So here we are again, yet another national lockdown but this time…the schools are closed again! While homeschooling will be taking up a large chunk of the day, there are always those times which sandwich the learning day when the kids will be restless and undirected. That’s why I’ve put together this list of 30 ways to keep children busy while you’re working at home.
We’ve put this list together with school-aged children in mind featuring things they can do independently (read: with minimal disturbance to you while you are working!).
30 ways to keep children busy while you’re working at home
Make a blanket fort
The simplest way of doing this is do drape the biggest sheet they can find over the dining table. But let their imaginations run wild using blankets, chairs and even the clothes horse.
Doll fashion show
If your kids love playing with dolls, get them to dress up their dollies for a doll fashion show (which you can watch once you have finished your work tasks!).
Make a marble run
Time to bust out that marble run kit and have them build it themselves – guarenteed fun after they have finished building it too!
Sew something
Why not stock up on sewing kits from Baker Ross which they dive into when they are at a loose end – pun intended! It’s also a great life skill to learn.
Play hairdressers
Let them run riot on your hair while at the desk, so long as scissors are not involved what could go wrong?
Play with sidewalk chalk
There are so many things they can do with sidewalk chalk out on the patio if you have one – from self-portraits, to designing a mini-golf course and playing a round or two and target practice. Check out this extensive list sidewalk chalk ideas from What Moms Love for some great sidewalk chalk ideas.
Craft challenge
Tell kids to do something out of the craft box and you will probably get an eye roll. However, position it as a craft challenge and see them jump right in! Take five or so items from your craft box and get them to make something that uses all five items. Check out this post from Just A Little creativity for some inspiration!
Indoor hopscotch
OK so this is something that might require a little set up with some masking tap from you, but will worth the time investment as they can keep on coming back to it throughout the day, week or even weeks ahead. This is a useful post from Momtastic about how to DIY an indoor hopscotch game.
Junk modelling
I am always amazed at how much kids seem to have an enduring love affair with junk modelling. You know the drill – let them have free reign of your recycling and see what they create!
Play the floor is lava
I am pretty sure your kids will have played this one before – it’s an oldie and a goodie! All they need to do is grab as many cushions/pillows and place them apart from each other on the floor so they can hop between them. Remember, don’t touch the carpet or floor because it’s lava!
Paint a picture
Children never seem to have a chance to do enough art at school thee days, so having them at home while you work is the perfect opportunity for them to get their art fix. Here are some painting projects to try from The Best Ideas for Kids to get them started.Why not get them started on the painting by numbers craze – which my daughter has just gotten into. You can pick up cheap sets for kids at The Works.
Making a reading den (and read a book!)
All kids love a den. Most kids love books. If your kids don’t like reading then a den might just tempt them!
Make a Playdoh Sculpture
Playdoh isn’t just the remit of preschoolers. So get the kids to haul out the Playdoh and see if they can make some of their favourite animals, characters or objects which represent something they like to do. As always Pinterest has some great ideas for making Playdoh Sculptures. Equally as good is the use of modelling clay.
Write a story
Ok this one could be prone to whining about not knowing what to write a story about! So I would recommend investing in a set of story telling dice like the one’s like Rory’s Story Cubes.
Listen to a podcast
Podcasts are a great way to keep children busy for a chunk of time. Some of our favourites include But Why?, Circle Round, Brains On and Story Pirates but the possibilities are endless!
Do some colouring
Whether it’s mindful colouring, colouring by numbers or just a good old colouring sheet, I am amazed at how this old favourite never seems to tire. We recently picked up this colouring by numbers book which has become a big hit in our house.
Make up (and perform!) a play
Whether it’s using a well known narrative or creating their own, set children off to put on a play which you will promise to watch once you’re done with your work duties. They can involve siblings, their favourite toys, and plenty of props from around the house.
Do a puzzle
A great low-tech way to use up time and keep kids busy. Dig out those puzzles from that dusty cupboard. Puzzle sales have gone up dramatically over the last 12 months and it’s no wonder why. You can pick up all sort of great value puzzles over at toysandbears.com.
