Helping Children Grow – Fun Simple activities for you and your kids
After a long stressful day of work it can be hard to come up with ideas to keep the kids entertained. It is hard enough to come up with a dinner idea, let alone fun and creative games that will help stimulate their imagination. Here are a few fun yet simple ideas that are perfect for busy nights or rainy days where there is “nothing to do”.
1 – Wooden Spoons – The utensil with a million uses – not just for baking and cooking they can become drum sticks, magic wands, fun water toys and so much more. Pick up a set from the dollar store if you don’t want the kids playing with your Pampered Chef ones and have a great time coming up with different games!
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| A.C. having a blast with spoons |
2 – Bubbles – Break out the bubbles and have some fun. Chase the bubbles and try to pop them, or catch then on the wand. You can make up challenges to see who can blow the biggest bubble or who can make a bubble that lasts the longest before it pops
3 – Cardboard Box – One of the most coveted toys of all children, the bigger the better. A cardboard box can become ANYTHING, it is literally a blank canvas. I remember when our neighbours got a new dishwasher, we played with the box it came in for days and days until it was falling to pieces. It was a rocket ship, a treasure chest, a puppet theater and more… while it lasted. So find the biggest cardboard box you can, and see what your kids can come up with.
4 – Building a fort – Small or large, simple or complex, forts offer an adventure into a different world. Blankets, cushions and chairs are magically transformed into castles or caves. It might be a tight squeeze for parents to fit inside to play along, but it is well worth the effort for the fun you will have.
5 – Puppets – Have fun making puppets out of socks or paper bags and then creating wild and wacky adventures for your characters. Doesn’t matter what the age of your child is puppets always seem to make kids smile
What are some of your “Go To” Games to play with your kids?
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One of my favourite things to do is to have bath time out of the ordinary timeframe (i.e. right before bed). Sometimes we call it a swim bath, and go swimming, sometimes theres bubbles, more often than not we put our sea animals in although farm animals are also allowed;)
I have also created a fishing pole where we go fishing for magnetic letters, vehicles etc.
This allows me to sit, keeps my toddler contained, and happy to splash around! Bonus: he's clean!
my kids love all of those activities – although I often forget how simple they are when I am trying to come up with ideas
Hide and Seek is always a go to game around here and reading books is always a go to activity! Playdough is always fun too
Great ideas – going to stumble this!
Super heroes. My kids are imagination kids, so role playing games are their favorite.
These 5 simple activities provide endless amounts of FUN and build memories! LOVE THEM!
We play a lot of those, but tickling, singing, dancing our some of ours. Mine are currently parading around from one room to another playing on the beds LOL
Bubbles were always the #1 thing when I was a kid.
Forts too! With blankets! I have video of my kids playing the pots and the pans in our Kitchen band.
Great ideas! My kids loved making forts. I remember doing that as a kid too- snow forts were the best!
I'd have to say bubbles and cardboard boxes of all sizes and shapes are among one of the most favorite things my girls love to play with! Great list!
those are all excellent ideas and ones we have used multitudes of times in our household over the years
A couple of our favorite games are tag, big monster/little monster (we stomp around the house, roaring… the kids love it) and impromptu dance parties.
The cardboard box is a favorite of ours! Bubbles causes endless fights but we love them, lol. I like dollar store stuff too, foam swords, bow and arrows, etc…they have a great selection!
Awesome list. And you're right, puppets are always fun, homemade ones somehow doubly so.