100+ Indoor Activities for Kids (with Free Printable)- The Best Ideas for Kids (2024)

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If you’re looking for easy and low cost indoor activities for kids – we have a list of over 100 ideas for you! From simple activities to fun crafts that can keep kids busy during school breaks or on a rainy day. You can even cross off each one as you do them with our free printable!

RELATED: Summer Bucket List for Kids

100+ Indoor Activities for Kids (with Free Printable)- The Best Ideas for Kids (2)

To make it easy, we have created a printable list of the 100+ Activities for Kids so you can easily print off the list.

We also have all of the ideas in this post if you need them. You can copy and paste to create your own printable, or use the one that we have already created for you! We only ask that if you are reprinting in a community newsletter or school newsletter that you credit our website as the source.

Indoor Activities for Kids – Over 100 Ideas!

We’ve organized the ideas by crafts, activities, games and educational. Hopefully this list will also provide inspiration for you to think of other ideas too!

And if you love making crafts with things you have around your home, check out our Recycled Crafts for Kids book. It has 60 crafts for kids with things you can use from around your home and a few other simple supplies.

SENSORY PLAY

  • Make Homemade Playdough. Also try our Cloud Dough!
  • Make Homemade Slime.You may want to try some of our other fun slime recipes too like Fluffy Slime, Butter Slime, Rainbow Slime or Clear Slime
  • Make Play Mud
  • Make Rainbow Rice
  • Make Fake Snow
  • Make a Sensory Bin

CRAFTS

  • Make Paper Airplanes
  • Salt Painting: We have a snowflake or firework template
  • Make Suncatchers
    • Make handprint, butterfly or leaf suncatchers
  • Make Salt Dough
  • Make Sponge Stamps
  • Make a Cereal Box Aquarium
  • Make Scratch Art
  • Make Your Own Bookmarks: We have templates to make Minion, Olaf, Trolls or Toy Story Bookmarks
  • Paint Pet Rocks
  • Make Recycled Crayons
  • Make Paper Boats
  • Finger Paint
  • Make Friendship Bracelets
  • Make a Bird Feeder
  • Make Paper Bag Puppets. Try this turkey paper bag.
  • Make Handprint Art
  • Make a Scrapbook
  • Decorate T-Shirts
  • Make a Thankful Jar. You can also use our turkey template to make a thankful turkey.
  • Make a Sensory Bag
  • Paint Leaves
  • Make a Time Capsule
  • Make Button Art
  • Paint with Watercolors. See our butterfly, dinosaur, leaf and heart watercolor projects.
  • Color in a Coloring Book. See our cut and color book.
  • Make Paper Crafts: Make paper butterflies, paper sailboat, or paper flowers
  • Build a Cardboard Castle
    • Our recycled crafts for kids book has a step-by-step tutorial to make your own cardboard castle. See the book here.
  • Make Tissue Box Monsters
  • Make a Toilet Paper Roll Butterfly. More toilet paper roll crafts: paper roll flower and butterfly, toilet paper roll flowers, toilet paper roll monsters
  • Stamp with Celery: Make celery flowers with the stumps of your celery.
  • Make Chalk Ice
  • Make Puffy Sidewalk Paint
  • Draw a Self Portrait
  • Use Rubber Stamps
  • Do Scrape Painting
  • Paint a Recycled Jar
  • Make Your Own Superhero Costume

ACTIVITIES

  • Build a Fort
  • Have a Pillow Fight
  • Write a Story
  • Make Ice Cream in a Bag
  • Make Homemade Gummy Bears
  • Make Fruit Roll-Ups
  • Have a Movie Day
  • Put on a Fashion Show
  • Bake Cupcakes or Muffins
  • Do Yoga
  • Build an Obstacle Course
  • Make Dinner Together
  • Play with Magnetic Tiles
  • Build Something With Lego: You can even make your own travel lego case!
  • Build a Stack of Cards
  • Put on a Puppet Show
  • Make a Treasure Hunt. This newspaper pirate hat is fun to make with it!
  • Make Your Own Indoor Bowling. Use paper towel rolls as your bowling pins and use a ball to bowl
  • Learn to Draw
  • Put on a Play
  • Make Indoor Hopscotch. Use masking tape to make your own hopscotch on tiles in your own
  • Do a Family Chore Together. See our free printable chore charts.
  • Have a Dance Party
  • Have a Tea Party
  • Play with Water In a Bin With Toys
  • Set up a Play Store. Grab a shopping basket and set up the merchandise. We like this play cash register too!
  • Make a Sock Toss Game. Use mismatched socks and fill them with beans or rice. Then try to see how many you can ‘score’ in a laundry basket.
  • Make Perler Bead Art
  • Write in a Journal
  • Use Dot Markers

GAMES

  • Play Would You Rather
  • Play I Spy. See all of our printable I spy games!
  • Play Simon Says
  • Play Board Games
  • Play Hide and Seek
  • Have an indoor scavenger hunt.
  • Play Bingo
  • Play Card Games
  • Do a Puzzle
  • Play Charades
  • Build Your Own Game
  • Play Freeze Dance
  • Play Hot Potato
  • Play Marbles
  • Play Keep the Balloon Up
  • Play Dominoes
  • Play Hangman
  • Play Tic-Tac-Toe

EDUCATIONAL

  • Read Books
  • Do a Science Project
  • Learn Origami
  • Learn About a New Animal
  • Learn a New Card Game
  • Learn to Sew
  • Learn to Knit
  • Do Brain Teasers
  • Learn a New Language
  • Learn About a Country

Over 100 ideas are included in this indoor activities for kids free printable.

