Sometimes you want to go enjoy the outdoors, but you can only stay inside and play. Here are some creative ways to bring the outdoor fun indoors! Unplug from all the electronics that keep them hypnotized by giving them plenty of fun things to do indoors. You can take part, too, in order to make it a real family affair. All of these activities will take some amount of parental supervision. You can decide based on the age of the kids and the activity.
Practice Indoor Fishing
This is a wonderful indoor activity for a toddler. Just about every kid loves to fish. You can get them practicing for the next outdoor adventure by having them learn to fish at home. Use a dowel as a fishing rod, paper clips as hooks and string for the fishing line. Make some little fish from cardboard and crayons or colored pencils. You can make a worm from yarn or other material or use gummy worms from the store. Attach the worm to the “hook.” Have them toss the line over the back of a chair, or something you can hide behind. You can then take the worm away and attach the fish you have made. Let them know they have a bite by tugging on the line. It’s a fun game and kids will love it.
Build an Inside Fort
It takes almost no supplies to build an inside fort. Collect together pillows, sheets, towels (especially oversized towels), blankets, and of course, chairs to prop them up. You can also drape them over tables pushed together or between shelves. The foundation can be made of throw pillows or blankets. There are so many options. Let the kids get creative and make a fort so they can bury themselves away, read a book or do puzzles.
Recommended for You: Fun Family Games
Make an Art Collage
Kids will have a wonderful time creating their own artworks as a collage. It just takes a number of magazines and glue and poster board or cardboard. They can cut out shapes from the different colored pages, or they can cut out animals, people or scenes. Their imagination can run wild. They can do abstract pieces or create their own scenes of favorite animals or foods. This is just a “no rules” and a “have-fun” activity.
Have an Indoor Scavenger Hunt
Sometimes at home, electronics becomes the rage and kids sit around too much. They end up not really as active as they should be. An indoor scavenger hunt can change all that. You can make up a checklist for them and name things that they can go hunt for. You can either pick the objects on the list and hide them, or you can just have the objects be regular items they can find around the house. An example of things around the house that could go on the list – for the younger kids:
-
A picture
-
A doll
-
Something soft
-
A pillow
-
A game
-
A hanger
-
Something blue
The first one to check off a complete list gets a prize. Actually, give each kid a prize! That’s the only way to go!
Make a Show with Sock Puppets
Having a sock puppet show can be a lot of fun, as well as hilarious. Kids love making up stories to act out with their puppets. Making the puppets is more than half the fun. They are easy to make. You can make them unique, like making one an alien or making one an animal. Here is how you make the puppets from socks:
-
Get a sock that is clean with no holes. The sock should be long enough so it covers your arm.
-
Put the sock over your hand, putting your fingers into the toe. Put your thumb into the heel, or just tuck the sock so it fits between your fingers and your thumb. When you open and close your hand, it should already look like a puppet.
-
Take a marker and make two dots where the eyes should go. You can make a mark for the nose too, if you want.
-
Lay the sock out on the table and have some glue and buttons handy. Now you glue the buttons where you marked the eyes. You can also use pompoms or those little googly eyes.
-
Cut out a little piece of felt or material for the nose and glue it on. You can also glue on a button or pompom. You could also draw a nose if you prefer.
-
Now get creative and glue on more things to give your sock puppet its own personality. You can glue on yarn or thread for hair, paper cutouts for ears or whatever you can come up with to make your puppet special.
Make Ice Cream for a Fun Party
You can make ice cream in a bag, which saves money, complicated ingredients and makes for tons of fun. You will have some ice cream which only takes about 15 minutes or less to make. It is simple and totally delicious!
The ingredients:
6 Tablespoons rock salt or ice cream salt
1/2 cup whole milk or half-and-half
1 1/2 Tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 small zip style freezer bag (a quart or a pint)
1 large zip style freezer bag (gallon size
Ice
Your choice of toppings (sprinkles, chocolate syrup, fruit)
Directions:
-
Take the milk, sugar and vanilla and place them in the smaller freezer bag
-
Seal it well
-
Put the ice and then the rock salt into the gallon size freezer bag
-
Place the smaller freezer bag inside the larger bag
-
Seal it well
-
Holding the bag with a towel or oven mitts, shake well for about 15 minutes
This is the chance to add fun to the party by dancing as you shake! Once done, you remove the inner bag, scoop the ice cream into bowls and add your toppings.
Check with your Local Government Organization
Many policies have been established to counter and control the coronavirus outbreak. State and local officials have been taking decisive action to stop the spread. The policies vary by state, sometimes to a great degree. When you book a reservation, make sure to review the park and state’s latest rules and regulations prior to your visit.
For COVID-19 updates, please visit our Impacted Park List and Reservation Guide for the latest information.