10 Fun Projects & Activities To Do With Kids At Home

Being at home on lockdown due to COVID-19 can be a challenging time for families. Your kids aren’t in school, and you may be juggling parental duties with working from home or going to your essential workplace. With so much downtime, your kids may be getting pretty bored.

In spite of this abrupt change to daily life, this downtime is a great opportunity for family members to spend time with one another. Doing fun activities with your kids is a great way to bond and bring everyone closer together during this uncertain time.

To keep yourself and the kids busy, we’ve rounded up the best fun activities to do with kids at home. These activities channel creativity and logic (and fun, of course!) to hopefully make your safer-at-home or stay-at-home order more bearable.

Top Fun Activities for Kids at Home

1. Bake kid-friendly treats

Who doesn’t love a good sweet treat? Tackle easy baking projects like brownies and cookies and make it your mission to make the best-ever oatmeal chocolate chip cookie (or whatever your favorite dessert is). If you have really little kids, no-bake delights like Rice Krispie treats are a classic, safe option.

Once your family has taste-tested everything, make a cookbook of everyone’s favorite recipes and have your kids illustrate it. This way, you’ll have a treasured memory of your special time together as a family — and tons of yummy recipes to choose from for future holidays and potlucks!

2. Create a science project

Just because the kids aren’t in school doesn’t mean they have to stop learning! There are tons of fun science projects on the Internet for kids of all ages, covering topics from physics to biology to chemistry. Some examples include making a volcano, crafting a rocket balloon car, or tackling the classic egg drop activity. Plus, it never hurts us adults to brush up on our science knowledge, so you can have just as much fun as the kids with these projects!

3. Teach a graphic design lesson

You don’t have to be an all-star graphic designer to have fun with this medium. Have your kids create a piece of digital art on a tablet or laptop with a free, easy-to-use program like Canva. You can have even more fun with this by printing out their artwork onto custom skins for some of their favorite items. Envision your kids’ faces lighting up when they see their art on their laptop, phone, or skateboard/hoverboard — totally priceless!

4. Enjoy virtual story time

Maybe you’ve run out of stories to tell the kids, or you’re running yourself hoarse from telling so many! Lucky for you, there are plenty of story time videos out there on YouTube to keep the little ones in your family amused. Tune in on your Echo Show or tablet and have your kids watch some entertaining videos to go along with the story. Or, better yet, contact some loved ones and have them read your kiddos a story over Skype or FaceTime. In times like these, that kind of connection can make all the difference.

5. Organize a performance

Got a bunch of kids with pent-up energy? Channel that energy into creativity by having your kids put on some type of performance. You can really have fun with this by honing in on their talents and interests. Put on a play, coordinate a dance routine, or organize a fashion show — the only limit is your imagination! If you really want to make a memory that will last forever, film the performance and watch it together as a family.

6. Get gardening

Getting your hands dirty is a great way to connect with Mother Nature during this time. You can harvest seeds from produce you may already have on hand (think tomatoes and peppers), or you can purchase seeds from a store or online. Start these seeds indoors and then eventually transplant them outside once the plants are big enough.

Even if you don’t have an outdoor garden, you can still grow plenty of plants indoors. Look into low-light, easy-to-grow plants for some kid-friendly options. To give your kids some new responsibilities, you can have them water the plants on specific days of the week. Create a water log and hang it on the fridge to track who waters what on certain days.

7. Create an obstacle course

Here’s a really fun at-home activity to get your kids up and moving! Create an obstacle course out of ordinary objects such as pillows, cushions, and cardboard boxes. You can do this indoors or outdoors and make things as easy or complex as you want. Get creative with the obstacles and use your imagination. For example, “the floor is lava” is an age-old game that you can incorporate into your obstacle course.

8. Go on a scavenger hunt

This is another activity that you can do either inside or outside. If you opt for an indoor scavenger hunt, you can have the kiddos hunt for special (or even ordinary) objects of various quantities. If you host an outdoor scavenger hunt, you can incorporate nature by having kids gather leaves, flowers, and other natural objects. Just make sure your kids wear a mask and gloves, specifically if they’re going to the park or another public area. You can even kick things up a notch by having the kids snap photos of certain items on a phone or camera.

9. Make your own household items

Running low on things like soap or cleaning products? Instead of running out to the store, make your own! You can easily make things like lotion, cleaning products, and even perfume from everyday household items. Use essential oils for scents, or add citrus to cleaning products for a fresh, natural smell.

10. Give back to your community

During this wild time, it’s important for all of us to come together. Doing some sort of community service project as a family can encourage kids to think about the bigger picture. You can have kids help by going through your pantry to donate non-perishable food, or you can have everyone don gloves and pick up trash in your neighborhood. Something as simple as making signs for essential worker heroes in the neighborhood can also bring a smile to your neighbors’ faces.

Stick Together and Stay Safe

There’s no doubt about it: being at home during COVID-19 can be a challenging time for everyone. That being said, this is also an opportunity to spend more time with your kids and loved ones. We hope that these fun home activities for kids inspire you to do something creative with your kids so you can make the most of your time together.