5 Ways to Keep Kids Entertained (without a screen in sight!)

It may feel like school’s out forever in your home right now for the little ones. I know a fair few parents who will be looking to give teachers medals for the amount of work they put it to teaching our kids every day.

One of the biggest obstacles, while kids are stuck at home, has been keeping them busy and interested in activities. The most glaring problem I’m sure many parents have is the back and forth every day with letting them have tablet time, and yet not really knowing what else to do activity-wise while staying indoors.

Fear not though, as I have some unique and fun ideas to keep everyone busy without even one mention of YouTube by a family member.

Here are five ways to keep kids entertained without any screens in sight.

1: Scavenger hunts

When your kids have seemingly unlimited energy, any way to expend it and get them active while indoors is excellent. That’s why a scavenger hunt is the easiest activity to do. I find that if you make kids work as a team, there is less chance of someone stumbling upon the treasure accidentally, as you can keep them together room by room around the house.

Oh, and always hide prizes in the vegetable crisper; they’ll never think to look there.

2: Model Making

Making a model is tidier than painting at the kitchen table and requires a little more concentration to get work done. Now, I’m not referring to ships in a bottle or a scale replica of an airplane, but you can pick up models quite cheaply online.

For example, I found pirate ships and Viking boots for less than $20 on ModelSpace, where the box comes with all the bits like glue, parts and brushes included, so you don’t have to go shopping around online. All the pieces are pre-cut too to make it a safe activity for kids.

If you’re going to buy a model kit for children, make sure it doesn’t require any cutting, sanding or sewing to keep it safe.

3: The Den Competition

Need to get everyone to tidy their rooms, or at least make an effort? Well, running a den competition should see everyone make a mess for the best possible reason before properly tidying up their rooms. The game also has the one-two knockout power of keeping kids busy and quiet so that you can get stuff down for a short while.

The rules of the game are easy: every kid has to go to their room (or pick a specific room if they share) and build the best den/fort they can with what’s in the room. You give them 30 minutes/ 1 hour/ however long you want to build it all before you judge the winner.

You need to reward everyone for it (maybe have a dessert or snack they like) and rank everyone accordingly. The only condition is that they can’t claim their prize unless they put everything back to normal and their room is tidy.

4: Gym Class

This one is a slight cheat as it does involve having to on YouTube, but bringing gym class into the home is incredibly simple, and you don’t need to act as a coach.

Look up PE with Joe on YouTube, and you’ll find a daily workout for kids from UK fitness coach Joe Wicks. He does a live show for kids (9:30 am GMT) every weekday that gets them moving for 30 minutes.

When kids are used to running around throughout the day, and are now stuck inside, it’s a great way to break up the day. I recommend getting the whole family involved.

5: Story Time

This last tip is something I’m surprised most parents, especially those who use Amazon a lot, don’t know about.

If you visit the discover section of the Audible site, Amazon has many kid’s audiobooks available online for free. They’re all grouped by age group as well to make them appropriate depending on age. I’ve seen the likes of Winnie The Pooh and Alice in Wonderland available for free.

Have Fun

I hope you found this short guide helpful and have at least one or two new things to try out at home with kids that will hopefully see them not ask for their screen time as much.

5 Ways to Keep Kids Entertained (without a screen in sight!)

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