75 Activities for Kids at Home

Without packed schedules, school, sports, friends and clubs, filling our days with our kids at home can feel daunting. Read the list below so that you’ll be confident and prepared with these indoor activities for the next time you hear, “I’m bored!” These indoor activities are perfect for playtime, during a break from distance learning, or even on the weekends.

More: 25 Toys, Books, and Games to Stock Up On Before We're Stuck Inside this Winter

Whether you're stuck inside on a rainy day or are quarantining and social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic, these simple and fun activities are sure to be a hit with the whole family, even the older kids!

DIY Crafts and Printables

1. Craft Night

Pull out your craft box and let your littles’ imaginations take over. Give them construction paper, glue, pipe cleaners, googly eyes, markers, pom poms, paper plates, toilet paper rolls, popsicle sticks, shaving cream, and anything else you can think of for a DIY extravaganza. Unless you really love cleaning, strongly consider avoiding glitter.

2. Paint by Number

There are so many paint by number kits on Amazon to choose from depending on your kid’s style.

3. Hand Print Wall Art

Make some home decor using your little one’s hand prints. It will be fun for years to come to look back at those tiny hands.

4. Practice Photography

Learn some tips and tricks to use your camera. Gather your family to do an at home photo shoot with your new skills.

5. Make Pottery

Take an online pottery class or find a pottery kit like this one from Amazon to get you started.

6. Friendship Bracelets

Relive your childhood and learn to make friendship bracelets together.

7. Scrapbook

Start putting together a scrapbook and enjoy reliving old memories with your family. It can be basic or you can get creative with stickers, printed paper and craft scissors.

8. Time Capsule

This is one of our all time favorite activity ideas perfect for New Year's, a birthday, or anytime at all. Put together a time capsule with your family. There’s no limit to what you can include. Consider photos, trinkets, current events and little memories, but get creative! Decide when you will open it and hide it away. (You can also use our free printable time capsule activity to get you started).

9. Fun with Cardboard Boxes

Get creative with all of those boxes from your online orders! Make a tunnel or a castle out of boxes. Get creative and paint or color it with markers.

10. Decorate a Recycling Bin

Decorate your own recycling bin and learn about the process to get your littles excited about sustainability.

11. Create a Sensory Bin

Sensory bins are a great way to engage all the senses to learn about the world around us. Luckily you can create your own at home with a few simple items like a bin, some rice, a spoon and a few toys. Sensory activities can be beneficial for kids of all ages, but are our top choice for activities for toddlers.

12. Make Sock Puppets

Make your own sock puppets and have a puppet show.

13. Tie Dye Shirts

Tie dye is making a comeback! Jump on the trend and tie dye some matching shirts.

14. Paper Mache

Learn to make paper mache and watch your littles get their hands dirty while they create some art.

15. Make Playdough

Make your own fun colored play dough with food coloring or kool aid. Check out our favorite homemade playdough recipes.

16. Perler Beads

The colorful little beads, also known as fuse beads or melty beads, are used to create a design and then melted together into one solid piece with an iron. You can purchase them on Amazon.

17. Latch Hook

Create some art with a cozy feel by learning to latch hook.

18. Learn Origami

Learn the beautiful art of folding colorful squares of paper into different shapes or animals.

19. Printable Coloring Pages

Bust out a box of crayons and check out our printables section for printable coloring pages for the whole family to enjoy. Pro tip: print personalized coloring pages using your own photos for extra fun while coloring.

20. Make Slime

Learning to make slime will introduce an added layer of fun to playing with it. Check out our favorite non-toxic slime recipes.

Toys and Games

21. Family Game Night

Host a family game night! These can be board games or party games, like charades.

22. Family Movie Night

Pick out a movie, grab some blankets and put together your favorite concession style snacks for a family movie night.

23. Make a Ball Pit

Turn a pack n’ play or large cardboard box into a ball bit. A big bag of plastic balls is inexpensive on Amazon and guaranteed entertainment for your littles.

