With the recent mandates to shelter at home…we recognize there’s a need for some creative ways to pass the time on a rainy day…or amidst a deadly virus! This a compiled list of some of our favorite activities. You can check out more ideas, inspiration, and see how we do some of these in our own homes on the blog at In the Everyday (www.intheeveryday.net )
- Paper airplane wars
- Scavenger Hunt (even indoors OR on a car ride!)
- All family game of Hide & Go Seek or Sardines
- Costume Party (get some more use out of the Halloween costumes they’re about to grow out of!)
- Make your own play-dough/silly putty/slime (Pinterest for recipes)
- Make your own music video
- Stick them in the bathtub or shower with a tube of shaving cream for extra long, extra bubbles bath
- Make your own puzzles - cut up magazine pages or even family pictures
- Board games
- Make forts using sheets & blankets
- Build-with-a-box! Make a car, castle, a fort, whatever! Then paint or color them.
- A walk down memory lane: bring out your kids’ baby books, artwork from when they were younger, old family movies from when they (or you!) were babies, and get out old baby pictures.
- Learn a new worship song
- Go on a walk
- Do a living room exercise or stretching moves (Amazon has free kid workout videos)
- Virtual Field Trips
- Schedule meal times and have the kids help clean up before each meal to cut down on messes
- FaceTime with friends
- Paint rocks and pictures in the backyard
- "Zoo Field Trip": have each kid pick an animal, take a picture with stuffed animal or picture of animal and then include 2 facts about the animal in a group text thread. Kids then can look through all the pictures of their friends with their animals and learn 2 facts each! This was Margot's school assignment since they could not go to the zoo as planned but you could pick a different theme every day if you wanted!
- Kinetic sand
- Dye Easter eggs
- Treasure hunt in the backyard with picnic or snack at the end - www.worksheetfun.com
- Paper chain to track how long you stay home
- Go for a drive
- Memory verse competition: all kids memorize three new verses and everyone gets a prize when complete
- The app “Plants Cats and Dogs”- you snap a picture of a plant or animal in your yard and it identifies them for you.
- Amazon’s free kid workout videos
- Write letters or make cards for friends, neighbors, and grandparents. Pick a pen pal!
- Picture books spread on the floor and have them look at all the pictures
- Kids read, or even better, read to them! *let them color or play Legos while you read aloud.
- Bike riding, scootering, skateboarding, etc.
- Side walk chalk
- Find worms
- Rainbow scavenger hunt: go find the colors of the rainbow in leaves and flowers outside or on a walk. Come back in and glue the rainbow down to construction paper!
- Create your own “picture book” by folding construction paper and putting printer paper inside. Staple together and you have a book to color/write in!
- Create paper bag puppets and then put on a puppet show…you can even video it and sent it to friends.
- Dress up in costumes and put on a play and FaceTime friends while you’re performing. It’s like you’re putting on a live movie just for them!
- Hide things (like stuffed animal or small toy) in your house and play the “hot/cold” game. Siblings can do this with each other, too.
- Print out coloring pages of their favorite characters if you have a printer
- Set out a different morning activity to get them busy RIGHT away and give you some time to prep breakfast (or sleep in)
$20 or less
- Slime Kits (available on Amazon)
- Face-painting day (kits available on Amazon)
- Glow-stick dance party in the dark (glow-sticks in the bathtub at night with lights off is fun too!)
- Plant an herb garden
- Buy balloons and get creative with games - Water balloon wars or target practice - Food coloring squirt bottles
- “Paint” the bushes, dirt, tree trunks, etc.
- Nerf wars - set up your own barricades & bases in the backyard or even in the living room
- Bubbles machine or use wands, outside or in bath-tub
- Pet Bugs: bug catching kits (Amazon)
- Stick-Whittling competitions (for older kids -Amazon)
- Water beads in sensory table or bowls (can find on Amazon)
- Craft box
- Water color pencils (less mess but still WAY fun)
- Dot paint pens
- Coloring contest
- Teach them a new game they haven’t played before.
- Tea party
- Board games
- Card games
- Puzzles
- Teach your girls to braid hair
- Playing catch can be indoor or outdoor depending on the space and the ball
- Indoor baseball with a whiffle ball wrapped in duct tape
- Tell riddles or read a joke book
Work Activity Ideas:
· School
· New household chores (chores show family unity)
- sorting laundry
- deep clean
- re-organize
- sweeping
- give a wet wipe to each kid and have them help disinfect
Projects - you have the time now so…
- things that need to be fixed
- painted
- yard work/pulling weeds
- teach how to use power tools
- teach how to change and fill a bike tire
- put batteries in toys
