80 Activities to keep the whole family busy....and sane!

We’ve lost count of how many weeks we have been in isolation or under restrictions for, and with that comes moments of ‘what can I do now to keep us all entertained and sane?’. We’ve come up with a list of activities to help get you through, let us know what you tick off the list and tag us on Instagram or facebook.

1. Bake! (In addition to creating something healthy and tasty to eat, teaching measurements is a great math skill)
2. Make a giant word search on the wall
3. Paint cardboard boxes
4. Create cubby houses that require a special access password
5. Offer snack time in a different place – leave it up to the children
6. Follow a make-up tutorial
7. Draw a giant game board on the driveway with chalk
8. Create an indoor obstacle course
9. Sensory play! Sensory play! Sensory play! We follow @zaziplays on Instagram and she is incredible and so relatable!
10. Have a skipping or relay race in the back yard
11. Play restaurant and have your kids take orders and serve dinner
12. Dust off the Halloween costumes for dress-up
13. Have the kids do some chores – make the beds, set the table, clean up the playroom, etc.
14. Make somerainbow spaghetti for sensory play – great recipe on @zaziplays
15. Basic workbooks to practice handwriting are great for the Kindergarteners
16. Have your older child read a book and give a book report to the family
17. Ride bikes and scooters
18. If they are feeling entrepreneurial, have them create a shop with their baked goods!
19. Write a short script, then film a mini movie
20. Create art with magnet tile – try it on the garage door.
21. Make a family photo album out of prints you have sitting around
22. Make tie dye t-shirts with old clothes
23. Build a marshmallow and toothpick tower
24. Freeze toys in ice using a muffin tin. Then give the kids a bowl of warm water and a paint brush to “paint” the toys out
25. Work in the garden
26. Learn a mother / daughter tiktok dance
27. See how long you can keep a balloon in the air using different parts of your body
28. Conduct a blindfolded taste test or smell test
29. Have an indoor family picnic for dinner
30. Have an at-home “spa day”
31. Teach the kids how to do laundry
32. Play “the floor is lava”
33. Create a face painting station
34. Teach the kids how to cut vegetables
35. MakeDIY slime – I can guarantee you, you’ll find a million and 1 tutorials online
36. Draw each other’s portraits (try it with and without looking) 
37. Read! To your kids or alongside your kids, maybe create a scheduled time each day to read aloud from a chapter book. Eye contact is important as your babes develop and grow.
38. Take family hikes – the world may be closed, but nature is open!
39. Have your kids create a meal plan for the week, getting the kids involved with food will help with fussy eaters. As they have some input on what’s served for dinner.
40. Play “heads up” on your iPhone or make your own by fastening celebrity names on a hat, kids have to ask questions and guess who they are
41. Do some old-fashioned paper-plate crafts
42. Ask the kids to create a dance routine that they can perform for you (or relatives and friends on FaceTime)
43. Make “life boats” to watch “films” (basically just screen time while they sit in a toy bin)
44. Family sleepover in the TV room
45. Backyard camping or indoor camping if the weather isn’t ideal
46. Cut scraps of paper and make rainbow collages
47. Try someeasy homemade play dough
48. Make your owntarget golf course
49. Have a family game night
50. Organize a “window hunt” around town – each family puts an item like a rainbow drawing or a teddy bear in their window for other kids to find on car rides or walks
51. Pour some salt or white chia seeds onto baking sheets and let the kids draw
52. Choose a family portrait and have the kids each paint their own version of it
53. Use streamers to create a hallway maze
54. Make a tent city in the TV room
55. Make a pouring stationif you’re home with toddlers
56. Check out some new podcastsfor your tweens
57. Let your older child re-decorate, or even paint, their bedroom
58. Create a reading nook with lots of pillows, blankets and stuffed animals in a random corner
59. Hold a family Olympics with relay races like dizzy izzy (you have to spin ten times with your head on a bat on the ground and then run to the finish line) and the three legged race
60. Write letters to grandparents or long distance friends (it’s great way to connect and practice handwriting!)
61. Lead a backyard exercise class
62. Make sidewalk art at the end of your driveway
63. Do a YouTube challenge with your kids (our favourite is theexact instructions challenge)
64. Have kids create a snack plate for the family
65. Make a treasure hunt in the yard with a map (parents can make the map, or an older sibling can design the hunt for the younger one)
66. Set up “bubbles” stations on the deck
67. Make “family movie nights” special with popcorn, candy and make paper tickets
68. Dance parties, dance parties, dance parties!
69. Put out some pots and pans and have the toddlers go nuts
70. Start a story chain with a small group of friends over email (you write the first paragraph of the story, email it to a friend and they add on a paragraph and send it to the next person, and so on)
71. Paint a fence (or shed or whatever needs to be spruced up in your yard)
72. Create a ‘YES’ cupboard that your babe is free to explore
73. Have a Family talent show, open it up to relatives over Zoom
74. Brown bag skits (put random items around the house in a bag; teams pick out three items to use in a skit that they have to perform for everyone) 
75. Watch some intricate snowflake making tutorials
76. Wave to the neighbours – from the sidewalk!
77. Have FaceTime playdates with friends and cousins
78. Have the kids write, direct, and shoot a commercial on the iPhone
79. Organize a scavenger hunt in your house (just make a list of items that kids need to collect)
80. Go on a nature walk and collect your findings