Get the free printable here.

100+ Indoor Activities for Kids (with Free Printable)- The Best Ideas for Kids (3)

And for more ideas, see our bookFun and Easy Crafting with Recycled Materials. This book is bursting with recycled crafts that use things you can find around your home. There are chapters withegg cartons, cardboard, newspaper, popsicle sticks, jars and more!

For more outdoor summer activity ideas, see our Summer Bucket List for Kids.

More Activities for Kids

Sensory

The BEST Playdough Recipe

Slime

Fluffy Slime Recipe

Activities

Cloud Dough

Free Printables

Would You Rather Questions For Kids

Related Ideas:

Activities

Cloud Dough

Sensory

The BEST Playdough Recipe

Slime

How to Make Slime With Contact Solution

Christmas

50+ Christmas Crafts for Kids

100+ Indoor Activities for Kids (with Free Printable)- The Best Ideas for Kids (2024)

FAQs

Can you name some indoor activities? ›

Word or Number Games

Activities like word searches, crossword puzzles, and Sudoku are fun to do and easy to find. You can always play a game of hangman on the whiteboard, too! Try a counting game like One, Two, Buckle My Shoe for younger kids.

How can I keep my 11 year old busy at home? ›

35 Activities to Keep Kids Busy While You Work or Study
  1. Build a Fort. Create a fort using blankets, coffee tables, couches, boxes or whatever you've got in your home. ...
  2. Gather Donations. ...
  3. Start a Journal. ...
  4. Learn to Draw. ...
  5. Hear a Story from Space. ...
  6. Build the Ultimate Paper Airplane. ...
  7. Put on a Play. ...
  8. Collect Broken Crayons.
Mar 18, 2020

What is 10 indoor game? ›

Popular Indoor Games
ChessA strategic board game for two players.
PictionaryA drawing and guessing game.
TwisterA game involving balancing on colored circles.
Snakes and LaddersA dice game on a board with snakes and ladders.
CheckersA two-player strategy game on a checkered board.
5 more rows
Mar 18, 2024

What keeps kids busy for hours? ›

Play games with words

Scrabble and Boggle are family favorites that everyone can play together around the dining room table. Hangman and I Spy are great for learning new words to add to their vocabulary. If you want to teach your child a foreign language, Bingo is a great option.

What is the single most important activity a child can do? ›

Play is one of the most important activities a child engages in every day. It is their main form of learning about themselves and the world around them, and allows them to practice the skills they need to grow.

What is free play? ›

Free play is when children have full freedom to play in whatever way they want. “They can choose everything – they have the freedom to select their play materials, interest area and even the plot,” explains Zaman.

What age is the most fun with kids? ›

Almost 40 percent of the 2,000 moms and dads polled thought they had the best time when their child hit age 5 — in part because they “started to communicate properly” and had developed “a good sense of humor.” On the flip side, however, is the age range the parents polled rated the most difficult: between 10 and 12.

What is the five indoor game? ›

Five popular indoor games are chess, table tennis, Scrabble, charades, and Monopoly. These games are great for entertainment and can be played inside the house.

What is this indoor game? ›

Indoor games include chess, card games, games played with gamesmen and dice and carrom.

What is indoor play activities? ›

What is indoor play? Indoor play is not just sitting around staring at a screen. In fact, playing indoors may involve anything from video games to arts and crafts, as well as activities such as board games, puzzles and going to an indoor playground.

Why is my 12 year old always in her room? ›

Children spending too much time in their room is a problem in many families. It usually indicates that there is an issue with the child, parents, or household dynamics. Experts agree that kids who spend a lot of time alone in a room might be displaying symptoms of social anxiety or depression.

How can we make kids busy? ›

Give them a Task of the Day

Start their day off with a daily task, such as folding laundry, arranging sandwiches for lunch, making sure the living room pillows are tidy, or that all the beds in the house are made. Before they start their task, communicate why they are being asked to do it.

Why is my 11 year old always in her room? ›

She Needs A Lot of Privacy

They have new thoughts and feelings and sometimes need space to figure these out. Again, this is where establishing the home as a safe place can be helpful - so that she can feel comfortable sharing those thoughts and feelings with you, so you can process them safely together.

How do I keep my toddler busy without a TV? ›

Here are 20 old-school and fun activities to keep kids of all ages busy.
  1. Create a game box. ...
  2. Have them make their own cartoon. ...
  3. Let them help you. ...
  4. Give them an important task. ...
  5. Create an idea box. ...
  6. Offer creative toys. ...
  7. Design a treasure hunt. ...
  8. Encourage outdoor play.
Apr 16, 2019

How do I keep my ADHD child busy at home? ›

Avoid problems by keeping kids with ADHD busy!

At home, organize simple activities that fill up your child's time. These can be tasks like helping you cook, playing a board game with a sibling, or drawing a picture. Try not to over-rely on the television or computer/video games as time-fillers.

Why do kids spend so much time indoors? ›

Quick Read. These days, kids spend much more time inside, mostly thanks to technology. Spending time outdoors isn't just enjoyable — it's also necessary. Many researchers agree that kids who play outside are happier, better at paying attention and less anxious than kids who spend more time indoors.

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