Having fun with kids indoors
Kids screeching, running helter skelter, throwing toys and snacks all over the house, randomly alternating between laughter and fights... Such and many more scenes keep running before you during a long break, especially one as long as a summer vacation.. Keeping them happily occupied at home, rather than venturing into the hot outdoors, requires some planning and a sense of adventure..
Movies at home
Watching a movie at home can be a lovely and inexpensive experience. Once, we darkened our room, set up the movie on the laptop, popped a bag of butter popcorn into the microwave, filled glasses of cola and bowls of ice cream drizzling with chocolate sauce and voila, we had our own mini theatre.. We sat down on the floor of the air conditioned bedroom and had loads of fun..
Painting / finger painting / spray painting
Painting with kids is all the more fun.. The more messy, the more fun, no? :) Painting using fingers / hand prints / leg shapes, or using easy to find vegetables like ladyfingers, potatoes, etc. or spray painting using a toothbrush over a cut out shape like butterfly, and so on.. The list just goes on..
Paper crafts: making cards / calligraphy / origami
Paper crafts are also so much fun.. Making cards for all sorts of crazy occasions with whatever is available at home.. Creating stuff with calligraphy like variety of flowers, butterflies, teddy bears, cakes, animals, diyas, literally whatever takes your kids fantasy.. Calligraphy using special calligraphic pens or chisel markers are such a creative outlet.. Origami is such an enjoyable task too.. Paper birds, hats, frogs, boxes and lots more to create..
Splashing in the water / sand pool
Setting up a low cost pool in the bathroom or in the balcony or terrace is so much fun too.. Just fill it up and the kids can splash around with their duckies and boats for hours.. If you let them, that is.. Or fill it up with sand and let the kids make sand castles and play merrily for hours lost in their adventures..
Reading books
At home, what can beat the joy of reading? Story books, comics, fairy tales, adventures, mysteries, or exploring animals, birds, countries, space, or whatever takes their fancy and opens their minds...
Making masks
Making masks of animals like lion, elephant, giraffe, sheep, butterfly, or superheroes like spiderman, hulk, batman or cartoon characters like Dora, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and so many others can be made on an A4 size paper and after cutting the shape and eyes, the kids can put the masks and make stories out of nothing at all...
Baking cakes and cookies
Baking a cake or cutting the shapes of cookies is never so much fun, as when kids help out.. They love the mixing, the greasing of moulds, cookie cutting and tasting the cake / cookie batter..
Board games / fantasy games / photography
Playing board games like scrabble, monopoly, uno, .. Making tents out of cots and bedsheets and going camping in the living room.. And taking silly photos of all the special moments..
Cooking up stories or cooking up a storm or cooking in the kitchen, kids love them all.. There are sooooo many adventures we can have with kids right inside our homes, which will fill them with a sense of magic and they can open their wings of imagination and soar high..
image: chicagocityoflearning.org
Movies at home
Watching a movie at home can be a lovely and inexpensive experience. Once, we darkened our room, set up the movie on the laptop, popped a bag of butter popcorn into the microwave, filled glasses of cola and bowls of ice cream drizzling with chocolate sauce and voila, we had our own mini theatre.. We sat down on the floor of the air conditioned bedroom and had loads of fun..
Painting / finger painting / spray painting
Painting with kids is all the more fun.. The more messy, the more fun, no? :) Painting using fingers / hand prints / leg shapes, or using easy to find vegetables like ladyfingers, potatoes, etc. or spray painting using a toothbrush over a cut out shape like butterfly, and so on.. The list just goes on..
Paper crafts: making cards / calligraphy / origami
Paper crafts are also so much fun.. Making cards for all sorts of crazy occasions with whatever is available at home.. Creating stuff with calligraphy like variety of flowers, butterflies, teddy bears, cakes, animals, diyas, literally whatever takes your kids fantasy.. Calligraphy using special calligraphic pens or chisel markers are such a creative outlet.. Origami is such an enjoyable task too.. Paper birds, hats, frogs, boxes and lots more to create..
Splashing in the water / sand pool
Setting up a low cost pool in the bathroom or in the balcony or terrace is so much fun too.. Just fill it up and the kids can splash around with their duckies and boats for hours.. If you let them, that is.. Or fill it up with sand and let the kids make sand castles and play merrily for hours lost in their adventures..
Reading books
At home, what can beat the joy of reading? Story books, comics, fairy tales, adventures, mysteries, or exploring animals, birds, countries, space, or whatever takes their fancy and opens their minds...
Making masks
Making masks of animals like lion, elephant, giraffe, sheep, butterfly, or superheroes like spiderman, hulk, batman or cartoon characters like Dora, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and so many others can be made on an A4 size paper and after cutting the shape and eyes, the kids can put the masks and make stories out of nothing at all...
Baking cakes and cookies
Baking a cake or cutting the shapes of cookies is never so much fun, as when kids help out.. They love the mixing, the greasing of moulds, cookie cutting and tasting the cake / cookie batter..
Board games / fantasy games / photography
Playing board games like scrabble, monopoly, uno, .. Making tents out of cots and bedsheets and going camping in the living room.. And taking silly photos of all the special moments..
Cooking up stories or cooking up a storm or cooking in the kitchen, kids love them all.. There are sooooo many adventures we can have with kids right inside our homes, which will fill them with a sense of magic and they can open their wings of imagination and soar high..
image: chicagocityoflearning.org