This website has STAR WARS shadow puppet ideas, but you can make anything you want! The kids will have hours of fun making and playing with these. Super simple, and cheap, you’ll just need some paper or card – an empty cereal box would be perfect – and a kebab or lolly stick.
Stick some cotton or string in a zig zag pattern across the hall or landing to create ‘laser beams’ the kids have to climb through without touching to win some treasure on the other side! You could make this trickier for older ones by adding in challenges, like doing it blindfolded or only putting certain limbs in different spaces – Twister style!
Use a tupperware or old biscuit tin. The children can imagine who might find the time capsule in the future. They can write letters, draw pictures, find photos etc to let this person of the future know all about life as it is now for them. Make sure that you get permission to bury the time capsule if it’s not in your own garden.
I loved this as a child. Get out some sheets and create a fabulous den behind the sofa or between some chairs. Fill with all kinds of things to keep them busy… Lego, reading and drawing activities, a torch, dress up clothes, snacks, books…
So it might be a bit wet & windy outside but if the wind and rain die down there will be lots of puddles left for the kids to splash in. They can take toy boats to sail in the puddles or make mud pies. If it’s still too wild to get outside try creating an indoor puddle jumping activity for little ones by sticking paper ‘puddles’ to the floor for them to jump between. It’ll keep them moving and using their imagination.
You can create all kinds of colours if you’ve got some food colouring knocking around – here is a great playdough recipe. ‘Smelly’ playdough is a big hit in our house too. Try adding cinnamon or vanilla. You can get creative with the playdough, add sequins or glitter, or find some natural small parts on a walk! You could create playdough mats or set your little ones a challenge, like building the tallest tower!
Warning: this can be a messy activity! It’s lots of fun for little ones though and a great sensory activity. All you need is cornflour, water and food colouring (optional). Here is the recipe. There are loads of variations for this, add some cocoa for mud, followed by soapy water for a ‘car wash’ with some toys, or make it green and add googly eyes for a witchy potion!
This activity can be as complex as you want, the basic idea is to build a tower using just marshmallows and dried spaghett! It’s a great activity for slightly older ones and you can further it by asking them to create a tower to keep an egg safe!
The BBC website is full of lots of fun science activities aimed at kids. Definitely worth a look if you’re struggling to keep the older ones entertained.
Always a good, easy game. I find that if you start the kids off hunting for you at the top of the house you have just enough time to make a quick cup of tea for yourself in the kitchen before they ‘find you’.
Of course, this takes a little longer to set up than hide and seek but you might create enough time for yourself while they are engaged in this activity to actually drink that cup of tea. You can make this as simple or complex as you like, depending on the ages of your children, use pictures for tots, or clues for older kids.
This requires nothing other than a pile of recycling – boxes, plastic containers etc – and some glue or tape and paint (depending on how much mess you’re willing to create). This is an easy one, let the kids make anything they want from the materials available.
If you have shaving foam and PVA glue this is great fun! You mix it all together with some flour, add a bit of paint if you like then scoop each colour into a zip lock sandwich bag, snip off the end and squeeze the fluffy paint onto paper. It puffs up straight away and looks fab, then dries soft and fluffy to touch. This blog has a really good recipe.
