Sharing indoor activities for kids including a spa day, a beach party, and more

Fun ways to keep kids entertained inside at home

Here are five fairly easy and fun indoor activities that prove popular at our house. They take up a nice chunk of time to pass a morning or afternoon away when the days feel long. These ideas encourage your children’s creativity and you likely have everything you need around the house. Plus, they are highly hands-on for kids to take charge and fairly low-maintenance for parents! Join in or set them up to play on their own.

Creative stay-at-home activities for kids

A tea party

We’ve had many tea parties at our house. Often they spin off into games of ‘restaurant’. The kids are in charge of setting the table - it’s always the coffee table because that’s different and more fun. They find tablecloths, napkins, place mats, runners, whatever they can get their hands on to set the scene. They use houseplants as centrepieces and set out ‘fancy’ glasses. We get out the cupcake stand and prop up various snacks and treats (tip: using muffin liners to hold snacks work well). They also serve fake food from the toy kitchen. They serve water out of a teapot. They usually insist on getting dressed up. Like I said, this often spins off to a game of restaurant. They use books as menus and take turns playing hostess. Someone has to wait for a table, is seated, given options, we browse our ‘menus’ and place orders. The hostess is always quite attentive and presents a bill to be paid at the end. This game goes on until it’s time to clean up and everyone promptly disappears.

A beach party

We have had a full on beach party at home. Yes, we put on our bathing suits, flip flops, and sunglasses. Lay out the picnic blankets and beach towels. This is kind of like building a fort but with a twist. Pretend to suntan, read books, have a picnic. Blow up a balloon as your beach ball. Another thing kids seem to love are wearing their bathing suits in the bathtub. Kids are weird. Anything different or deemed ‘special’ is so fun for them. I don’t know about you but bath time at bedtime at our house is usually rushed, so an afternoon bath gives them plenty of time to play. You can sit nearby with some work or a book or magazine! Often I take advantage of a long bath to clean the bathroom while they are busy splashing. Play Beach Boys on full blast.

Lazing around the house like it’s the beach? Yes please! #stayathomefun #indooractivities #creativekids

A spa day

Gather all your supplies - bowls of warm water, towels (face cloths and hand towels), nail files, nail clippers, nail scissors, hand lotion, nail polish. This game is pretty self-explanatory. Act it out just like a visit to the spa. Play a soothing spa playlist. Light a candle. Greet your clients at the door. Make them sit in the waiting room with some magazines. Give them a questionnaire to fill out - a real one for bigger kids, a fake one for littles. Call them in for their service - manicures, pedicures (with soaks and massages), massages, face mask - a warm cloth on the face for a few minutes followed up with some lotion. Or get really creative and whip up a homemade scrub with sugar and water, or honey and coconut oil, or honey and oatmeal, to name a few..

DIY face painting

Bonus points awarded to parents who participate in this activity. You’ll need to dig into the Halloween supplies for this one. Hopefully you have some leftover face paint. My oldest daughter (age six) takes this the whole nine yards. She sketches out a menu of options for her customers to choose from. Then the kids take turns painting each other’s faces, and/or their parent’s faces. It’s such a thrill for them to be allowed to do this. Keep water and towels on hand, this is going to get messy.

A build-it day
For now, I’d recommend only using cardboard you’ve had in the house for awhile and no new materials you are bringing into your home

I’m stealing this one from school. As a class-wide reward, the grade one class recently got to spend a day building whatever they wanted out of cardboard materials the kids brought in from home. They were all over it. Busy little bees using their imaginations and coming up with a whole lot of what looked like mess but were amazing creations in their eyes. Honestly throw them some cardboard, tape, glue, string, markers, paint if you dare, and see what they come up with. Anna’s had a few build-it days at school now and is always making homes for her stuffed animals. She also got inspired and very ambitious with one of her recent home reading books from school, How to Build a Model Sports Stadium. I handed that one over to Dad (since he has experience in this very subject matter). They spent a Saturday morning following the step-by-step instructors and built a full-on stadium!

a build-it day lets them use their imagination to come up with stellar creations #tinyengineers #creativekids @indooractivities

More fun activities for kids we’ve found online

Storyline Online (“streams videos featuring celebrated actors reading children’s books alongside creatively produced illustrations”)
Lunch Doodles with children’s author Mo Willems (learning to draw all the popular characters & other art lessons)
Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens Home Safaris (learn about a different animal each day, including an activity)
P.E. with Body Coach Joe Wicks (a home workout aimed at kids)
Go Noodle (movement and mindfulness videos)
Cosmic Kids Yoga (Yoga, mindfulness and relaxation made fun for kids)