Including fun things to do with kids at home
If you are looking for easy craft ideas for kids to make at home or just for fun activities for the whole family then this parents guide to things to do with Kids at home is for you.
We’ve included every fun activity to do at home that we can think of! We know it’s hard to entertain little ones and even the bigger ones but that’s why we’ve included everything from science experiments to researching your family tree.
Use these to keep the whole family busy while you’ll at home.
If you are looking for more things to do in Hampshire then have a look at:
How to Make Slime in the UK – This is the best way to make slime at home. It’s super easy and a great way to entertain kids of all ages.
The Best Free Toddler Apps That are Educational and Fun in the UK – These are the best toddler apps for your kids to play in the car or at home, and they are all free!
50 Things To Do On A Rainy Day At Home – Rainy days can be just as fun as dry days. Use some of these activities to keep the whole family amused.
Outdoor Activities
Here are some fun activities for kids at home that you can all do outside in the garden. These include arts, crafts and games.
Creative Outdoor Activities
Go crazy and go creative outside in your own garden. Staying at home doesn’t have to be boring.
Rainbow chalk painting – Crush chalk into a tub with water. Stir till smooth and paint! You can paint sticks, rocks or even the pavement.
Chalk drawing on the pavement – This is a great way to get the whole family creative. You could make a hopscotch board or a snakes and ladders game. Anything and everything goes! We use these chunky chalks from Amazon*.
Pull the garden chairs out and make a train – Whoever is the train conductor wears a hat and off you go.
Make a den outside and bring a torch. This is a great place to make hand shadows.
Have a toy tea party
Go bird hunting. Pick a spot and see how many birds you can spot.
Roll around on the grass like you are in the army.
Games
These educational activities are great for the whole family. Play them outside and have fun together with the kids.
Make your own treasure hunt – This can be done easily with painted stones or even bits from around the house. Make a list of twelve objects. Someone hides them around the house and makes a map of where they all are. The rest of the family uses the map to go find them!
Squirt a superhero (parent) – Get the water guns out and every hit gives the shooter a point.
Hook a duck – While the paddling pool is out why not play hook a toy? Anything can go in and take in turns to use a net to fish things back out.
Find coloured objects – Like find five white objects then four orange objects etc
Go on a bug hunt – Print off our bug scavenger hunt here and see how many bugs you can find.
Have a water fight – Anything goes from the hose to buckets.
Play I – Spy
Play sleeping bunnies
Play apple bobbing – Fill up a bucket of water and add some apples.
Craft
These are crafts that kids can do at home while outside.
Grab a bag and pick up whatever leaves and sticks you find in the garden. Then make a picture!
Make some fairy doors out of cardboard or plastic cups. Put them around the garden and see if any fairies visit.
Make a bug hotel – This is really easy to make. Our favorite can be found here.
Make a yogurt telephone line – Make sure the string is pulled tight to hear each other.
Stone rub with crayons
Things to do in Hampshire Guide
Wondering what to do today? Then our guide for ALL things Hampshire is for you!
If you are looking for things to do in Hampshire with kids then this guide is for you. We have over 200+ ideas that you can use to keep your whole family amused while exploring everything Hampshire has to offer!
Find out more about our things to do in Hampshire with kids guide here.
This is an up to date spreadsheet, in activity order, that you can use when you have no clue what to do. We’ve included everything from country parks, to splash pools, lakes, castles, days out, playgrounds and walks. You get lifetime access to this spreadsheet, so any updates we do, you get them, all included in the price!
Indoor Activities
Trying to find things to do for kids that are inside and at home isn’t easy. This is a full-on guide to give you some ideas on what to do when you are at home with the kids.
These indoor activities for kids at home at great for the whole family.
Creative
Looking for kids creative activities to do at home? Then you’ve come to the right place!
These creative stay at home kid activities can keep the whole family busy. None of these creative ideas are hard to do and many can be done with younger kids too.
Treasure trash – Tell the kids that somethings needs to be put away in an area but you aren’t going to tell them what it is. It’s a great way to get everyone tidying up quickly.
Build a tower using spaghetti and marshmallows – This makes a great rainy day game! Get some giant marshmallows and dried spaghetti and get building. The person with the tallest tower wins. We like these giant marshmallows from Amazon*.
