Kids are a beautiful creation of God. They bring happiness and adventure to our lives, yet they are so naughty, mischievous and can make you run after them for hours. We all were kids once and we know that how we were brought up, our environment, and our activities have influenced the personality we have now.
School isn’t the only teaching place for kids, home will always be the first school. Kids enjoy doing fun activities and these shouldn’t be limited to schools only. Be it vacations or weekends or after school time at home, parents should engage their children in activities that would be fruitful for them. There is a long list of indoor activities for kids from which you can choose what your kid likes the most.
Always engage your children in something fruitful for them, instead of more screen time, kids should be more physically engaged. If the weather isn’t suitable, there are various rainy day activities to enjoy with your children.
So, take a seat and relax if you’re thinking about what things to do on a rainy day with kids. Make the activities sound fun and exciting so the kids take more interest and have a fun time learning new things. Here’s a list of fun indoor activities for your children.
1. Identifying the colors
Kids find different colors attractive and so they get more interested in identifying them. Our houses are full of different objects with various colors, be it the curtains or bed sheets or fruits or the color pencils which most kids have at home. If you have a single child, you can ask him/her to identify the colors of different objects and then give him a chocolate or candy as a prize and if more than one child then make groups and whoever wins, gets the prize.
You can also get a pack of colorful pom-poms and ask your kid to separate all the pinks and blues and greens. And count them. This will encourage their gross motor skills
2. Enhance the kids’ minds with music
If you want your kids to have a love for music, then you should engage them in musical activities. Be it the poems like ‘Old McDonald had a farm’ or ‘twinkle twinkle little star’ or the music you play with your musical instruments.
Play musical games, you can record sounds of instruments and play them again to see if your kid gets the right answer.Most kids who play music with their parents tend to have increased interest in music and enhanced musical skills.
3. Science experiment to gain attention
Well, of course, your house shouldn’t be turned into a blast zone just to teach your kids about science. We all have visions of the chemistry lab when we think about science experiments. But, fear not, you won’t be needing such costly equipment. If your kid is a pre-schooler, then he’ll enjoy experiments that are simple and don’t require much effort, like creating shapes with clay and toothpicks.
And in the case of your school-going kids, they can always try an experiment that requires a little more involvement but doesn’t leave your house as a disaster area when they’re finished.
4. Exploring world cultures with your kids
A little internet surfing wouldn’t do much harm. Give them options of different countries and ask them which one they want to explore, make them learn about different cultures of the beautiful world out there. Show them pictures and videos of the traditions and occasions which are celebrated across the world. This will increase the kids’ knowledge of other traditions.
This world is definitely an interesting place to live and explore. The kids can study various cultural etiquettes and learn a few words from the official language of their favorite country. This will enhance their imagination, or maybe they’ll try to adapt their favorite traditions across the world.
5. Teaching Maths
Math is an easy subject to teach. Know why? Because it’s everywhere around us, we don’t need to have specific books or equipment. For instance, sk your kids to count the number of cushions you have in the house. Or count the spoons and divide them with the number of people in the house to see if anyone isn’t getting a spoon or not.
For preschoolers, it’s better to start with number recognition and then learning to count. And for school-going, tackle advanced math problems with math games like an abacus and even candies.
6. Cooking Something Delicious:
You can teach your kids something they love eating or your family’s traditional food, which maybe what your mother or grandmother taught you when you were a kid. Through this, kids might learn an important family tradition, and you never know the recipe may go on for centuries.
Kids always love something different, messy, and which they can have full control of.
You can make something that they love eating, for instance, pie crusts or pizza or biscuits. They can squish the dough, or make patterns for cookies, or just lend a hand in giving you things you need like sugar or utensils, etc.
7. A Room Picnic?
Grab a basket, no need for a real picnic basket, a laundry basket would do the work. Ask your kids to pick foods of their choice, these can be juice boxes, cookies, napkins, paper plates, sandwiches, and all other picnic foods. Let the kids fill the basket, meanwhile, you spread the blanket in the room, where a picnic is to be enjoyed, and put some sandwiches together.
Kids love doing unique things and having lunch outside the kitchen is something fun. Take pictures and always remember these mini picnics that you enjoy with your kids at home.
