Kids enjoy outdoors plays and school time, especially, in early childhood days. With the current situation in hand when almost the whole world is locked down due to the sudden outbreak of the Coronavirus, it has become the need of the hour to stay indoors. As a parent, you must be wondering about engaging activity for kids to involve at home.
It is, of course, a great task in itself to keep your child engaged in activities at home with no scope to play with friends and visit outdoor playgrounds. While we think positively, this is a great opportunity to focus on family bonding. With our daily work commitments, we are unable to connect with our family and especially with kids. Utilize your time and create lasting memories for you and your child. You have a great scope to teach them new things and children love to explore that is new and comes their way.
As my child had a break for the last week from her school, I was thinking of activity for kids that are fun at the same time engaging. So, here I have come up with a list of fun and engaging activity for kids that they will love to do at home.
Top 15 fun and engaging activity for kids to do at home
1. Grow a plant with your child
Today mostly we live in urban settings where there is less room for gardening. Yet, you can try to sow seeds in a pot and let your little one enjoy the entire cycle of the seed into a plant. Children love to see a plant growing and this will also be a learning experience for them.
Explain each and every part of the activity as you proceed with planting a seed. It is good to use materials that are easily available at our home.
If you think it to be a tedious job, then let me tell you it is as simple as said. My daughter and I choose seed from our kitchen (pumpkin seed) and sowed it in a paper cup. We picked up a soil bag from the nursery nearly.
The plant engages her every day. She would water it every morning and ask me facts about its growth, fruit, and how plant make their food, etc.
Learning facts:
- Learn the importance of plants
- Why is plant good for our planet
- How to grow a plant from seeds
- How plants make their food
- The plant is a source of food and oxygen
2. Indulge in family exercise routine evry morning
Engaging your child in a daily morning exercise routine is a must. It will help your child and you as a family to keep up good health and boost your immunity. The best thing we can do to defend the fatal disease is to keep fit and healthy and boost our immune system.
The other benefit of exercising with your child is it will grow attachment between you two. Your child will also be aware of healthy habits and the importance of exercise and to keep fit.
You may have complained of not getting enough time to work out, but now with all the time in hand, make sure to make it a fun and active morning each day as you exercise and burn those stubborn fats with your kids.
Introduce exercise that is kid-friendly and see how they enjoy doing it with you. It is engaging as well as a healthy practice for the family.
Introduce elements like skipping rope to make it more fun. Always keep your creative mind open to spice up things.
Learning facts:
- Morning exercise will keep your child fit and active
- They will learn the importance to keep fit body
- Exercise enhances blood circulation and body flexibility
3. Play a memory game with your child
Do you remember playing memory games as kids? When I was in school, we had a great time playing the memory game. It is a fun and engaging activity for kids at the same time.
If any of you are unaware of the memory game and its rules, here is how to play. The game can be played amongst two or more players. Each player will get a chance to say a word. It can be any word they like, but a single word. The next player will say another word, following the previous word. The trial of words goes on until a player forget the chain of words or miss a word in between.
For example, if player 1 says ‘apple’ then player 2 has to say ‘apple-banana’ and then player 1 will say ‘apple-banana-pencil’ and so on.
This is fun to play with kids and you will be amazed to see how they repeatedly ask you to play this game with them.
Learning facts:
- Best to enhance memory
- It enables your child to remember things
- Brain game
- Kids learn new words
4. Teach your child a new skill
You must has thought for long to teach your kid something, you are pro at. If not you, it can be any other family member. So, now that they are at home, take the opportunity to teach them a new skill. Even if you are not a pro, revive your skills and make it a learning engagement. Kids love to learn new activities such as singing, dancing, playing a musical instrument, knitting, origami, etc.
Everyone is blessed with a special skill and so are you. Think about your school days and revive any hobby you had or a game you played. Tell your story to your child and see how eager they will be to know you as a child.
Your child would take an interest in an activity just because you liked it. As you do this, be ready to answer tons of questions that come to their mind.
Learning facts:
- New Skill development
- Family bonding
- Enhanced concentration
5. Use your imagination with a cardboard box
I am sure all of us have a big cardboard box back at home. Remember when you bought your fridge, washing machine or something of that sort? Use this cardboard box and use your imagination to make a creative thing with it. If you don’t have a big box, don’t worry, to bring out your child’s creativity, even a small handy box will do.
First, ask them to create anything they want out of that box. Give them ideas like making a tent house, a castle, a jail, office, garage, and dollhouse, etc. You will be literally shocked to see how their imagination work.
If you think your child is too young to handle it, then assist them in it. Let them do the easy job such as painting the doors and windows of the construction and other detailing.
Learning facts:
- Exploring new ideas
- Fine motor skill development
- Promotes construction ability
- Teamwork
If you want to explore more DIY ideas to keep your kids engaged at home, then you may also like https://momilove.com/8-diy-creative-ideas-to-engage-kids-at-home/
6. Creating a book can be an exciting activity for kids
This activity for kids will help them in many ways. It may sound hard, but it is easy as you can do whatever you want. Use your creativity or leave it on to your child.
For instance, you can make a family book. Here you can add several pages and decorate the cover of the book. The decoration is complete fun for your child.
Make a family tree page and stick pictures of each family member. If possible, ask your child about any funny incident that she remembers sharing with the person and you help her write it down on another page.
As you complete this book, it will be a treasure for life. Your child can look back to the book and refresh the memories she associates with the book.
There are many other ideas that you create a book upon. You can try making a cartoon book. Ask your child about her favorite cartoon and write small and easy to read stories around it. Explore the creativity of your child and ask her to build a story. You can also add stickers and cutouts to make the book interesting.