Create a costume using just toilet roll or foil – It’s time to get creative. Use toilet roll or foil to make your own costume. Then put on a fashion show for the whole family.
Build a marble run using lego, straws, or toilet rolls – If your kids are fed up with their normal marble runs then get them to build a new one! Grab a flat piece of cardboard and let them use anything they can find to stick to it. Make sure they keep testing it to check it’s working too!
Design your own t-shirt – You can do this cheaply by buying a cheap white t-shirt and some fabric pens. We use these fabric pens from Amazon*.
Paint rocks – You can pick these up from your local beach or buy the rocks from Amazon here*. Paint them and hide them when you next go out. There’s loads of local Facebook groups too to let people know where you’ve hidden them.
Make your own cafe or shop – Grab an old box and paint it. Let the kids pick which shop they want to be and how to decorate it.
Frozen ice – Get the kids to pick daisies from the garden and freeze them in ice cubes.
String obstacle course – Easily done with string and blue tac.
Face painting – We use these face paints from Amazon*. Take in turns to paint each other and see how creative you can all be.
Make a tent – You can make a tent under the table or even over the sofa.
Write and make a book.
Make a kitchen band with pots and pans.
Have a birthday party for a cuddly toy. Make a card and present. Have a dance and sing Happy Birthday.
Have an indoor picnic.
Grab the sheets and wave them. Let the kids run under like it’s real waves.
Make cakes together – Our favorites are these chocolate cupcakes and shortbread biscuits.
Have an upside-down meals day – Have lunch at breakfast and dinner at lunch.
Research your family tree – The internet makes this so much easier. There’s loads of free and paid sites that help you track down your family.
Games
These indoor games are fun for the whole family and can be played exclusively inside without making to much of a mess.
Floor is Lava – Get the kids to play as normal and every so often shout “the floor in lava.” Count down from five and get them to find somewhere to stand off the floor. Whoever is still standing on the floor is the Lava Monster and it’s their turn to shout.
Make your own board games – Make your own Monopoly or your own games.
Use an old cardboard box as a hoop – Cut different shaped holes and throw socks through.
Make paper airplanes and see who’s go further.
Play the post-it game – Each of you write a character and stick it on each other’s forehead then guess who you are
Pick a lolly – Grab a cheap bag of lollies like these from Amazon* and paint the bottom of half. Each family member takes one and the painted one is the winner.
Lucky dip – Wrap up a few old toys in newspaper. Put them in a box and each pick one out to play with.
Put a peg on a family member – One person has a peg and tries to put it on another family member’s back without them noticing. When they do it’s their turn to do it.
Let each family member pick what to wear for someone else.
Tin can alley – Set up your tins in the hallway and roll a ball. The most tins knocked down is the winner.
Play higher or lower with a set of cards
Set an alarm set for every thirty minutes. So soon as it goes off it’s time to dance.
Craft
These arts and crafts are great for indoor fun.
Potato printing – If you have some almost off potatoes then cut them in half and make a pattern. Easy ones are the best! Then put them in paint and watch the creative images come alive. Use this book for inspiration*.
Painting eggs – If you have any gone off eggs then use them! Hard boil them first and let the kids paint them!
Toilet roll people – Use the inside of the toilet roll to make your favorite characters. We love making Star Wars characters but any will do!
Brown wrapping paper – We use this brown paper here as it’s fully recyclable too*. Get the paint out and go crazy. It make great personalized wrapping paper for the whole family.
Finger puppets – You can make these out of anything but we love using old wooden spoons with googly eyes. Have a look at this craft box for great ideas*.
Toilet roll printing – Use your old inserts to make some great and wacky pictures. Cut them up or join them together to make fun pictures. Then stick them in paint!
Make streamers – Do this with tissue paper, fabric or even ribbons.
Make your own lanterns – Paint a jar and then put a candle in.
Make pictures with pasta – any shaped pasta will do. PVA glue is perfect for sticking.
Make your own ice cream playdoh – 2 cups cornflower, half a cup of salt, 2 tbsp oil, 2 tbsp cream tartar, 2 cups of boiling water, quater of a cup of vanilla essence.
