19 screen-free activities for kids
Anyone else feeling the effects of the quarantine and being cooped up with little ones all the time? I’ll be honesty - we are feeling this HARD. Alden is so incredibly extraverted and we go places and interact with people literally every single day. He’s already asking me to go back to play at the Y and it’s been ONE DAY. So we’re pulling all the things together to have fun here at home too and try to distract from the lack of playing with friends at the moment. We will definitely be watching a lot of movies over the next few weeks, but I wanted to come up with ideas of non-screen time things that we could do. I wanted to share here for any mamas in the same boat!
Everything here can be done at home with things you already have or that can be easily ordered online. I’ve added a bunch of links to make things easy in case you don’t have them yet, but so much of this can be done with what is already around your home :)
1. ART AND CRAFTS
Alden loves painting, so I’m planning on having an arts and crafts time probably every day. I just ordered this giant roll of paper (linked below) so that we can paint to our hearts content this week. We normally do watercolors, but I found the neatest Tempera paint cakes that we are going to be trying tomorrow to mix it up! If painting feels a bit too messy, crayons or colored pencils are great! We usually get beeswax crayons and LOVE them! I’ve linked our favs below as well! There are tons of amazing free coloring pages online that you can print out (frozen and cars ones are currently the go-tos in our home) that you can print out. We’re also planning to make a couple fun banners and signs for around our home.
2. ACTIVITY BOOKS
I stocked up on activity books before our trip to England and it’s been amazing to have on hand! The mess free coloring books and sticker books have been the biggest wins for us. I linked the BEST cars sticker book below! Alden has played with it for over 12 hours over the past week - best investment ever and I’m probably going to order s another one so that he can do it all over again. 12 hours of occupied time in one activity is so worth it for me!
Disney Cars Mess Free Coloring Book
Frozen Mess Free Coloring Book
3. PLANTING SEEDS
Gardening is such a fun, enriching activity for little ones! They get the joys of watching plants grow, but also get to take part in the responsibility of planting and watering. We did this with Alden last year and he was SO proud when his pepper grew! We’re going to do this again at the end of the week. We’re even picking up some edible flower seeds and we will make something with them after they bloom!
4. KIWI CO
This is something that you would need to sign up for, but these are the best special treat! Alden is so excited each month when his box comes, and this would be a great special project to do on a day when boredom is high. KiwiCo boxes follow STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) and each boxes comes with activities (Alden’s has 3 each month) on a different topic. We’ve had boxes on everything from rainbows to musical instruments to bugs to the rainforest. Such a neat learning opportunity and it’s taught in such a constructive way! They have one for literally every age.
5. OTHER GOOSE LESSONS
We’ve used Other Goose for homeschool lessons for over a year now and love them! They are simple, but teach a variety of beautiful lessons to our children - with focuses ranging from communication to math to nature, but also things like logic and habits. It’s geared for ages 2-7 and has 5 lessons each week. Erin (the founder) is SO sweet and is giving 3 free weeks to everyone right now as a way to bless people who need a bit more structure during this time at home.
Your 3 free weeks from Other Goose are here. Just click on the top banner that mentioned the free period.
6. STORYTIME
Reading to our children is so important and I hope you do it often, but whether you read together daily or are just starting, now is the perfect time to make reading extra special! Let little ones pick out books, march around the room as you read (this is amazing with squirrely toddlers), add voices, act out the story - make the books come alive to them! We go to the library often, but I like to buy 1-2 new books each month to add to our collection. I’m ordering a few extra new ones (1-2 a week while we are under quarantine), to keep making daily story time special and filled with surprises! If you’re looking for some new books to add to your home, I’ve linked a bunch of our favorites below for you!
Dictionary of Dinosaurs - if your little ones loves dinosaurs, you need this book! It’s geared for older children, but we got this for Alden for Christmas and he adores it! We read parts of it almost every day and he pulls it out over and over again to look at the illustrations.
A House That Once Was - this book has the most gorgeous illustrations in it - something really important to me! Beautiful books inspired continued reading in my opinion and this is one of my favorites for us!
Star Wars Search Your Feelings - perfect for Star Wars fans, this book helps to teach how to identify emotions! Emotional awareness is super important to Andrew and I, and I love little books like this that help teach children about it.
Star Wars ABC-3PO Alphabet Book - if your family loves Star Wars, this is such a fun way to teach the alphabet to kids!
National Parks of the USA - this is another book we got Alden for Christmas this past year. The book is truly just beautiful and does a wonderfull job of teaching about the national parks!
Rosie Revere, Engineer - this book teaches new words and rhymes in such a beautiful way! We love the entire series!
Iggy Peck, Architect - similar to the book above, this book teaches a beautiful story along with a fun rhythm as you go along.
The Map of Good Memories - this book tells the beautiful story of looking for the beauty in memories, even amidst difficult circumstances.
Tiny, Perfect Things - this absolutely beautiful book tells the story of a grandfather and child on a walk in which they learn about how ordinary days can become extraordinary adventures. Such a special story!
Home - this book explores the reality that home looks a little different for each of us, but that every home is so special.
The World is Awake - this book serves as an invitation to find the blessings in everything, each day. Such a good reminder for both parents and children!
Young Charlotte Filmmaker - this book, filled with unique art and design styles, tells the story of a little girl who sees the world differently than other people and is brave enough to share that with others.
Ellie - we’ve had this book for years and still come back to it often. It is the cutest story of an elephant who comes to realize the beauty of her gifts, even if they don't look like everyone else’s.
