No one likes hearing kids bicker or complain about being bored. This post veers from the traditional DIY projects to help keep sanity and to spark creativity when home with kids. I tried to list things that were easy to do with limited ingredients or with things you probably already have around the house. There is something on the list to keep everyone happy with just a few ideas, your imagination or a couple of ingredients. Here is a list of 100 ways to enjoy fun family time together.
These are tried and true activities and ideas that I used to do with my three boys when they were younger and some of the things were activities I would do with my sisters when I was a child. Enjoy!
- Make play dough (recipe below)
- Make non toxic finger paint (recipe below)
- Make Baking Soda Clay; like Model Magic (recipe below)
- Make sculptures out of recyclables
- Use a squirt bottle or old paint brush to “paint” a fence with water
- Side walk chalk Pictionary
- Nature treasure hunt (go on an “adventure” walk were you notice neat things in nature and take pictures. Things like bubbles in a puddle the reflection of the sky in the water, bugs marching along, etc)
- Teach them to do yard work
- Plant seeds for a veggie garden that they can tend
- Paint rocks to label veggie garden
- Sock toss (Lie on your back on the floor and toss clean, rolled up socks up in the air and to each other. It gets kids talking.)
- Bickering= dusting baseboards ( I seriously had the cleanest baseboards back then.)
- Make meals that start with all the same letter or all the same color
- Picnic dinner while watching a movie
- Teach or learn a new skill (mend clothes, sew on a button, cook, craft, woodworking, whatever)
- Make pom poms with yarn and a fork
- Make scrunchies
- Write letters to Grandparents, extended family, or friends
- Take a popsicle walk or a pajama walk or a flashlight walk (having a name for things must have made it more fun, it’s just a walk while eating a popsicle or while in your pajamas right before bed time.)
- Take a garbage walk (bring 2 bags and gloves and pick up garbage and recycling as you walk. I was even cooler by getting those trash grabber stick things through the city so we didn’t have to bend over.)
- Scooter obstacle courses
- Make marshmallow shooters
- Balloon rockets on a string
- Paper airplane contest
- Charades/animal charades
- Puppet show (make sock puppets, do chin puppets, use stuffed animals, whatever)
- Make a music video
- Lemon juice secret messages (write a message in lemon juice on paper, let it dry, uncover the message by using a hot iron to turn the dried lemon juice brown)
- Random acts of kindness
- Ninja Service (dress like ninjas, and do a sneak attack of service for someone)
- Build a blanket or box fort
- Explore the garden, weed, pick an X amount of weeds= small reward like getting to choose dessert
- Bowling with bottles or plastic cups (use empty plastic bottles or cups and a ball to bowl)
- Papier mâché with flour and water
- Home made piñatas (make out of decorated paper bags, or the like. Have them hit them with empty paper towel rolls or wrapping paper rolls to stretch out the hits)
- water bottle rockets
- Clean the windows or wash the car, you know water fight fun will happen
- Mirror image games (use a long mirror, or a closet mirror and stick part of your body out to look like you are floating, or just to look silly
- Play hot lava monster
- Hide and seek
- Cereal Tag- play tag but before the person tags you, name a cereal to escape being tagged out
- Card games like Spoons
- Make your own puzzle, color a picture on thick paper and cut it into pieces
- Origami
- Paper chains, paper dolls, snowflakes
- Shadow tracing- trace shadows of objects or people with sidewalk chalk onto the cement, or onto paper
- Outline the body with sidewalk chalk and draw outfits
- Hand clapping games like Miss Mary Mack
- Dance Party
- Music concert or write and perform a play
- Revisit children’s stories that you love, but use good character voices.
- Do popcorn reading. Each child is assigned a word that they read aloud each time it comes up in the story.
- Create outfits from scrap fabric or scarves
- Puddle jumping, this will most likely happen in the streets or gutters so play safe and teach them how to run to the nearest sidewalk without question when someone yells “car!”
- Glow in the dark bathtub “swimming” (obviously for littles, wear goggles and put glow sticks in the bath tub and swim in the dark)
- Make something from scratch
- Test objects in a tub of water to find out what will sink or float
- Sing the National Anthem while washing dishes, you must do this loudly and with gusto. It’s truly the only fun way to sing while washing dishes.
