Stuck at home with the kids? You’ll love these 10 (fun) Activities for Kids to enjoy at home!
So you’re confined to your home with your kids and feel like you are about to lose your mind? Join the club! Keeping kids busy when you are home for most of the day can be challenging, but what is a mom if not someone who is up for a challenge? That’s what we do!
Some may be home because we choose to be. Stay at home moms, work at home moms, and for other reasons being at home is the season of life we are in right now. For others this is a temporary situation where we find ourselves having to stay home most of the day with our kids.
Being a mom is hard! I won’t sugarcoat it, while it does get easier as the kids grow and become more independent, it never really becomes easy. It’s just a different kind of difficulty. We are built to do the job, and can make it easier on ourselves with a little planning, a lot of patience, and some great ideas to keep our kids busy.
Whether it’s summer vacation, spring break, or you if homeschool, these ideas to keep your kids busy at home will help ease the burden. You may even have a little fun with them!
10 Activities For Kids for When You’re Stuck At Home
1. Fitness Is Fun
Staying active is not just important for a healthy body, but also for a healthy mind! This goes for adults and kids alike. The internet has many indoor fitness activities for kids. Check out my review of Les Mills at home workouts, they have several for kids!
Find one that is age appropriate and clear out the living room and have them follow the instructor. Be sure to stay nearby to help them with balance and technique. This workout looks like a ton of fun!
MAKE THE MOST OF TECHNOLOGY
2. Call A Friend
Not being able to see their friends or attend regular play dates can be tough on a kid. Kids can become sad or even depressed if they aren’t able to socially interact with others outside of their households. Using tools like Zoom or Facetime can be great to gain access to their buddies in real time and catch up.
Zoom seems to be all the rage these days and for good reason. It’s easily accessible and simple to use, even for kids. Several can join at once and it can be a safe place to chat, share ideas and even to virtually do activities together. We all need social interaction, luckily we don’t have to go without, even if we’re stuck indoors!
3. Take An Art or Music Class Online
Youtube is loaded with creative people who enjoy sharing their gifts with the world. If your child has expressed an interest in art or music, find an online class that is suited for their age and experience level.
Step it up a notch by having your child plan a virtual concert or art lesson for friends and family. They’ll love showing off their new skills!
BRING BACK HOME EC CLASS
4. Teach Them to Cook a Meal
Up until recently my 12 year old had only learned to make scrambled eggs, and even then it was with supervision. I decided it’s high time he learns to cook a little more, and what better time than the present? At first it was messy, and he was a little impatient. I was too. He was trying to speed up the process, and not listening to my instruction. This cooking lesson was a first for both of us!
More than just wanting to him to learn how to cook, it turned into a lesson in patience, for mother and son. Once we ironed out all of the kinks, it was smooth sailing and he learned to slow down and pay attention to the details.
We made orange chicken and it was delicious!
5. Have Them Learn Life Skills
Many of us remember good ol’ Home Economics class, where we learned everything we needed to know to become the domestic godesses that we are now LOL. Even without the class, our moms or other caregivers taught us the basics. It’s safe to say that times have SO changed! It’s become more and more difficult for us busy moms to make the time to pass these valuable skills on to our kids these days.
No blaming or shaming here, we are all over scheduled! However, if you do find yourself at home with your littles, take a few minutes to teach them some basic life skills. Here are a few ideas:
- Laundry
- Gardening
- Sewing a button
- Basic Baking (like a batch of cookies!)
- Balancing a checkbook
6. Organizing Their Own Space
Have them go through their toy boxes, closets, bookcases, or anything else in their space that can use some cleaning out. You can opt to split these tasks up throughout the week, perhaps an hour per day. I find that putting too much on my kids all at once never works well! Of course, each child is different, and only you will know how to pace yours.
As a bonus, make a pile of items to donate to needy families, or to sell at a garage sale!
PINTEREST IS YOUR FRIEND (but you already knew that)
7. Get Crafty!
Scour through Pinterest and search for fun crafts to make. From the simplest to the most complex, they are all there. Have your child choose something they like, perhaps for an upcoming holiday, or to gift a friend, and help them craft. Some of the best bonding moments with my son when he was younger was through crafting.
8. Make a Vision Board
This could be a great time for your kiddos to plan for the future. A vision board is a collection of images and words used to represent a person’s goals or dreams. It is meant to inspire and to motivate! A vision board can serve as an excellent tool. Do they envision themselves playing college ball? Perhaps she has the Olympics in her sights. Whatever it may be, now can be a great time to create a vision board to help them plan it all out.
Make one using poster paper, magazine clippings or print things from the internet. Or if they are old enough, create a Pinterest account for your son or daughter to be able to search for ideas and ‘pin’ them on to their boards.
Either way a vision board is a fantastic way to visualize their goals and dreams and set out on how to reach them.
9. Backyard Camping
Is the weather good? Then take it outside! If you have camping gear, set it up in your backyard and spend a night there with your kids. Large flat sheets or comforters made into a fort can do the trick as well. Be sure to exclude all electronics for a more genuine camping experience.
Gas up the grill, and enjoy dinner outside. Don’t forget to make the s’mores!
Having to stay home doesn’t necessarily mean ‘indoors’, enjoy every inch of your home if you can.
10. Write a Play and Perform It
This is one of my favorites! I can remember doing this a few times with my cousins growing up and we always had a blast. Let your kids’ imaginations flow as they come up with a 3-5 minute play.
Have them choose a topic, and cast of characters. If they are the only child in the house, they can enlist mom and dad. They can also perform a monologue or play more than one character. The beauty of this is that there are no rules!
They can create their costumes, and make up (with parents’ assistance as needed).
Once the play is ready to be performed, send friends and family members a zoom link and have them be the audience. Or record it and send it later. I bet grandparents would love to watch and cheer them on!
There are so many ways we can make staying home fun for our kids. Take notes from this list of activities for kids, and personalize them to suit your family.
What are some other fun stay at home activities for kids?
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Barbara is the mom behind the blog. She began writing in 2012 as the creator of Hello Life, a craft & lifestyle blog. As life evolved, and her kids became more involved in sports, she aimed to create a site that would resonate with moms like her, and in 2017 Modern Sports Mom was born. Like many of today’s mamas, she loves being creative, cooking, and fashion, and when there are a few minutes to spare, a good book. A baseball and football mom, she is fueled by her strong faith, dedication to her family, and coffee. Lots and lots of coffee! Barbara lives in California with her husband, kids, dog, and cat.
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