If your tribe is going stir crazy with lockdown rules – here’s 40 stay at home activities for kids.
Indoors activities
There’s plenty of fun stay at home activities to do that are indoors, but if the weather is great, save these ones for a rainy day!
- Baking or cooking. Get the kids to follow a recipe and help out in the kitchen
- Craft projects are a great way to stay occupied
- Rearrange the furniture in the kids’ bedrooms
- Clear out the kids’ wardrobes and make a list of items that need updating seasonally
- Clean up bookshelves and cupboards
Outdoors activities
If you can’t leave the house, there are plenty of things to do in your own backyard to keep the kids entertained.
- Set up a tent and have a campout
- Get the chalk out and decorate the driveway
- Climb a tree
- Have a handstand competition
- Create a vegetable garden
- Do some painting and artwork in the backyard for quick and easy cleanup
Exercise-based activities
If you need to burn some energy, these exercise-based activities are both fun and tiring.
- Teach the kids to rollerskate/rollerblade or ride a skateboard
- Use socks tucked into your shorts to create a game of Oztag
- If your kids haven’t learned to ride their bicycle without training wheels – lockdown is the perfect time to learn
- Ball games of any type! Handball, dodgeball, soccer, basketball etc.
- Create an obstacle course or ninja course and time the kids
Activities for brainy kids
If you have an inquisitive tribe, try some of these super fun educational activities.
- There are loads of fun science experiments you can do at home
- Set some time aside to work on a puzzle – this activity can last for a few weeks and is super rewarding when it’s completed
- Make playdough, slime or plasticine from scratch – then play with it
- Pick a book series and start a daily read with the kids. Sit them down for a chapter a day until they’re hooked
- Try making an invention. Give the kids household objects like toilet rolls, tape, straws, paper, foil and see what they can create
Activities for kids with pets
One of the best parts about lockdown is getting extra time with your pets. Your pets will love you for it too.
- Walk the dog and see how many different routes you can take within your lockdown radius
- If the weather is good, have a pet pamper day and give the pets and their belongings a clean
- Teach your dog new tricks. Research some basic tricks and work with the kids to teach them to your dog
- Do a fun Tik Tok challenge with your pet. You can do the ‘say your dog’s favourite word’ challenge or the ‘slow-motion call their name’ challenge
Activities including technology
It can be so tempting to hand the kids an iPad and leave them to their own devices, but these cool technology games will make you feel better about screen time during lockdown.
- Search for a touch typing game. Our tribe love Dance Mat Typing which is free via the BBC website
- Create your own YouTube mock channel – record toy reveals with the kids. You don’t need to upload them, but the kids will love creating the videos
- If you have a projector, put up a white sheet in the yard and put on an outdoors cinema experience
- Play a family round of an online game. Pick a game that you can all play at the same time and hook up an online family match
- Organise a virtual play date with friends. Kids messenger, facetime or whats app are great apps to help the kids connect online
Musical activities
Get the kids to enjoy some musical activities as a different kind of boredom buster.
- Have a disco in the lounge room! Turn the lights off and the music up. If you have glow-in-the-dark sticks – even better!
- Have a karaoke competition
- Write a song – see if you can write some lyrics for your own song challenge
- Play musical games like musical chairs or musical statues
- Learn to play a musical instrument – if you’ve got a guitar, piano or another instrument laying around… give it a go! If you don’t, watch The Vegetable Orchestra with the kids then make your own instruments from the pantry
Dramatic activities
If you ever did drama at school, you might remember some of the really fun games and exercises you did with your class to loosen everyone up. Try a few of those with the kids.
- Space jump is a really fun game that everyone can enjoy together. Here’s how to play.
- Have a poetry reciting competition. We love having our own family talent quests. Send the kids to learn a poem and then get back together for the performance
- Put on a puppet show. If you don’t have puppets – make them!
- Play charades with the kids
- Have a movie day. Make sure you have popcorn and theatre snacks so it feels like you’ve gone to the movies
