115 fun activities to do at home with kids

Art & Craft Activities

It’s time to pull out the arts and crafts and get messy! These kids creative activities at home will keep them nice and busy.

1. Tint shaving cream with food colouring, paint the windows or glass doors (or the inside of the shower glass) then rinse it off
2. Using butchers paper, trace a partner’s whole body. Now try to include as many body parts and organs as you can
3. Graffiti the garden fence with chalk
4. Paint the garden fence with water (can do this after the chalk and count it as cleaning!)
5. Make a small bowl, plate, egg cup or statue from air dry clay
6. Make Origami animals or paper ninja stars
7. Make a mud kitchen in the garden, make different coloured rock paint
8. Practice hammering nails into a plank of wood
9. Create a “God’s eye” weaving using sticks and wool
10. Try shadow drawing, leaf rubbings, painting bark or stones
11. Thread pasta into jewellery
12. With some old clothes, cut and create clothes for your toys
13. Make 3D paper rainbows
14. Make your own bubble blower
15. Try leaf threading and make a nature chandelier
16. Use a mirror to draw a self-portrait
17. Create an Alfoil river in the garden and float things down it
18. Make a paper chain to hang up in the dining room
19. Fold paper and cut out paper snowflakes
20. Make pom poms out of wool
21. Play drawing games like Simon Says drawing
22. Put on a puppet show using toys behind the couch
23. Make DIY rain clouds in a jar
24. Do the magic milk experiment
25. Create a sensory shaker bottle using an old bottle, glitter and water (and whatever else you’d like to put in there!)
26. Make greeting cards for the stationery cupboard to be used for birthdays and other occasions
27. Paint a family portrait to be framed and hung
28. Create a paper crown for a member of your family and decorate it
29. Try Michelangelo drawing under the table 
30. Make a pretty lantern using an old jar, tissue paper and glue
31. Make an infinite paper flipper! 
32. Make frozen dinosaur eggs (or you could use fairies, or Ooshies, etc) 
33. Make a paper cut out family
34. Make a paper plate whale 
35. Try dying some old plain fabric using natural dyes 
36. Do a chalk photoshoot
37. Make a bottle rocket 
38. Make rainbow paper 
39. Make a stained glass window using clear contact & cellophane 
40. Make a marble run
41. Paint a stick gnome
42. Make a rainbow stick
43. Choose an inspirational quote and create a poster for your room
44. Make sidewalk paint
45. Make a magic potion using aromatherapy oils, glitter, water, petals
46. Try sharpie tie dye using a sharpie and rubbing alcohol
47. Take some artistic photos in black and white. Play around with filters and see what you can create. You could use a phone or learn how to use the proper camera (if you have one)
48. Take some garden clippings and see which ones you can get to grow roots for replanting
49. Make a popsicle stick catapult
50. Can you draw or paint with your feet?
51. Press flowers within a few heavy books
52. Learn to finger knit, French knit or braid wool into friendship bracelets

Indoor play activities

Looking for fun things to do at home when the weather isn’t playing nice? Here’s some fun kids’ activities that the whole family can have fun with.

1. Treasure hunt (with clues, hide a favourite toy somewhere in the house)
2. Play dress ups in mum and dad’s clothes – do a photoshoot
3. Have a mum and daughter pamper date
4. Give someone a back, foot or head massage – a favourite indoor kids activity for the parents!
5. Have a Living Room disco – play freeze, musical chairs, have a dance off
6. Build a fort using the couch and every cushion/pillow you can find
7. Organise your Lego and then have a building challenge. Who can build the best house, hotel or shop?
8. Build a teepee fairy house
9. Do a marshmallow toothpick engineering challenge
10. Using Lego characters or other small toys, make a stop motion movie (download the app Stop Motion to your phone or Ipad)
11. Go through your board/card games and challenge yourself to play them all. Design your own game
12. Build a bug hotel
13. Fold paper planes and see how far they will fly
14. Build the highest block tower you can
15. Learn to braid hair
16. Keep a balloon in the air as long as possible
17. Make a Lego zip line
18. Build a house with a deck of cards
19. String up the Christmas lights in your living room
20. Play cinema – make tickets, popcorn, give your guests a rug and watch a movie together
21. Play hotels using your bedrooms as ‘hotel rooms’ or restaurants by setting up the dining room like a restaurant with menus (or hospitals, vets, banks, etc)
22. Play the gummy bear game (using dice and 5 gummies each. Roll a 1 you eat one in your pile, a 2 you pass one bear to your left, a 3 you pass to your right, a 4 you keep it, a 5 you eat it, a 6 you keep it – keep playing till the gummies are gone!)
23. Use masking tape to make a race track. Race matchbox cars. Or use the inside of your bathtub as a ramp for racing
24. Make a time capsule to be opened in 10 years
25. Change the bedsheets and build a sheet city in your bedroom before they get washed!