24. Beanbag Toss

Have a bean bag toss tournament. You can use laundry hampers and socks as a makeshift alternative if you don’t have a set up at home.

25. Do a Puzzle

Put together a 1,000-piece puzzle as a family. (We recommend this one from Amazon that might help ease the wanderlust blues.)

26. Build a Lego Home

Legos are so much fun and allow you to get lost in creativity for a few hours at a time. Buy a set or get creative and build your own creation.

Imaginative Play Ideas

27. Build a Blanket Fort

Gather all the sheets and blankets from your linen closet and let those creative little minds construct a cozy fort. When it’s done, snuggle in and read some books by flashlight inside together.

28. Put on a Performance

Write and perform a play, have a dance recital or a talent show.

29. Indoor Camping Trip

Set up your tent and grab a flashlight and a mug of hot chocolate for some living room camping.

30. Scavenger Hunt

Design an indoor scavenger hunt for your kiddos. Give them a list of items to find or turn it into a treasure hunt with a special prize waiting at the end.

31. Tea Party

There’s no better reason to pull out your fancy tea set. Set out some snacks and have a casual or fancy tea party with your littles.

32. Play Dress Up

Littles love wearing our clothes and shoes and let's face it, they look adorable when they do. Encourage creativity by playing dress up.

33. At Home Spa Day

Relax and model good self care to your littles with an at home spa day. Soak your feet, put on a face mask and take some deep breaths.

34. Plan a Future Vacation

Part of the thrill of vacation may be from the fun of looking forward to it! Look at a big map and let your kids dream up a future destination and plan your next get away.

35. Pen Pals

Team up with another family to be pen pals. Drop a letter in the mail box for a break from our digital world and screen time.

36. Fancy Dinner Night

Get dressed up and have a fancy dinner night with a home cooked meal or takeout.

37. Make a Family Movie

Make and record a movie. You can write a script and act it out or film a few little moments from each day to compile them all at the end of the year as a keepsake.

38. Make an at Home Museum

Create some art and hang it on a “gallery wall” in your family room. Let each kiddo describe their art and place a little museum style label next to it.

39. Play School

Take turns teaching each other about your favorite subjects.

40. Attend a Virtual Concert

There are many opportunities to attend a virtual concert. Pick a genre your family enjoys and spend the night listening to a live performance from the comfort of your home.

41. Take a Virtual Vacation

Pick a place you have always wanted to visit as a family and plan your virtual vacation day. You can find fun trips ranging from Machu Picchu to the San Diego Zoo.

Learning Activities

42. International Night

Let your kids look at a big map and pick a country they’re interested in. Learn five facts about that country while you cook a dish customary to that place.

43. Theme Weeks

Create a theme week such as “the human body” or “dinosaurs.” Make a treat, read books and watch videos all week that align with your theme. We will be making eyeball cupcakes and watching an episode of The Magic School Bus.

44. Learn an Instrument

Playing an instrument can help to reduce stress, teach patience and foster creativity. Using time at home to learn to play a new instrument can be a fun way to teach these skills and create beautiful music. You can choose anything from a recorder to a ukulele.

45. Read

Plan a day to stay in your pajamas and read. You can read aloud to your littles or read silently together on the couch. You can make a colorful goal sheet to track your goal number of books to read each month to keep the motivation up.

46. Creative Writing

Write silly or scary stories. You can all write your own and read aloud to each other or brainstorm ideas together and write one story.

47. Make a Bird Feeder

Make and fill a bird feeder. You’ll have fun putting it together and then can enjoy learning about all the birds that it attracts.

48. Learn Another Language

Learning another language is easy and fun with apps like DuoLingo.

49. Ant Farm

Buy an ant farm on Amazon and learn about the lifecycle of ants while observing them first hand.

50. Watch Caterpillars Turn to Butterflies

Put together a terrarium with a few caterpillars. Give them food, sunshine and patience and watch them turn into beautiful butterflies.

