18 Fun Kids Activities - A True Well of Things to Do with Kids for Every Occasion

Do you need things to do with kids during the holidays? There are so many fun kids activities that you can play with your little ones, and now it's time to get creative.

If you want some great ideas of things to do with kids, check out the ideas below.

You'll find both indoors games and outdoors games as well as physical, creative and social games.

In other words, lots and lots of great inspiration coming your way!

Parents' Not to Miss List of Fun Kids Activities

1) Roll up Your Sleeves and Make Some Homemade Play Doh

This is the first one of my 18 fun kids activities. It's also one of my favorites.

Mixing a bit of flour and water can make a great play doh for you and your kids to have fun with, and you'll be amazed at all of the creative things that you and your kids can make with this fun play doh.

Make sure that your kids understand that it's not to eat before you get started, as there's always the risk that someone will take a bite of the dough.

Playing with foody stuff can be very tempting. 😉

It won't harm your kids if they do have a taste of it, but it will certainly taste pretty awful.

Your kids make their own play doh sculptures, which you can then bake in the oven to harden them or you can choose to preserve the play doh for another good time by keeping it sealed in airtight containers when you're done playing with it.

HHere is a good recipe for play doh that I've used myself (if you'd like to go more in-depth with this, you might like to go to my article, play doh recipe.):

• 1 cup of flour (whatever kind you have on hand)
• ¼ cup of salt
• ½ cup of water
• 3 to 5 drops of natural food coloring
• 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
• (1 tablespoon cream of tartar)

 

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2) A Library Visit for Variation and Bonding

If your kids need to spend some time out of the house, a trip to the library can be the way to go. It may sound like a bit of a boring thing to do, but it can be a really great way to get a bit of variation into your day and to connect intimately in new surroundings.

Also it's an opportunity for your kids to have fun exploring the many books and comics that the library has, and you can spark their interest in reading once again.

Give them a chance to sit on the comfortable library couches with you for a few hours, or let them surf on the library computers (they're usually fairly safe thanks to the computer locking software that keeps the kids on child-friendly programs and websites).

You can bring home a stack of your kids' favorite books, which they can read through over the next few weeks. The library can be a place of wonder for your kids, and you may just find that the occasional trip will help them to renew their love of reading.

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3) Easy Coloring of Black and White Printouts

Do your kids have a love for art? If so, why not get them interested in coloring?

You can buy a 24 pack of colored pencils at any Wal-Mart, and 24 is more than enough colors for them to use for any art project.

If you're a bit pressed for time and want to give them something quick to occupy themselves with, you can give them printout in black and white pictures of their favorite Disney or Dreamworks characters, and let them color the characters however they want.

You can print out the real pictures in full color to give the kids an idea of what the characters are supposed to look like, as well as the colors used for the characters' hair, face, eyes, clothes, and so on.

It can occupy them for hours, and such fun kids activities are a great way for your kids to have fun on a rainy afternoon when they don't feel like playing outside.

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4) Adventurous and Healthy Bike Riding in Nature

Bike riding in nature is both a beautiful experience while at the same time being great fun kids activities.

So, is there a forest or a trail near your home, or are there mountains around your city where you can take your bike?

If there's any nature near where you live, chances are there are paths and trails that you can follow.

Bring a picnic lunch and plenty of water, and see how far you can cycle in just a few hours.

 You can track your path on your phone, if you feel like it. Make sure to scout the trail before you take your kids on it, but a little bit of excitement can be good for your kids if they are older.

Make sure your phone's GPS is on, so you can find your way home easily in case you decide to deviate from the route. Not only will it be excellent exercise for your kids, but they'll be able to experience the wonder of the great outdoors firsthand.

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5) Moderate Hiking and Climbing Adventures

If there are mountains and hills near your city, taking your kids on a hike can be a fun way to help them experience the wonder of heights.

You don't have to take them on a dangerous rock climbing adventure, but they can have tons of fun scrambling over rocks to get to the top of a tall hill.

You'll want to avoid dangerous paths and trails until your kids have gotten used to hard climbs, but trekking and hiking up hills great fun kids activities during the summer.

