Top half-term indoor activities for kids

Mums Tips

Get Creative

Published on Thursday, 13 February 2014 12:30

Last Updated on 10 October 2018

Monica Costa

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With the weather being so gloomy, it is challenging to keep children busy at home. Here are our top ten half-term indoor activities for kids.

1) EASY SCIENTIFIC EXPERIMENTS – Check out our ideas for scientific experiments for kids to do at home (they are easy, don’t panic!). This is an activities boys will love but they are educational for all school kids and for some experiments also pre-schoolers.
2) SIMPLE ART & CRAFT – In our get creative section we have posted lots of ideas for simple art & craft activities, educational games and junk art projects. No need to panic over how to entertain the kids this Half Term and also no need to spend money. In fact lots of our creative projects involve making things out of junk such as our junk dolls. There are great books that teach how to make crafty things with the kids. Some of my favourite are listed here.

3) POTTERING IN THE GARDEN – If the rain stops for half hour get the kids outside in the garden (if you have one, even if it’s small) and get them involved in pottering. It’s highly educational and entertaining. And if it rains again you can quickly go back inside and continue with other activities. Here are some ideas for simple children gardening tasks.

4) COOKING – Children love cooking and eating pizza, from kneading the dough to making creative faces with the topping! It is also a great opportunity for children to practise counting, measuring and weighing. For extra fun give prizes for the most creative pizza toppings. Check our recipe section for easy and yummy recipes.

5) CARDBOARD BOXES – Are great for the imagination and provide hours of entertainment for creative minds. They make dens, cars and castles, which can be decorated in all sorts of fantastic ways. Small boxes can become spooky disguises – cutting out holes for eyes and mouth and painting on a scary face!

6) INDOOR PICNIC – You don’t have to be outdoors to have a picnic. Gather the dolls and teddies for a creative mock outdoor picnic with a blanket, hamper packed with food, paper plates and plastic utensils. You could even get the children making a giant paper sun to hang from the ceiling.

7) READING – Spend some quality time together snuggled up on the sofa with your child’s favourite book taking it in turns to read aloud, adding silly voices and actions for the characters in the story to keep it fun and exciting. Check London Mums’ books’ suggestions.

8) INDOOR DISCO – If you’re up for something a little more energetic, raid the fancy dress box for your best dancing queen outfits and have a dance-off in the living room. See who can make the wackiest shapes!

9) PASTA JEWELLERY – There is nearly always some left over pasta in the cupboard so why not put it to good use by making some pretty pasta jewellery. All you need is some string, glitter and glue and penne pasta – beautiful bracelets for everybody.

10) TREASURE HUNT – Agree on the treasures you are going to hide around the house, small toys, wrapped sweets, stickers etc. Create a series of clues leading to the treasure – older children often enjoy doing these and the younger ones finding it.

11) BOARD GAMES – Everyone loves traditional board games, which are great fun and also help to develop important social skills, such as communicating, sharing, and taking turns.

12) MAKE SLIME – Yuk! But children will love it. Fill a bowl with water, add a few drops of food colouring (green if possible) and then gradually stir in cornflour until the slime is the right thickness. Children under six should be supervised at all times.

13) EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES AT THE TABLE – Get kids to draw, do some colouring and dot to dots, puzzle etc. We have received exclusive FREE DOWNLOADS you can print and bundle to create original activity booklets without spending any money 🙂

14) INDOOR PLAY-CENTRES WORKSHOPS – If you run out of activities to do in your house, head for a playcentre and get the kids to run around a bit or get involved in some creative activity.