One of the best things that we can do as a parent is to be fully present and spend time engaging in activities with our kids. It can be all too tempting to hand over the tablet or laptop and distract the kids with a screen. But screens can’t bring up our children! Numerous studies have proven the damaging mental and physical effects of excessive screen time. So, we must try to incorporate more non-screen-based activities. This sort of physical and mental play stimulates creativity, imagination, and coordination, helping your child to develop. In this post, we’ve gathered an assortment of different types of activities that you can use to entertain your children. We hope these ideas will inspire your next screen-free play session!
· Creative play
At its heart, creative play is based on encouraging children to use their imaginations and creativity, promoting self-expression and problem-solving in a fun way. Below, we have listed several activity ideas and games to stimulate your child using this sort of creative play.
1. Play hide and seek
A timeless classic. After a few rounds, your kids’ creativity will lead them to hide in places you would never have thought of.
2. Treasure hunt
Like hide and seek, but with hiding small objects (little chocolates work very well, but other options are available). You can make this as simple or as complex as you would like, designing a map with riddles and clues, or simply hiding small objects. Assisting your child with hints as to whether are ‘hot’ or ‘cold’ can also be wise if they are really struggling.
3. Build a fort/ den
You can do this with cardboard boxes, blankets, pillows, or even branches and trees if you’re feeling adventurous. Bring some activities to do inside the fort, several books, a torch for a hand shadow show, and maybe some small toys. Kids love having a “secret” spot, it is exciting and gives them a safe place to hide and relax.
4. Roleplay games
Roleplay games are especially beneficial for very young children, as they promote communication skills. One way you can do this is by creating a mini ‘supermarket’ using everyday food items, encouraging children to add things to their ‘trolley’ (a little box or basket works well). With a bit of imagination, and a few props to assist, you can invent imaginary pet shops, doctors’ surgeries, cafes and more.
5. Build block castles and towers
Who can build the highest tower? Using building blocks, Duplo, LEGO, and the like, challenge your child to build their own little castle, house, or tower. These construction-based activities are great for developing coordination and fine motor skills.
· Music, dance, and drama
Artistic expression helps children to express themselves in a unique way, developing their creativity, as well as promoting their confidence and self-esteem. Our musical and theatrical suggestions include:
6. Make and play a musical instrument
No problem if you don’t have a musical instrument, making one is all part of the fun. A shoe box and rubber bands can be a great guitar. Filling glasses with different amounts of water makes different sounds and can act as a makeshift xylophone. Tapping different surfaces, or pots and pans with wooden tools makes different sounds.
7. Put on a puppet show
Another way to develop communication skills and practice telling stories. A cast of socks, teddy bears, and dolls, or even a homemade ensemble can serve as great characters.
8. Act out a scene from a book/ film
Get your creative juices flowing by acting out a scene from your favorite book or film. Or, if you’re feeling ambitious, try to act out the whole story. Costumes recommended!
9. Dance party/ Learn a dance routine
Put those TikTok dance skills to some good! Have a go at learning a dance routine, or choreographing your own, to perform in a little home spectacle.
10. Karaoke
Rather self-explanatory but playing some music and having a singalong can be a great way to keep children busy.
· Exercise and sport
Being active is crucial for child development, and regular exercise is a key part of a healthy lifestyle. Participating in sports is also a great way to disconnect, get some fresh air, and go outside. Several of our recommendations include:
11. Build an obstacle course
A fun challenge, both indoors or outdoors depending on the space available. Create your obstacle course and compete for the fastest time.
12. Soccer or basketball drills
Encouraging your child to go out and practice key skills: passing, dribbling, and shooting not only keeps them busy, but also promotes their fitness.
13. Yoga
Rainy weather day? No problem! Yoga, stretching and dancing are the way to go. These flexibility exercises are a great way to promote balance and mindfulness.
14. Balloon volleyball
Inflate a balloon, fix a bit of string between two walls, and you can make the “don’t let the balloon touch the floor” game into a full-on sport.
15. Bowling
You can DIY some bowling pins using plastic bottles, and then set up your own little bowling alley. See if you can score a strike!