Mix together all the ingredients in one bowl. Stir in till it’s all combined together. Once it’s cooled, roll it out. If you want different colours then separate into different bowls and add different food colorings.
Paint a family portrait.
Related Posts:
- The Ultimate Guide to Things to do in Southampton With Kids
- 9 Fun Walks in Hampshire That Are Child Friendly
- 33 Half Term Activities in Hampshire That Are Free
Themed Days
If you are looking to keep the kids entertained then why not have a theme day. This is perfect for older kids too as they can really get involved and make the day great.
Beach day – If you have a small sandpit get it out with bucket and spades. Get the paddling pool out for the sea and make your own fish and chips wrapped in newspaper.
Zoo day – Watch videos from zoos like Chester and the Sealife Center, Play with toy animals outside and do some colouring and labeling of your favorite zoo animal. Why not design your own zoo animal?
Cinema day – Make cinema tickets with popcorn and seat numbers.
Picnic day – Eat in different parts of the home or garden.
Dinosaur day – Put little dinosaurs in water and freeze them so they can dig them out. Hide the dinosaurs in the sand tray too for them to find. You could even make a Dinosaur Egg using: 1 cup flour, 1 cup sand, 1 cup cheap coffee, three-quarters cup of salt, half a cup of water and a little dinosaur toy. You then mix the four, coffee, sand and salt together, Add the water little by little until it makes a firm dough. Make the dough into an egg shape around the toy dinosaur. Leave it out int he sun to dry. The longer you leave it the harder it will be.
Theme park day – Watch rides on YouTube while the kids are sat inboxes. You could also make some of the fairground games like throwing a hoop over a can and have snacks.
Bowling day – Use masking tape to draw out the lines. You could use cans or empty soda bottles as pins. Why not finish it off with hot dog and chips in a basket.
Science day – Have the kids watch the Science Museum and National History Museum tours and then ask them to come up with an experiment they would like to try. You could also do this with space.
Restaurant day – get the kids to pick their favorite restaurant and have that homemade version for dinner.
Pirate day – Go crazy and make hats, make a treasure map, make your own treasure and build your own pirate ship out of cardboard or anything else you have at home.
Willy Wonka Theme – Make your own chocolates. Then design your own sweet wrappers.
Theme holiday night – So for us it would be Butlins but could be Center Parcs or any holiday village you’ve been too. Play bingo, danced to the Skylight Gang songs, ate a fakeaway of Burger King. We also got the paddling pool out as the swimming pool and made our own fairground games.
Crystal Maze Day – Put up a small tent, grab your fan and cut up some foil and paper. Get the kids to collect as many pieces of foil as they can within a time frame. You can add the string game from above to this and other ideas like stepping stones with cushions and even the Floor is Lava.
Garden summer party – Get a couple of tables out. Design your own bunting for around the garden. Set up stalls like a raffle, with the kids toys they already have plus a few treats thrown in. You can do face painting, hook a duck, squirt a superhero (ie a parent), bouncy castle fun (trampoline for us) and give you kids a budget to spend. That way
Spa day – Use a bucket for their feet and put on soft music. Give them a magazine to read while their feet soak. Then pamper away. You could paint each other nails, put on each other makeup and then dress each other.
Pick a country day – Get the kids to pick a country they would love to visit. Research what clothes they were, what food they eat and what the countries are famous for.
Camping day – Get the tent out and camp either inside or in the garden. Have a BBQ like you would if you where really camping.
Nature day – Build a bird feeder using a toilet roll tube, peanut butter, birdseed and pop some string on. Then build a den in the garden where you could spot the birds from. Make binoculars out of two toilet roll holders, make a packed lunch and see how many birds you can spot.
Secret agent day – Wear sunglasses inside and wear each other coats. Try and sneak a letter into each other’s pocket. Play the yes and no game and try and get a peg on each other without them knowing.
Laura x
If you enjoyed this post and would like some more ideas on things to do at home then head over to the Staying at Home section where you’ll find loads of creative ideas for things to do at home. You could also pop over and follow our Facebook page here or our Hampshire days out Pinterest boards for lots more ideas on things to do when you are at home; Staying In Ideas With Kids, Kids Craft Ideas and Rainy Days At Home.
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