Boredom Busters for Kids While Stuck Inside
I’m sure a lot of you are looking for ways to keep kids busy during these days. With more and more schools closing and parents working remotely, many of us need boredom busters for kids while stuck inside.
Sure you can go in your backyard and partake in some sensory activities or you can play tag outdoors if you have a yard, but some of us aren’t able to do that. That’s why I wanted to give you a list of indoor activities for kids to fight boredom. These boredom busters will help keep things peaceful in the home, while providing your kids with fun things to do.
Creative Boredom Busters
The reason why I love these indoor activities for kids is that they help give something fun to do during when it’s too hot or too cold outside. Whether it’s winter breaks from school, rainy summer and spring days, or cooler windy fall days when the kids don’t want to go outside. These fun ways to keep kids busy will help reduce the number of times you hear “I’m bored” from your kids ages 3-8 years old!
This activity guide is separated into different sections such as arts and crafts, imaginative play, sensory activities, busy bags, and more ways to play indoors. I have included some of our favorites for each section and then linked to the specific categories for all our activities on that theme. I hope you find it useful when trying to find fun activities to do at home with your children.
Bring Back Old School Playtime
Playdough and LEGOS are two of my favorite longtime favorite ways to keep kids busy inside. There are no limits to what you can to have some fun with playdough and LEGOS. These two activities can encourage fine motor skills, creative thinking, and hours of playtime.
Fun LEGO Ideas:
Fun with Playdough:
- Softest Playdough Recipe + Playdough Cupcakes
- Playdough Chocolates Pretend Play
- DIY Playdough Zoo Kit
- Invitation to Create Playdough Monsters
- No Cream of Tartar Playdough Recipe
- Making Playdough Monsters from Pumpkin Faces
See also: 100+ Creative Playdough Activities
Make and Use Busy Bags
Set aside time to start making a few busy bags. These are filled with simple things to do to keep kids from getting bored during rainy days, snow days, sicks days, and so on.
Busy Bags are a bag full of fun indoor activities for kids. Many parents enjoy giving their kids busy bags because they are jam-packed full of indoor activities for kids that are handpicked. Each bag will be unique for each individual child depending on ages and interests.
- Build-a-Shape Busy Bag – Use different shapes to build everyday objects.
- Crafting Busy Bag – Place crafty items in a bag with foam shape cutouts.
- Create-a-Monster Busy Bag – Printable mix and match monster parts.
- Butterfly Learning Busy Bag – Practice colors, counting, patterning, and more.
- Homemade Number Boards – Practice counting with small items.
- Popsicle Stick Number Puzzles – Practice counting and number order.
Check out this fun list of busy bags!
Fun Pretend Play Ideas
When all else fails, you can easily come up with your own boredom busters for kids with imaginative play. Browse our archives to be inspired by some of the pretend play ideas we’ve done in the past. Everything from making puppet crafts for their own puppet show to a pretend Smoothie Cafe and dress up can work just fine. The creative play ideas are endless!
Here are just a few ideas:
- Simple Foam Breakfast Tutorial
- Pretend Candy Shop
- Ladybug Finger Puppet
- Paper Polar Bear and Penguin Headbands
- Seashell Mermaid Purse Template
More Imaginative Play Ideas:
- Fun Toys for Pretend Play
- DIY Pom Pom Crafts for Kids
- 20 Tea Party Crafts
- Disney Jr. Character Costumes and Accessories
Be sure to browse the pretend play archives for more!
Creative Homemade Toys
I don’t know about you but I love having new ideas to encourage creative play with kids ages 3-8. This is a fun age where your kids will still enjoy DIY toys made using things around the house. Most of these homemade toys can be made from simple household materials you already have on hand or are easy to find. Below are a few of our faves!
Think Educational Fun
Another idea for indoor activities for kids when it’s too hot or too cold outside are educational activities. Things like printable puzzles such as word searches and crossword puzzles, as well as science and STEM activities will keep kids busy having fun while learning. Whether you’re stuck inside due to the pandemic or looking for winter break from school fun, it’s always great when parents can turn playtime into an educational session for kids.
Here are a few examples you’ll find here on ArtsyMomma.com:
Craft Time
Our favorite boredom buster is arts and crafts time. This could be as simple as having a box filled with random items to create with or creating something specific. Challenge the kids to make something from recycled items. Or using items such as wood crafts sticks, pom poms, and pipe cleaners.
My kids especially love creating animal crafts. Here are a few animal themed crafts we love:
Get Out the Paintbrushes
Lastly, you can get out the paintbrushes to keep kids busy. Painting crafts using different techniques will help encourage imagination and creativity. Kids ages 3-8 have a high level of energy and tend to feel bored, anxious or irritable if stuck inside for too long. Using painting projects to keep kids busy will encourage a positive form of self-expression so that your kids can work through their emotions while at home.
- Colorful Butterfly Symmetry Paintings
- Dish Brush Painting
- The Magic of Salt Painting
- Easy DIY Puffy Paint
See all our painting arts and crafts here. Some of the painting activities include printable templates.
When it comes to indoor activities for kids, the list of ideas could go on forever. Kids ages 3-8 are often the easiest to entertain with rainy day activities because they are full of imagination and creativity. I hope that you’ll use my list of boredom busters for kids while stuck inside as a means to find fun things to do during spring, summer, fall and winter breaks from school.