8. Cinema?
Well a house cinema isn’t a bad idea, right? After all, watching a movie and eating a snack is what it all is. The most creative of parents need some rest and cozy time too.
Having kids in the house is exciting but also a hell of a roller coaster ride. The best plan to keep them calm and relaxed is to make them watch a movie of their choice. If you have more than one kid, then let them vote between the options you give them. Select a movie that is a combo of fun, excitement, and knowledge, because kids learn from what they are seeing!
9. Draw, create and compete!
What’s better than preparing your kids for the competition they’ll face in the future. These small competitions make the children confident and enhance their skills for a bigger one. The enthusiasm with which children fight to win increases their morale.
Arrange a drawing competition among them and give chocolate to the winner. And if your kid doesn’t have a competitor then be one and compete with him/her. Provide them every means to have an amazing childhood.
10. Consider playing some learning games!
Learning doesn’t start from school; it starts from the home. A kid starts learning from the very moment he gains consciousness. Give your child a chance to learn, play games that make your kid move while learning about different things.
If your kid is a pre-schooler, then take a start from basic games which can help learn about colors, numbers, shapes, or farm animals. And for school going, level up the games and teach them about history or foreign language or science. Only your imagination decides what you choose to teach with these games.
11. Donation – An act of kindness
Whatever you do, your kids will follow in your footsteps. Kids mimic their parents and thus, it’s the easiest way to make them learn, just do the act yourself and they’ll copy you. Let’s say start with an act of kindness! Make your kids compassionate, humble, allow them to feel bad for children who can not afford what your kids have.
Explain to your kids that what donating is, why is it necessary to give things to the one in need. Donate clothes, toys or anything that is spilling out of the cupboard. Ask your kids if they want the stuff they haven’t touched in ages. Let them decide what they willingly want to donate. This sense of humanity will enhance their personality beautifully.
12. Imaginary world of the books:
Children’s imagination enhances when they listen to stories. What was the last time you read with your kids? Some would say last night, and some would say that maybe never. Every one of you would want to be a part of their kids’ lives. Why not take baby steps and start by reading a book to them? Answer their questions about different characters, see what interests them more, through this, you will know about their personality and the things that influence them the most.
Use holidays or after-school time as an opportunity for your kids to crack a new book and have a fun time enjoying the world of books.
13. LEGOS
A LEGO set provides opportunity and challenge – with all these tiny pieces fastened together to make a wonderful world of harry potter! That’s mind-blowing.
Let the kids figure out for themselves how to complete the set, this will build determination and support areas like fine motor development and problem-solving. Through the LEGO sets, kids gain benefits of robotics and can learn to program robots through block-based coding.
14. Exercise
Exercise isn’t something that can only be done in gyms or is only specific for adults. Don’t let these things fool you. Exercise isn’t done to lose or gain weight only; it’s done to have a healthy body.
Set a routine with your children, teach them that they need to take out time for themselves, for their bodies. For fifteen to twenty minutes daily, let them just do any form of exercise, be it jumping jack or squats. Even chasing a balloon or clumping on bubble wrap isn’t a bad workout. Is it?
15. A Scavenger hunt, maybe?
A home-based scavenger hunt isn’t a bad idea for your kids to board on. If you have plenty of time, then hide your kid’s favorite object anywhere in the house and give him clues to find it. And when they find it, surprise them with a small box of candies or chocolate or any small thing of your choice. These mini surprises would make them more excited to find the object and win. And if you are short on time then you can ask a riddle or give clues regarding your household items. For instance, ‘I get cold, I keep the food fresh and don’t let it get old. What am I?’ and the kids will find the object in the house. Let’s see if your kid completes the hunt and finds the refrigerator or not.
Depending on your frame of mind you must know that
So, at least try and get your kids to take advantage of the opportunities that await, be it after school or on vacations. If your kid is facing trouble with a certain topic or aspect of his/her personality, then dig deeper, encourage them to try something new, make them confident. Kids are fragile, they are naïve, they need to be modeled. And it’s our responsibility to model them into amazing human beings, teach them what’s right and wrong, provide them opportunities, give them space to grow, notice their behavioral changes and help them overcome any bad influence.
We need to challenge ourselves and our kids to come out better and stronger in every scenario!