You will need plenty of water, and you can consider bringing sandwiches to give you something to eat. However, avoid saddling yourself with too much, as you may end up carrying a tired child if you hike for a long time. 😉 

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6) Turning a Boring Museum Visits into an Exciting Scavenger Hunt

Visiting museums don't have to be boring at all. In fact, with a little bit of preparation you can turn such visits into wonderful fun kids activities.

If there are a number of museums in the city, you can turn the visits into a scavenger hunt to make things more fun for the kids.

Include items from the museum on the list of things they'll need for their hunt, such as photos of dinosaurs, an item from the gift shop, a resume of the sign for a particular museum item, weekend opening hours, number of paintings in the impressionist room and so on.

They'll learn more about the various things that they can see in the museum, and you can make it a lot more fun for them by turning it into a game.

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7) Cosy Indoor Living Room Picnic

Having a picnic in the sunny garden can be a lot of fun, but don't let an overcast or rainy day spoil your picnic fun. You can actually let your kids have a lot more fun with an indoor picnic, as you can let them use those dishes that you would never let them take into the garden.

Simply bring in a few pillows, blankets, and even mattresses to the living room make yourselves comfortable. If you're really advanced, you can also try and set set up a tent in the living room.

To up the excitement level you can assign various roles such as host and guests.

After lunch you can set up the projector to play a movie on the large white wall of your living room, or set up the tent in front of the TV.

You can still have all of the fun of sitting and having a picnic, but without having to worry about being outside in the rain.

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8) Learning to Prepare Snacks over the Summer

If your kids want to learn a skill this summer, cooking can be an excellent one to pick up.

They can learn how to make all kinds of simple foods, such as grilled sandwiches, healthy hamburgers and oven baked root crops such as potato, beetroot and parsnip fries and homemade pizza.

You'll be amazed at how quickly your kids can pick up the tricks of the kitchen, and they'll soon be able to make their own simple meals without needing you to do all the work for them.

You'll want to supervise everything closely, of course, as that way you can avoid the kids getting hurt or the house burning down. However, give the kids a bit of freedom, and you'll be impressed by how quickly they can learn to cook.

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9) Fun Room Painting

Painting can be more than just using water paints to color pictures. Painting can also be a good chance for your kids to learn a bit more about painting the house.

You can let the kids use a paintbrush to paint the walls of their bedroom (after you've moved out the furniture and covered the carpet, of course!). 😉

Teach them how to paint using regular brush strokes, and make sure that they get how to apply the paint without leaving streaks or gobs of paint. If they're a bit older, you can teach them how to use a roller.

If you'd like to give your child more creative freedom, you can assign a wall of their room for special arts projects like e.g. handprints from the whole family in different colors. Such a colorful wall would be very personal and beautiful at the same time.

I'm sure they'll have lots of fun getting dirty, and they can actually learn a trade that they will use later in their lives. It will be a fun activity for you to do with them, though be prepared that all depending on the result, you might have to go through with a roller at the end yourself. 😉

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10) Introducing Baking to Make Delicious Treats

There's nothing that kids love more than eating sweet treats, so why not teach them how to bake their favorite desserts?

You can teach them how to make a banana split, but that's often too easy. Why not teach them how to make a simple carrot cake, a tray of brownies, or even some rich chocolate cake?

If you're concerned about sugar like I am, you can always reduce the sugar in the recipes. I always do that - both because I don't like to put too much sugar into my son but also because I simply don't like it anymore when cakes are too sweet. (And interestingly enough, neither does my son).

Just like cooking their own healthy snacks, baking will allow your kids to be able to eat the work of their hands once the delicious cake comes hot out of the oven.

It's a great activity that they will all enjoy, and you will find that the product of the time spent in the kitchen can actually be quite tasty!

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11) Family Game Night with Homemade, Crazy Rules

If the kids need something to do during the day, have them plan a family game night.

Your kids can have fun cutting up the papers for games like Trivia and 10 Questions, or they can come up with funny variations on the games that they're used to playing.

You can play Crazy Scrabble where you have to spell all of the words backwards, or you can play Twister with a Twist where everyone that falls has to do something silly.

