Screen Free Activities for Kids – Indoor Edition

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Have screen free activities for kids already set up or easy to access in your home. Make it simple for your little ones to choose how to spend their time when they need to stay indoors.

I share simple ideas that will keep your kids busy, learning and making memories for hours. Some of them may end up a little bit messy – but trust me, it’s worth it!

11 Indoor, Screen free activities for kids

Easy to arrange, cheap and fun. These screen free activities help children explore, develop and learn through play. Most kids will want to spend time with the important “Big People” in their lives. However, independent or peer group play is super important for their learning and development. In this post I focus on these main sections:

• Imagination
• Role Play / Imitation
• Problem solving, and
• Sensory discovery

1. Dress Up Costume Box

Most homes have a few costumes already on hand. If you have a limited selection or your kids want a change it doesn’t have to be an expensive shopping trip. A trip to your local thrift shop provides a huge selection of options. Don’t be limited to just the clothing section. There are plenty of other things that make great dress up props. From hats to jewelry, shoes to old bedding, even an old lamp shade could get the imagination working.

Your kids may also want to imitate you or other loved ones. Being allowed to dress up in your clothes, shoes or jewelry will make them feel connected to you.

2. Set up a Shop

Borrow some items from the pantry, display toys or make some crafts to set up a pretend store. Playing shops is a great way to encourage role play, planning and money handling.

If you don’t have play money, a pack of playing cards or home-made notes will do the job too. Older kids will enjoy making their own currency or a cash register from an old cereal box.

3. Fort building

By far our favourite screen free activity for kids is fort building. This may involve a bit of furniture moving but it’s defiantly worth it for the hours of fun provided. Dining tables, chairs, bunk bed frames all make great fort building structures. Lay spare blankets, sleeping bags, tablecloths, any type of large fabric – over the furniture to create rooms. Add some pillows or beanbags, books, snacks and a torch and you have a world of make believe – always a winner!

4. Sand Tray Gardens

Bring the outdoors in with a sand tray. Use easy to clean toys to build an indoor city or pop out to the garden for leaves, sticks, stones and flowers for a more natural look. The creative mind will have endless options and kids love the sensory learning from exploring sand.

5. Sensory Tubs

While we are on the topic of sensory play, filling some tubs with different, everyday items can provide so many discovery options. For small children you will of course need to be careful giving them little objects that may go in the mouth (or up the nose)! But here are some great ideas to enjoy through the senses: touch, sound, smell and feel.

• raw pasta shells
• small stones in various sizes/colours
• feathers
• sand
• leaves
• raw rice/beans
• little shells
• wooden beads
• shredded paper
• pom poms
• salt
• birdseed

6. Carton Crafts

I love getting the recycling out of the house as fast as I can, but this is one good reason to keep hold of a few boxes, plastic bottles or paper towel tubes. Kids love being crafty and creative. Supplement with some glue sticks, tape or Blu Tack and your kids will make the most creative structures, robots or suits of armor.

If you are running short of cartons, a roll of wrapping paper is another great option. Every toy will suddenly become a gift. Wrapping paper and a roll of sticky tape suddenly becomes Christmas, especially for your child whose love language is “gift giving.”

7. Kitchen Sink Water Play

This is just my cunning ploy to get the dishes done! But seriously, younger kids especially love doing the dishes. Yet another sensory activity this simple activity keeps them entertained for quite a while if you let them. Unbreakable kitchen items, some warm soapy water, a stool or chair to stand on and you have a very eager helper (enjoy it while it lasts!!!)

8. Dance-a-thon

Right from a very young age children are drawn to music. We’ve all seen little babies and toddlers bobbing their heads when a good beat comes on. Get the music going in an open room and watch the dance-a-thon start, often with very little prompting. Try mixing the music genres to watch the dance style change from leaping and prancing to sweeping and swaying.

Older kids will enjoy being able to choreograph and put on a show. Younger kids will love you picking them up and tangoing them around the room. It’s a great way to burn up some energy especially on a rainy day.

9. Hot and Cold Game / Hide-n-Seek

Nothing like a good old game of hide-n-seek, but that requires more than one person and time. So, if you need, here is a game I would play with my kids when we were alone, or I was busy. It’s called “Hot and Cold”.

• 1. Have an item you hide (e.g. a small toy or a pen.)
• 2. Have the child leave the room while you hide said toy.
• 3. Have the child return to the room and while you go about your tasks keep an eye on where the child moves around the room. As they get closer to the toy say “Warm”. As they move away say “Cold”. As they get really, really close say “Warmer, Warmer, Hot, HOT!!”

Simple but fun and if there are other children around, they have turns at hiding the toy too.

10. Have a Tea Party

Girls especially love a good tea party, often I find younger brothers are usually pretty keen to join in too. This can be an actual event with real food and drink but more often than not a good tea party involves several teddy bears, a doll or two and a huge amount of make believe.

There are many kids’ tea sets available to buy these days, but I have discovered children love using real cups and plates. I had several old teacups, saucers and plates that I got second hand, so I wasn’t upset if a mistake was made and one broke.

This activity was often followed by number 7: Kitchen sink water play.

11. Give the kid a box (a big box, the bigger the better!)

So, earlier I mentioned that fort building was our number one screen free activity for kids. I’ve had to reconsider that statement as I remember the hours and hours of creative, imaginary play our kids had with a simple box. If you can get hold of a huge box, for example a refrigerator box, the kids will think this is the most fun they had since Christmas. Failing that, just a good size moving box will also be fun. It’s a boat, it’s a hut, it’s a car, it’s a spaceship, it’s a horse, it’s a house, it’s a snail shell. Sometimes it’s all of those at once. Just think about your child’s first birthday or Christmas – EVERYONE says, “We should have just got them a box for their gift.” It’s true – even bigger kids are delighted with a box!

Why I promote Screen Free Activities for kids

I’m not opposed to screen time; in fact, I believe there are definite benefits in learning to responsibly utilize technology. Having said that, especially for younger children, I think we should limit the amount of time they are on a screen.

I know there are a lot of studies and research around this topic done by people that are a lot smarter than me. I also understand that everyone has (sometimes very strong) opinions on their choices regarding screen time.

But from my perspective and experience of motherhood these are the main benefits and reasons why I want regular screen free activities for kids:

• Social Development – interaction, negotiation, conflict resolution, responsibility, connection
• Problem Solving – spatial awareness, learning through repetition, gravity/physics
• Physical Development – motor skills, strength, balance, co-ordination
• Sensory Development – using and discovering all senses – how does it feel, smell, taste, sound, look
• Imaginary Play – creativity, role play, imitation, make believe, pretending
• Health – fresh air, sunshine, bare feet on the grass time, fitness

I’d love to know what your favourite indoor, screen free activities for kids are. Drop a comment below and let me know.

Check out the Backyard Edition of – Screen Free Activities for Kids