Learning facts:
- Enhanced family bonding
- Encourages creativity
- Learning experience
7. Read a book together to grow family bond
Book reading is fun. Choose a book or the whole series of it and read and make it your activity in free time. You may order books online and physically explore the books at home. I will not recommend reading e-books as it is not as satisfying as feeling a book in actual.
On the other hand, a child should feel the book and experience it. This will give them a sense of belonging and help them associate with the book.
Be it a storybook which you wanted your child to read for long or a series of fiction books, choose as you like and see, how your child spends most of his time reading them.
If you are confused about which book to read, Google this https://www.timeout.com/new-york-kids/things-to-do/best-kids-books/
Learning facts:
- Encourages reading habit
- Enhances reading abilities
- Creates a bond when reading together with family
8. Learn basic phonics at home
It’s a win-win game. Learning basic phonics will help your child to associate with the letter sound and will, therefore, enhance their ability to read. This is the best gift you can give to your child as a parent. As you rush up with the phonics at home, she might be a super kid at school as it reopens.
You may think that this a mundane idea and kids would not feel engaged in this, but you are wrong. Add fun elements and make this activity for kids at home rewarding.
You can include letter cards and make a letter book of your own to make it fun and engaging.
Learning facts:
- Enhances reading ability
- Enables kids to relate to letter sounds and encourages the pronunciation of words
- Academic enhancement
9. Play cool math games
Teaching math to kids around games sounds interesting. Play cool math games that revolve around calculation and counting skills.
For example, play skip-jumping, counting fingers game and take away game. Make your own basic games which you and your child can play with toys, fruits, and vegetables, cards, etc. Try the ‘who comes first game’. Draw a road on paper and place a toy car on it. Label teddies and other soft toys as 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and so on. Then ask your child to position them respectively as they want to get into the car.
This will give them a perception about counting and if they already know it, then it will be fun for them to recap.
Learning facts:
- Encourages the ability to think
- Counting ability
- Academic learning
10. Watch movies and have fun time
You might think why movies because, most of the time we are worried as kids are more on TV, games, etc. But there are movies that are worth watching. These movies are entertaining as well as help to develop knowledge.
Watching a movie can be rewarding for your child as well as you and your family. Mark time for movies and I am sure your kids are going to love it.
If you are still not sure which movie to watch together as a family, then I am here, to suggest you with a few that we like. We enjoy watching movies like
- Finding Nemo
- Jurassic Park
- Frozen
- Aladdin
- Moana
- Home Alone
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
- Wizard of Oz
- Lion King
- Beauty and the Beast
- The Jungle Book
- MS Dhoni (Hindi)
- My Friend Ganesha (Hindi)
Learning facts:
- Explore emotion
- Develop family bonding
- Learn new facts
11. Arrange a video conference with friends
It is right that we cannot visit each other, but with the latest technology, we can virtually meet our friends. Call fellow mommies and fix up a storytelling date. See how surprised your child will be to participate in the storytelling session activity with kids at home.
While you prepare with your mates, find a common interest story that goes with the majority of choice. Make more out of this holiday and have a fun time with kids at home.
Learning facts:
- Explore technology
- Enhance group listening abilities
- Group play
12. LEGO is an engaging indoor activity for kids
Every child possesses a set of LEGO toys. Though these are constructive play materials, it goes unnoticed by us as a structured play option. You can assist your child in building with LEGOs. If they are not self-sufficient, play with them and spend time making new and innovating things out of the blocks.
One of the best ways to store LEGO is to place a cardboard box under the table which you are using to play. As your child finishes playing, you can quickly drop the LEGOs in the box.
Learning facts:
- Fine motor skill development
- Development of thinking ability
- Logical ability
13. Explore science experiments in your kitchen
Science has always attracted children. With basic science exploration, you can amaze your child. With materials easily available at home, you can make your own science projects with ease. For example, you can test a shower bomb in your bathtub, pop in Mentos in a Soda bottle, or add oil in turmeric to change its color.
All these science experiments can be an immensely engaging activity for kids while they are packed at home.
Learning facts:
- Enhance scientific knowledge
- Explore the world around them
- Thinking ability enhancement
14. Create inflated bathtub ball pit in your living room
Don’t your child love ball pits? It’s time to create your own ball pit at home. I am sure this activity or kids will make your child super excited.
If you have an inflatable baby bathtub then you can use it, or else order one online. Also, order online colorful Ping-Pong balls to fill your bathtub. Make sure the balls fill the pit.
Let your child take a dip into the ball pit and you can rest for a while. This activity will engage your child for hours and even for days.
Learning facts:
- Fun play
- Learn color identification with Ping-Pong balls
- Learn color segregation with Ping-Pong balls
15. Engage your child in household activities
I know, your workload as the woman of the house has increased to a high level. It is a good idea to involve your child in household activities. She can help you in keeping the groceries in place, folding clothes along with you, helping you while cooking, etc.
Things can be fun and engaging as you ask your child for help.
Learning facts:
- Enhance the sense of belongingness
- Family values
- Learn new things
I am sure you will find the best activity for kids, interesting. All the activities are unique and can go well with various age groups, especially preschoolers. Make sure you create an environment that is free from unnecessary screen time at home and enjoy with your little ones with these engaging activities.
Write to us if you find the activity for kids engaging and helpful. Your comments will inspire us to grow and write more.
2 comments
Thanks for sharing your article Chanelle.
Found your post interesting to read. I can’t
wait to see your article shortly. Good Luck for your upcomingupdate.
Thiss article is really very interesting and effective.
Best regards,
Boswell Griffin