You'll definitely be amazed at how creative your kids can get, and they'll have tons of fun preparing everything you'll need for the fun game night that they've planned.

Just be prepared to do lots of silly things!

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12) Making Huge, Spectacular Soap Bubbles

No matter how old your kids are, they're never too old for bubbles.

You can help them to bend coat hangers or thread guitar strings into the shape that they want, and they can use large containers to mix up the dish soap and water.

Set them free to play out in the yard, and watch as they blow huge bubbles. It can be endless hours of fun for them to play outside with bubbles, but be ready go through a bottle or two of dish soap.

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13) Awesome Garden Water Fight

If the weather is nice and hot, a water fight can be the perfect activity for your kids to enjoy on a hot summer day.

Blow up 100 water balloons, and divide the kids into two teams. Get out the water guns and Super Soakers. If you're playing too, you can arm yourself with the garden hose as you chase the kids around the yard.

Turn on the sprinklers to run through, lay out the Slip N Slide to have some fun sliding around your garden, or break out the inflatable pool.

There's nothing like some good fun in the water this summer, so have fun playing in the sun with your kids!

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14) Fun and Liberating Dancing Games

Do you have a Nintendo Wii or an Xbox? If so, get yourself some fun dance games like Dance Party or Dance Dance Revolution.

Crank up the volume, put on your dance clothes, and break out your best moves. It will make it easy for your kids to get some exercise, and it will be a fun way for you to brush up on the moves that you probably haven't used in years.

To make things fun and unpredictable, each of you can choose a song for the other person to try and dance to. If you don't have a gaming console, just buy yourself some dance videos, and learn to dance the fun way!

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15) Going Down Memory Lane with Flower Pressing

Pressing flowers was something that you probably did as a child, but today most kids probably won't know the joys of pressing flowers like you did.

Take your little ones to a nearby garden or field, and pick one or two of each type of flowers.

Break out that massive set of Encyclopedia Britannica that you've had on your shelves, basement, or attic for years, and use them to press the flowers between two sheets of paper.

Your kids can use the pressed flowers to make cards or gifts, and they can learn all about the various types of flowers through such fun kids activities!

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16) Turing Cleaning into a Fun Family Activity

This may not sound like the most enjoyable activity for your kids, but it can be, and it does need to be done now and then.

Have your kids help you to deep clean their rooms, moving their beds, getting behind the shelves, cleaning the toys, etc.

Set them loose on your living room and dining room floors with a scrub brush or a mop, and let them have fun sliding around on the wet floor as they scrub up the feet marks they've accumulated over the months.

You can make the cleaning into a fun game, and your kids may come to love it. As I said, it needs to be done anyway, so have them help you do it.

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17) Fun Arts and Crafts with Your Kids

If you want to do arts and crafts with your kids, you'll be amazed at how artistic they can be.

Here are a few quick suggestions (If you want more in-depth inspiration, you might like to go to this article on arts and crafts for kids.)

Perhaps you want to turn an old egg carton into a toy train for your toddler, or break out the knitting supplies and make yourself a scarf for the winter.

You can get out the tools, and help your kids make a bird feeder, bird house or a small wooden box to store the kids' special items.

Teaching your kids how to work with their hands will be a good way to ensure that they can be handy when they grow up, and they'll find that the skills they've picked up from you will go a long way.

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18) Fancy Tie Dye T-Shirts

Got a bunch of old T-shirts that look old and ragged? Why not spend a few hours tie dying them?

• Simply tie a knot in one part of the T-shirt, or fold it and use a rubber band to hold it in place.
  
  
• Dip the T-shirt into a bucket of bleach and water, or use colored dyes to give the T-shirts a bright color.
  
  
• Let the T-shirts sit for a day or two, and give them a wash with cold water.

Once they're dry, your kids can wear the fancy T-shirts around the house. Just make sure to take all safety precautions and don't come in contact with any bleach, as it can ruin the clothes that you are wearing!

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I really hope you enjoyed this list of fun kids activities and found some inspiration for fun things to do with your kids. If you'd like more fun kids activities, feel free to explore my articles below.

Your Positive Parenting Ally,
Birgitte

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