Screen free activities for families

Screen-free family fun!

Entertaining children at home can be a challenge. Trying to entertain children without screens…. is closer to impossible. With all of the infinite options, the internet and movie platforms are offering up, reading a book or playing a round of UNO is not always going to cut it. You are going to have to lift your game if you want to peel them away from the TV or Ipad, so we have found a few at-home alternatives that will keep your little one's screen-free (and scream-free) at least for a while.

Get your Bake On

Helping Mum and Dad in the kitchen is always high on every child's to-do list. So choose a simple recipe for whatever treat your kids are keen on (chocolate chip cookies are a classic go-to). Set up some clear space and some stools and get ready to make a delicious mess. Always include the clean-up as part of the activity to keep them from just staring into the little oven window for half an hour.

Dance Party

This is the easiest and most fun way to get the kids up and about (and sneak in some cardio yourself). Just put on some dancing tunes, or their favourite songs and shake your groove thing.

Make your own Bowling Alley

Nothing children love more than a legitimate excuse to roll a ball in the house. So set up some empty bottles, plastic water bottles or baby bottles for that matter, use the (soft) ball of your choice and bowler up. Spoiler alert, you will almost certainly be relegated to bottle resetter and ball returner, so keep that in mind.

Get Crafty

Kids love to make things. Even if you are not a craft lover yourself there are a few fun options that require minimum parental planning (and skill).

Pet rocks – Go to the garden, select a rock, use textas, glue, paper, blu-tack?…. Whatever is at hand to build your new friend.

Playdough – Mix  2 cups plain flour, 1 cup salt, 1 tbs oil, 1 cup cold water and bingo bango! Hours of fun. You can get fancy and separate the mix adding a couple of drops of different food colouring in each.

Friendship bands – a few pieces of string, a few beads. Best friends for life.

Paper chains and lanterns – Paper, scissors, glue or sticky tape and your house will be redecorated in no time. Get the children to draw patterns on the paper first for some very personalised lanterns.

There you have it, go forth, have fun, and find out what your kid's faces look like without the reflection of blue light!