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Silly ideas to amuse primary aged children

25 replies

Cherrypi · 26/01/2021 22:43

I'm looking for some daft things we can do in between home schooling/working. I thought maybe we could do a French day with French food, cycling and boules. Any other ideas for low cost, effort amusement? Thanks.

OP posts:
EduCated · 26/01/2021 22:46

Back to front day, start with bedtime stories, end with breakfast.

alliejay81 · 26/01/2021 22:53

Really depends on the age and interests of the kids.

Kids in charge day. Batman day (ours had a range of semi-educational activities). Indoor picnic. Mini olympics (although possible not great in winter). Remote control car races. Make your own library / post office / shop. Make your own superhero. Make pizza from scratch. Ice cream factory. Lego competitions. Origami. Make your own fuzzy felt.

formerbabe · 26/01/2021 22:55

We play table tennis on our kitchen table...you can buy a net which attaches to the table.

FlibbertyGiblets · 26/01/2021 22:58

@formerbabe

We play table tennis on our kitchen table...you can buy a net which attaches to the table.
We used hardback readers digest condensed books lined up instead of a net. I had forgotten about that, thanks for the memory prod FB!
TwoZeroTwoZero · 26/01/2021 23:00

Googly eyes all over the house. Get them to spot the silly faces.

thisislovelyme · 26/01/2021 23:00

Pack bags and all switch bedrooms for a 'holiday'.

formerbabe · 26/01/2021 23:01

@flibbertygiblets Grin. We were using tins lined up across the table to use as a net till dh ordered a proper one! It's quite good fun and gets them off screens for a bit!

RickOShay · 26/01/2021 23:02

Blow up lots of balloons. Play keepy uppy. Balloons always feel like fun.

eddiemairswife · 26/01/2021 23:04

Organise a treasure hunt around the house and garden. I used to do this with my grandchildren.

Solasum · 26/01/2021 23:06

Run a ‘marathon’ around your local area

formerbabe · 26/01/2021 23:07

My dd likes to play hairdresers and I give her a brush and some hair bands and clips and let her do my hair!

FlibbertyGiblets · 26/01/2021 23:07

Brilliant thread btw OP.
Mine are all grown up now, boo hoo!

Lotsachocolateplease · 26/01/2021 23:07

Educational but the sink or float game.
Fill the bath with water then gather objects from around the house, (flip flop, candle, spoon, plastic cup, etc)
Get them to guess if each object will sink or float.

Make an indoor tent.

Carpet picnic - get kids to make their own sandwiches. Bring teddy bears.

Puppet show

Make a large collage out of cut up magazines photos or old wrapping paper.

Cherrypi · 27/01/2021 07:47

Thank you. These are great. Mine are 6 and 8. They love the back to front day idea.

OP posts:
Radishesandcake · 27/01/2021 07:52

Put kidz bop on YouTube on the tv with the volume up a bit and everyone dance it out

apalledandshocked · 27/01/2021 09:09

Put lego/playmobile figures in a ziplock bag of water. But bag in freezer. Remove the next day and the figures are "trapped in the ice" and have to be freed by the children. Mine spent more than an hour chipping away happily.

angorarabbit · 27/01/2021 09:26

This works well with dinosaurs too. Small plastic dinosaurs frozen in balloons filled with water.....hours of fun!

OverTheRainbow88 · 27/01/2021 09:27

Freeze their small toys in ice and they have to break it to rescue them

apalledandshocked · 27/01/2021 12:03

Also "penny walks" take a penny with you on a walk. At every corner flip it, if its heads turn right, if tails turn left. That way "fate" decides which route your walk follows and who knows where you will end up... (in reality you will walk in a bigish circle, but that in itself is a huge advantage with small children). Mine like the random element a lot though.

OccultGnuAsWell · 27/01/2021 12:38

A short but good energy buster - a blanket, one reasonable sized feather and two teams. Can be one person on each side of the blanket but two or more per team can work as well.

And one person to referee.

Team members hold the edges of the blanket so it is taut. Referee shouts "go" and releases the feather mid way above the blanket. Teams have to blow the feather so it goes beyond the opposite blanket edge thus scoring a point. First to 10 wins (or whatever number you decide). If the feather drifts over the side of the blanket no one scores a goal and the ref restarts it.

As the two teams are blowing against each other and the feather swirls randomly the point doesn't always go to the stronger team. By the time you've finished everyone is out of breath and usually giggly because of the faces pulled during the huffing and puffing.

spaghettiWeston · 27/01/2021 16:55

Love the 'penny walk' idea and the ice-breaking. Trying (and failing!) to come up with games that mine have enjoyed, but bumping the thread in case anyone else has any more in the meantime Smile

FenEel · 27/01/2021 17:05

I remember an interminable winter when my kids caught every bug and virus going and we seemed to be housebound between December and March. We did do the country themed days - I made them passports which we stamped, put chairs together for an aeroplane, (they had not been on an aeroplane so liked the emergency exits etc spiel) to fly to the country, had food etc, flew home. We also did letter themed days - I think I really was at the end of my tether! - so on J day we had to eat J food (jam, jelly), do J activities (jumping, jacks), wear J clothes (jeans, jumpers) - I forget what else!

Pen and paper games - the one where you draw a head, fold it over so just neck is showing, pass on, draw a body etc. The one where you write something down that can be drawn, pass it on, that person draws it, folds over the writing, the next person writes what they think it is, folds over the drawing, the next person draws etc etc.

Telling a story a word at a time in turn. In my house this usually descends into the death of all the characters. "Once...upon....a...time.. there...was...a.....sausage....One...day....he...died." Hilarious.

letsgomaths · 27/01/2021 17:13

My aunt used to do "magic story time": everyone apart from the story teller is blindfolded, and as the story is told, the story teller passes round props for the listeners to feel, related to the story; e.g. money for pirate gold, a furry cushion to be an animal's fur, or a jar from the kitchen to be the elixir of life. When we got older, we enjoyed devising stories like this!

DNAwrangler · 27/01/2021 17:21

We made a giant marble run out of toilet roll inners and cardboard here.

We also built a den one say and watched a movie in it on the tablet.

KeyboardWorriers · 27/01/2021 17:33

We are letting each child take it it turns to pick the activities for a day at the weekend- so far we have had things like a treasure hunt, an escape room, a disco and a tea party

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