Guest Blogger. Author Bio: Cristin Howard runs, Smart Parent Advice site that provides parenting advice for moms and dads. Cristin writes about all of the different ups and downs of parenting, provides solutions to common challenges, and reviews products that parents need to purchase.
As the days are getting colder and shorter, there’s more need than ever for fun activities to do at home. If you’re running low on inspiration, here’re five fun indoor activities that the whole family can get involved with.
Play Together
There is nothing more fun than playing games with your kids. There are so many classic games that you can play with no need for anything other than yourselves. For instance, playing hide and seek is a great way to pass the time. Plus, if you’re a little slow to find your kids, you can sneak a few moments of peace at the same time!
With younger kids, you could use items from around your home to make sensory toys. Sensory activities are fascinating for toddlers. It’s also a lot of fun as a parent to watch them explore the new sounds and sensations they get from these sorts of activities.
Get Artistic
Creating something new together can be loads of fun. Whatever you have to hand, you can use to get inventive. If you have paints or colors, you can make some big drawings together. For a bit of fun, you could all make portraits of each other. Alternatively, you could use old cereal boxes and some glue or tape to make 3D castles, the only limit is your imagination.
If your kids are old enough to use a camera, you could go on an artistic scavenger hunt. Pick a challenge, and then all try to collect a set of photos to tick all the boxes. For example, you could go for colors of the rainbow or letters of the alphabet. It’ll be great fun to go through all the pictures and try to figure out what they are. If you can print them out, you could make a collage of all the images you collected.
Learn Some New Skills
Time spent at home as a family is an excellent opportunity to learn something new. If your kids see that you’re interested and excited about learning new skills, it encourages them to find joy in learning.
Some things that you can learn together with your kids include playing a musical instrument, learning some words in a foreign language, or a new crafting skill, like cross-stitch or drawing.
Once you decide what you want to learn, there are loads of ways to go about it. An excellent place to start is to look for some how-to guides on the internet. YouTube can be a surprisingly good resource for this.
Make Food Together
Cooking meals as a family is a great activity. Rather than one parent being sequestered in the kitchen to cook, get everyone involved. No matter how young kids are, they can always help out. You may end up getting them to do jobs that you don’t really need doing. For instance, a lot of cheese gets grated in our house. But they still feel involved and are way more invested in the meal as a result.
When you cook as a family, it’s a chance to teach your kids life skills, which will be invaluable as they grow up. It’s also just a really lovely bonding experience.
Another option is to do some baking or candy making. There are some straightforward recipes that you can make with kids of any age. The bonus with baking is that they can decorate their creations. It’s also a bit of a lower-stakes activity. If your biscuits don’t come out perfectly, it really doesn’t matter.
Move Your Bodies
Getting some exercise is a great way to have fun as a family. Not only will you get some of your kids’ energy out, but you’ll all also feel better. Exercise is great for lifting your mood, which is something we could all do with right now.
There are loads of different ways you can do some exercise inside the house as a family. There are loads of yoga for kids videos which you can all do together. This can be a good way to stretch your bodies and find a bit of peace and calm in your day.
If yoga isn’t your thing, don’t worry, there are tons of different exercise videos to try. Depending on your kids’ age, you could sign up for an exercise platform like Les Mills, which has kids specific videos. They also offer a free trial, so you can have a go with no commitment.
If you’re more of a laid back family who likes to do things their own way, why not have a dance party? Put on some fun and lively music and spend some time being silly and dancing. It’s surprising how much you move when you start dancing around and having fun. It’s also something that younger kids can easily join in with and enjoy. You might get a bit more resistance from older kids, though!