Reading Time: 4 minutes

play

Kids crawling up the walls? Need ideas for a little creative, active play? Let’s get to it. (I’d love your own ideas added to the comments section below!)

  1. Play restaurant–maybe with a little bit of real food (today’s snacks, perhaps? Water, anyone?). Make a menu, set the table.
  2. Give them something to clean or organize–like whatever that gray mass is under their beds.
  3. Family game night.
  4. Facemask with your daughter.
  5. Race toy cars using a board or cardboard box propped up at an angle.
  6. Check out books and audiobooks from the online library.
  7. Practice an instrument.
  8. Have an older child make dinner.

  9. Tell them to design their own flag.

  10. Put a mattress on the floor for somsersaults and wrestling.
  11. Camp out in the living room.
  12. Let them decorate their bedroom door.
  13. Pick out one of these 50 role-playing ideas.
  14. Play dress-up (dudes can play, too: pirates, army guys). Fashion show optional.
  15. Take a bubble bath.
  16. Paint faces. (Maybe do this before #11?)
  17. Make an obstacle course–indoors or outdoors.
  18. Make a movie with your phone.
  19. Have a dance party.

  20. Play with shaving cream on a cookie sheet.

  21. Finger paint (you can make your own). play
  22. Get out the toy winning the prize for “haven’t played this in the longest time”.
  23. Find an online class or tutorial for something they’re interested in: guitar (um, you should have a guitar); art; cooking.
  24. Send them outside to play soccer, baseball, kickball, or my kids’ favorite, Calvinball (from Calvin & Hobbes).
  25. Play with playdough (you can make your own).
  26. Play “store.”  Line up your pantry items, grab grocery bags, set up a “cash register” cardboard box, make some paper money and pricetags. (This is great for early money lessons! You can even make pretend “checks”.)
  27. Take photos with your phone (perhaps using siblings or stuffies?), and put them in their own “book” to tell a story.
  28. Find a podcast they’ll like.
  29. Create a prayer paperchain of people you love.
  30. Memorize Bible verses for prizes. (My kids like to make it easy by downloading songs from SeedsFamilyWorship.com.)
  31. Read out loud one of the Chronicles of Narnia, or R.J. Palacio’s Wonder.
  32. DIY Pedicure with your daughter.
  33. Make and send cards for someone isolated or anxious.

  34. Get on Marco Polo with a friend.

  35. Give them a small budget to create a worship-music playlist.
  36. Feeling ambitious and homey? Make your own soft pretzels. Kids will love to choose the toppings!
  37. Let them pick a craft on Pinterest.
  38. Make a fort.
  39. Play library.
  40. Make a parade using stuffed animals, bikes, musical instruments, posters, streamers…
  41. Have a Nerf war. (I personally prefer outside.)
  42. Make a sensory bin. (Tip: Put it on a shower curtain or sheet for easier clean up.)play
  43. Put on a play. (You can make one out of your favorite story.)
  44. Call Grandma or Grandpa.
  45. Play post office.
  46. Make a photo Chatbook–maybe even for someone else. (My husband adored the one my daughter made for him for Christmas, full of photos of him and the kids.)
  47. Camp out in the living room. Have hot dogs and/or s’mores for dinner.
  48. Make a scrapbook.

  49. Make muffins for tomorrow’s breakfast.

  50. Leave packaged snacks with a note for the neighbors.
  51. Make a maze on the driveway with chalk.
  52. Make your own mega-bubbles. Cut the bottoms from disposable water bottles or large plastic cups for instant bubble-makers (watch for sharp edges).
  53. Play “laundry” with doll clothes. You could wash them for real, or let the kids put them in a box-turned-washing-machine-and-dryer. Let them pretend to hang the clothes on a pint-sized wash line, then play-iron.
  54. Make sock- or bag-puppets, and maybe even a puppet stage. Put on a show!
  55. Build a marble rollercoaster or maze out of straws.
  56. Make spear-like building materials from rolled-up newspaper (start at the corner) and masking tape. You can make large structures and throw blankets over them for a hideout!
  57. Make your own secret code, and/or write something with Q-tips and  “invisible ink” from things you have at home. (Milk works, too; let it dry and put near a heat source, like a lightbulb. Obviously, kids should be careful with that last part.)
  58. Make your own popsicles (No molds? You can use cups and popsicle sticks the old-fashioned way!).

  59. Grab an easel or clipboard and make an outdoor art-studio.

  60. Play veterinarian with stuffies.
  61. Make tissue-paper flowers to hang from your daughter’s ceiling.
  62. Line up chairs to make an airplane, race car, canoe, Magic School Bus…
  63. Make your own instruments from recycling.
  64. Make (or print) and color your own paper dolls (there are some for boys, too).
  65. Play BINGO for small prizes using at-home reading accomplishments.

Like this post? You might like

11+ Low-prep ideas to occupy kids on Christmas break (with FREE printable!)

16 More Fun, No-Screen Ideas to Occupy Kids on Christmas Break

Spring Break Kids’ Activity: The Newlywed Game (FREE PRINTABLE)

Coronavirus: Tips to Talk to Kids

The Stressed Parent, & Your Brain on COVID-19