Indoor Activities to Keep The Kids Busy During Lockdown and Build Their Creativity

Just when everything was going well, people were getting vaccinated, and things were opening back up again, the Delta variant of the coronavirus came along. Now, even with schools and most public places being open, you probably don’t feel okay letting your kids out of the house. 

Things like playdates and after school activities aren’t the best options for your kids anymore, but you also know how important these things are for a developing mind. If you’re worried about your child’s social skills later in life, and if they’ll be able to navigate work and life in general successfully if they’re stuck at home at this important stage. 

You’re not the only parent who’s worried, but there’s a silver lining. Now, you’re even more in control of how your kids grow up and how they spend their time than you ever were, and if you use that contro wisely, you can make sure their creativity, imagination, and their brains are given all the room they need to grow.

You can find multiple ideas for arts and crafts projects you can do with your kids on the Craft Whack Blog, or you can keep reading for some great ideas for activities that your kids can do at home that are sure to help their imaginations run wild.

1. Create Box Cities 

In case you have any cardboard boxes lying around the house, let your kids have them. If the boxes are big enough, toddlers can stack them up high or line them up on the floor in a maze that will occupy them for hours. 

They can even take out their art supplies to decorate the walls of their cities, which opens up a whole new world of possibilities for them. 

2. Indoor Treasure Hunt 

This is a more interesting twist on the classic game of hide and seek. Hide a favorite toy or some money somewhere around the house, and then have your kids look for it. You can turn it into a sort of competition and even pretend to join them on the hunt, and make it more interesting with riddles and clues. 

If you want to make a big deal out of it, hide multiple objects around the house and make a whole scavenger hunt out of it. 

3. Hide and Seek 

Small kids have a knack for finding the weirdest, most creative places to hide in, and this game has been a favorite among children for ages. You can play it with your kids around the house, or you can encourage them to play it among themselves. 

4. Charades/ Puppets/ Shadow puppets 

If you want to get your kids away from their tv screens, tabs, and mobile phones, try giving them puppets to play with instead. Smaller kids especially will be more than happy to play along with a shadow puppet show, and they might be very excited to see what you do with the shapes.
Encourage them to tell their own stories using sock puppets and shadows, and to be as creative as possible. 

5. Bake 

Who doesn’t love tasty lockdown treats? Encourage your kids to help you around the kitchen, and bake some cookies or cupcakes with you. 

You can let them decorate the cupcakes and other goodies with colorful frosting, sprinkles, and whatever else they can find around the kitchen that they think will look (and taste) good on their treats. This is a great way to help your child discover a love for baking, cooking, or food in general! 

6. Coloring 

Coloring is not only fun and relaxing, but it’ll have your kids sitting still and quiet for a while too. Holding a color pencil in their hands and coloring a piece of paper will also be a great way for smaller kids to practice holding a pencil, which is a very important step in learning how to write. 

You can even have a contest to see who can draw the best picture of a certain scene, but make sure not to take all the fun out of it. 

7. Play Dress-Up 

Encourage your kids to play dress up, and see what characters they create. Tell them to think up a person, dress as them, and either play pretend to made up stories or to tell you all about what the person is like, what their name is, where they live, and all sorts of other details about them. 

You’ll be surprised at the wild stories your kids will come up with! 

8. Read-a-thon 

Encourage a love for reading in your kids by holding read-a-thons. You can either let your kids read on their own, or read to them. You can also get your kids to read to you, and to act out the scenes they’re reading about. 

Make sure to keep some snacks at hand and have fun with the books – they’re not homework, and they shouldn’t feel like they are either. 

9. Make Science Experiments 

There are many science experiments that you can do with stuff you found at home, like making a baking soda volcano, and creating slime. 

Make sure that they’re playing with safe materials and not trying out anything too messy, but let them experiment with different materials and mixtures on their own. You can even get them a small science kit for kids if they show interest in it! 

10. Write Things 

You can have your kids write letters to their relatives, to their friends and grandparents, and to write in their journals or diaries. 

In case you get them a journal, let them have control over what they write in it and allow them privacy. If you want to superwise what they write, try getting them to write stories and things that you can read later. 

11. Make Instruments 

If your kids are interested in music, they can try making instruments at home and see how they turn up. You can ask them to make instruments that make certain noises, or let them play  around with different surfaces like they’re drums. 

12. Make Up Recipes 

If you want to encourage creativity in the kitchen or just want to bond with your kids, you can ask them to help you with dinner, or help you make snacks for them. 

Let them take a peek in the fridge and see what’s in there, and help them prepare whatever it is that they come up with. Maybe you can help your kids name their creations too!

13. Puddle Jump and Get Out More 

Staying away from other people doesn’t always mean staying inside. If it rains, you can take your kids outside to play in it and jump puddles. You can even take them on walks, on picnics, and on camping and hiking trips. 

All these experiences will one day be fond memories, and camping trips would be a great opportunity to tell them stories around the campfire – or let them make up scary stories to tell you. 

14. Crafts 

You can make masks out of paper plates, butterfly wings out of cardboard, and a number of other things that will help your kids work their creative muscles to the max. Let them have some glue, teach them how paper mache works, hand them some cardboard, colors, scissors, and string etc, and see what things they can create with them! 

Kids are naturally curious and creative, which is why it doesn’t take much to help them reach their full creative potential. All they really need is love, attention, and encouragement to flourish.

Get more parenting and motherhood content by Lauren Webber from the Dainty Mom Blog