“I’m Bored,” “Let’s Play,” “I want to do something good” these are some of the most common phrases you hear from your kids during holidays and vacations.
Whether you have toddlers, preschool kids, or children between the age of 8-12 years, it is very essential to keep them engaged in some productive activities. If you are a parent or a babysitter and reading this blog, you will definitely find some fantastic fun things to do with kids at home.
Before moving to the great things you can do with your kid, let me throw some light on the added benefits of engaging your kids in fun stuff:
- Keeps the kids active and healthy
- Cheers up their mood
- Helps them in maintaining healthy body weight
- Reduces the screen-time that they spend on laptops, mobile phones, tabs
- Keeps them more focussed and happy
Effective Fun Things to do with Kids
As a parent, you have two options to engage your child – indoor activities or outdoor activities. Whatever you choose, indoor or outdoor activities, there can be many fun things to do with kids. Let’s check out!
Indoor Fun Stuff to do with Kids
There are endless things you can do with your kids to engage them. Let’s go through some amazing indoor fun things that you can do with your kids to keep them busy as well as help them learn.
#1. Prepare a play or a skit referring to your child’s favorite book
Choose their favorite book, assign characters to family members, and prepare a play skit or a drama. This will develop kids’ emotional intelligence and memory by improving their language and communication.
#2. Build up a Treasure Hunt
In your house, you can plan for a treasure hunt and leave hints in the garage, lawn or any other safe places for the kids to go and find the treasure. This is great fun stuff to do with kids which they find very interesting. This activity will enable them to increase their analytical thinking and develop quick decision-making capabilities.
#3. Teach them some no-bake and fireless cooking recipes
There are various fireless cooking recipes that you can try at home with kids. These recipes include snacks such as cucumber sandwiches, bread canapés, bread wheels, etc.Watch no-cooking Cucumber Sandwich Recipe for kids here.
#4. Involve them to prepare a Scrapbook
You can gather the photographs of various trips you have visited with your kid and paste them in the scrapbook. Also, ask them to write about their experiences with the photograph. It will sharpen their memory and enhance their writing skills.
#5. Engage Kids in Constructing a family tree
This indoor activity will enable your kids to understand relations in a better way. This will also get them closer to the family members and help them find someone like-minded in the family so that they can share their personal feelings with them.
Trust me, this will be very helpful for both, you and your kiddo.
#6. Engage kids in various games
There are various games available online such as Scavenger Hunt, Clay Pottery. You can order these games depending on the interest of your child. You can buy such games from Amazon and get started with your kids.
#7. Plan a Competition between your kid and his friends
You can arrange a competition between your kid and his friends. It could be anything like who will finish book-reading first! This fun activity will enhance their reading skills as well as keep your kid engaged in a productive task.
#8. Ask them to build an indoor Mini-House with bed-sheets
This is one of the fun things kids would love to do. Get them some bedsheets and ask to build a mini-house with them. This will enhance the creative thinking of a child as it requires a lot of pre-visualisation and planning.
#9. Rearrange and decorate kids room
Kids enjoy decorating and rearranging their rooms. This activity can help in developing a sense of belongingness in kids. It also develops a habit of keeping things organized in kids.
#10. Learn to play musical instruments
There are various musical instruments that kids can learn such as playing a keyboard or a tabla. Music helps in developing cognitive skills and enhances early brain development.
#11. Write stories together
You can give your kids some keywords and tell them to formulate a story based on it. This is an indoor activity that enhances the imagination power of kids. At the same time, it improves their vocabulary and writing skills.
#12. Paint each other’s faces
Apart from being a fun thing for kids, the activity of painting each other’s faces has various other advantages as well. Painting helps the kids to communicate their feelings well.
Outdoor Fun Things to Do with Kids
Here we move to the next section, outdoor things to do with your kids that will not only keep them engaged but also will keep them active. Followings are some of the easiest outdoor activities you can easily plan.
#1. Ride a bike around the house
You can take your kids on a bike ride around your house or in any park. This outdoor activity will increase their physical activity and encourage the habit of regular exercise in them.
#2. Engage in gardening activities
You can engage kids in various gardening activities like planting trees, watering plants, cleaning yard, etc. This will make your kids more responsible for nature and the environment.
#3. Keep some bird feeders around your house and feed birds
You can keep bird feeders in or around your house like in a balcony or yard and regularly fill them with bird food. This will make the kids more compassionate about them.
#4. Add a pet to your family
This is a fun thing for kids and has various advantages of its own. Children who grow up with pets are less likely to develop any kind of allergies and asthma. Also, it will help the kids to go outside more often and engage in various physical activities like running and playing. It also develops a sense of belongingness in kids.
#5. Have a sunset picnic in a park or at a beach
You can plan an evening outing with your kid at a beach or in a park. Pack some snacks and games to spend quality time together. It will help you to spend time with your kids and involve your kids in physical activities.
#6. Go to a museum
You can plan a visit to the museum and tell your kids about history and past events. This will increase the awareness of kids and they will be keener to know the things happening around them.
#7. Create an obstacle course in garden
Creating an obstacle course in the garden is a fun game for kids. This will give them an opportunity to get through the obstacles and also, will develop their motor skills.
#8. Plan a visit to a zoo
Take your kids to a zoo and tell them about various animals, their eating habits, and the ecosystem. This will make them aware of the environment in which they live. The kids will enjoy watching and knowing about different animals.
#9. Play hide and seek
Parents should always play outdoor games with their kids. By doing this, you will not only spend some time together but also develop various skills in your kids. This type of game also fills the kids with a giggle and good feelings. Also, the kids become more cooperative by playing such games.
#10. Organize a paintball game
This is one of the most Fun Stuff to do with kids. It is a group activity and requires the division of teams. You need to ensure that all the safety gear is on. This will develop motor skills and b amongst kids. Also, kids will learn the importance of teamwork through this activity.
#11. Have a balloon fight in the garden
You can have a water balloon fight in the garden. This will not only engage kids in physical activity but also develop stimulating skills in them by which they can respond to a rapidly changing environment at a moment.
#12. Donate stuff to charity
Do charity work with your kids. Also, whenever you donate something, make sure to take your kids along to such places. This will enhance the feeling of kindness in them. Also, this will make them a humble and kind human being.
So, these are various ideas to engage your kids in fun stuff without burning a hole in your pocket. Also, these activities will add the benefits of developing various skills in your kids. At the same time, with these fun games, you can also keep them away from the digital screen and online gaming. I hope you’ve found these fun games effective and helpful to engage your kids during holidays.
Happy Parenting..!!
