4 Family Fun Activities For When You Are Stuck Indoors

Let’s face it – you can’t go out on fun and exciting trips every single day, even though your children might argue otherwise. Not only would you drain and deplete your bank account but also yourself. Maybe the weather has taken a turn for the worse, the kids are on school holidays, or one of them is ill, and you are housebound. Whatever the reason you and your children are staying in, that doesn’t mean that you have to succumb to the TV screen … or phone screen, tablet or laptop screen. We’ve come up with four fun family activities to keep you and your kids entertained for those times when you are stuck in the all might indoors.

Build A Fort

Although a quintessential childhood experience, building a fort doesn’t just have to be for kids. Join in on the fun and build one together as a family and go all out! Pull out all the old sheets and pillows that aren’t being used to create your structure, and secure with whatever you have lying around on hand, whether that be string, clamps or duct tape. Chairs and coat racks also make excellent fort building tools to help you prop up your sheets, while fairy lights are a great way to make your space feel cozy and magical! No fort can be complete with a few strands of twinkly fairy lights.

If you are feeling particularly adventurous, you could also push two of your sofas together and build a ‘half fort’ around it, creating a cozy space and different environment for when you want to watch a good old family movie together.

Draw and Paint

Now this one might seem like a regular standard activity, but you’ll be surprised by how much kids love to get their creative juices flowing while getting their hands messy with some paint and crayons. You can also try adding a twist to inject a little bit of extra creative fun! Why not do a life drawing together as a family of whatever you’ve got lying around the house? Pick a fun and creative theme and see what you can come up with as a family collectively. Or why not get bold and silly and do life drawings of each other? Take it in turns to be the family muse and come up with interesting, fun and silly poses. The possibilities really are endless, and once the kid’s really get stuck in, there is the potential for them to be occupied for hours, leaving you free to get on with whatever you need. Encourage your children’s creativity, and maybe you will discover you have your own mini Picasso in the making.

Bake

Combining two of every kid’s favorite things – yummy treats and getting messy! 

Perhaps you have some old family recipes that you can make together and pass on down to your kids. If not, then now is the perfect time to create some new family traditions of your own, that your kids will take into adulthood, creating everlasting memories. And while we often associate baking with sugary treats such as cakes and cookies, it doesn’t have to be unhealthy either! There are plenty of recipes out there in the big wide web that you can get your hands on. These will help you to experiment with healthy baking, whether it’s making a loaf of comforting banana bread with refined and reduced sugar or healthy apple and raisin oatmeal cookies.

Not only is it fun but you’ll be setting your children up for later in life by teaching them how to make their own food instead of relying on ready-made store-bought goods. 

So experiment with the kids and try something new – and when you can finally take that first bite into those gooey chocolate cookies, it’ll feel all the more rewarding.

Family Game Night

Family game nights can be so much fun and are a great way to really bond and spend some quality time with each other and the kids. It is also a great way to engage their brains and teach them skills that will come in handy later on in life, such as problem-solving and excellent communication. Take it in turns to pick the games so that everyone is happy and choose a good selection from traditional board games such as Monopoly, Operation and Guess who to more physical games such as classic twister or the more messy pie face. You can also have a go at some general knowledge trivia games – kids and adults alike will love a Disney trivia with answers to test their Disney knowledge!

Make it a family tradition and pick a specific evening of the week for family game night to give everyone something to look forward to. Have fun while teaching your children good sportsmanship and how to be a gracious loser – lessons that they can take with them into other aspects of their lives. 

So choose some snacks, turn off your phones and TV and enjoy! Just remember not to get too competitive!

Science Experiments

Just because you and your kids are staying indoors, that doesn’t mean that you all can’t continue to put your minds to good use and continue to learn about the world around us – adults included. And you’ll be surprised by just how much fun learning can actually be.  

You might be thinking, that’s a great idea in theory, but you’ve forgotten your school science or that you don’t know of any experiments. Don’t worry – the internet has hundreds of ideas! Just go and take a look on Pinterest and you will see countless ideas for easy, fun experiments that will get your child excited about learning – and you don’t need to be a science whizz yourself!

It won’t put a strain on your budget either – you’ll be surprised to learn that you only need a few ingredients in most simple science experiments. In fact, you probably already have these lying around your house! Try the colorful rainbow walking water science experience to wow your kids and the whole family.