Running out of ways to keep your kids entertained while staying at home? Here are some of our favorite ideas for indoor activities that will keep your kids busy without involving any screens.
Arts and Crafts
Crafts are a great way to encourage creativity and out-of-the-box thinking, especially when stuck indoors. Keep in mind that some of these crafts may require more supervision depending on the activity and the age of your children.
- Trace your child’s hands and feet and let them color them in
- Make custom bookmarks for their favorite books
- Decorate old t-shirts with fabric paint or tie-dye
- Create a cardboard playhouse for their dolls or action figures
- Paint pet rocks
- Finger paint with washable paints
- Make a Rube Goldberg machine with empty toilet paper rolls
- Make hand-drawn or painted cards to send to friends and family
- Make a time capsule
- Make a collage with old magazine clippings
- Make a sensory box
- Make homemade playdough or slime
- Make paper airplanes and see which design flies the farthest
- Make dioramas out of shoeboxes or cereal boxes
- Make sock puppets and put on a puppet show
Less Supervision Required
Sometimes, especially if you are working from home, you need an activity that your children can do by themselves or with little supervision. While these activities require some initial set-up, they are things your children can do in the background while you get work done.
- Set up an age-appropriate puzzle station
- Color in a coloring book
- Set out drawing supplies and have them draw on blank paper. Staple the drawings together into a book when they’re done
- Make a reading corner with a pile of pillows and your child’s favorite books
- Use painter’s tape or masking tape to make a road on the floor for their toy cars
- Play with magnets
- Play with kinetic sand
- Play with Play-Doh
- Have them create a play with their favorite stuffed animals
- Build something with Legos
- Make a town out of blocks
- Set up dominos and knock them down
Energy Burners
If your children need to use some built-up energy, try a few of these activities to get them moving:
- Make indoor hopscotch with masking tape. Switch up the instructions each time! (“Hop in each square with your right foot,” or “Pick up the beanbag with your toes”)
- Make an indoor obstacle course
- Hold “animal races” in a spacious room or hallway (“Walk like a duck!” or “Jump like a frog!”)
- Play indoor bowling with plastic cups or empty water bottles
- Play keep the balloon off the ground
- Have a dance party and freeze in position when the music pauses
- Get creative with painter’s tape
- Set up an indoor scavenger hunt
Activities For All
Want to get the rest of the family involved? Try some of these group activities for fun with the entire family.
- Have a family board game night
- Play musical chairs
- Bake cookies or cupcakes together and decorate them
- Have a dance party
- Play hide and seek
- Let the kids write their own play and perform it for you
- Let the kids create their own dance and perform it for you
- Have an indoor picnic
- Storytime! Read a book (or books) aloud
- Pretend the floor is lava
- Play pretend and go on an adventure
- Play Simon Says
- Make a blanket fort and make s’mores
Do you have other suggestions for indoor activities we could add to this list? We would love to hear how you and your children have been staying busy while social distancing!
Do you have more questions about keeping your kids healthy in Salem Oregon? Contact our friendly staff at WFMC Health or become a new patient today!
