Family time
You needn’t be stuck for ideas to keep the children entertained with our list
WE’RE all spending a lot more time at home at the moment which means we’re having to come up with new ways to keep the kids entertained.
While most schools are sending out work and we’re inundated with lists of home education apps, there have never been more resources on hand to keep children learning.
Carol Vorderman is offering free maths lessons, David Walliams has released 30 free audio stories and Joe Wicks has become the nation’s PE teacher with his daily YouTube fitness class – for those that have stuck at it anyway.
But there’s so much more that kids can benefit from too. From arts and crafts to nature trails and a whole load of Easter fun, we’ve got all sorts of ideas to keep kids of all ages entertained.
Some of the ideas have been shared on the popular Family Lockdown Tips & Ideas Facebook page, which has proved massively popular since launching just a few weeks ago.
Set up by mum Claire Balkind, it has already amassed more than a million members and is growing by the day.
Here’s our mammoth list of activities to keep the kids engaged
1. Rainbows
You can’t walk anywhere at the moment without seeing a rainbow in someone’s window.
That’s because families have been busy painting and drawing them as a display of togetherness and to give children something to spot while out on their walks.
But you don’t have to stop at paint or crayons. The kids in our main picture, right, made an amazing rainbow using cardboard and scrunched up crepe paper.
2. Den
Most parents can remember building a den as a child, usually with
nothing more than a table, some cushions and a sheet. Let your child’s imagination run wild as they pretend to go camping or try to keep warm inside their very own igloo.
You could always be the scary animal on the outside of the tent.
And if you’ve got a torch don’t forget to make some animal shadows too.
Kids of all ages would love the chance to decorate their own den. Again you could use an old sheet, or Hobbycraft is selling a Decorate Your Own Canvas Tent for £38.
It can be used inside or out, depending on the weather, and can be decorated with paints, pens, glitter, felt shapes, fabrics and more.
Or there are cardboard dens they can colour in too, including the Disney Frozen 2 Colour In Arendelle Castle, £18.
3. Crepe paper obstacle course
Here’s where that crepe paper comes in again. Basically criss cross it from one wall to another, leaving just small gaps for the kids to climb through. See if they can make it through the course without tearing the paper.
4. Hama Beads
Children can make all sorts of designs with Hama Beads. Whether it’s a Minion, an animal, or Harry Potter, there are all kinds of patterns they can copy off the internet.
Once they’ve created it on a plastic peg board, it’s your job to iron it and make it stick together. You can easily make them into keyrings or magnets too.
A tub of 10,000 beads costs around £15 and includes two pegboards in the shape of a heart and a star. You can get lots of other sets too, from mermaid designs to glow in the dark beads.
5. Illustrators
If your children like drawing there’s lots of inspiration around at the moment, with illustrators offering free online tutorials to help them improve.
A popular one is #DrawWithRob, a website from author and illustrator Rob Biddulph, who’s written books including Grrrrr! about a bear called Fred who loses his growl.
His videos, showing children how to create everything from a sausage dog to their very own Fred Bear, are easily accessible on his website here. Children have been sharing their finished drawings with him online using the hashtag #DrawWithRob.
6. Pebbles
Pebble art has been quite a thing over recent years, with people decorating rocks and leaving them in parks and other places for people to find.
Given the current climate, people aren’t sharing them at the moment, but that isn’t stopping families having lots of fun decorating them.
Something as simple as felt tips does the trick on lighter rocks, with children decorating them however they want – some making funny faces out of them.
If you want them to last longer outside then you’d be better using acrylic paint coated with varnish to give an extra layer of protection.
7. Play-Doh
Play-Doh is another old favourite and can keep them entertained for hours. Whether they want to make their own dinosaur, elephant, car or castle, the possibilities are endless. If you can manage not to stress about the colours being mixed together it can be a whole lot of fun. And if you haven’t got any Play-Doh it’s pretty simple to make your own. All you need is:
■ ■ ■ ■ ■
2 cups of plain flour
1 cup of salt
1 tablespoon of oil half to 1 cup of cold water 2 drops of liquid food colouring
Mix the flour and salt then add the water, oil and food colouring. Knead the mixture well, adding a little more flour if the consistency is too wet.
8. Wallpaper people
If you’ve got an old roll of wallpaper, or any other paper for that matter, lie your little one down on it and draw around them.
Amazing how long they will spend colouring themselves in afterwards. They might also want to make a wallpaper mum, dad or sibling too. And why not?