Alphabet scavenger hunt
Ask them to find a thing for every letter in the alphabet, and off they go!
Set up a domino run
Although a domino run in motion might be over in a few seconds, it’s the time taken to set it up that really counts, and is golden for every parent trying to get their work done!
Make a potion
Let the kids loose on kitchen ingredients and set them up with a bowl in the sink to make their own potion. You might want to put a sheet down around their “work” area incase things get messy, which they inevitably will!
Write a letter to a friend or family member
Receiving a letter has taken on a whole new meaning during the pandemic as we become increasingly isolated. Writing a letter to a friend or family member is a simple way to impart some joy on someone else, and keep the kids busy!
Design a treasure hunt
This one can be spun a number of ways. You can either print out some clues and set this one up for later (well worth the time you’ll claw back) OR get your kids to design a treasure hunt for each other or yourself to complete when you finish work.
Play lego
Your children might be happy just playing with lego, or may need a challenge to rise to. The idea of lego challenges was big back in our first lockdown and I have a feeling they are going to be making a comeback with the schools closed! You can print out a Lego challenge calendar here.
Listen to an audiobook
Ahhh audiobooks – the shining knight in armour that gets away from copious amounts of screen time. Check out Penguin’s list of 10 audiobooks to listen to for a listen aloud adventure.
Design, set up and do an obstacle course
Kids can design, prep and do their own obstacles courses. A great way to eat into some time using furniture and objects from around the house to burn off some steam. Think crawling under/over chairs, throwing socks into a laundry basket, doing rolypolies on the sofa and the like!
Borrow A Doggy
I kid you not, once of the best things we ever did during the pandemic was sign up to Borrow My Doggy. We have two different dogs in the house three days of the week. For those that don’t already have a dog, it is an amazing compromise and gives your children access to lovely dogs to play with and walk (by themselves if they are old enough). I couldn’t recommend it any more highly.
Make a “fun box”
As soon as the schools closed again I got an old Amazon box, marked it as the “fun box” and filled it up with activities, puzzles, games and the like which had been stuck in cupboards to dive into at any point. This is a great way to keep children busy while you’re working at home and discovering what you already have but that which hasn’t been touched since the Dark Ages.
Make it with them and they’ll know to go to the box and do something from it whenever they need a distraction that isn’t you. Mine is literally doing that as I type!
And then an ideas box!
Within the “fun box! I also have an “ideas box” which includes all of these activities written on individual snippets of paper for inspiration to keep children busy while you’re working at home.
I would also recommend getting ideas from your own children to include as the more input on things to keep children busy they have, the greater the buy-in (and therefore compliance!) by them. Another great way of planting the seed of things for the kids to do when you need to get on with your work.
Have something up your sleeve
For desperate times, always have something new up your sleeve or stored away in a cupboard. Right now, that thing in our household is going to be Stomp Rocket® BLO-Rockets. Think hours of fun with four games – Catch A Rocket; Distance Launch; Target Practice; Dodge Rockets Year for year-round indoor and outdoor fun!
***Giveaway***
To help keep your children busy while you’re working from home, we have two sets of Stomp Rocket® BLO-Rockets to giveaway!
Image credits: Woman photo created by freepik – www.freepik.com & ©2018 Stomp Rocket D & L Company, LLC
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Love the ideas box – i try and be prepared the night before!
My daughter has just made my grandson a reading nook. He’s got a rug with a teepee ( I know I’ve spelt that wrong!) over it, with a little book case. I love it and so does he.
I like the sound of junk modelling I know my boys love stuff like this
Ths is going to help so many people out there! I’ve been working from home for years, but I have friends with kids who just had to start doing it this year. I think they might have lost their minds. LOL
This is super helpful! I am excited for the day when my youngest is old enough to play with my oldest!
Some of these ideas are great thanks
some great ideas to keep the kids entertained and occupied thanks
These are definitely a great and helpful ideas to all working home mom out there like me. Thank you so much for sharing this with us, I really appreciate it.
We will try the craft challenge.
These tips sound sooo fun and will definitely keep the kids super busy! More focus time for parents.
