Inside you’ll find a giant list of 98 indoor activities for kids, especially if you’re on break, experiencing a school closure, summer break, or it’s winter and you’re stuck inside. 

Quiet games to take anywhere with kids that don’t need prep or a lot supplies. Quiet activities and quiet games for kids to play when you’re in the car, in a waiting room or at home and need the kids to play independently.

98 Kid-Approved Indoor Activities for Kids During School Break/Closure

If you’re a parent in the United States, or even across the world right now, you may be experiencing school closures, confinement, or even quarantine.

I know the thought of being stuck inside with three kids for three weeks is a daunting prospect for me, but I can’t do anything by embrace this time we have to be together.

Here are 98 activities and ideas you can pull out anytime if you’re at home with kids.

Use these ideas for the weekends, school breaks, school closures, summer and winter breaks, and actual quarantine.

This list goes beyond the basic, “arts and crafts” and gives you creative, education-based, life-skills, and of course fun ideas to make the time you and your family have together a memorable experience.

👉 You can download a printable list of these activities at the bottom of this article. 

 

Giant List of 98 Indoor Activities for Kids

  • Give your kids lessons on cooking. Start with small things like oatmeal, making toast, scrambling eggs, and sandwiches. Then work your way up to harder level meals and cutting fruit and vegetables. (kid-safe knives also make this easier.)
  • Have a mystery food taste off! This can get spicy, gross and a little funny too! Each team will create one mixture of 4-6 different ingredients. Then a person on the other team will taste it and try to guess all the ingredients. The person who gets the most right gets a point.
  • Facetime Grandparents and check in on them regularly.
  • Learn sign language (look at youtube for great ideas and Tiny Signs is excellent for teaching babies and little ones.)
  • Build animals with play dough.
  • Have a game night at home.
  • Build giant structures with building toys.
  • Build a bug or ant farm.

 

If You Need a Screen-Free Activities your Kids will LOVE…

 

  • Check out movies on Disney+.
  • Pull out board games and try a new game or game you haven’t played together in a while.
  • Have a LEGO building competition (airplanes, boat, house, a car, etc.).
  • Help your kids write letters to friends and family members.
  • Have an old-fashioned backyard race (sack races, three legged races, egg on a spoon carry (or use a ping pong ball or golf ball), crab crawl, hopping on one foot, etc.
  • Create kindness bags you can keep in the car and pass out to others in need.
  • Build a volcano out of sand, play dough or molding clay. Put baking soda inside the volcano with a few drops of food coloring, and when you’re ready, drizzle in vinegar to make an erupting volcano.
  • Learn how to sew or work on a project you’ve been putting off.
  • Make homemade cards you can use later for birthdays, holidays and teachers.
  • Write a short story and illustrate it, then bind it together for your own book masterpiece.
  • Make an indoor fort and reading cave.
  • Get your garden ready. You may need to get seeds, an indoor grow kit and create a plan for your garden this year.
  • Find an art project to do (Pinterest is great for ideas) and complete it together.
  • Bake something together.
  • Let your kids pick out your outfit for a day.
  • Head to the library and stock up! Grab picture books, animal books, science books, learning resources, story books and novels, magazines, videos and books on tape. Be sure to get some things for yourself when you’re there!
  • Put on a play or puppet show.
  • Make gingerbread houses (it’s not just for the holidays!) Decorate a funny house, a beach house, an Easter Bunny’s house, or anything else around this time of year you can think of.
  • Choreograph a dance (my kids love to do this together and then get dressed to put on a show for their Dad and I to watch as a live audience.)
  • Play with cornstarch and water (oobleck) and figurine toys.
  • Help with yardwork between playing outside.
  • Learn the names of plants and flowers in your yard.
  • Play with LEGO blocks.
  • Have a tea party and help your child make their own tea.
  • Work on a family puzzle together.
  • Practice washing hands and singing the Happy Birthday song two times to get a good scrub and germ removal in.
  • Go through closets and dressers to get rid of small, holey or ruined clothes and organize clothing spaces.
  • Make up your own fairytale for bedtime. There once was a girl who loved to fly airplanes and go on jungle adventures with monkeys….

Inside you'll find a giant list of 98 indoor activities for kids, especially if you're on break, experiencing a school closure, summer break, or actual quarantine right now.