Cooking

Make a batch of play doh!

Pop on the apron and get baking! It’s one of the best home activities for kids.

1. Make a batch of play doh
2. Go through recipe books together and have a bake-off challenge
3. Learn how to bake bread

Outdoor play activities

When the weather’s nice, there’s nothing better than getting the kids outside to expel some energy. Here are some fun activities to do with kids in the great outdoors.

1. Do a backyard scavenger hunt
2. String up a sheet tent in the backyard
3. Create an obstacle course: this is one of the best things to do with kids at home
4. Write notes of love, compliments or doodles and hide them around the house for family to find
5. Put goggles and swimmers on and swim in the bath
6. Have a handball tournament
7. Find 10 different shaped leaves in the garden
8. Outdoor games like egg and spoon race, tag team races, three legged races, or play stuck in the mud
9. Get swimmers on and wash the car or your bike!
10. Set up camp in the garden and play inside the tent
11. Water play – buckets, scoopers, whisk, pouring jugs, straws, bubbles!
12. Have a picnic lunch outside. Take books and toys with you. 
13. Jump rope – can you get to 100 without stopping?
14. Lie on a picnic blanket in the garden and spot cloud shapes. Make up a story about what you see.

Home organisation

Since you’re home, why not take advantage and get ahead with a little organising. It’s fun for the kids, and nice and practical for you as well.

1. Go through clothing from previous seasons, try on and cull things that are too small
2. Go through old photos and videos, and old craft and paintings
3. Gardening – pull weeds, trim bushes, collect flowers for a vase
4. Organise the books on your shelf into a rainbow of colours
5. Find three toys to give to charity
6. Fill a small spray bottle with water and aromatherapy oil and then spray and wipe the house
7. Take everyone’s height measurement on a door frame
8. Sort through all your crafts and art supplies. You can even set up a kids art spot. See if something inspires you. Organise and sharpen all your pencils and test all your markers

Fun education

Learning can be fun! If you’re after activities to do at home with kids, then here’s all the inspiration you need to get their brains fired up.

1. Research your family tree – see how far back you can go
2. Interview the members of your family on video, or write their answers down
3. Write a short story or poem that includes a dog, an umbrella and some sushi
4. Try the travelling water experiment
5. Take apart an old appliance. Can you put it back together?
6. Hop online and try some educational games. Discover amazing online education websites
7. Go on a virtual tour of places around the world
8. Write a letter to a friend, relative or teacher to mail, or start a journal
9. Work together to a family emblem, motto or song. Include elements that are important to you and your family

Entertainment

Screens are your best friend when you’re stuck at home. Here’s some creative ways to use them to keep the kids busy.

1. Host a kids’ virtual challenge party
2. Make screen time educational! Watch some educational TV shows. Best Educational YouTube Channels for kids
3. Choose a picture book each and read aloud to each other in the biggest bed in your house
4. Listen to a kid’s podcast or audio book. Podcast suggestions:
   • Brains On
   • Wow In The World
   • Circle Round
   • Little Green Pod
   • Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls
   • Fierce Girls
   • Story Pirates
   • But Why?

Exercise

If you need ways to expel some energy indoors, here are a few options to get everyone moving.

1. Make up a workout and do it together (eg: 25 star jumps, 20 squats, 15 crunches, hop like a bunny around the lounge room, frog leap your partner) – this is a great kids activity for the whole family.
2. Do an exercise class together on YouTube. Best Free Exercise Workouts for kids on YouTube