It’s the weekend! You are tired from your work week but you must find something to occupy your kids' time. Are you looking for suggestions? We have some ideas...
1. Bath time… With Paint!
Usually, you would associate baths with the aftermath of finger-painting activities. Have you considered combining both bath time with… paint too? Introducing bath painting, limiting the mess, and making bath time the best! In terms of what you may need for this activity – Crayola offers a bath paint or you can make your own, large ice cube tray, paint brushes, and rags or paper towels for spills.
source: yohoprashant, Pixabay
2. Sock Puppet Show
Help your little one get creative with putting on their puppet show! Buying fancy puppets is unnecessary when socks are more fun… and sustainable! For the sock puppets, choose an old colorful sock to upcycle. You will need a pair of scissors, glue, buttons, beads, fabric scraps, yarn, and whatever other sock decorations could bring their puppet to life! It’s fun to set up a showtime for the sock puppet show – like before or after supper.
source: Peggy_Marco, Pixabay
3. Soccer… With Balloons!
Here is your opportunity to grow an interest in the soccer pitch for your little one. You’ve heard of the classic international game of soccer (or football outside of North America), imagine instead of a heavy ball that could break stuff indoors or be hard to kick, you replace it with a balloon! Create a makeshift net between two fence posts or your sofa and a wall. You’re off to the races!
source: Pexels, Pixabay
4. Color Scavenger Hunt
Scavenger hunt! This activity requires a written guide for the children that you can download as a free template and print out for them. The guide will have a list of descriptions of items the kids will have to search for to complete the guide. You can adjust the difficulty of the scavenger hunt based on the kids’ age. For this age group, I recommend a color-based scavenger hunt where they must find items that correspond to their color and limit the space to your home and backyard.
source: Pexels, Pixabay
5. Coloring Book
The age-old classic; the coloring book. This activity is perfect for rainy days when you can’t go outside and want an activity your child can do inside. Coloring books can be found at your local dollar store, pharmacy, etc. If you would like to save money, you can also download PDFs and print out pages that are meant to be colored in. Once it is completed, your child can feel the satisfaction of completing something. You can then put their creation on the fridge to show them praise and positive reinforcement for committing and finishing their activity.
source: ponce_photography, Pixabay
Regarding older children, the previous activities may work or be too slow and not stimulating enough. For ages 5-8 years old, we have activities that are more complex, age-appropriate, and competitive.
6. Backyard Treasure Hunt
Where did you hide me treasure matey? Like pirates, you can send your little ones around the “island” (your home) to find the buried treasure. Set up a series of clues so that one clue leads to another and they will have hours of fun! Sprinkle some smaller prizes along the treasure hunt to give them motivation. The final prize can be candy, chocolate, or some other type of treat for them to enjoy together once the game is over.
7. The Park
Head to your local park and get your little one on the jungle gym! If it’s too hot, find a nearby park with a splash pad so they can cool off intermittently. This is a great option because it allows them to play in a kid-friendly environment and it also forces them to socialize with other children without screens. When in doubt, play sandman. It’s where one person closes their eyes and yells “sandman!” occasionally and whoever is not on the jungle gym but instead, is on the sand, is now the sandman. If no one is on the sand, the closed-eye person has to find the other kids based on their voices and tag one for them to become sandman.
source: Surprising_SnapShots, Pixabay
8. Hide and Seek
Ready or not, here I come! Hide and Seek is a timeless game that doesn’t require special equipment or locations. You can pretty much play it anywhere that has hiding spots. The traditional game is perfect for little ones and older kids might be more inclined to add the “tag” aspect of hide and seek where the person who is looking for the people hiding also has to “tag” them for them to be the seeker.
source: Pixabay
9. Library Story Time
Is your child an avid reader? Are they not as interested in books as you would like them to be? Bring them to Story Time at your local library. Usually, they have a volunteer who comes in to read to the children using different character voices and a dynamic narrative voice to keep the little ones engaged. Who knows, maybe your little one will be more interested in reading after the visit!
source: kokovihinajana, Pixabay
10. Play With Chalk!
Chalk it up to growing up! Bring out your little one‘s artistic side with chalk! From creating race tracks to mazes, they will be proud of their designs and creations. Some fun activities with chalk are having them create self-portraits, shadow art, and chalk-resist art! Shadow art is when you trace someone’s shadow and fill it in with colors. Chalk-resist art is when you create a stencil, tape it to the ground, and have your little one draw around it so that when you remove it at the end, it has a clear shape and outline. All you will need is chalk and some exposed cement like your sidewalk or driveway.
Even older children have likely grown out of the previous activities mentioned. For ages 8-12 years old, we have adapted the activities so that their creations are more substantial and their games are more competitive.
11. Create Your Own Comic Book
Comic books are an interest and passion you can share with your child. Did you collect comic books as a kid? Do you still? Have you always been interested but never delved into it? Now is your chance. Grab some inexpensive used comic books to read together that you can use as inspiration to create your comic book. Help your child form a narrative by creating characters, a setting, and a plot. You can download empty comic book templates from canva.com and have them fill them in. This will be a great time capsule for them to revisit 5, 10, or even 25 years from now.
12. Capture The Flag
Time to conquer! For this activity, you will need to purchase two flags. First, you must create a fort. It could be made of boxes, pillows, or anything else you can find. Secondly, you set up the flag representing your side/tribe/team. This is the foundation for your own game of Capture the Flag. Both teams need to strategize how they will capture the other team’s flag, without losing their own, and return it to their fort to win the game.
13. Water Balloon Fight
A hot day? Sounds like a good excuse for a water balloon fight! You will need balloons, a working hose with access to water, and a towel to dry off. You can have a free-for-all water balloon fight that ensures wet chaos. Or, you could set up a dodgeball game where the kids use water balloons instead. If a balloon hits you and pops, you’re out. If you manage to catch a water balloon thrown at you without popping it, you get to revive one of your team members that is out. This will allow for a slower-paced game that lasts significantly longer than the free-for-all fight.
14. Jackpot
Do you have a football and a group of kids? You have what it takes to organize a game of jackpot. The person throwing the ball gets to announce how much the ball is worth before throwing it. Whoever catches it, gets the amount of points the thrower announced. In the game, there is an agreed-upon number of points that correspond to a jackpot, like for example 1,000, so if the thrower throws two 500-point throws then they have won a jackpot. The thrower can also throw a ball that is worth the jackpot. Whoever gets the jackpot, becomes the thrower and everyone’s points reset.
15. Basketball Games
Do you have a basketball and have access to a basketball net? Of course, you can play a classic game of basketball or 1v1/3v3 but some games are more fun for children such as Knockout, 21, and American. In Knockout, you need a minimum of three children to play. The first in line takes a shot at night from the free throw line, the second has to shoot after the first. If the second gets it in, the first is out. If the first one gets it in first, they pass it to the third child who tries to get the second one out, and so on. 21 is where the children line up to shoot from the free throw line, and the first to get to 21 points wins. Shots from inside the key are 1 point and shots from the three-point line are 2 points. For American, it is like regular basketball with one exception, whoever doesn’t have the ball is on the same team. The child with the ball is alone on the court against everyone else and tries to score. Whoever has the most points at the end of the game wins.
