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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[RidingOn]

No painting or cutting up.

[RidingOn]

Obviously no screens (goes without saying).

[SoupDragon]

That rather depends on how old they are :)

[RidingOn]

Yes. I was just having a moan. What was I doing posting on MN at half past mindnight ...

The children (7 and 9) have found their own entertainment to a large extent. Now they have finished reading all their books for the second time, made all the dens they will ever need to make, bounced for the umpteenth time on the trampoline, their chief amusement appears to be annoying each other and their father.

But there are some very good ideas on here, and we will have time to do some of them! Thanks for the suggestions.

[RidingOn]

midnight - although I quite like mindnight.

[AuntLucy]

@RidingOn same here - i read the list on the first post and thought, 'great, 30 things that take twice as long to setup/cleardown as the amount of time actually entertaining a child, and require a fully engaged adult for the whole activity. My two have no interest AT ALL in reading, and only seem to like the kind of crafts that come in a £19.99 pre-made pack from Hobbycraft and take 6 minutes to make something very ugly, that then has to take pride of place on a mantlepiece whilst they go back to arguing about screentime/avoiding clearing up their craft mess. I think I am the wrong sort of parent/ have the wrong sort of children for lockdown. And school has said not to hold my breath on either year group getting so much as a day in a classroom til Sept 😟

[RidingOn]

@AuntLucy, I know

[SomeHalfHumanCreatureThing]

Can't believe nobody's said mud kitchen (ks1, obv...but even my secondary age kid can't keep away)

[ThinkAboutItTomorrow]

Dear Betty Crocker folks

Your brownie bake kits have saved lockdown in my house. We can't buy flour anywhere but can still do team baking. My 8 year old can do almost all of it on her own and loves this.

Thank you!

[WWYD2016]

Any suggestions on how to keep primary school aged children entertained without adult supervision? Both parents working full time from kitchen table.

[SoupDragon]

How old are they?

[AnnaNimmity]

Draw with Rob is good @WWYD2016 my 2 did several drawings today while I worked

[CheshireDing]

I have 2 primary and 1 nursery age and we have done Draw with Rob a few times, they all like it.

I also bought the school aged ones a Kobo each - it’s Canadian but we are in the UK (bought from Curry’s on line), it’s just for reading. It can’t do anything else and it’s cheaper than Kindles etc. I got them a funky case each off eBay and just keep putting free books on it. You can put paid for ones on too bit so far they are both reading lots of it (had read everything in the house) and I wanted something with no apps, games etc as they are only 8 and 6.

We also do outdoor sketching, Cosmic Kids, Art History for Kids (a website where each week there is a new artist to learn info on), a print off recipes and totally leave them to work all measurements and get everything ready - they made Key Lime Pie last week, Uno is a good card game even the just turned 4 year old can play, they are trying Netflix Party tomorrow with a friend too.

[CheshireDing]

Just thought of a couple of other things mi e have done - My 6 year old has done cross stitch- for some basic kits off amazon and now learnt to do basic knitting too (watched you tube to find out how to initially do it), he’s also done Pom poms with cardboard circles and on a fork and a fab colour by numbers called Colourtronic - kept they all entertained for hours !

[Polcol]

Hi, my husband has potentially got a new job coming up in Gloucester which would mean us moving that way next year. I want to start to get a feel for various areas. We currently live in a big (ish) village in north somerset with 2 kids in primary school and one baby and I would be keen to find somewhere with a similar village feel but with close access to a town (Cheltenham or Gloucester) for leisure centre/sports clubs etc. Also with good primary and secondary schools. I don’t know the area at all well so would appreciate any advice? Thanks 🥰

[TwoZeroTwoZero]

@Polcol you're much better off starting your own thread rather than resurrecting a months old one that's got nothing to do with your question. You'll get a much better response.

[Overseasmom100]

Learn a new language. here

[Dontiknowit]

@WWYD2016 I found these good

jonoxtobywrites.wordpress.com/2020/05/21/32-ways-to-keep-your-kids-busy-without-you-and-without-screens/

[RidingOn]

Just marking my place. Will def investigate some of these, thanks.

[WWYD2016]

11

[LWilliams20]

This may be useful? I am working on an initiative offering free videos and resources that cover the National Curriculum, creating opportunities for investigation, discussion, wider thinking & having fun learning at home. Opportunities that are aimed to fit in easily with your daily lives. Everything is free, downloadable and designed by specialists within education. We have animated our programmes to appeal to kids and have crew members helping us so we can mix in some live action parts. Broadcasting across social media, but you can find our central hub at: //www.homelearningfun.co.uk

There's a short video explaining more on Facebook & Twitter.

Let me know if you want to know more.

[gabrieldunn1203]

My name is Gabriel and I am 16.

I am keen to start teaching online breakdance classes for children because I think it is a good activity in the current circumstances. If this is something your child might be interested in, I will be doing an hour-long class as a free trial at 2 pm on Saturday 11th July on zoom. I am aiming this at children aged between 4 and 10. I plan to start running a regular weekly class after the free trial.

I have been dancing for 4.5 years being taught by a crew member of Soul Mavericks, one of the best crews in the UK. In this time, I have competed in many competitions, winning "Most Promising Dancer" twice at "Step Into Battle", a competition organised by Step Into Dance. As well as this, I have performed with Step Into Dance many times, including at Bloomsbury Theatre, Sadlers Wells, and The Royal Festival Hall.

In the classes, I am aiming to teach the fundamentals of breakdancing. This will be a challenge as there is a lot to take in but will also be safe. (No one will be spinning on their hands or doing backflips!)

Please let me know if your child would like to take part on 11th July by emailing me: [email protected] and please share this with anyone who you might think to be interested.

Thanks,

Gabriel

[aBCau]

Hi Guys, If any of you have kids 6-11 years. I am doing a fun learning project as part of my dissertation at uni of edinburgh. It just includes a 5 minute audio and picture describing. Email [email protected]!

[CescaEvans1997]

If anyone is still on the lookout for ideas to keep kids entertained across the summer holidays....

Nottingham Music Hub have created a musical, pirate Quest that runs every week across the summer.

They are working with CBBC presenter Andy Day and it looks really interesting - www.nottinghammusichub.org.uk/challenges/music-quest-2020