51. Have a Science Fair

Let your kiddos put their smarts on display. Create some science experiments and host a science fair where your kiddos teach you and each other about their project.

52. Grow a Garde

Grow some plants, vegetables and herbs. You can plant them outdoors in a garden or get creative with a windowsill collection. Get your littles involved in growing their own food.

53. Take an Online Class

Learn something new as a family. Take an online class of your family’s choice. Learning a new skill can be a bonding experience.

54. Visit National Parks and Historic Sights from Home

Take a virtual trip to a beautiful natural wonder like a National Park and learn about the local ecosystems.

55. Learn to Juggle

This fun party trick will help teach patience and hand eye coordination.

Fun in the Kitchen

56. Cutout Cookies

Mix up a batch of your favorite cookie dough and find your cookie cutters (or buy these kid-friendly ones on Amazon) in the back of your cabinet. Let everyone decorate their own cookies with icing, sprinkles, colorful sugar and mini candies.

57. Learn a New Recipe

Open up a cookbook and learn a new recipe together. I am eager to get my hands on a copy of Claire Safftiz’s Dessert Person for some fun and elaborate baking projects.

58. Have an Indoor Picnic

There’s something special about packing a picnic lunch. Grab a blanket and assortment of your favorite snacks and have a picnic in your living room or backyard.

59. Bake a Family Recipe

Pull out the old recipe box or call a family member to get the recipe for a beloved dish. Make it with your kiddos and tell them about memories from your childhood.

60. Build Your Own Personal Pizza

Make or buy some pizza dough, cut up a bunch of fun toppings and place them on a big wooden cutting board. Let your littles roll out their own personal pizzas and load up with toppings that they love.

61. Holiday-Themed Truffles

Pinterest is loaded with ideas for cute holiday-themed Oreo truffles no matter what time of year. Last year we made turkeys with big cartoon eyes for Thanksgiving and they were a huge hit. This year we will be making Oreo red velvet for Valentine's Day. The real challenge is not eating all the Oreos before the truffles come together.

62. Make Breakfast for Dinner

Get out your waffle maker or make fun silly-shaped pancakes for breakfast for dinner night.

63. Sushi Night

Learn how to roll your own sushi. Let your kiddos pick fun ingredients to put into your rolls. You can be daring and get sushi grade fish from your local seafood shop or cut different vegetables and chicken or shrimp. For a kid-friendly treat, replace rice with Rice Krispies treats and stuff them with Swedish fish!

64. Make Homemade Ice Cream

Learn about science while making a tasty treat with home made ice cream in a bag.

65. Online Cooking Class

Take an online cooking class to step up your meal prep game. Classes range from foodie classes to cooking with kids and everything in between.

66. Decorate Cupcakes

Make some edible art with colorful icing, chocolate, sprinkles and googly eyes.

Get Active

67. Yoga

Take an online family yoga class to stretch, move and relax.

68. Take an Online Fitness Class

Find a fun themed class like this superhero fitness class for kids to get those little bodies moving.

69. Mindfulness

Learn the art of mindfulness with an app, like Calm, or some flash cards from Amazon.

70. Create an Obstacle Course

Build an obstacle course in your living room and race against the clock to finish it.

71. Play Freeze Dance

This is a fun simple way to get moving and bring out those endorphins and giggles with some upbeat music.

72. Hide and Seek

Good old hide and seek needs no explanation.

Giving Back

73. Donate Clothes and Toys

Teach and practice some gratitude by reviewing your belongings and donating items still in good shape to a local family in need.

74. Make Care Packages

Assemble and pack care packages with toiletries and other essentials. Drop them off at your local shelter or distribute to unhoused members of your community.

75. Make a Meal for Someone in Need

Make a meal for a new mom or elderly neighbor and drop it off on their doorstep.

Looking for more ideas? Check our Entertainment and Activities Center for inspiration.