50+ IDEAS FOR BEING HOME WITH KIDS

In light of trip cancellations and possible extended Spring Breaks, we thought it would be fun to collect a list of ideas of fun things to do with your kids while they are home.

50+ IDEAS FOR BEING HOME WITH KIDS

• Have each kid pick a topic they’d like to learn about and spend 30 mins each day on that topic
  
• Spend one day reading every single picture book we have in the house
  
• Go through all the old mail laying around (ok, that one’s not for kids although they do enjoy helping tear stuff up)
  
• Bake something every day
  
• Have each kid write a letter and/or emails to a different friend or family member each day
  
• Use all of our building toys on one giant structure
  
• Races of various kinds in the backyard (hopping on one foot, crabwalk, walking backwards, etc.)
  
• Try stop motion animation with playdough
  
• Facetime grandparents a lot
  
• Watch everything on Disney+
  
• Inventory the plants & wildlife (from bugs on up) in your yard.
  
• Learn the parts of plants/flowers & how they function (bonus if they learn the Latin names).
  
• Write a short story & illustrate it.
  
• Have the kids help with yardwork in between playing games outside. They’re little, but they like getting dirty and “working” in the gardens.
  GoNoodle! Great for guided movement, relaxation, etc.
  
• Board games & card games
  
• Build with Legos 
  
• Extreme dot to dot books (1400 dots)
  
• Lots of reading
• Working on learning to sew using stuff we have on hand. 
  
• Card making/scrapbooking projects
  
• Make tents and reading caves with flashlights, tidy snacks, books, and pillows!
  
• Have a shadow show in the reading tent (we used blankets over chairs or a table)
  
• Get binoculars and learn about the birds near your house, look them up on google and search for their birdcalls on YouTube
  
• Learn how to make a stuffed animal
  
• Play with cornstarch and water and cheap action figures
  
• Make something out of a bunch of tape, markers and cardboard boxes
  
• Watch all the hand washing videos & vote on your favorite. Discuss why each good, helpful, funny. The Holderness parody one is hilarious, the Vietnam Tiktok one is great choreography, some have good songs etc.
  
• Also pick your favorite song with a 20 second refrain or verse perfect for hand washing length of time.
  
• Family puzzles. (500-1000 pieces)
  
• Team up and really clean and organize each kid’s space, making a donation box for each. Parents are included.
  
• Have a board game day
  
• Write a story cooperatively. One person picks a character and the other picks a setting and then go gangbusters together.
  
• Any and all art is fun at home: beading, painting, drawing, play dough or kinetic sand, sewing, etc.
  
• Yoga, Zumba or Dance-along videos on YouTube
  
• Draw self portraits on blank faces 
  
• Scavenger hunts, indoor treasure hunts where they follow clues through the house to a “treasure” at the end (could be candy, a movie, whatever), and a lot of charades.
  
• Find a few easy “kitchen chemistry” type science experiments that are easy to do, like making slime, baking soda and vinegar reaction, etc.
  
• Give the dogs a bath and brush 
  
• Wash and clean out the car
  
• Play sidewalk chalk outside
  
• Glow stick party
  
• Popcorn + movie marathon
  
• Listen to kid podcasts – we love story pirates and smash boom best. 
  
• Declutter toys! 
  
• Have an Olympics with a bunch of events competitions – funny ones, helpful ones like cleaning and really fun ones like minute to win in style.
  
• Learn new card games
  
• Dig up all the activity books, presents, etc that never got played with, and use those!
  
• Building a tent in the house with blankets and chairs. Great for just before nap time.
  
• Do a study on planets, then have the kids create their own planets- how big is it, where in the universe is it located, atmosphere conditions, can it sustain life, how long is a day/year, name it, etc.
  you could even spread the planets out around the house to show “approx.” distance from each other. 
  
• Design a new space craft, draw plans, then create out of legos or household items. Spend some time pretending you’re on different planets with different gravity.
  
• Do some fun physics experiments like making a bridge out of straws, egg drop protectors, paper airplanes, etc.
  
• Puzzle races: put several puzzles (20+ piece puzzles) in a paper bag and shake it up. Pour pieces out and give each person the puzzle box they are to put together. Go! (Cooperation tends to be a result as pieces are traded.)