As a parent, when you’re spending a lot of time at home with the kids, it can be challenging to keep your little ones entertained. So you’ll have to think outside the box when it comes to making sure your family is creating wonderful memories and preventing boredom. Here are seven creative family activities that are sure to entertain your kids (and you!) at home.
Cooking Competition
Make mealtime more entertaining by having a cooking competition with your kids. Let your little ones pick the menu for the evening and select a dish to prepare. It’s important to assign kid-friendly recipes and dishes that are age-appropriate so your little ones can feel a sense of accomplishment once they’ve completed their portion of the meal. You can “judge” each dish and let your children know what you liked about their dish and what they can do to improve their cooking.
This activity is especially enjoyable if your children are interested in learning how to cook or enjoy competitive games. Everyone can be a winner with this activity—because you end up with delicious food, or at least a really fun experience—and you can incorporate color recognition and math into the competition as well as the kids learn to measure ingredients and identify their colors.
Epic Movie Night
If you and your family love watching movies together, you can make the experience extra special by placing a projector screen in the backyard and watching the film outdoors. Or, you can prepare all your favorite movie snacks in your kitchen so you and your children will feel like you’re in the theater while you watch a movie on the couch.
However, try making sure that you have a mini movie projector that could be placed anywhere easily, instead the regular one which takes a lot of space. There are various smart projectors available in the market today that you can purchase. Prima being best of them as it casts a cinema-quality video with a 200-inch projection from a gadget the size of an iPhone. It is 400% brighter than the other normal projector and offers stunning 1080p HD quality video.
Talent Show
Keep in mind that movies aren’t the only way to keep your family entertained. You can have a family talent show and allow your little ones to sing or play an instrument while the rest of the family cheers them on. You can also have your kids organize a puppet show based on your child’s favorite story, or your kids can create a story of their own.
Book Club
If you have older children who enjoy reading, you can start a family book club. Everyone can choose a book to read for the week and answer discussion questions about the reading to encourage critical thinking.
DIY Game Night
If you and your loved ones enjoy game night and you’ve played all the games you have at home, you can create your own board game. This arts and crafts project can include the entire family, and you’ll have just as much fun creating the game as you will playing it.
Explore Your City
One of the ways you can make the most of your days is to explore your city. Enter: virtual tours. For instance, if you live in the San Diego area, you can take 3D virtual tours of San Diego so you can see the landmarks in the area while avoiding crowds. You can also use the tour as an opportunity to educate your children about geography and the history of local attractions. You can also plan a walking tour of your city with your children. Visit local parks and monuments if they’re open to get a change of scenery.
Get Gardening
You can also encourage your children to spend more time outdoors by planting a flower, herb, or vegetable garden. Your kids will see the changes in your yard in the coming months, and you can use the garden as a visual aid to teaching your family about the growth pattern of flowers and the nutritional value of herbs and vegetables.
Check out our great gardening ideas for kids for more ideas.
Final Thoughts
Keep all these tips in mind when you need creative, interactive family activities that everyone is sure to enjoy. Be sure to take lots of pictures as well, so you and your children can look back on these challenging and unusual times with optimism and positivity. And you can continue to enjoy these creative activities for years to come. And who knows? Your kids may want to pass down some of these traditions to their children in the future.
Which of these creative family activities did you try? Let us know in the comments below!
Looking for fun activities specifically for younger kids? Check out our 13 indoor forts to make with your kids next!
About the Author
Maggie graduated from Utah Valley University with a degree in communication and writing. In her spare time, she loves to dance, read, and bake. She also enjoys traveling and scouting out new brunch locations.