Children are really a bunch of super-charged things disguised in little bodies. Now with limited free days due to school weekends become the highlight of everyone’s week again. If children are not kept busy or engaged in something, those two days may turn sour very quickly. Bored children are not happy children. Growing up I wish my parents did more activities during the weekends; when it felt like they finally had some time away from work. Keeping your kids entertained shouldn’t need to involve money, here are ten activities you can do with your kiddos, mainly at no cost.
Activities You Can Do As A Family
Spending time with your kids is important, and what better way than finding activities you can do together? This will not only keep the kids occupied, but it will make the time go by faster, especially on rainy days that seem to be dragging.
Activity 1. As A Family: Playing Cards
Card games are one of the oldest family traditions still around. This was one of the main go-tos for me growing up when it came to weekends, especially cold, rainy weekends. It’s a foolproof method to keep any child occupied and entertained. I suggest investing in a good quality card deck, it’s going to survive the wear and tear of being used by kiddos for a longer time. Teach your kids age-appropriate games. For example games like ‘Snap’ and ‘Go fish’ will be easier for children younger than 6 to grasp and enjoy because of their simplicity. Also, these two games are bound to release some of your kid’s energy.
For older kids, you could teach them games like ‘Crazy 8’s’ and ‘Rummy’ will keep their attention better since there’s a bit of ‘strategy’ involved. If you have more than 2 kids with a bit of an age gap, a combination would work best to keep both ages engaged, and you as the parent can always help the younger child a bit with the strategy games. If you play cards with your kids, I assure you, it will never fail to entertain them. I’m already in my 20’s, and I’m still addicted to card games. I’ve even searched for other games I can try, when I exhausted all my childhood games.
Activity 2. As A Family: Board Games
This may sound cliche, but trust me, getting out your old board games or finding some cheap ones is worth it. To make sure your kids will really enjoy playing them, it may be better to let them choose which ones to play/buy. Younger children will more likely prefer games like ‘Snakes & Ladders’, ‘Ludo’ and ‘Uno’. For your older kids, games like ‘Monopoly’ and ‘Pictionary’. Again, if you have two or more children with an age gap, a mix of games will work best; with you helping the younger child/children. Once your child reaches the age they can learn to spell, a game like ‘Scrabble’ can double as a nice game, as well as helping to add to teaching them to spell.
Activity 3. As A Family: Hot/Cold Game
The ‘Hot/Cold’ game is something my mother taught my brother when we were young. It is an alternative to ‘Treasure Hunt’. In each round, there is the ‘treasure hider’ and ‘treasure seeker’. The treasure seeker goes out of the room while the treasure hider takes an object and hides it somewhere in the room. When they are done, you call the treasure seeker back in. The twist this game has is instead of giving the treasure seeker a map with clues as to where the hidden object is; they move about the room with the treasure hider directing them.
How? As the seeker walks about the room the hider can only call out the phrases ‘cold, colder, freezing’, if they are very far away from where the object is; and ‘hot, hotter, boiling’, when they get closer to where the object is. Once the seeker finds the object, the roles reverse and the game starts again. From experience, the ‘Hot/Cold’ game was more enjoyable and stopped me getting bored of the game for longer. Giving the child full control and feeling important as they direct the other person makes it more exciting; and trying to guess where the object is, with only directions of how close or far they are from is, makes it more interesting and not as easy. Believe it or not, kids actually like a challenge more than you think.
Activity 4. As A Family: Make Sandpaper Printed T-Shirts
This is an activity where your child/children can use their creativity. All you need for it is a plain light colored t-shirt (in their size), sandpaper (of any texture) and crayons (which I’m sure you already have). It’s quite easy to make, and best it costs under $5:
- Give each of your children a sheet of sandpaper and let draw any design they want, (a hint the design will be reversed on the shirt so give your kids the heads up).
- Once the design is finished tell them to go over it again; it works best if the sandpaper has a thick layer of crayon
- Place a piece of cardboard in the t-shirt under the design, this will stop it bleeding through to the back of the shirt and turn the sandpaper right-side down on the t-shirt
- Place a piece of parchment paper or paper towel on the back of the sandpaper or you
- Iron over the sandpaper (on the cotton setting), for about 30 seconds. Be sure to check if most of the crayon was transferred, if not iron it for a bit longer.
