Fun things to do indoors with children

13th August 2020
Emma Laffey
Life Style

Make a time capsule - get your child to write a letter with the date, their name and date of birth. Include a short note to explain how they are feeling about the situation they are in. Ask them to draw a picture of the family, enclose newspaper or magazine cuttings of the things that interest them, a photo and any other things they wish to include. Put them all in a box and hide it away in the loft or garage ready to be found in years to come. They can look back and remember this unique situation that they were involved in.
Make an indoor obstacle course and when they have completed it, ask them to do it again to see if they can beat their original time. Include things like doing a dance, doing star jumps, striking a pose or even balancing a book on their head.
Have a cinema day and watch a film with popcorn on the couch with your duvet. A great way to spend the day with family members.
Tell jokes and enjoy your children having a proper belly laugh. There are plenty of knock-knock jokes and silly jokes for children, or you could make them up yourself and see who gets the loudest and longest laugh!
Do a treasure or scavenger hunt. Hide things around the house like photos, small toys or the occasional treat and write a list of the things they need to find and see how long it takes to find all of them.
Play board games as a family but, no fighting if you are losing!
Play indoor balloon tennis or ping pong, but be careful not to break anything!
Play indoor bowling using the cardboard insert of toilet rolls, kitchen rolls or even clean small yoghurt drink bottles, line them up the same as they would be at a bowling alley and use a soft ball to knock them down.
Put on a show, dress up as your favourite characters and sing, dance and act out a scene with your siblings while the rest of the family are the audience.
Make unique cards or write letters to send to family and friends using stamps, glitter and paints. Everyone loves getting a letter or card, and it’s a great way of practising handwriting too.
Have a readathon and see how many books you can read in a day.
Bake some cakes or chocolate chip cookies and have a tea party.
Make a tent using sheets and blankets between tables, sofas and chairs. Then bring in toys, books, and perhaps even enjoy a picnic lunch in their great indoor camp.
Get crafty make a picture using things around the house like straws, different colours paper, glue, glitter, stickers, cardboard tubes, pompoms, string, wool, felt, material, ribbon, pipe cleaners, and tissue paper- practically anything that’s available to use.
Make salt dough decorations for yourself or to give as gifts:
To make your own batch of homemade salt dough, all you need are three ingredients that you’re sure to have at home:
- 250g flour
- 125g table salt
- 125-150ml water (approx)
Mix together the flour and salt, then gradually add enough water to create a dough consistency.

Sprinkle a little flour on your counter and tip out the dough. Knead the dough with your hands until there is no longer any trace of flour and the dough is pliable.

Your salt dough is now ready to create with – roll it out, cut, shape and get creative! Simple is usually better as it has more chance of staying together before you bake it. Also, the thicker the dough is, the longer it will take to harden.

When ready, put the salt dough creations on a lined baking sheet and into an oven preheated to 140C/280F to dry out. The length of time will depend on the thickness and size of the dough, so give it about three hours and then check to see if it needs more time. Once the dough has dried out and hardened, leave it to cool completely before painting.
Feed the birds and make a note of all the different birds that visit your garden and find out more about them.
Do a nature trail in the garden and see how many creatures you can see. Look out for ants, snails, or butterflies and draw pictures of them all.

Fun things to do indoors with children

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