Ideas of "Chill Out" time after school that doesn't involve a screen

[HoneyFlowers]

Any ideas gratefully received! Thanks.

Reading
Lego
Food
Chatting about the day
Crafty stuff
Playing with friends

Audio book
Listening to music
Jigsaw
Colouring/ drawing

Playdough
Stickers
Kinetic sand
I set up toys ready on the table
Books

Depending on age …

Games
Reading
Jigsaws
Craft/ drawing
Train sets/ scalextric (?sp)
Playing in the garden
Baking

Sensory play - sand, playdoh, lava lamp, projector lights etc
Baths
Reading stories
Kids yoga?
Silly/active play followed by something calmer
Colouring
Magic painting
Lego

Colouring
Hama beads
Listening to music

I used to take DS to the park or the local library straight after school, and we would do the homework there while having a snack.

Mine enjoy the Usborne sticker books or colouring.

Spirographs.
Cross stitch.
Colour by numbers.
Designing clothes, and making them out of paper.
Knitting/crocheting.
Sewing - you could make bunting or garlands for the hearth/bedrooms or patchwork quilts from scraps of fabric. Or fixing any holes/attaching name labels to all their clothes.
Making flower-hair garlands.
Brushing and plaiting hair, without a screen on.
Listen to a relaxing song you both like and bring up the lyrics to sing together.
Nighttime stroll, with doggy if you have one, when it’s light at bed time.
Henna design.
Tracing artwork/illustrations from their favourite books and colouring it in.
Making Pom-Pom wreaths.
Making holding-hand doll garlands and decorating them.
Making flip-book comics.
Wordsearch, sudoku/maze and quiz books.
Make their own mazes/wordsearch etc.
Groom/feed/play with pets.
Making/illustrating bookmarks, which you could then laminate.
We find guitar practice to be very relaxing too, especially if someone in the house knows a tune you can all sing along to ❤️

Find something yours like and keep it handy. My toddler loves painting. We keep a tray with paper, a paint palette (I just pour on some water!) and brushes in the living room. Another thing would be some simple yoga/gentle movement with some soft music or nature sounds. I sometimes do this with mine - helps me relax, too!

Depending on age, we also sometimes write songs- rhyming fun

I think anything they enjoy doing is chill out time. So don't ask them to do anything. Let them pick themselves. When DD returns home from school she just likes kind of walking around the house doing s bit of this and that. It drives me a bit crazy because I always think they she should fit in s bit of proper playing before it's time for dinner but maybe this is what she needs to unwind.

Lady year what she enjoyed the most after school was settling down with a snack and being read to.

@HoneyFlowers

Any ideas gratefully received! Thanks.

doing photography in the garden, e.g. Close ups, ? Reading books, Going for walks

Playing cards. Teach them patience.

I needed this thread today! I'm really struggling to get the balance right at 5he moment. DS is 6 and obsessed with screens. He and DD3 want to flop out in front of screens after school/nursery and I struggle to persuade them to do anything else. It's compounded by the fact that the baby is getting cranky around then, I'm beginning to flag on very little sleep and I've got dinner etc to get sorted. It's no excuse though. I'm feeling motivated to turn the screens off and stick to it.

One thing I did find successful with my screen obsessed DS at Christmas was to look on YouTube for Christmas craft videos and follow them step by step. This combined screens and crafts and he LOVED it.

Thanks for the ideas guys, we have access to all these activities, I think the issue is our routine and having a bit of structure. Child is very much like a coca cola bottling exploding after school and I used to let him choose whatever after school until 4pm... Always TV but am certain this is making his behaviour worse. Today he got park time for a bit which was great. I loved the idea of having something set up on the table after school so before collection time I will have a snack and game prepared. I think I will have a complete screen ban at home from Mon to Friday and limited time at weekend.

Thank you everyone.

@LizzieMacQueen

Playing cards. Teach them patience.

One better, magic the gathering playing cards.

He never had screen time until the lockdown happened and there was SO MUCH screen time with learning, the problem seems to have started from this.

For my boys, it was always essential to have carbohydrates for a snack - crumpets were best, or a sandwich, and then fruit afterwards. Then trampoline. They've been sitting down for much of the day. They can bounce in almost any weather. They can even bounce in the rain for a bit, then go straight in the shower to get warm/dry. Then they might sit in a dressing gown and play/draw/paint/do homework.

HTH

Park every day if light( so now onwards) and not raining. I found animal care really chilled them out too (if you have any), then 1/2 HR telly before dinner (5-5:30 ish) followed by homework at the table (6-6:30) while I cleared up. You could try to flip those but mine were too hungry for homework before dinner.