- Flash light tag
- Shadow puppets
- Paint nails (my boys painted mine, helped them with fine motor skills)
- Use old makeup to face paint
- Collect leaves, or other flat objects and do rubbings with the side of crayon on paper
- Make cards to be prepared for future birthday parties
- Mad Libs
- Sing Camp songs
- Toss a ball around- outside, toss the ball outside! Many different types of games can be invented with simple objects.
- Learn to juggle
- Play name that tune with whistling
- Bubble gum blowing contest
- Learn or teach how to tie different types of knots
- Tell stories about when each child was born
- Go through your Facebook posts and write down all the good family stories
- Tell stories about ancestors
- Look up your family tree
- Play the Glad Game (take turns naming something you’re glad about)
- Trace your extended arms and hands and cut it out. Mail that Hug to someone you love, include a letter.
- Send a note of things you like and admire about someone without signing it
- Learn to read and write in cursive
- Learn to type on a keyboard
- Play hang man
- Read a book together and then watch the movie to compare (WARNING: Where the Red Fern Grows will make you cry)
- Teach your kids the jump rope games you used to play
- Go fly a kite
- Play kick ball
- Play minute to win it games
- Nerf gun battle (no shooting at the head) or Nerf gun target practice
- Dragon hunt ( You pretend there is a dragon you are hunting and then you sneak around the house or yard in search of it.)
- Run around playing tag on the grass in the front yard. Each time a car passes you need to drop to the ground and pretend you’re dead/asleep (I don’t know why but we thought this was fun as kids)
- Play Sardines or Beckon, Beckon
- Make cookies
- Decorate cupcakes
- Play I Spy
- Do a Math walk (use math flash cards or simple addition and subtraction problems. Each addition problem you walk forward that many steps, each subtraction you step back that number of steps. Try to make it around the block back to your house.)
- Get “lost” Write down a bunch of random list of Rs and Ls on paper and then get in the car and see where the right and left turns take you.
- Pull out the board games and play them
- Put together a jigsaw puzzle
- Make a pom pom shooter and have a war
- Use toilet paper and paper towel rolls to make hot wheel or marble tracks
- Use Legos or clay, or both, to create a stop motion movie
I am a little surprised at how quickly these ideas popped into my head. When I shared the list with my boys we thought of even more! Apparently the daily goal when my boys were young was to wear them out. Truth. That was my daily goal. My husband traveled for long periods of time to different countries so I was home alone with the boys and trying to stay sane. This happened a lot.
Here are the recipes for the salt dough, finger paint and modeling clay. There is no online source to site, these recipes date back before the internet was a thing. They are hand written on old note cards. So, basically, you’re pretty special that I am sharing these family recipes with you. 😉
Play Dough Recipe
- 1 Cup Flour
- 1/3 Cup salt
- 1 Tablespoon Cream of Tartar
- 1 Cup water
- 1 Tablespoon Oil (I use Olive Oil)
- food coloring
Put dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Add colored water. Add oil and mix in an electric mixer. Transfer to a pot and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture thickens and forms a ball. Remove from heat, cool, and knead.
Store in a sealed plastic baggie in the fridge.
Non Toxic Finger Paint
- 4 Tablespoons sugar
- 1/2 Cup Cornstarch
- 2 Cups Cold Water
- food coloring
Mix together sugar and cornstarch in a pot. Add water and place over medium heat until the mixture is thick. It will thicken as it cools.
Divide into containers and add desired food coloring.
Baking Soda Clay (like Model Magic)
- 2 Cups baking soda
- 1 Cup Corn Starch
- 1 1/2 Cups Cold Water
Mix ingredients together in a large pot. Cook over medium heat until it bubbles and clumps. Whisk until texture of mashed potatoes. Transfer to a bowl and cover with a damp dish towel until cool. Once cool, knead until smooth.
More Posts for At Home Productivity:
10 Fast and Easy Home Upgrades
Install a Wireless, Keyless Entry for Your Garage
Needed Supplies for Painting a Room
Farmhouse Stenciled Tablecloth DIY
How to Recover a Seat (with video)
Nerf Gun Storage: Wire Grid Wall
Spray Paint Update to Front Porch Chairs
Love it! I remember doing a bunch of these. They are great reminders and new fun ideas. Thanks!
You’re welcome! I hope people add to the list, it would be great to see what others have done, too.