· Go outside
After several years of various covid lockdowns, getting outside is much needed for many kids. Getting out and about, exploring the local area, learning to navigate, and basic road safety skills, all are very enjoyable activities. Several of our recommendations include:
16. Go on an ABC walk
Walk around your local neighborhood or town and look for objects that start with all the different letters of the alphabet. Alternatively, find the actual letters on signs and license plates. This can also work well in a supermarket.
17. Picnic in the park
Preparing sandwiches, snacks, and drinks for a picnic in the park can encourage your child to get outside and can be a wholesome family bonding moment. Teddy bears optional.
18. Nature trails or scavenger hunt
Going on a walking trail can also help your child reconnect with nature and learn more about the world. Following a nature trail or completing a scavenger hunt to find specific places in your local city can be great ways to teach your child about orienteering and how to read a map. You can all enjoy discovering new places in your local area.
19. Family bike ride
Teaching your child how to ride a bike is an important lesson, preparing your child for future independence. Getting out on the bikes can also be a great opportunity for instilling and practicing road safety skills.
20. Make bubble liquid and blow bubbles
The perfect ratio of water to washing-up liquid makes a great bubble mixture. You can even make your own bubble wands using plastic drink bottles, pipe cleaners, or wire.
21. Set up a scooter/ bike obstacle course
Test your kid’s agility by creating an obstacle course with cones, chalk markings, or something similar, and see if they can ride their scooters or bikes through it.
· Help around the home
Encouraging children to take part in a few household chores helps instill a sense of responsibility, prepares them for independence and helps them to develop a greater sense of respect for the home environment. Some tasks that are suitable for children (age dependent) include:
22. Putting away toys, games, clean clothes, dishes etc.
This encourages respect for your home environment and can even be made into a bit of a game.
23. Sock matching
By making household chores into fun games, you can encourage your kid to play their part. Scatter your freshly washed socks on the floor and get your kid to match them up into pairs.
24. Feeding and watering pets / plants
Tasking your child with regular feeding and providing water for pets or plants teaches them to be responsible and maintain a regular schedule.
25. Helping with grocery shopping and meal planning
Kids often love to be involved with organizing the meals, and it is a fun activity that the whole family can do together.
· Cooking and baking
Participating in cooking and baking activities helps kids to develop a sense of responsibility and prepares them for independent living in the future. As well as being a fun activity, cooking together provides a good opportunity to spend quality time together and fosters a greater appreciation for food and nutrition. Several examples of possible cooking projects include:
26. Biscuit decorating
Get out the icing, piping and sprinkles, and have a go at decorating and making your own biscuit designs. The more creative, the better.
27. Cook Pizzas
Always popular with children, making pizzas together (and enjoying them afterward!) keeps kids occupied. Depending on their age, you can make the dough from scratch, and then roll it out, decorating with a variety of toppings.
28. Pick a recipe to cook together
Another option is to let your child pick a recipe, go shopping together for the ingredients and try cooking a dish, sweet or savory, to share with family. Kids will often be more willing to try new foods if they helped with the cooking, so this can be a great way to introduce them to some different dishes.
29. Create a recipe book
One cooking strategy to encourage writing skills is noting down your own favorite recipes and adding a few illustrations.
· Crafts
Kids really benefit from taking part in craft activities, as they practice their creativity, helping them to express their ideas. Through activities such as cutting, sticking, and drawing, kids can develop their fine motor skills. Here are a few suggestions:
30. Origami
If you’re looking for something different to get stuck into, origami is a breath of fresh air. And if that doesn’t go to plan, paper airplanes are a good solution, and can even be decorated with wing designs and windows to add to the effect
31. Coloring in / dot to dots
Printing out a few templates, joining the dots and coloring is an excellent way to encourage your child to practice holding a pen, and develop their creativity.
32. Cutting, sticking and collaging
Using old newspapers, old magazines, photos (with permission), and some printed pictures can make a great collage. Add some glitter, buttons and paint, the more the better.
