Ideas for keeping primary school-age children entertained at home

[soniamumsnet]

If you have primary-aged kids at home demanding lots of your time, look no further.

We've shared some of our best ideas here, along with a few of yours - from craft activities, made-up family games, useful online resources to baking ideas (and how to make it even easier with cake mixes).

So go grab the glitter and the laptop (but not together). You got this.

1. Get baking

Why not make some wonderful creations in the kitchen together? And, what's more, you can teach them basic food science while you do it.

Buy Betty Crocker products here

2. Make live art

Take inspiration from The National Gallery itself and help bring art to life - by recreating famous artworks using household items.

See creative live art examples here

3. Garden bug safari

Collect bugs in pots, identify them indoors, observe their bug-like behaviours and then release them back into the wild.

4. Make pet rocks

Collect pebbles from the garden (if you have one) and then go mad with the glue, glitter and felt tips. Googly eyes not necessary but to be encouraged.

Buy googly eyes here

5. Try a balloon game

Got any balloons left over from party bags? Then you have a noisy but busy hour ahead of you. There are plenty of balloon game ideas online.

See balloon game ideas

6. Make theme park

"Spend a few days making your own 'theme park' in the garden using materials available in your home." - Antiopa12

7. Make a beach

Can’t get to the beach? Try to recreate the experience at home with the paddling pool, beach mats, ice creams.

Buy a paddling pool here

Related: The best garden games for kids

8. Host a dog show

"We had a lot of fun creating an agility course for the very bemused dog, Olympics-style. You can have a family competition with different events and an opening ceremony and awards.” - Antiopa12

9. Watch storytime online

Watch Stay at Home Storytime with children’s author and all-round kids’ book genius Oliver Jeffers, who wrote Stuck!, The Day The Crayons Quit, The Incredible Book Eating Boy and many more.

10. Virtual musical statues

For any primary-age kids sad to be missing out on birthday parties over the coming months, Nutty’s Children’s Parties (based in London) is taking the party to Facebook with Boredom Busting videos every day. Let the virtual musical statues commence!

11. Superhero activities

Try out the Superhero activities online at Super Hero Parties. Spidey is even doing personalised videos and video chats for isolation special occasions.

12. Do some yoga

Bring some zen to their day Dahl-style with this Cosmic Kids Yoga take on . Help them paint the ceiling with their feet from a downward dog position and jump like the monkeys who finally fix The Twits. Worm spaghetti at the ready.

13. Make secret codes

Bring out the Alan Turing in them and try Lego Secret Codes at Frugal Fun for Boys (we think it looks like frugal fun for girls, too, but we’re not splitting hairs now). Create a code using different Lego bricks for each letter of the alphabet and then write secret messages to each other.

14. Draw pigeons

Fans of Mo Willems (his Don’t Let The Pigeon Drive the Bus’ is a Mumsnet favourite) will love Lunch Doodles on YouTube. Join in as Mo teaches you how to draw his signature pidgies and more.

15. Customise a t-shirt

Got fabric pens? Missing being able to buy them cool T-shirts for summer? Then you got 99 problems but a lack of new T-shirts ain’t one. Pick out some plain-ish garments (tote bags and T-shirts work well) and let them upcycle them with fabric pens. Don’t worry - no one’s going to see them, remember? You can sneak them out in bin liners once this is all over. They’ll be too distracted by soft play and McDonald’s being open again to notice.

Buy fabric pens here

16. Make a map

Pretend ones, dragony ones, ones of the moon, ones of places you’ve been on holiday, one of your local area with all their friends’ houses marked on, one of the inside of your house. Kids love maps. We love maps, too. Try it.

17. Have a dance party and learn some maths

Get them bopping along to some seriously ear-wormy tunes (sorry) on Supermovers. The good news is they’ll be learning their times tables, grammar rules and much more at the same time. The bad news? You’ll be humming ‘Capital Letters and Full Stops’ by The Hip Hop Granny until isolation is over.

18. Go stargazing

You don’t even need a garden (though hot chocolate and hats and gloves do make it more fun). Dig out your telescope and download SkyMap or another constellations app on your phone to help you tell your Orions from your Ophichuses. Or visit the CBeebies Stargazing page.

View telescopes here

19. Host a debate

Teach them the art of debating with battles such as Monkeys vs Sharks and Chocolate vs Chips on the podcast Smash Boom Best.

20. Go on a virtual art tour

The Musee D’Orsay, as well as lots of other galleries, has a virtual tour with plenty of Van Goghs and Monets for kids this age to spot.

21. Try some engineering activities
The Leaders Awards are there to encourage a love of engineering in the young. They’re going to have lots of online activities and competitions running over the coming months.

22. Do Harry Potter-themed yoga

Cosmic Yoga for Kids has a special for Hogwarts fans. Lumos!

23. Write some fan fiction

“Make up some fan fiction eg when captain underpants visited our school.” - EllieQuinn

24. Start a nerf gun war

In the garden, ideally.

25. See a West End Show

You can now watch a streamed version of the 2017 West End production of The Wind in the Willows, starring Rufus Hound, for £4.99. POOP POOP to that, we say!

26. Learn some art history

Do they know their Monet from their Manet? More importantly, do they like to get drippy, splashy, smudgy and swirly while enjoying a bit of art history? Sign them up here.

27. Listen to the radio

Gather round the Wireless and tune into the BBC’s School Radio for music, drama and more.

28. Try some mindfulness exercises

Music and mindfulness for slightly older kids at Go Noodle.

