Fun Activities to do at Home with Children

Activities to do at Home

With lockdowns happening throughout the world due to coronavirus, we are getting much more time at home and with our family. Not being used to it, most of us really don’t know how to make the best use of this opportunity that we have.

I was talking to a parent recently and she said – “I am not used to having my son at home all through the day. It seems like the day has too many hours – it doesn’t seem to end!”

Here are some fun activities that you can do at home with your children:

Mental Maths

The game is simple. You start with 0 and give a small addition or subtraction to do. For example: 0 + 4. When your child answers 4, you say ‘plus 5’. Your child answers 9 and you say ‘plus 12’ and so on till you reach 100. You can also give subtractions in between or larger numbers depending on the age and ability of your child.

Playing this game once or twice a day is what we have seen maintains the interest of the child. Most of them do not like to do it beyond that. However, this is a great way to improve their mental calculations. We have seen significant improvement in calculation abilities of children even with only a few days of playing this game.

Read Together

This is a great time for all of us to catch up on our reading and also develop this wonderful and very useful habit in our children. Read ‘Developing the Habit of Reading in Children’. You can also make your child read books on which movies have been made. Let them read the book first, and then watch the movie together. You will also be able to assess their comprehension level.

Less than 5 years – Books by Julia Donaldson, Noddy, Peppa Pig, Fairy Tales

6-8 years – Books by Roald Dahl (Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, BFG etc), Books by Enid Blyton (Famous Five, Secret Seven etc), Geronimo Stiltons, Ruskin Bond books

8-12 years – Harry Potter series, Wonder, Enid Blyton books (Find Outers, Malory Towers), Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Agatha Christie mystery novels, Sherlock Holmes Casebook

Educational Resources for Children

There are a lot of websites and companies that provide educational and activity based content. Some of these have made their content available for free for some time. You can make use of these:

Exercise Together

With social distancing being the norm now a days, a great way to spend quality time with your children is to exercise together. There are apps like 7 Minute workout by J&J. I have personally found this app amazing for doing a workout at home. It has various levels which you can choose, depending on your strength and stamina. Ofcourse there are other apps as well and you can choose any.

The 30 minutes that we spend exercising since the lockdown has started, makes us all full of energy throughout the day. It has helped us bond more as a family and will hopefully keep us healthy even when we can’t go to the gym or out for a walk or run.

Cook Together

With most people having stopped house helps and restaurants being closed and entire family at home, cooking becomes an important task. It can however be a lot of fun if you get your children involved as well. Make jellies, popsicles, bake muffins with them. They can arrange the salad plate or make a sandwich.

Paint Together

Take a print of an easy painting and paint with your child. You can also watch painting videos on youtube and follow the step by step guide for painting. This is one you tube channel that I have found useful. I have tried it myself and seen that it is a refreshing way to spend time and connect with your child in a fun way. You don’t even realise that a few hours have passed. All ages of children and adults usually enjoy this activity.

Play Chess

It is an amazing game to build strategic thinking abilities in children. Children as young as 5 years can play. They will learn the moves, understand that they need to think of consequences, learn the importance of giving support and protection to atleast the key pieces. This is game for all ages and can be a lot of fun especially with older children.

Some more interesting games

These are games that we have posted earlier. Children of all ages come back asking for more when we played the games with them.

Brain Development Game – City Hopper – A fun brain development game which also increases memory power along with knowledge of cities and countries in the world.

Game To Increase Creativity: Fastest Sketcher First – Freestyle drawing of objects starting with a particular alphabet develops an ability to think quickly, increases creativity while having so much fun.

Games to increase Creativity – Spiralling Stories – Make your own story with your child and see how he becomes more creative with every new story and has so much fun on the way.

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