We Have to Stay Inside for How Much Longer?

It has been a couple of weeks since the kids were in school and now, they are going to be home for longer. You may be thinking, “What are we going to do?” You may not even have an enclosed backyard or be able to walk around the neighborhood. If you are coming to your wits end, then I have some help for you. I have come up with 108 different things you can do with your kids. Some of them might not be an option but I hope at least 50 of them are. Create an activity jar of ideas. You can print out the ideas, cut them into strips, fold them, and then have your children pick one (or more) a day. If they stick their nose up at the idea, then ask them how they could make the activity more fun.  Kids are pretty creative! If you need to review some skills, a lot of these activities will help. If you are confused on what the idea is, let me know and I can add some instructions or a visual.

1. Look through old photo albums

2. Make playdough

3. Bake/cook

4. Play board games

5. Learn to draw with online tutorial

6. Make a video

7. Have a fashion show

8. Mani/Pedi

9. Madlibs

10. Read a book

11. Write a story

12. Watercolor/paint

13. Take a walk

14. Play online games

15. Wash the car

16. Make something out of fabric

17. Make a cardboard loom and weave yarn

18. Use recycling materials to create something

19. Play Hide and Seek

20. Make slime/putty

21. Virtual zoo tour-Cincinnati Zoo

22. Make sensory bottle

23. Dance Party

24. Treasure hunt

25. Card games

26. Dice games-like Tenzi

27. Virtual museum tour

28. Watch animal cams

29. Pick flowers

30. Make a fort

31. Listen to a story online

32. Play with balloons-keep it up in the air or Ping Pong

33. Sidewalk chalk

34. Draw with marker and spray with water to see colors mix

35. Make an obstacle course inside or in the back yard

36. Make an I Spy Bottle (place random objects in the bottle with rice and see if you can find them all)

37. Write an invisible message in white crayon and color over it with a marker to see it appear

38. Yoga/exercise

39. Make a puzzle from the picture on a cereal box

40. Paint rocks with special messages

41. Watch Peep and the Big Wide World and try the experiment at the end of the show

42. Paper airplanes

43. Use water bottles to make a bowling set

44. Virtual conversation with classmates/friends with Zoom, Skype, Facetime

45. Make a time capsule

46. Play Two Lies and One Truth

47. Play Would You Rather

48. Play Never Would I Ever…

49. Listen to an audiobook

50. Blow bubbles

51. Jump rope

52. Paint with items from around the house-Q-Tips, cars, sponges

53. Play with water in the sink

54. Write a letter to a friend or family member

55. Rearrange your room

56. Find places on Google Earth

57. Start/Plan a garden

58. Camp in the backyard

59. Make and fly a kite

60. Photoshoot

61. I Spy in the neighborhood

62. Play basketball to put toys or trash where it goes

63. Pillow fight

64. Four Corners

65. Name That Tune

66. Play Mother May I

67. Make instruments from recycled materials

68. Chubby Bunny-Who can fit the most marshmallows in their mouth and still say “Chubby Bunny”?

69. Make tie-dyes

70. Make puppets from bags or socks

71. Make a bird feeder

72. Decorate cupcakes

73. Indoor picnic

74. Fill a kiddy pool with balls to make a ball pit-maybe add a slide

75. Make a fort from a large cardboard box

76. Line up dominoes in a maze and watch them fall

77. Ring toss with paper towel tube and plates with the middle cut out to make the ring

78. Hopscotch

79. Play Freeze!

80. Make a balance beam with painter’s tape on the floor

81. Sensory Box-fill a shoebox with different textures and cut a hole for just a hand-what do you think you are touching?

82. Hot Potato

83. Build with mini marshmallows and toothpicks

84. Find objects in your house or outside that begin a letter of the alphabet

85. Put tape or bins on the floor for a bean bag or paper wad and toss-add up the points

86. Egg and Spoon race-carry an egg on a wooden spoon across the room and back without dropping it

87. Three-legged race

88. Sack (or old pillowcase) race

89. Hunt for objects of a certain color

90. Wear clothes and eat food of one color for a whole day

91. Flashlight scavenger hunt

92. Wheelbarrow Race

93. Limbo

94. Twister

95. Move like a certain animal

96. Snowball fight with paper

97. How many ways can you get from here to there?

98. Use straws to make a marble maze on a piece of cardboard

99. Make a gingerbread house

100. Use paper/plastic cups and a water/nerf gun for target practice

101. Orbeez

102. Shoebox houses

103. Shadow Puppets

104. The Floor is Lava

105. Decorate the house for spring

106. Put a large unfolded flat box on your stairs and make a slide

107. Dye Easter eggs

108. Egg hunt

Stay healthy and have fun! We can do this!