- Remove the sandpaper and inner cardboard and there you have it! A new original t-shirt
So here is how my daughter’s T- Shirt came out, I didn’t quite get the top of the letter too well. I tried to fix it and smudge the top of the letter, she still loved it and had a lot of fun doing it. (Oh, we cheated and used a stencil to get our shapes down. Shhh):
Activity 5. As A Family: Play Games Outside (When Possible)
Kids have a lot of energy, so go to play and let then release some of it. The games you can play are endless hopscotch, hula hoop, jump rope, catch, etc. How about a classic water balloon fight that is fun for all ages. My daughter had a blast the other running away and getting splash by the balloons. (Note: it is a sneaky way to get some cardio make sure to get your child outdoors, especially for the M2s.) Be sure to join in the fun yourself.
One thing I still do with my daughter and I’m sure all parents do is play along; “fake fail” or make clumsy mistakes. While asking your kids to show you how to do the task, game, rule, etc. properly. Children love this, they get to laugh and be orderly in the cutest way with exaggerated impatience and reprimands, and cheers when you ‘catch on’ and do it with success.
Activities Your Kids Can Do On Their Own
If you work full-time during the week, weekends are obviously the housework days; and keeping your kids busy doing something themselves is definitely needed. Here are a few ideas:
Activity 6. Individually: Making Road Tracks For Their Cars/Trucks On The Carpet
In advance make sure you only do this in areas that you have finished any needed chores in; you don’t want your kids underfoot while you are busy. Buy a roll or two of colored tape (or more, it will come in handy for a lot of activities in the future), and use it to lay out lines on the carpet to form roads/tracks. Depending on the layout of the room, you can make roads around ‘obstacles’ to make it more interesting. Your children are bound to be kept busy playing cars this way, instead of them aimlessly driving their cars up and down with no set track. This is something you can do regardless of your kid’s age.
Activity 7. Individually: Make Outdoor Board Games
There are bound to be times when you need your kids out of the house when you’re busy. To keep them occupied outside for longer, use the same coloured tape to lay out large-scale board games on the pavement, patios, etc. Using make layouts of any of your board games, or let you kids make up their own. Any small/medium sized objects they have can be used as playing pieces; if they don’t have enough, they can even use rocks they find. Once they get bored with a game, you can easily erase it and create a new layout.
Activity 8. Individually: Make A Homemade Throwing Tarp
If you have an old tarp lying around, or buy one cheaply, you can make a ball game for your kids to keep them busy outside on sunny days. Draw outlines of shapes (big enough to let the balls through with a fair space around); and cut them out. Using colored tape, make borders for the shapes; this will make them easier to see, as well as making it more colorful and fancy. Use markers to designate points for each shape. Make holes in the corners of the tarp and get a rope to tie it up, leaving space behind the tarp so the balls can get through. Give your kids a scrap piece of paper or book and a pen to keep score, and there you have it! A ball game that is sure to keep them occupied for a fair amount of time.
Safety tip: Be sure not to place the tarp in a spot that may cause the ball to fly over into neighbors yards or the road
Activity 9. Individually: Marble Bowling
Marbles are a great source of fun that has been around for a good time. I remember in primary school everyone bringing their marble collection and have marble challenges during breaks. I’m sure you also had a marble phase sometime in your childhood. You can reinvent the traditional marble games for your children marble bowling. To make it you’ll need a long length board, coloured tape, pencil erasers, circle stickers and of course, marbles. Here the steps:
- Measure and make two lengthwise lines one the board, just under ⅓ away from the edges of the board
- Draw a horizontal line a few inches in from the bottom edge of the board with chalk or marker
- On the top edge of the board use circle stickers (of the same size), to mark the ‘bowling pins’ positions
- Place a pencil rubber on each spot
- Play!
Your kids can either roll the marbles like they would a bowling ball, or play them down and flick them forward. Larger sized marbles work best, they’re more likely to hit the target and less likely to go missing after each hit. Be sure to place the board in an open area, where there aren’t many objects the marbles can roll under.
Activity 10. Individually: Balloon Ping Pong
Here’s a twist to the old ‘hit the balloon with your hand to stop it hitting the floor’ game, which may keep your children entertained for a while longer. All you need is balloons, paper plates, popsicle sticks and wood glue. Simply glue a popsicle stick to the back of the paper plate (make sure it dries properly) and then inflate a balloon.
The aim is for your children to play Ping-Pong with the balloon hitting it back and forth between them, and of course making sure it doesn’t touch the floor. This is a more controlled and not crazed filled game, making chances of things being knocked or broken less likely (hopefully)!
In The End
Keeping your children occupied and entertained needn’t cost an arm and a leg or a cent in fact! There are countless activities and games you can make/play with your kids, it just takes some imagination and out of the box thinking. Children don’t stay kids forever, so take the chance of every moment even just weekends, to spend having fun with your kids.
Also, you can give your kids experience of playing with not just a game console or tablet, get them outside and play with different thing sand get the chance to give them a taste of your childhood fun!
