Being inside doesn’t have to be boring! In fact, you can make it into an enjoyable family bonding time by trying out some fun indoor activities together.
When the memory of outdoor, summertime fun grows distant, finding enjoyable indoor activities to prevent winter boredom can be challenging. It’s not always possible to venture out of the house for family entertainment, so I thought you might like a few ideas for indoor activities all the family can do together at home.
I’ve listed the ideas in five sections, Arts & Crafts, In the Kitchen, Outdoors Indoors, Science Experiment, and Showstopper! Let’s take a more in-depth look at my favorite fun indoor activities for families.
Arts & Crafts
The great thing about art and craft activities is that the possibilities are literally endless! What’s more, your kids will be just as happy making things from your recycled plastic bottles, cardboard tubes, and boxes as they would be using expensive craft materials.
With just a little imagination, you can turn a pop bottle into a jellyfish, jetpack, fairy house, exotic flower, plant container, or musical instrument!
Large cardboard boxes and fantastic for building forts, playhouses, cars, boats, and kitchen appliances.
Not particularly crafty?
It doesn’t matter! There is a vast selection of tutorials online, just find one you like the look of and follow along. In no time, you can all be creating something fun and exciting.
Art techniques such as acrylic pouring, swiping, or string pulls have found huge popularity with amateur artists. Why? Because they are so easy and give such great results. Kids love doing them, and it’s a great way to make a wonderful piece of artwork together for an empty wall in your home or as a gift.
My advice is to ensure you clear a large working area in advance and have all the materials you’re going to need to hand. Putting down a plastic sheet or newspaper to protect surfaces is a wise precaution, as things can get messy!
Find inspiration on YouTube or search ‘art and craft activities for kids’ online.
In the Kitchen
Kids love making yummy treats in the kitchen, and just like art and craft, the possibilities are vast. Whether it’s baking tasty cakes and cookies, homemade pizza, or super healthy soups and salads, having fun in the kitchen is a great indoor activity all the family can enjoy.
Teaching culinary skills is a good idea for lots of reasons. Firstly, for fussy eaters, it’s one of the best ways to tempt them into eating new and healthy foods. For some reason, things just taste better when you’ve made them yourself.
The ability to cook is an essential life skill. It means that when your child does eventually leave home they will be better equipped to fend for themselves and won’t live on takeout.
Cookery also allows kids to learn about nutrition and how to make smart choices that help them stay healthy – as the saying goes, “you are what you eat.” With the increasing levels of obesity, particularly in children, teaching them how the body uses food and the benefits and pitfalls of different food types can be highly beneficial. Good habits start at an early age.
You can find loads of great healthy recipes to try online, or you could invest in a kid’s cookbook.
Outdoors Indoors
When the weather is miserable, cold, and wet outside, you can soon recapture some summertime fun by bringing the outdoors indoors.
Various activities can be just as much fun inside. Some of my top suggestions include:
Building a Fort
This can be done with a fort building set or simply from items you find around the house.
Gardening
Yes, even if you don’t have a garden at all, you can still have lots of fun gardening. Why not plant up a herb container for your kitchen window ledge?
Not only will taking care of the young plants be fun and educational, but you can use them to add to your cookery endeavors together too. It’s also another excellent opportunity to teach children about nature and the environment.
Treasure hunt
Treasure hunts are fun for all the family, and they are just as entertaining to do inside as they are out. It’s a great game to play with family or with friends.
There are various ways to do it, depending on the age of your children. You can give them one object to find at a time, for example, ‘something yellow.’ They go off and search around in the permitted rooms for their hunt, and when they come back with an appropriate item, you give them points.
The number of points depends on whether they were the first (1 point), second (2 points), third (3 points), and so on. When they’ve found all the items (as many as you want to give them), the person with the fewest points wins a prize. This could be anything you deem appropriate.
For older kids, you can give them a written list of all the items, and only when they’ve found everything they bring them back to you. The first person back with a completed list wins. To make things more intense, you can implement a time limit. This makes it more competitive if there several people taking part. If an item is too large to carry around, a photo of it on their phone may also be permissible.
Science Experiment
Remembering back to my school days, I loved a good science experiment! Children today love them too. But science doesn’t just have to be confined to the classroom.
There are plenty of really cool, fun science experiments you can do even with young children.
The best way to find age-appropriate experiments to try in your home by doing an internet search. Try something like ‘home science experiments for 5-year-olds’ or ‘home science experiments for preschoolers’ or ‘home science experiments for high school’ and so on.
Most of the experiments you’ll find won’t require any fancy equipment. You’ll mostly just need things you already have in your home – generally found in the kitchen cupboard.
Showstopper
Many kids just love to entertain, so why not help them put on a show? It’s an ideal way for all the family to showcase their talents and all you need to do is give your children the spark of an idea by giving them a prompt.
It can be anything from the title of a drama piece such as ‘the lost dog’ or for older kids ‘ghost story.’ If they like to sing or dance, give a little help finding an appropriate piece to take inspiration from online. But do encourage originality!
Be brave and go wild! Once everyone has devised and rehearsed their piece, dress up, and even do makeup if appropriate. Then create a performance space somewhere with enough room for everyone to dazzle each other. Simply take it in turns to perform.
Conclusion
As you can see, inside time doesn’t need to be boring. With just a little imagination, there’s plenty of fun indoor activities for families to enjoy together. Not only are these activities great fun, but they’re educational too, building essential life skills and encouraging independence, confidence, and creativity.
What do YOU like to do with your kids on cold and rainy days? Did I miss something? Let’s discuss your favorite fun indoor activities for families in the comments below. I’m looking forward to reading from you 🙂
I hope I’ve helped you discover some fun indoor activities for families – so it’s over to you to get creative!
Until next time,
chris
P.S.: If you REALLY want to level up your parenting skills and get rid of all the power struggles that can stand between our kids and us as moms or dads, then make sure to read my FULL REVIEW of “Positive Parenting Solutions” HERE.
