Stuck inside because of bad weather or illness? Here are 50 ways to keep kids busy indoors.
Summer tends to be hot, spring tends to be rainy, and winter tends to be icy. Whatever the reason for keeping your kids indoors, you might find that it can be a challenge. If you find yourself needing to spend a great deal of time indoors, take a look at these 50 Ways to Keep Kids Busy Indoors. When you give these tips a try, you can keep kids active and occupied during the days of uncooperative weather. Here’s how!
50 Ways to Keep Kids Busy Indoors
1. Make your own scented play-dough. You can find hundreds of easy recipes online. This Dinosaur Fossil Play Dough looks like a lot of fun.
2. Spray shaving cream on a cookie sheet and practice writing letters in it with your finger.
3. Use letter magnets (dollar store) on a cookie sheet and practice spelling words.
4. Make your own bath paint with a cup of shaving cream and a few drops of food coloring.
5. Create fun collages using pictures cut out of magazines.
6. Try your hand at origami. You can find plenty of tutorials online via YouTube.
7. Make your own smoothies using all sorts of fresh fruit. A Berry and Spinach Smoothie would be a healthy treat!
8. Use fresh fruit to craft your own fruit skewers.
9. Make mini pizzas out of biscuit dough, sauce, and cheese.
10. Make your own flavored ice cubes with fruit juice and an ice cube tray.
11. Craft a sensory bin with a shoebox, dried rice or beans, and measuring cups.
12. Look through old family albums.
13. Decorate a picture frame with glue and dried pasta.
14. String dried pasta onto ribbon for fun and funky jewelry.
15. Have a talent show!
16. Get old clothing out of storage and host an in-home fashion show.
17. Cut out a side of a cardboard box to make a “television.” Get inside and act out your own commercials.
18. Interview each other as if you were on t.v.
19. Get out the camera and make your own family movie.
20. Turn an old shoebox into a diorama.
21. Write a letter to a friend and mail it.
22. Make a mobile using magazine cut-outs, ribbon, and a hanger.
23. Play with makeup. Give each other makeovers.
24. Set up your own in house nail salon complete with nail files, lotion, and nail polish.
25. Grab wooden Popsicle sticks and craft paper and create puppets. Have a puppet show.
26. Put on your favorite music and have a dancing contest.
27. Try building a card house. See who can build their card house the highest.
28. Set up a scavenger hunt inside of the house using scrap paper and 10-12 clues.
29. Grab a bucket of water and 10-15 small objects. See which sink and which float.
30. Grab a tape measure and estimate the length of 10-12 objects. See how close your estimations were.
31. Play library. Assemble some books, check them out, have a read-aloud, and do a craft that correlates with one of the books.
32. Play Name That Tune. Play a few seconds of a song and see who the first person to name the title is.
33. Craft your own paper airplanes and race them.
34. Repurpose! Send each person off with an empty soup can and access to craft supplies. See what everyone comes up with.
35. Have each person pretend to be an animal. See if you can guess what animal each person is.
36. Try making shadow puppets in a dark room with a flashlight.
37. Try making a telephone with two cans and a string. Kids will be amazed that this works.
38. Draw up the plans for a dream treehouse.
39. Try your hand at paper mache. You can make sculptures or anything else you wish.
40. Make pretty potions! Try mixing food coloring with glasses of water to see all of the colors you can get.n
41. Place a white carnation in a glass of food coloring colored water and watch it change color after a few hours. If your kids like science experiments like that one, check out these Easy Chemistry Experiments for Kids as well.
42. Play some free online learning games.
43. Pretend to be frogs and jump on sheets of bubble wrap.
44. Build castles and all sorts of shapes out of toothpicks and gumdrops.
45. Try some yoga for kids. You can find free videos to learn how on YouTube.
46. Make your own binoculars out of toilet paper rolls and string.
47. Make a rain stick out of a toilet paper roll, dried rice, and tape.
48. Make your own masks out of paper plates, scissors, and markers. Put on a play wearing them if you wish.
49. Fill a bathtub with water and activated glow sticks for a glowing bath!
50. Comb recipes for a child-friendly dish. Let the kids create it while you record it as if they are making their own cooking show.
Days stuck indoors don’t need to be boring for them or stressful for you. Give these 50 indoor activities for kids a try and you are sure to have a wonderful time!
More Indoor Activities for Kids
5 Fun Indoor Activities for Kids
Jenjo Games says
Tons of great ideas ! Really enjoyed your blog & all the games shared sounds so much fun. All kids will definitely enjoy playing these games for long hours. When weather is little harsh on kids to play outdoors, it is important to keep kids busy indoors. I think your list perfectly solve this problem with so many interesting games to play indoors. Bookmarked your blog to engage my young ones in such fascinating games. Thanks for sharing this!