33. Make friendship bracelets
Braiding embroidery thread together, trying different designs and adding a few beads, can be a fun activity for a few hours. You could either give them to a friend or keep them for your own jewelry collection.
34. Draw a self-portrait / your town
Stuck for ideas as to what to draw? Perhaps having a go at trying to draw yourself, someone else, or a map of your hometown can be a good way to go.
35. Make salt dough and sculpt
Kids love getting their hands dirty and engaging with materials, so by combining three kitchen basic ingredients: flour, salt, and water, you can make a fun modeling clay to play with. You can then bake your creations, which will dry them out for you to keep them.
36. Scrapbook
Another craft option for kids of all ages is scrapbooking. Using a mixture of keepsakes, photos, and writing a few anecdotes or stories. Not only is this a good activity to keep kids busy over the summer holidays, but they will appreciate having a physical souvenir that they made themselves, to look back on in the future.
37. “Paint” the fence
Not literally! No need to panic. Bring a bucket of water and a paintbrush into the garden, and children will enjoy “painting” the fence. This works especially well with a light-colored wooden fence.
· Quiet time activities
Sitting down quietly and engaging in calm activities in a peaceful environment can be a good stress relief for kids. Relaxing activities enable them to disconnect from the noisy environment of school, clubs, and the like, and find a bit of peace. Our suggested quiet time activities included:
38. Read, or listen to an audiobook
It might seem simple, but it can also be very effective. Kids love being transported to new worlds, learning new facts, and engaging with different experiences. You can read to them, or even better if you can encourage them to read to you, as that will greatly help them to improve their language skills and express themselves better. If you are struggling a bit for time, you can also investigate audiobooks, or follow along an audiobook with a paperback copy.
39. Create a reading challenge
A good way to motivate your child to read is by creating goals, with perhaps a small prize at the end, so that they have something to look forward to. Challenge them to read a certain number of pages/ chapters/ books, and you can even make a little chart to visually track their progress.
40. Play a board game
Put away the electronics and get out the classics: Monopoly, Cluedo, Guess Who, Battleships and all the other games which make for hours of old-fashioned entertainment. These sorts of games can be great for developing communication and counting skills for young ones and can teach good forward planning and tactics for older children.
41. Learn a card game
Why not learn a card game? Once they’ve got a hang of the rules, which may require a bit of patience from both ends, kids will enjoy taking turns dealing cards and playing games. This also provides an opportune moment to teach them how to handle winning and losing with grace.
42. Puzzles
Whether that be jigsaw puzzles, sudokus, riddles or others, solving puzzles is not only rewarding and satisfying, but also promotes critical thinking skills.
· Volunteering
Kids can greatly benefit from volunteering and taking part in community events, as it teaches them empathy for different people and their natural environment, as well as providing them with an opportunity to learn a range of other skills. Keeping the kids busy and helping them improve your local community is a win-win, so let’s have a look at some volunteering activities.
43. Help clean up a local park
Participating in local park cleans is a great way to disconnect, get outside and reconnect with the natural world. There are often lots of community groups and associations that organize these events and are always glad to receive a bit of support.
44. Help a neighbour
Especially since COVID, making sure that vulnerable people stay connected with the community, has become a more discussed issue. Running an errand for a neighbor, helping them send something in the post, or baking them something sweet can be a very kind gesture and appreciated by many.
45. Write a letter/ seasonal / greetings card
A simple, but thoughtful gesture which will be greatly appreciated is writing a letter or seasonal greeting card to a friend, family member, teacher, elderly person in a retirement home, war veteran, etc. Expressing warm wishes to a close one, or a stranger, is rewarding, and also enables your child to practice their letter-writing skills!
Conclusion
In conclusion, as parents, we must prioritize spending quality time with our kids when possible and provide them with activities away from the screen. Non-screen activities can bolster their physical, mental, and emotional development in a way that screens can never replicate. In this article, we looked at several main categories of activities: creative play, music, dance, exercise, getting outside, involving children in household chores, cooking, crafts, quiet time activities and volunteering. Why not consider these activities next time your child is complaining that they are bored?
