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First things first. This list of Kids Lockdown Activity Ideas that I’ve lovingly put together does not include knitting your own salt dough, or whatever the latest home crafts craze is ;) Among my circle of friends who happen to be parents, I don’t think I know anyone who ordinarily has the time to supervise days of endless crafts and ‘messy play’ with their little ones.. (we love to be creative in our house, but I fully admit I just can’t be faffed with all those organised craft projects you see on Pinterest..!).
A decent proportion of those of us holed up indoors with our loved ones are struggling to balance working from home and entertaining our kids. So I’ve come up with a list of Kids Lockdown Activity Ideas that for the most part require minimum supervision (or can be supervised from the next room!). There’s also very little organisation, clearing up or extra purchases involved.
Do let me know anything I’ve missed out, by commenting below. I’d love to hear your ideas and will add my favourites to this blog post as we go :)
I’ve arranged my list of activities according to age, but there’s some overlap of course! Enjoy. x
P.S. – looking for all the info on my family photography, newborn photography, or to book a session voucher at 60% off to use at any time during the next 12 months (when this madness is over of course..!)? You’re going to want a photographer to capture the magic of those family reunions.. it honestly makes me cry just thinking about it. 😥💕I’d love you to get in touch.
Babies and Toddlers – Age 0-3 | Kids Lockdown Activity Ideas
In earlier lockdowns I spent my days babysitting my little niece Mabel, whilst her parents worked from home (we’re all bubbled together!). The first three baby tips here are things that worked for us:
Baby music classes on YouTube – we like Rattle and Roll. Mabel enjoys playing along on her drum (saucepan and wooden spoon!). The class isn’t too long or too hard on the ears (Mabel’s ‘drumming’ aside..). There’s even a bit of 80s Madonna thrown in. ✌️
‘Paint’ the patio or fence with a paintbrush and water – a fab one on a sunnier day, for toddlers who like to ‘help’ in the garden.
Car wash – my two year old nephew Ollie loves this one. A washing up bowl, sponge, water, a towel and alllll the toy cars.. This one would be good to do either in the bath or outside to minimise mess!
Blanket play – another favourite of 9 month old Mabel. We get out a big blanket and have a go at crawling underneath it, peekaboo, hide and seek, flapping it up and down..
Cosmic Yoga – themed yoga sessions for kids that everyone is talking about! There’s tons to choose from here, from animal themed classes for toddlers to Minecraft themes for older kids.
Stories with teddies – another favourite of my nephew Ollie. Picnics with teddies in the garden are of course also a winner when the weather is nice.
Pre-School Kids – Age 3-5 | Kids Lockdown Activity Ideas
Walking Bingo – liven up your daily stroll by ticking off a list of things to spot on the way. Like eye spy but backwards. Handy for getting little ones to walk a little bit further than they might otherwise!
Weighing things – I love this one. Get the kitchen scales and some packaged food items out and ask your child to weigh everything. This takes ages and they feel like they’re helping with something super important ❤️. Older children can make a written list of what everything weighs. Handy ;)
Make a shop – labels, household items and packaged food, toy cash register. A bit of work involved in setting this up, but should provide plenty of quiet-ish play time!
Shape hunt – a scavenger hunt for the home. Ask your child to find items around the home in the shape of a triangle, circle, square etc. and bring them to you. A good one if you want to sit still for a while.. 😂
Munch and Scrunch on instagram has some fun activities and learning ideas. I love her bubble sock experiment! (not too faffy, this one..).
Age 5-9 | Kids Lockdown Activity Ideas
Stop Motion Fun – Stop Motion Studio App has been recommended to me by several friends, and is one idea I actually can’t wait to try out with my daughter Olivia, 9 (AKA ‘The Rascal’). Here’s an amazing effort from Olivia’s friend Elissa.. so cool!
Online drawing classes – Simon Hetherington is teaching fun live classes twice a week from his Facebook page (The Rascal and I particularly enjoyed the bants between him and his wife, who mostly sniggers at him off-camera..).
Award-winning illustrator Sav Akyuz is running free drawing workshops for kids. Message him on instagram to book a free online workshop for your child and their classmates! He also has some fun free colouring and activity sheets on his website.
Alphabet Hunt – an idea from my photographer friend, Andy Hudson. He says, “I’ve been taking my 5 year old on an alphabet hunt, it’s a great excuse to get outside for an hour and go on a big walk even if it’s just around the streets. Still got 10 letters to go – no idea how I’ll find a Q in our village haha!” Love his photo collage of the letters they’ve found so far..
Paper aeroplanes – make and race them. I’m actually quite excited to delve into this website more.. who knew there were so many ways of folding these! 😱https://www.foldnfly.com/
Garden fun – Try eBay for some cheap garden toys whilst the weather is warm e.g. hula hoop, swingball, football, skipping rope.. We’ve got quite into hula hooping and there are some great tutorials on YouTube.
Age 9+ | Kids Lockdown Activity Ideas
Baking – BakedIn cake kits are amazing. We love the sticky toffee and chocolate brownie flavours! These kits come with (almost) everything you need, including the right size foil tin to bake your cake in and a skewer to test when it’s done. You’ll just need to add fresh dairy ingredients depending on which cake you go for. They do mug cakes too, which are ideal for younger kids or when you want a cake NOW, and there’s a Baking Club subscription service. Yum.
Braiding classes and tutorials – https://www.facebook.com/clairesbraidbar/ The Rascal isn’t that into hair styles at the moment (disappointingly – I was hoping she might create something fabulous on me), but I imagine some girls and boys would be well into this.. 🙌
Tik Tok – I’ve finally agreed to download this *and* to let The Rascal teach me a dance routine.. watch this space 😬(We have a private account and she won’t be using this one unsupervised!).
Writing – Encourage your kids to write letters or cards to their friends. It’s cute, old-fashioned and such a novelty getting a little surprise through the post! My lovely friend Lucy Alice Designs has some gorgeous cards and will also hand write and send your cards for you if you can’t get out to buy stamps or to a post box.
FaceTime, Zoom, or Houseparty with friends and/or family members. Tabletopia allows you to play board games online with friends.
Get active – Try Born to Move by Les Mills. When it comes to learning a whole lot of cool moves from dance, martial arts and yoga these free classes are awesome. Each 20 or 40-minute class is jam-packed with cool music, foundation fitness moves and fun games.
Photography – trust your kid with your phone?! Try my top tips for using an iPhone camera and encourage your child to have a go too!
Which Kids Lockdown Activity Ideas have I missed? Let me know in the Comments below and I’ll add my favourites to the post :)
Helen xx
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