4 Educational Indoor Activities That Will Entertain Your Kids by Kris Louis at ParentingWithKris.com

When your kids can’t get outside, chances are that your kids are bored inside. Being stuck indoors for weeks during the coronavirus outbreak is enough to drive any kid, and their parents, up the wall. But you can banish that boredom by being prepared with the right indoor activities. To help you out, we’ve put together a list of indoor activities that are educational and fun for your children, and easy for you to set up.

1. Get Your Kids to Practice a New Instrument

Being stuck inside can be a downer for your kids, but what if they use this time indoors to practice playing a new instrument? Aside from improving their ability to focus and learn, studies show that children who learn musical instruments have a lower risk of dementia and other cognitive decline issues as they get older. Giving your child a guitar, some drums or a saxophone could be your best bet for preventing boredom and protecting their brain health. No time to teach them? You can find tons of online lessons to help guide your children through their music lessons. Children can start learning about music at a very early age.

2. Keep It Educational

Practicing an instrument is a great way to kill time while indoors. If your kids seem more interested in science, however, you can provide some educational indoor activities that are fun for them as well. You can use online lessons to create interactive science experiments. Most of the ingredients you need for at-home science experiments can be found in your pantry, but kids will need some basic safety equipment and safety rules as well. Supervise small children when experimenting at home, and always have your kids wear gloves and goggles to protect their skin and eyes from all possible irritants.

Another way to keep your kids learning (and avoid too much screen time) is to play some educational board games. Before purchasing a board game for your kids, research reviews and whether the game is age appropriate. For example, The Sneaky, Snacky Squirrel Game is ideal for preschoolers because they can gain motor skills while learning about colors and matching.

3. Encourage Your Children to Get Creative Indoors

Creating science projects from household materials is so much fun, but if you are looking for ways to get your kids to be creative, we have some educational ideas to help. One activity kids love is making their very own impromptu story! Gather your little ones together, and begin the story for them. Then, let their imaginations come to life as they come up with twists, plots and grand finales to weave together a super creative story. If your kids like to be hands-on with their creativity, you could have an art session too. Keep some basic kid-friendly art supplies on hand, like paper, paint and markers, so you can easily keep children occupied. 

4. Have Some Family Movie Fun with Educational Films

Most parents don’t want their kids to be couch potatoes when they’re stuck inside, but a little movie time can actually be good for your kids’ brains! Just be sure to swap out those popular animated movies with some educational, kid-friendly documentaries instead. From penguin migration patterns to the role of bees in your own backyard, there are tons of lessons that your children can learn from films.

Make the deal even sweeter for their health by making some tasty, healthy snacks in the kitchen together first. In addition to providing healthy eats, encouraging kids to bake can also help with their science skills; plus, kids who learn how to cook tend to be much healthier adults, so a movie session can be just as good for their brains as it can be for their bodies. To keep your kids safe while cooking, turn pan and pot handles inward and always handle hot objects with potholders.

For the weeks ahead, time inside doesn’t have to be boring for you and your children! You can spend quality time together playing educational games, setting up creative science experiments, or learning valuable lessons from educational movies. Pick your favorite activity (or save a few) so that you can always be prepared to keep your kids entertained.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

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