by Brooke Tasovac (follow)

Parenting Tips (83)      Useful Lists (19)      Family Entertainment (11)     

We still have a few more weeks to go before social distancing laws are relaxed, and that means thinking of more activities to keep kids entertained after school and on weekends.

If you’re out of ideas, here are 30 fun indoor and outdoor projects that you may not have tried yet...

OUTDOORS

1. Make chalk art on the driveway and then take photos of your kids posing and lying within the artwork, such as shots of them climbing a ladder, sitting on a tree branch or holding balloons. You can also draw squares to play hopscotch. Check out Pinterest for some great examples.

2. Take the kids through an indoor car wash (where you can practice social distancing because you don’t have to get out of the car) and pretend you’re in a hurricane.

3. Start a simple vegetable patch in the garden or create a window box if you live in a unit. Strawberries and herbs are good plants to start with as they are fairly easy to maintain.

4. Throw sheets over the clothesline or outdoor furniture to make it look like a teepee cubby house. Challenge the kids to figure out a way to make a tunnel from the cubby house to the back door.

5. Turn your backyard into a beach using a sandpit and umbrella, and have an outdoor picnic and sandcastle building competition. You can buy both sand and plastic shells from Bunnings for less than $50.

6. Put the kids in raincoats and gumboots and send them outside with umbrellas to jump in the sprinkler. They’ll have all the fun of being wet and messy, but without getting too cold.

7. Make your own bubble mixture using things you can find easily at home. Bring out a fan to help the bubbles blow around even more.


8. Play tennis or volleyball with balloons instead of balls.

9. Collect items you can find in the yard, or while on a walk, such as leaves, bark and feathers, and make a nature-themed collage. All you need is some craft glue and paper.

10. Play Twister on the lawn, drawing the circles with green, blue, red and yellow spray paint instead of using the mat.

11. Use spray bottles and water pistols to tie dye white shirts or socks, that have been hung up with pegs on the clothesline.

12. Set up camping equipment in your backyard and have a family slumber party. The kids could have a competition to see who can last the longest before going inside (apart from going to the bathroom).

INDOORS

13. Watch livestreams from Melbourne Zoo and Taronga Zoo Sydney, and see the animals play.

14. Make a skyscraper out of shoeboxes, using one box for each level, and decorating them all differently with dollhouse furniture, stickers and fabric. Use as many boxes as you want, and you can even add cardboard to create more than one room on each floor.

15. Create a gallery wall in the house with family photos and homemade artwork that can be updated on a regular basis.

16. Let the kids try face painting themselves and each other, using kits that can be found at most department stores, which include the paint and books with instructions on how to create different looks.


17. Make playdough from scratch. You can follow the traditional recipes or you can try new ones such as fairy play dough, snow play dough or edible play dough.

18. Go on virtual rides at Disney World via their YouTube channel or check out the view from the top of the Eiffel Tower via Google Arts and Culture - there are lot of different places you can visit without leaving home.

19. Have a crazy hair day. Use coloured hair spray or hair chalk, and try braiding, crimping and curling. Make sure you have detangler spray on hand!

20. Go fishing for toys (using magnetic attachments) out of the bathtub. You can use a blindfold for extra fun.

21. Have a board game night! Try to avoid games that always cause fights (Monopoly and Pictionary) and instead play 80s and 90s classics such as Cluedo, Operation, Mousetrap and Guess Who. You could even try to make your own version of Guess Who by using photos of family members and friends, or celebrities.

22. Let the kids have a creative day in the kitchen. Rather than just following one recipe, they can be amused for a few hours by experimenting with different ways to play with certain ingredients, such as making ice-cream sundaes topped with lollies and sprinkles, snow cones in all flavours, milkshakes in every colour, or a multi layered rainbow cake.

23. Paint a mural on the front window using watercolour paint, for people to look at as they walk past. You can do it on the inside or outside of the glass, but if you do it outside, you can hose down the window to help clean it.

24. Check out the free online tutorials that are available to help kids burn energy. There are lots to choose from, but Emma Wiggle’s Bowtiful Ballet Studio videos, The Little Gym's fun gymnastics exercises on their YouTube channel and Cosmic Kids Yoga lessons, are our favourites.


25. Get the kids to tune in to podcasts or audiobooks when you need some downtime. There are certain books on Audible at the moment that are free, and the Storytime app is great for younger children.

26. Create a photo album for a fantasy holiday by using apps such as the Magic Eraser Background Editor to create photos where the family seem like they’re standing in front of landmarks. You’re bound to get some giggles doing this, especially if you take some photos to use especially for this project, with different poses and facial expressions to use for different locations.

27. Put together care packages of snacks, handwritten notes and photos, to mail to friends and family to brighten their day.

28. Have a movie marathon over several days. You could watch all the Star Wars movies or Marvel movies in order, or the Hunger Games, Indiana Jones, Twilight, High School Musical or Harry Potter series. The point is to watch everything in a row.

29. Turn shower time into a disco, by turning off the overhead lights and hanging Christmas lights on flash mode in the bathroom, and pumping some music. Or just throw some glow sticks into the bath for toddlers!

30. Make a video scrapbook of everything the family has done in lockdown on iMovie.

Hang in there mums and dads! Hopefully it won't be too long now until life is normal again.

#Parenting Tips
#Family Entertainment
#Useful Lists

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