Want your little ones to be occupied at home? Here are some screen free activities for kids at home that are easy and require little prep.
If you are at home with the kids and want to avoid chaos, confusion, and a total disaster of a house… these activities are the way to go.
First, one practice I always recommend doing is independent play time every day.
Also, it’s important to have a great daily routine for your little ones. These routines will help you order your day at home.
- Newborn routine
- 3 month sleep routine
- 6 month routine
- 7 month routine
- 9 month routine
- 1 year old sleep schedule
- 2 year old routine
- 3 year old routine
Get my cheat sheets and find your family’s groove. Chore, independent play, meal, nap, bedtime, and MORE routine ideas!
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Screen Free Activities Your Children Can Do At Home
The reason I’m talking about screen free activities is that, well, screen activities are easy to come by. It’s the offline ones that are harder.
Indoor Simple Games And Activities For Kids
If the weather is bad or you need to get some things done so can’t watch the kids outside, here are some simple games and activities your little ones can do.
The key here (as with everything I recommend you) that it requires little prep, little spending, and little refereeing.
- A pillow walk | You gather some pillows, put them in a long line, and let the kids run and race up and down them. Now this feels taboo to a child, thus hours of fun.
- Use a card deck for getting energy out | For each suit, choose a movement (i.e. spades = jumping jacks) then play a game similar to War to see who has to do them.
- Do animal walks | If your kids need some sensory input and love animals (um, all kids!) then try these fun animal walks It’ll help gross motor as well.
- Have a “dance party” | We love turning on music and dancing for a few songs. Gets the wiggles out, helps the kids become more confident in understanding rhythm, and is just plain fun.
- Give the kids “heavy work“ | Choose certain activities that will give kids not only experience with chores, but also double as a calm down.
- Go on a scavenger hunt | Make it simple and easy enough to keep your kids’ attention, then have a nice snack afterwards.
- Build a fort | Depending on how much mess you can take and how much space you have, you can help the kids make an awesome fort they can play or read in all day.
Read: Avoid Screen Time Battles In 4 Steps (Printable Included)
Learn how to do a 30 minute, 1x a week strategic play session at home with your child to help them process their life through play and build a strong connection with you.
Learn MoreEasy Low Prep Craft Activities You Can Do At Home
Honestly, if you want to give your children some art time and a chance to get the creative juices flowing, all you’ll need a few supplies on hand.
You don’t need to buy everything, but having a minimum of supplies you can get delivered on Amazon or with same day Wal-Mart pickup will get you set for days of art class.
- Make colored fluffy slime | Using some basic school ingredients you can make this fluffy slime. My kids will play with slime for hours!
- DIY lava lamps | If you’ve got soda or large plastic bottles leftover, this is a fun project you can do with only 5 ingredients.
- Stack cups | Got solo cups on hand? Or even sturdy Tervis cups like we use? Let your kids have a grand time stacking them up in pyramids.
- Do rubber band art | If you’ve got some easy paints and rubber bands on hand, these make fun and striking pieces you can hang up on a kids’ art display.
- Color in coloring books or coloring pages | Print some pages or get our some books and color together at the kitchen table.
Read: Life Skills For Kids By Age (With Printables!) and How To Keep Kids Active During Winter Even When It’s Cold
Get my cheat sheets and find your family’s groove. Chore, independent play, meal, nap, bedtime, and MORE routine ideas!
Help prepare your kids for life, one skill at a time. Simple, easy skills every month!
Learn MoreOutdoor Easy Activities Children Will Love
Mama, we are country people.
We live on property and spend much of the warm days outside, whether playing, digging in dirt, or swimming. Kids are getting less and less outdoor time these days, and it’s time to turn that around.
Did you know Vitamin D is one of the biggest cancer fighting and health promoting vitamins? (Pub Med fact check me, if you don’t believe it!)
The good news is: it’s FREE!
- Throw a frisbee | Grab a frisbee or ball and play catch.
- Red rover | If you have a larger family or friends over, play a game of red rover with even numbers on both ends and someone running between.
- Race | Racing up and down the yard, driveway, or block is a fun and quick way to get energy out. Make it safe and competitive enough to have fun, but not so competitive everyone ends up angry.
- Hide and go seek | Great in a fenced in yard or a park. There’s something about this game that kids love!
- Take a walk | It can be a nature walk where you collect specimens, walking a pet, or a simple Constitutional.
- Sprinklers | Turn on the sprinklers or run through a hose and get some water play going. This is what really feels like summer!
Related Reads:
- How To Get Your Kids To Play (And Stay) Outside
- 45+ Easy Outdoor Games And Activities For Kids Your Family Will Love
Learn how to do a 30 minute, 1x a week strategic play session at home with your child to help them process their life through play and build a strong connection with you.
Learn MoreSimple Recipes For Kids – Cooking Skills To Teach Kids
Now, there’s no time like the present to get the kids in the kitchen. Whether they are learning some basic kitchen and life skills or actually doing some easy recipes, they will love it.
Start easy. Start small. Start quick.
- Bread Pudding with PB & J Crusts | This was my grandmother’s idea :). Do your little ones refuse crusts? Collect them in a ziploc bag and use them to make bread pudding.
- Corn dog mini muffins | If you’ve got corn dog lovers and want to sneak in a comfort treat, this will do.
- Jello LEGO | The LEGO lovers in your family will love these.
- Frozen Cereal Treats | The Frozen lovers everywhere will love this, of which I have one.
- Natural Jello With Fruit | Healthy, yummy, and fun to make with your little ones.
- Super Easy Snacks | A master list of super easy snack ideas you can make with your littles. This will help if you’re in a slump.
Help prepare your kids for life, one skill at a time. Simple, easy skills every month!
Learn MoreSo, the days, weeks, and months with littles at home can loom out ahead of us, but don’t let yourself get frustarted.
Simple.
Basic.
Easy.
The trifecta that always wins the day.
Get my cheat sheets and find your family’s groove. Chore, independent play, meal, nap, bedtime, and MORE routine ideas!
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FAQs
You can give them a starting point by choosing an activity and then asking them how they could change it to make it more fun. Or, in the case of activities like crafts, simply set them up with supplies and let their imaginations go wild with what they create!
Just know that it will get easier. The more kids play without screens, the more they will be creative and get lost in playing. To get started, find something that is highly engaging and interesting to them to motivate them to try and praise them when you see them using their imagination!
The easiest way to do this is to stop making screens a default activity and instead limit them to one time per day for a set amount of time. Then, kids will know that screens are not an option until after dinner, for example, so they will find other ways to play throughout the day.
Nice post… u share very nice list of activities… i am going to start with my little one n both are enjoying this
Please report back on how it goes!
Love gleaning ideas from your household! Weve been at home with covid for over a week now and I was REALLY expecting to be climbing the walls by now but weve found our rhythm and routine of each day and borrowed lots of your ideas and it’s actually been a positive experience to hang out all together!