Things To Do

Things To Do With Kids (…That Cost Next To Nothing!)

• Lay in sleeping bags or rolled up blankets and pretend to be caterpillars in cocoons

• Make sock or paper bag puppets 

• Play hide and seek

• Play hot potato

• Play indoor bowling with a soft fabric ball or rolled up socks. Use paper cups (face up) for bowling pins.

• Play Red Light Green Light or Simon says

• Do jigsaw or crossword puzzles

• Play musical chairs or freeze dance 

• Build a pillow and blanket fort 

• Make shadow puppets on the wall with a flashlight

• Lay belly-down on ottomans and pretend to be flying dragons

• Make a homemade book with an original story

• Send a letter to a friend or relative

• Have an indoor or outdoor picnic

• Plant chia seeds or grow garlic greens in water

• Meditate or do yoga with kid friendly videos

• Sing karaoke

• Play the floor is lava

• Play I spy

• Make friendship bracelets

• Play keep it up with a balloon

• Choreograph a dance routine to a song

• Play dress up

• Play card games like Go Fish 

• Tell knock-knock jokes

• Do magic tricks

• Make silly voices into a child safe fan 

• Crack leftover glow bracelets from July 4th and have a glow-in-the-dark dance party. Try to toss glowing bracelet rings into a basket for a fun party game. 

• Set up ramps with books, blocks, or old wrapping paper tubes and watch things roll down

• Cut out paper doll or paper snowflakes

• Fold and fly paper airplanes

• Assemble a paper chain and use it to decorate a room 

• Make a hopscotch grid outside with sidewalk chalk or inside with painters tape

• Hold an indoor or outdoor olympics

• Play Charades 

• Play Pictionary

• Make mosaics with paper scraps

• Empty the dishwasher together – by age 3 they can help with spoons and small cups

• Use magnets to play “magnetic or not” with objects around the house

• Play “Sink or Float” with household objects and a bowl of water (a rubber band, a band aid, a q tip, a cotton ball….)

• Chase butterflies (make a DIY net out of an old badminton racket and a cotton mesh produce bag)

• Ride Bikes 

• Make tissue paper flowers

• Play “Robot Says” (like Simon Says, but in a robot voice.  “Robot says touch your knees.  Spin ah-round”)

• Play I Spy

• Play Follow the Leader

• Spread a blanket outside and find shapes in the clouds

• Make Origami

• Use a pack of Post-It Notes to “tile” a wall with colorful columns and rows. 

• Make a DIY puzzle with LEGOs. Start with a LEGO baseplate then try to fill it with various LEGO bricks (like screen-less Tetris). 

• Play old fashion pen and paper games like Tic Tac Toe or Dots and Boxes.

• Practice pouring. Start with soft objects like cotton balls or felt pom poms. Then move onto liquids like water. 

• Play an indoor game of H-O-R-S-E. Place a woven basket or cooking pot in the middle of the room.  Use a small fabric ball or rolled up socks as your basketball. You can also spell different words to change it up, like D-R-A-G-O-N or U-N-I-C-O-R-N. 

• Cook or bake something together. We love colorful creations with lots of ingredients like a Mediterranean bean salad, stuffed avocado boats, or rainbow fruit pie. 

• Assemble a charcuterie board or fruit salad together. Use cookie cutters to cut watermelon, cucumbers, or cheese into fun shapes.

• Pretend to be characters from a favorite book or show, then go about your regular day as the characters. 

• Make a tiny bed for a stuffed animal using a spare box and muslin blankets

• Decorate a small box for storing special things

• Make homemade instruments. Stretch rubber bands over a small open box or fill two taped up paper plates with something noisy, like beads or uncooked pasta. Shake, pluck, and dance around the house. 

• Read a new book in the morning – it can inspire creative play for the day. Example? We read Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel to a toddler, gave him a wooden spoon, told him it was Mary Anne, and he played independently for an hour. 

• Use a pretend phone to make play calls 

• Have a reading party.  Set up snacks and piles of books. 

• Play duck duck goose

• Have a tea party

• Make homemade gifts for fiends or family (we love homemade bookmarks!)

• Use a magnifying glass to look at objects

• Take a pair of binoculars on a walk

• Finger paint on a tray or plate with Stage 1 fruit puree 

• Use two paper plates to make a homemade frisbee 

• Play tennis at a local park or court

• Have child set up a play store for you to shop at

• Watch a kids exercise video (we love Miss Linky!)

• Have your child draw and cut out various fireworks then set them off from behind a big chair or sofa with a raised arm. “Ooh” and “ahh” while you watch the show. 

• Make crayon rubbings of common household items (try Band-Aids still in their wrapper!) Add extra fun by playing “Guess the Object” as the object is being revealed. 

• Trace things like toys, hands, or feet

• Set up an indoor or outdoor obstacle course

• Have an indoor or outdoor scavenger hunt

• Let your child play-cook with real ingredients

• Walk to the local fire station to see the fire trucks

• Go see animals at the zoo or a local pet store

• Go to a children’s museum

• Check if any local food factories offer family-friendly tours or tastings