Boredom Busters: Fun Indoor Activities for Kids

It’s almost winter which means for many of you it’s going to get cold and dreary outside. This means that there is a very good possibility that your kids are going to be a bit bored and stir crazy. 

If that’s the case, I have some fun and entertaining exercises/activities to keep your kids busy inside and hopefully improve their strength and motor skills. In the name of simplicity, I have created these activities to be made with stuff you probably have around the house. I have a video with all of these activities demonstrated, which can be viewed here.

Snowman Activities
For the first 2 activities all you need is some plastic cups and a marker. I picked up a pack of white plastic cups from the Dollar Tree. Turn each cup upside down and draw a snowman face on the cup. Once you have 6-8 snowman cups complete, here are 2 fun games to play with your snowmen:

• Snowman Bowling: Line your cups up in 3 rows like pins at the bowling alley, and use a small ball to bowl the cups down. Bowling works on eye hand coordination, lower extremity strength, and graded control.
• Stacked Snowmen: Stack the snowman cups on a table like a carnival game. Use a small soft ball to throw at the cups and try to knock them down.This game is great for wheelchair users as well. You can stack the cups on the wheelchair tray or a nearby table. This game works on shoulder strength and stability, eye hand coordination, and graded control

 

Snowflake Activity
For the next activity you will need a stiff piece of paper like cardstock, a marker, painter’s tape, and a piece of pool noodle (about ⅓ of a full length noodle). Using your marker, draw a large snowflake made from intersecting lines on the paper. At the end of each snowflake line draw a winter themed object like a snowman, a snowflake, etc. Your game board should look something like this:

Once your game board is complete tape it to a wall using painters tape to protect the surface. Give your child the pool noodle and ask them to draw a line with the noodle connecting 2 items on the board that you call out such as snowman to snowflake. This game works on so many skills: eye hand coordination, visual tracking, shoulder stability, crossing midline, auditory processing, etc.

Snowball Activity
Our final activity uses cotton balls (snowballs) and a plastic cup. You can use the snowman cups from our first activity to make things simple. To play the game, sit across from your child at the kitchen table or on your knees (my favorite) at opposite ends of the coffee table. Give your child the cup and ask them to place it open side down on the table and hold the cup around the base. Slide or flick cotton balls across the table toward your child and ask them to catch them with their cup. If this game is played in tall kneeling it works on hip and core strength. In both positions it also works on shoulder strength, eye-hand coordination, visual tracking, and graded control. 

Hope you enjoy these activities!

Author: Heather Wiles Sossoman PT, DPT