We used an old wallpaper scrap and traced around my son’s body. He then chose a different organ of the body each day to research, draw and stick onto the body with a key fact underneath.
What’s nice is this lasted over a few days so he could work more independently as he repeated the activity.
9. Penpals and postcards
The art of letter writing seems to be making a comeback as people are forming penpal groups to write to other children.
If you want to keep it local – and make sure they’re coming from a trusted group – then lots of Facebook groups have been sharing ones in their areas. Failing that you could suggest it to the parents at school to get the children writing to one another while they’re off.
LOL Surprise is doing its bit to get kids writing and has launched its own BFF Pen Pal campaign. To help combat feelings of separation during social distancing, the toy brand has released a number of free postcard templates to download from its website.
The brand is also sharing regular free activity content on its social media channels including quizzes, games, colouring-in sheets, dance challenges and more. Parents can follow #BBsBoredomBusters to find new activities each day.
10. Grow your own veg
Not only will growing your own vegetables keep the kids busy for a while, but it might save you some trips to the shop too.
Lots of retailers sell kits to get you started, such as Original Organics, Amazon, Dobies and more.
11. Potato printing
If it’s good enough for Daddy Pig then it’s good enough for us. Most of us have got an old potato lying at the bottom of the cupboard.
Hopefully it will still be in a fit enough state to carve a shape from to use as a paint stamp. Make some patterns and you could end up with a piece of art to treasure.
12. Sun catchers
Another thing to help brighten our homes at this time is a sun catcher and they’re relatively cheap to pick up.
Hobbycraft has a wide range available from £1.30 each, including children’s initials, unicorns, rockets, fish and more. These come with the mini paint pots too.
13. Egg decorating
You might have missed the annual Easter egg decorating competition at school – not necessarily a bad thing – but that doesn’t mean you can’t get doing your own designs at home.
If you don’t mind using up some of your precious groceries then hard boil a couple and get creative. If not then there are plenty of craft sets you can buy with eggs to colour in and decorate.
Mum and dad might have to be the judges this time.
14. Minions
These can be made with the insides of Kinder Eggs, but you could easily make them by colouring in or painting some toilet roll tubes yellow.
Stick-on googly eyes work a treat, or you could draw them on. Either way you’ll end up with a pretty impressive Kevin or Bob.
15. Bird box
Who doesn’t like watching the birds feed in the garden, especially when there’s little else happening at the moment.
Families have been busy making their own bird feeders too, using just a large four-pint milk bottle.
Felt tips is all you need to colour the plastic, but people have been sticking paper, feathers and other things on to make them bright and colourful.
16. Drive-in movie
You don’t need a drive-in movie when you can make your own.
It’s quite easy to turn a big cardboard box into their very own car and they can help paint it too. Stick a cushion inside, give them some movie snacks, stick a film on and there you have it.
17. Make a clock
We’ve all got a bit more time on our hands so why not use it to get the kids learning how to tell the time properly – by making their own clock.
You could do it with just paper and a pin to attach the hands, or cardboard or a paper plate would do the trick.
You can make it as detailed or as simple as you like, but writing quarter past, half past, quarter to and midnight/o’clock in the relevant places will help them get the gist. 18. Treasure / nature hunt
There’s all sorts of fun to be had indoors or outdoors with a treasure hunt.
Give each child a bag with a list on showing what they have to find – a leaf, a flower, a stick, a stone – you get the picture.
You could use the collected items to make a nature picture afterwards, or a leaf print.
And if you want to stay indoors then why not hide some letters or words around the house. They can find them and then use them to make words and sentences. They won’t even realise they’re learning.
19. Fimo
Not all children are happy for their precious Play-Doh creations to be squashed – step forward our trusty Fimo.
They can use this modelling clay in much the same way – to make all manner of creations – but it gets baked in the oven, so they get to keep their masterpiece forever (or until they decide to chuck it).
You can buy big packs of the stuff, containing various colours, or single packs from around £2.75.
Like with Hama Beads, these can also easily be turned into magnets and keyrings so maybe they could make some to give to friends and family when they get to see them again.
20. Gingerbread house
You might be lucky enough to have a kit left over from Christmas – the one you never got round to making. If not you can order one for less than a fiver from eBay.
These are pretty simple so children can do most of it themselves. Simply make the icing and they can use it to stick the sweets around their creation. If they don’t eat them first that is.