The Best Indoor Activities for Kids

We are 5 weeks into this covid craziness. I thought we would be falling into a routine by now, but each day brings new challenges. Homeschooling 3 kiddos while trying to work from home has me pulling my hair out most days. There is basically a line of people waiting for a Zoom meeting at all times.

I am old school and would rather have a pencil and paper rather than all of these websites and passwords. We are now doing our school work in the morning and try to do something fun in the afternoons. I put together this list of indoor activities to help keep your kids entertained. If you have any good ideas to add, please let me know in the comments below. Hang in there. We will get through this.

Ideas for things to do with kids at home:

Welcome threatened bird species to your backyard by mounting a bird house. (We just ordered a bluebird house and we are so excited!)
Teach your kids a life skill (dishes, laundry, make a bed)
Plan a trip. Open up a map. Spin the globe.
Make an obstacle course
Explore a National Park
Have a Mexican night! (Make tacos, play mariachi music, get a pinata)
Do a puzzle
Blow something up (dump ½ a pack of mentos into a bottle of diet coke)
Bake muffins (Here is our favorite recipe for banana muffins)
Go on a secret spy mission with this decoder
Create a cozy book corner made with pillows
Have a fancy dress party (dress up and drink sparkling cider)
Have a game night (Ours favorites are Pie Face Charades, and Fortnight Monopoly)
Go on a hike (check the Trustees of the Reservation)
Have a movie night. (This is my favorite popper and this is my favorite bowl. Feels like you’re in the movie theater!)
Rob a bank (tape streamers across a hallway and put a prize at the end, kids have to crawl through without triggering the “lasers”)
Send snail mail to friends and family
Support your favorite toy store (ours is Henry Bear’s Park)
Take a walk on Mars
Foster an animal for a local animal shelter (use Petfinder to find a rescue near you).
Camp out in your living room (set up a tent, make s’mores in the fireplace)
Do an Usborne Little Sticker Book (these are my daughter’s favorite) !!!
Make a pillow fort
Erupt a volcano
Go geocaching
Take a virtual tour of a famous museum
Make homemade bath bombs
Go on a scavenger hunt around your house or yard
Make playdough
Put on a puppet show
Put a bat house in your back yard for some natural insect control
Get lost in a good book
Paint a room
Watch your wedding video, dance to your wedding song, squeeze into your wedding dress
Go on a virtual ride at Disney World
Clean a drawer a day
Take an online course
Do a simple science experiment
Do a yoga class
Have Grandparents read a bedtime story with FaceTime
Take a virtual tour of New Zealand

I hope you can have fun with this list of the best indoor activities for kids. But more than anything, give yourself grace. Grace to do none of the above. Grace to get nothing done but be healthy and sane. Hug your kids and know that this too shall pass.