I’m so excited to have George Schalter from Educational Kids Games guest post today!
Kids must be encouraged to spend time playing outdoors, rather than indoors. Then what am I doing writing about indoor activities, you might ask. ‘Play’ and ‘outside’ is a terrific combination for young growing kids – keeps them healthy and gets them hungry! But the fact remains that kids sometimes end up spending a lot of time indoors. They could be recovering from an illness, the outside might be too hot/cold/rainy for outdoors play, or it might just be that day, when they would rather play inside.
Generally kids like to spend time playing on their devices either on puzzle games, dragon games, dance games or some spy games. This is okay, but we need to encourage kids to play sans devices. It engages their minds in finding creative ways to occupy themselves and fight boredom. If they spend time playing with peers and family members, they have the added benefit of social engagement. So, yes, boredom can be good for kids, in a rather roundabout way!
Here are 4 Indoor Activities that work:
- Playing Board and Card Games
My kids love playing on the old Mousetrap board passed down to them from their cousins. Chutes and Ladders is another great favorite. Just bring out the old classic board games, and dust out the rules. Sometimes kids can design their own game and set out rules. Occasionally loud arguments might breakout as rules morph, but the thrill kids have in everyone playing their game is unimaginable.
Card Games are easy to set up and can be flexible in accommodating a number of players. Really young players might need help from the adults in playing or handling a large number of cards, but the simpler games are easily handled by younger kids.
- Scavenger hunts
Kids absolutely love these. You can have all kinds of scavenger hunt lists – inside a predetermined space, or all over the house. List could include off beat things like an image with all participants or an image of all of the participants jumping with their hands in the air. Do make sure that young kids can read these lists and can reach objects they have to collect. If a very young kid is participating, you could even draw or photograph what they need to collect. Here is a good place for ideas.
- Build Something
TATE’S Weekend After Halloween Sale; November 3 & 4, 2012 by Tate’s Comics Inc.
This is my favorite. Remember all the times we built spaces to play, using chairs, sheets and poles? Well, kids still love that sort of indoor play building things. These are the times we see kids being their inventive best. The house might seem a mess, but the fun kids have is amazing. It builds great cooperation and team spirit. Get your kids to build with newspaper or cardboard. Yes, newspaper. No strength you say? Well, when it’s a sheet, its weak, but then you roll it up tight and test it – it can take much more weight. Stack the rolls together and it can handle a lot of weight. So go ahead and get your kids to build something.
- Run a science experiment
We try out science experiments at home. Some start as science but end up as art. Some don’t work as expected, but the fun is in the experimenting. Sometimes science experiments might not even be called that. The kitchen is a great place to explore science. Like when we tried making bread at home. Even when we tried fermented food (the kids were enthusiastic participants, but were not very enthused by the end result!). My kid once needed a brown shirt. I just made a big pot of strong tea decoction and soaked an old white shirt in it. When it dried out, she had a nice brown (albeit a light brown) shirt. When kids are indoors, we should get inventive with keeping them occupied, and then watch our kids get inventive too!
Author Bio
George Schalter loves being a dad. He and his wife share the joys and responsibilities of bringing up their two children. As believers of good all round education, they spend a lot of time playing with their children and spending time outdoors. As George is the writer in the family, he blogs at Educational Kids Games. Facebook, Twitter, Google+