We Are the Gardeners - this gorgeous book walks through the process of gardening and the responsibilities and joys of taking care of and growing plants. We are going to be reading this over and over as we plant our new seeds this weekend!
You Belong Here - this is one of my absolute favorites to read with Alden, and I find myself reciting it over and over in my head throughout the day. Such a beautiful book on belonging together!
7. BUILD BLOCK TOWERS
Alden is on a castles phase right now after being in England, so we are building with blocks a lot! Such a fun activity that stretches the brain and encourages creativity as well!
8. MAGNETIC PLAY
Magnetic play is so fun for literally all ages! We love alphabet magnets for the fridge - amazing for keeping kids occupied while you are cooking ;) We picked up a travel dress up set (Alden has the dinosaur discovery one) for the plane ride and Alden is still playing it and working on the outfits! It’s a fun way to teach the different parts of getting dressed to little ones as well.
He also got magnetic tiles for Christmas and we play with them ALL.THE.TIME. He is obsessed and I love that there is never-ending creative play options for him! I’ll link the ones that we have.
9. BUILD PUZZLES
Puzzles are such a fun way to spend time! We have a few of our favorites that Alden build on repeat. They help the brain figure out how things fit together and they pass time really well ;) Here are a couple of our favorites for each age!
Floor Puzzles (3-4 years): https://amzn.to/33iRsdI
Tip: Goodwill often has a lot of puzzles as well, if you are willing to risk missing pieces! These are generally better for older kids and adults, but you could even pick up a cheap one and have toddlers sort pieces by color or something! Get creative and think outside the box :)
10. MAKE PLAYDOUGH
We made another batch of play dough over the weekend and Alden has played with it on repeat! So incredibly cheap and so fun for kids to make!
11. BUILD LEGOS
Lego building is a great way for kids to be creative, and to create new pieces out of 1 purchase. We rarely get lego sets for Alden and instead opt for free building! You can look up tutorials online or building ideas as a much cheaper way to build things. You could even put the pieces you need into little bags and create your own lego kits for your kids each day. Endless options! Here are our favorite lego sets, if you are needing more. They do have fun color lego sets that are great for little ones learning colors or as a form of sensory play.
Pro tip from the mom who has spent hours cleaning up lego pieces: get a blanket and always dump legos out onto that blanket. Alden calls it “the lego blanket”. Only play with them on the blanket and then when it’s time to clean up, pick up the blanket and dump the legos back into their container. SO EASY!
12. NATURE INTERACTION
Nature is a great way to engage with our little ones. Even with the quarantine, go outside. Walk around your house. Ride your bikes down the street and back. Breathe in that fresh air and soak up the Vitamin D. Pull out the chalk and make pictures, but get out there and enjoy a change of pace for a bit. One of my favorite things to do as a kid was leaf rubbings and nature pressings. Grab some leaves and bring them inside and make leaf rubbings to hang in your home somewhere. And if you have flowers starting to bloom, grab some flowers and leaves and press them! You can press them between several heavy books, or grab a nature press. I personally love the nature press (and it’s what I had growing up) because it’s more compact and it’s not a big deal if Alden knocks it over - nor does it take up valuable counter space ;) Here’s a link to one just like what my parents’ got us growing up!
13. COOKING WITH YOUR KIDS
As annoying as it can be to cook with kids sometimes (I get it, mama!), it’s a great way to teach life skills - everything from measuring to counting to how to follow a recipe.
One resource that I just found and love is Raddish Kids! They are giving away 25,000 free cooking kits as a way to help keep kids occupied during the quarantine. This box focuses on Swedish food (you do provide the ingredients), and gives recipes and activities to help you learn about the culture. It’s $4.30 for shipping (when I got ours, at least), but is otherwise free!
14. BUILD FORTS
Pull out all the blankets and pillows and a few chairs or your kitchen table and build a fort with your kids! Make a snack plate and bring it in along with a few books and settle in together for some fun!
15. HOMEMADE PIZZA PARTY
Pull out your favorite pizza recipe and have a pizza party at home! You can make individual pizzas and let kids decorate their own. Throw in a movie if you want and camp out on the living room floor and make some fun memories!
16. DRESS UP DAY
Kids LOVE dress-up. Alden is forever pulling out cowboy hats and bags and swords and capes. Have a superhero day or a pirate day or a Frozen day or a kings and queens day. Make it whatever you want, pull out some of your clothes to let the kids dress up in (so fun for them!) and let their imaginations run wild.
17. INDOOR TREASURE HUNT
Did anyone else spend their childhood making up indoor treasure hunts with their siblings? My sisters and I did treasure hunts all the time and would write clues and all kinds of things. Make up a treasure hunt with clues for your kids and let them have fun with it! If they are still little, keep it really simple (like “the next clue is under the blue chair” and have them find it. It teaches problem solving, creativity, and persistence - and it’s super fun! Have a fun prize at the end (maybe a special snack or a new book or movie time, just as a few ideas) to make it a little more exciting!
18. FRUIT LOOP RAINBOWS
I’ve never bought fruit loops in my life until this past week, but this activity is so fun! We usually avoid sugar, including cereals like this, but I decided to make a quarantine exception haha. With Saint Patricks Day, this is particularly fun! Draw out a rainbow shape for your kids and let them divide the cereal into different colors. Then help them glue each color to the rainbow template! Such a fun, cheap activity!
19. SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS
Science experiments are a great way to teach science, logic, and cause and effect to kids. I found this amazing website that has tons of science experiments for kids! They use household items too - such a win!
50 Science Experiments for Kids
So many ways that we can have fun with our kids, even when options feel limited. I’m cheering you on, mama!!