Reading your tips reminds me of my colleague who talked to me about how she deal with work and her kids. This is totally true, she shared what she does in order to keep her kids busy while she is working. I guess this would be worth sharing to her to add some tips.
Such a helpful blog. I love the ideas here and I know a lot of people who would benefit from this post.
Great ideas. It would be helpful for all moms. Even just to spend time together.
Great tips especially since we’re all quarantining together. I really love the Alphabet Treasure Hunt
Keeping children productively engaged is always a challenge, and more so when you are working at home and the kids are at home too. You have listed some really good activiies, that are sure to keep them engaged.
My 3 children love making blanket dens
This is a great list of activities for kids. These things are good for kids to do even when parents are not working.
I will try making a reading den fingers crossed they actually read a book!
Loving these ideas sooo much! It’s really a struggle to stay focus at work when kids are around. These activities will surely keep them busy.
OMG! I need these ideas! It’s not easy at all to keep kids occupied while working!
some brilliant ideas!
I wish I had seen this post eariler, When my kids are at home . Now they have started in person learning. These sounds wonderful ideas.
This is super helpful! I am so pleased that my four children are so close in age and can therefore play together!
These are all really good ideas particularly like the idea of listening to podcasts 🙂
The Lego Challenge and Reading Den sound great.
Some good ideas here I’ll try some on the kids, as for the stomp rockets they look to have improved since I was a kid but hopefully just as much fun
Strangely, we’ve been trying to learn knitting, not only the kids, but myself as well! We’ve also been attempting cross stitch as well, so they’re keeping busy with having a go at both while I try to get some things done!
My kids are busy enough with their 5 hours of school work they’re currenty getting!
having 3 young children in elearning school this is very important ideas for me, lol! i love the ideas you have her! thanks so much.
Great ideas! My daughter loves listening to podcasts I quite like the blanket den myself!
Daisy is 10 and is really not so bad because if you give her a book she will be entertained all day. Leo aged 5 is a different story. There are times when he will play happily with his toys. There are fewer times when he will do his lessons with his teacher online. But most of the time he just watched TV. It may not be the most educational way he could spend his time, but I think that keeping him happy is more important than worrying about whether he will fall behind because most of his friends mums are in the same situation
Thanks for these excellent tips & ideas! We do some of these already but you have given us lots more ideas!
Good ideas, but as others have said, my children have so much school work during the week, but I could try some of these at weekends.
Such amazing and great ideas. Thank you these will certainly help especially when on teams or zoom and I get a little voice going ‘are you done yet, I’m bored’
When kids have finished home school we do fun activities like eye spy while out walking finding numbers we do arts and crafts at home
Great ideas! We love making dens, playing hide and seek and watching Youtube on oragami……its so difficult but fun to try
making a blanket fort is fun
These ideas a really very good and should work well. I particularly like the Fun Box and Ideas Box.
The floor is lava and building forts are favourites here too. Loving these ideas
good ideas, the fun box sounds great. Also a chore box, rewards box and unique family time box eg movie nights, park visits, picnics etc
kids like playing floor is lava. Just dance has been a good one to burn off some energy and practise gymnastics moves
Great ideas -my grandson would happily play games on his tablet all day if I let him! I will try some of these out X
This is another great way to get the kids outside in the fresh air (in the garden) without breaking any rules! …. We enjoy walking, we’re lucky that we live in an area with quite a few nice walks and have a fair bit of “greenery” to explore 🙂 – We also love playing board games too. Which normally result in at least one argument! ha ha ha x
The ideas box is a great idea. My son often sets up a marble run too
Wow! What an excellent list. Having children of a wide age range at home is tricky but there is something for every age there. I like the alphabet scavenger hunt, the listen to an audio book or podcast and the write a letter. Our children are surprisingly creative and make their own obstacle courses, dens and sometimes light shows with torches.
Great ideas and these stomp rockets look fantastic!!
My daughter would love the marble run!
I think all my children would really like the marble run
I like the idea of letting my children make a potion
The craft challenge sounds like fun
Great ideas! Thanks for sharing then