  • Give your dog or pets a bath.
  • Make a folding picture story.
    • 1) One person draws a small picture across the top of a paper,
    • 2) The next person writes a sentence that describes that picture and folds over the paper top of the paper hot dog style to cover the picture.
    • 3) The 3rd person only sees a sentence and they have to draw a picture. They fold over the sentence, and keep going until everyone has had a chance to add to the picture / story.
    • 4) Unfold the paper and read the story aloud for everyone to hear, and show the pictures, too!
  • Pair all the single socks in your house together.
  • Have each child pick a topic they’re interested in learning about and then spend 30 – 45 minutes researching the topic and sharing what they’ve learned.
  • Have a hula hooping contest.
  • Go through all your books and pick out the ones that’ve been outgrown, and donate the rest.
  • Dress up for dinner. Mom can wear her wedding dress, Dad can put on a suit and let the kids get dressed to the nines (or in Halloween costumes is pretty cute, too.)
  • Have a spa day and pamper yourselves.
  • Find a local hike all your kids can do (take into consideration the length and difficulty level) and go on a family hike.
  • Take a dance class online (youtube) or learn a popular dance.
  • Create self-portraits.
  • Find a good kid’s podcast to listen to.
  • Go for a family walk outside. Look for animal tracks, and name birds, flowers, and plants you see along the way.
  • Make your own bookmarks.
  • If your school is going on #quarantine and running #schoolonline, get #GlobalKids for the special price of just $10.98.Take a screen-free, curiosity + creativity boosting, global empathy + engagement trip around the world, from comfort of your home
  • Use the Calm or Headspace App and practice meditation and mindfulness together (even if it’s only three minutes long!)
  • Get dressed up and go take family pictures together (use a timer on your phone or camera so everyone is in it!) or just pictures of your kids.
  • Hold a family handstand contest and see who can hold their handstand the longest.
  • Have a smoothie making contest for best flavor (or just make smoothies together.)
  • Let your kids have a sleepover together on the floor in one of their bedrooms.
  • Have a puzzle race! See who can build one of your 48-piece puzzles the fastest. (we have a lot of these Melissa & Dough 48-piece puzzles and they hold up well and are perfect for 3 – 6 year olds!)
  • Cut out old magazines and create vision boards for the year.
  • Create necklaces or bracelets with beads, rolled paper beads, noodles or cereal.
  • Many educational websites are waving fees if your students school is closed
  • GoNoodle! Is great for guided & mindful movement, yoga, relaxation, etc.. geared specifically for kids.
  • Find a place on a map you want to learn more about and do a deep dive into that location. Look at pictures, search history of the area and find landmarks to learn about.
  • Learn how to make __________ (sushi, a pasta dish, a yummy dessert, etc.)
  • Declutter your toys – toss broken toys, donate or give away outgrown toys.
  • Create your own doll house with cardboard boxes, extra fabric (or clothing you have that’s been outgrown, etc.) and household items you can use as tables, chairs, and props.
  • Bake cookies to have milk and cookies for a yummy snack.
  • Have match car races to see which cars go the furthest off a ramp.
  • Rearrange a room in your home.
  • Learn a new language. Of course, starting with the basics such as hello, goodbye, how are you, my name is… Outschool is a great (and free) resource for this.
  • Wash and clean out your car.
  • Create a solar system with planets and moons out of objects and items you have at your house.
  • Create a new photo album from the past year, event, birthday, etc. since you have the time! (and always shop for coupons when you use a service like Shutterfly to get at least 50% off.)
  • Create a scavenger hunt in your house or through your neighborhood.
  • Listen to books on tape – Audible is a great resource!
  • Host a popcorn & movie marathon with blankets and pillows on the floor. Be sure to shut all your windows and make it a special movie-watching experience.
  • Clean out your fridge and check expiration dates of everything in there, as well as your pantry and spices. Wipe everything down with a safe, non-toxic cleaner before you put everything back in.
  • Frame your kid’s artwork and put it up around the house.
  • Look at baby books and share stories to your kids about what they were like in those first few years of life.
  • Organize your kid’s school work and artwork into bins by grade in school. Here are 15 organization ideas to keep all their stuff nice & tidy in one spot.
  • If you’re up to get away (and stay away from others of course), then camping could be a fun experience for the entire family. Here are 10 genius camping hacksyou’ll wish you knew sooner, as well as 21 camping games, and 30-make-ahead camping mealsthat aren’t hot dogs to ensure your family camping trip is fun, and stress-free for parents.

 

Download Your Printable List of 98 Activities Here

 

 

MORE RESOURCES FOR ACTIVITIES & BEHAVIOR YOU MAY SEE WHEN YOU’RE AT HOME ON BREAKS OR LONGER PERIODS OF TIME: 

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