10 free ways to entertain kids at home
- Learning Resources Posted On Sep 5, 2019 | Play
Whether you're looking for ways to entertain children on a rainy Saturday afternoon or a school holiday, there are lots of fun, free ways to keep kids busy at home. From simple crafts to pretend play activities, read our 10 free ways to entertain kids at home. Visit the Learning Resources activity sheets page where you'll find even more free ideas to keep kids busy and learning.
Create a boredom-busting activity jar
There’s often plenty of good fun to be had at home, but sometimes kids need a little prompting to come up with an idea. Here’s a way to inspire them. Write down activities on ice cream sticks or strips of sturdy card, and pop them inside a jar. When they next complain about being bored, let them choose an activity to do that day from the jar.
Make paper aeroplanes and do test flights
Who is the family paper aeroplane champ? There’s only one way to find out! Making paper aeroplanes is a fun, cheap way to not only keep kids occupied, but work on basic concepts such as folding and geometry, all the way through to more complicated ones like aerodynamics. Plus, it’s just plane fun, too. Download this printable free guide to making the perfect paper aeroplane.
Set up a home theatre
Ladies and gentlemen, if we could have your attention please! Encourage imaginative play and creative thinking through your own home theatre. Clear a space for the stage, hang up a sheet as a backdrop or get them to construct a stage from props at home, and invite the kids to put on a talent show.
Making puppets is a fun way to keep kids busy and encourage creativity, and you can make them using materials from your recycling. Check out how to make puppets at home.
Build a blanket fort
Whodoesn’t love building a blanket fort? They’re tonnes of fun and as long as youhave a steady supply of blankets and cushions, can keep kids busy for hours. What’smore, they learn valuable skills about their world while doing so includingproblem-solving and negotiation.
Listen to an audiobook or podcast
Listening to a podcast or audiobook keeps young imaginations engaged and away from screens. Podcasts and digital radio stations such as Fun Kids, Wow in the World and Brains On are as entertaining for adults are they are for kids. Episodes are short and packed with fun facts and learning.
Audiobooks are another option. Listening to a book is engaging and helps build vocabulary and imagination. Looking for ideas? Mumsnet members came up with a list of audiobooks that will keep the whole family entertained.
Make a marionette
Here’s a fun way to repurpose toilet roll inners: make a marionette. Painting, sticking and stringing will keep your child busy for a while and they’ll have a puppet to play with afterwards. Why not make a few and stage a marionette show? Head over to Red Ted Art for other creative craft projects like these giraffe marionettes and check out our free crafty collaborations with Red Ted Art.
Make dragon eggs
Eggs and gel food colouring is all you need to make these cool dragon eggs featured in Whizz Pop Bang! magazine. Hard-boil some eggs. Allow the eggs to cool and then roll them on the kitchen counter surface to crack the shells all over. Fill a cup with water, add a generous dollop of gel food colouring, and mix well. Pop an egg in the cup and leave overnight in the fridge. Carefully peeling off the shell the next day will reveal where the dye seeped through and created the interesting crackled pattern on the egg white. Try it with different colours.
Get up and dance!
The only equipment needed for dancing is your body and music. It’s an uplifting mood-booster that’s fun, free and helps everyone in the home expend some pent-up energy. There are no rules or fancy footwork required - just freestyle it to your favourite tunes!
Go on a rainbow scavenger hunt
Set your children a challenge to find objects in and around the home that match each colour of the rainbow. They’ll need to find red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. Once they’ve located several objects, have them group items into their colours. This fun activity is an engaging way to encourage children to learn about colours, matching and sorting.
Keep a dress-up box
Have a rummage through your clothes and shoes and build up a dress-up box. Children love pretend imaginative play and enjoy dressing up and mimicking grown-ups. Hats, clothes, shoes, costumes and accessories all become props for open-ended play opportunities.
Looking for more ways to entertain kids at home? Follow Learning Resources on Facebook and Instagram.
Free bugs crafts for kids
Bring the outdoor learning in with this fun free bugs craft for kids. Read more & check out the free activity printable that's creative, fun, and easy!
READ MORE
STEM Rainbow Bubble Snake Experiment
Everyone loves bubbles! Here’s a fun outdoor experiment idea: make your own rainbow bubble snakes using items from around your home. When you’re looking for science experiments for kids these holidays, this simple activity is easy to do and children of all ages can join in. Why not set up a family challenge to see who can make the longest, most colourful, or most original colour combination STEM rainbow bubble snake? Your family will enjoy this summer STEM experiment as you learn all about bubble science. The rainbow effect on the bubbles will look amazing on a sunny day.
Pro tips: It’s better to make your bubble mixture the day before because this gives the chemicals time to bond and make a stronger bubble mix. The food colouring in this experiment makes it messy so head outdoors. We used blue and yellow food colouring to make green, but you can experiment with as many colours as you like.
PS. Download your free Bubble Activity Sheet for more bubble learning fun.
How to do the STEM rainbow bubble snake experiment
You’ll need:
- An empty, clean plastic water bottle
- An old sock (An ideal opportunity to use up mismatched socks!)
- Elastic band
- A small shallow bowl or plate
- Liquid food colouring
- Scissors or a craft knife
- 250ml distilled water
- 2-3 tbsp washing up liquid
- Glycerine or corn syrup (optional)
1. Prepare the bubble mix
Pour 2-3 tablespoons of washing up liquid into the bowl or plate. Here’s the secret to super bubbles – adding glycerine or corn syrup makes the bubble mixture thicker and helps them last longer.
Pour about 250ml of water into the bowl. Distilled water is better as it doesn’t have high levels of minerals such as calcium, or iron. Stir well and allow the solution to sit for up to 24 hours before use.
2. Make the bubble snake maker
Use a pair of scissors or a craft knife (and adult supervision!) to carefully cut the bottom off the plastic bottle. Grown-ups, you’ll need to do the cutting if you have a younger child.
Stretch the sock over the bottle and secure using an elastic band, and then add a few drops of your favourite food colouring to the sock at the open end of the bottle. Next, dip the sock-covered end into the bubble solution.
Blow into the mouth of the plastic bottle and watch the colourful bubble snake emerge! The more you blow, the longer the snake becomes.
Pro tip: Remember to only blow out through the plastic bottle. Never breathe in or you might end up with a mouthful of soap. Yuk!
3. Dip and blow!
Blow into the mouth of the plastic bottle and watch the colourful bubble snake emerge! The more you blow, the longer the snake becomes.
Pro tip: Remember to only blow out through the plastic bottle. Never breathe in or you might end up with a mouthful of soap. Yuk!
For more STEM learning fun, put different dimension bottles to the test and see if it affects the snake length or duration of the bubbles.
For more summer outdoor fun, head to our free activity sheets for kids page where you’ll find more ideas and activities to get kids excited about heading outdoors to play and learn. Find printable colouring pages, summer camp activities, outdoor games for kids and more!
READ MORE