29. Brush up their classical music education with David Walliams

The Marvellous Musical Podcast, courtesy of Classic FM is excellent. Very interesting and very silly.

30. Host the trampoline championships

Just don’t break any wrists.

What are your suggestions for keeping primary school kids entertained? Let us know by posting on the thread.

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Fab ideas, thank you!

We’ve got sucked into the world of Instagram! Loads of accounts to follow for making stuff with the kids and doing experiments. Are favourite so far are

hhtp://Instagram.com/funkyjunkmodels.com

hhtp://Instagram.com/thedadlab

hhtp://Instagram.com/steamkidschallenge

Also there a few good YouTube channels for crafting and experiments. I really like the
Arving Gupta channel but it’s more for me to watch and then I make the stuff with the kids as oppposed to for the kids to watch, for the kids they love slickslimesam which they’d happily watch for hours but strangely they never want to actually make any of the crafts on it!

Try again on those links!

hhtp:Instagram.com/funkyjunkmodels

hhtp:Instagram.com/thedadlab

hhtp:Instagram.com/steamkidschallenge

Thanks for the escape room idea @eggsontoast2 I've ordered and will try it out today

If anyone is struggling to get their kids outdoors or if they are fed up with going on the same old daily walk...we've rediscovered Pokémon Go! I've been taking dc3 (8) out every day for about a week and he is loving it. Yesterday the 16 & 13 yr olds decided to come too they had the app from years ago so to see them get excited to come out was really sweet!

It is a bit of a faff if you're downloading the app for the first time, especially for more than one child, you have to make an adult account on Pokémon website then make individual child accounts and give them permission to use Pokémon go but it is completely worth it.

Thank you so much for these great ideas. It's starting to get harder with the kids.?

Mine's been Ludiz. A local start-up that's lovely. Found it out of the blue as wanted to support out our local area.
Don't know about you guys but it's been stressful and overwhelming seeing mass toy ads after using Google to hunt for games ideas to keep the kids entertained... AND be fun for the whole family. Until we found Ludiz. Both my kids (3 and 6) loved receiving their surprise box so thought I would share the love.
They're a toy brand for ages 3-7 doing a special three weeks covid-19 offer pack where each week they'll drop off a game straight to your door (all within safe distance of course ). The surprise element is awesome and my kids were so excited and patient (for once) for 3 weeks at least when the toy box arrived.

Oh and if anyone is keen, I found a cheeky 10% link www.ludiz.com/discount/_timetoplay.

@heymammy haha we tried that the other day with the kids until they ran into someone without looking up whilst hunting for pokemons in the park

Hi guys, here's a great exercise to do with your kids in times of homeschooling. We're asking everyone to make their own tiny play at home. To write it, act it, record it and post it online. It's just for fun, to bring some theatre to people's homes. Please share widely as we'd love to reach all parts of society! :)

It's part of the #GetCreativeFestival #Getcreativeathome Get Creative supported by The Arts Council England, BBC and others

Here's the Facebook page: www.facebook.com/mytinyplay/ It's a project by Jermyn Street Theatre and The Watermill Theatre xx

Google Earth has kept my 7 year old entertained for ages. 'I'm driving along a road in Australia!' 'Look at this cute dog in Germany!' Etc etc

Well I'v got a little more on my plate. Taking care of Samuel (5 yr old) and David (3 yrs old) + worrying about young emma (hope so) growing in my tummy is taking a toll on me.

I found something on the internet that is helping me. There activities might help keep your kids entertained - Home Activities To Help Bored Kids During Quarantine

Well I'v got a little more on my plate. Taking care of Samuel (5 yr old) and David (3 yrs old) + worrying about young emma (hope so) growing in my tummy is taking a toll on me.

I found something on the internet that is helping me. Maybe this might help you with the behavioral issues. - Home activities for bored kids under Quarantine

Hi all, loving all these responses. I had a bit of a background in tech and after struggling so much to find resources to keep my 2 kids busy, I decided to see if I might come up with some solutions! Any chance anyone might be able to fill out this survey. Would love some feedback as hoping to create something that could be useful! Apologies if this is not the right forum!
x
forms.gle/wy8Ja4PQxqU9uTis6

I stumbled across two free scavenger hunt printable whiles looking for something else. Sadly my kids are too old now but it looks fun and easy to do. Easily customised to your area and how old the children are too.

liagriffith.com/nature-scavenger-hunt/
liagriffith.com/indoor-scavenger-hunt/

There were a couple of other things on the "freebies" page.

We've been doing this heptathlon for PE. It's fun and easy to do in the garden:

It has got my son off his console so it must be good!

My friend has been making lockdown videos to explain to her kids using popular toys like Paw Patrol and Peppa Pig.

A good game for a wet afternoon for four bored children (or more if you have enough wool)
Have an unused room for this game.
Each child has a ball of wool - a different colour for each child.
They all go into the room and on the word GO each child starts winding its ball of wool round chair legs, knobs on furniture, under mats, over, under and round anything until all the wool on the ball has been used up. The first to do this is the winner of this part of the game. Carry on until all the children have used up their wool. The others can have fun just watching. The smaller the room the more fun it is to play this game.
It is a good idea to have break at this point (for a snack/ toilet trips etc). The children then change to a different colour and the next part of the game is going all round everywhere winding the wool back onto a ball. The first to do it is the winner again. Prizes given, obviously.

H'mm. Some truly inventive ideas here, and lots of fun for all concerned. But what my family need are ideas for things the children can do by themselves, safely, without supervision, for hours on end, while the adults are working.

Not including baking or making a mess.

Anything? Anyone?

And we've thought of reading.