands like “simon says do 3 push-ups, simon says run up and down the stairs, simon says jump on one foot 10 times”

• Take a nature walk, then come home and learn about something. We heard a woodpecker on ours so we watched this video- Why Don’t Woodpeckers Heads Hurt? Or just go outside and look around with some binoculars! 
• Learn about something new on the SciShow Kids youtube channel.
• Draw a blueprint for something and then try to build it. (We did this with a leprechaun trap)
• Make muffins and learn about the difference between baking soda and baking powder with this easy experiment!

• Draw shapes or simple images with a sharpie. Tape the paper to a window. Have the kids hold a blank piece of paper over top and trace. 
• Do a lunch doodle session with Mo Willems (author of Don’t Let the Pigeon + Elephant & Piggie)
• Learn about a new animal via the Home Safari videos on The Cincinnati Zoo Facebook page.
• Build a fort. We love The Ultimate Fort Builder from Lakeshore Learning. Or go old school and use couch cushions, pillows and sheets.
• Try some Go Noodle videos to get moving (my kids like Raise the Roof, Yes I Want to Build a Snowman & Fabio’s Meatball Run).

• Freeze tiny toys in ice cube trays or other containers and let the kids “free” them using a syringe and hot water.
• Play with tongs. See how many dominos or other small objects you can pick up in 30 seconds, move small objects from one bowl to another across the room, etc.
• Build with toothpicks. Set out some grapes, chopped sweet potatoes, marshmallows, playdough etc and toothpicks and let them build!
• Watch this video of an elaborate chain reaction and then try to set up your own chain reaction or marble run.
• Tape the outline of an airplane on the floor with painters tape so they can go on an imaginary trip.
• Take a walk and build a story. Ask the kids to fill in the blanks as you make up a story – “There once was a bear named ______ and every day he went to work at _______, etc)

• Make a placemat – punch out shapes, stick them on contact paper, write your name in the middle, stick a piece of construction paper on the back and then cover with another piece of contact paper.
• Start reading a chapter book out loud to them or listen to an audiobook.
• Build a house out of cards.
• Repurpose an old canvas photo by covering it with butcher paper and painting on it. Then let your child hang it in their room!
• Blow up a balloon and see how long you can keep it in the air using your hands, a spatula, a fly swatter etc.

• Cut a picture frame out of cardboard, cover with construction paper and decorate it!
• Learn how to make paper airplanes! Watch this video for a basic one or this video for two slightly more advanced versions! The Eagle in the second video is our favorite.
• Make up a deck of cards workouts. Pick out a movement for each suit. Make it shorter for younger kids by only using Ace thru 5 for each suit or make it tougher by doing the whole deck of cards!
• Make sock puppets or popsicle stick puppets.

• Make sidewalk chalk paint! I mix 1/3 cup cornstarch with 2/3 cup water and a little washable paint….but you can use flour for cornstarch, food coloring instead of paint or even just crush up sidewalk chalk and mix with water
• Pull out the kitchen scale, gather up some objects, guess the weight and then weigh them. Practice writing the names of the objects, the numbers for your guess, organizing them lightest to heaviest etc.
• Make rainbow cupcakes. Use your favorite cupcake recipe, split the batter into bowls, color each one with food coloring, then layer the colored batter and bake!
• Load up with wagon with siblings or weights and let your child pull it on a walk for some exercise.
• Do a sidewalk workout. Have you child do one movement from one driveway to the next (or for 3-4 sidewalk squares) and then call out a new movement. Stop at each driveway to do squats, sprints etc. Some ideas for movements: run, hop on one foot, skip, run backwards, side shuffle, lunge, bear crawl, crab walk, etc.

• Do a robot rubbing. Check out this post for details but basically you cut a robot out of a cereal box, glue it down and then do a crayon rubbing on paper.
• Make homemade pizza – we used this recipe for whole wheat pizza crust and it was delicious!
• Listen to a book or two on Storyline Online or at @Savewithstories on Instagram.
• Have a jumping contest. Mark how far you can jump off two feet, one foot, running and backward then try to beat your previous attempt.
• Hide objects in a box with a hole in it. Have the kids reach in and try to guess the object by feel.
• Go bowling with solo cups or empty cans and a ball or make a ring toss out of a paper towel tube and some paper plates with the middles cut out.

Hope that gives you some new ideas!

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–