10 Screen-Free Indoor Activities That’ll Keep Kids Entertained

It is officially winter here. Which means it is very cold outside. The ground is either frozen, covered in snow or wet all day everyday until spring. Which means kids do not spend much time outside. If you have kids you know how cooped up they can get. So I have compiled a list of 10 things indoor activities you can do to keep the kiddos entertained this winter! These activities require very little to no prep. I have also included links to all the supplies that you can buy from Walmart.

1 – Playdough Spaghetti and Cheerios

Playdough works great for keeping spaghetti stabilized, and bonus that both Cheerios and noodles are easy to clean up, and usually something you have on hand. If you don’t have cheerios on hand, penne noodles, fruit loops or something similar also work great! If they break the spaghetti noodle, they can just stick the broken pieces back in the playdough for more fun.

Indoor Activities Idea #2 – Balloon Fun

There are so many fun things you can do with balloons. Here are just a few, but use your imagination.

Balloon Tennis – Tape a plate to a stick and use it as a tennis racquet. Tell them to keep the balloon off the floor. They can hit the balloon however they want as long as it doesn’t touch the ground.

Balloon Funnel Catch – Don’t have a funnel? Make one with a piece of paper. Tell them to throw the balloon up and try to catch it with the funnel! You can make the balloon as big or small as you want. .

Balloon Pop. This one is hit or miss, depending on if they are scared of balloons popping, and if you want to blow up a bunch of balloons.

Hanging Balloons. Attach a string to the balloon and hang it from the ceiling. They can punch, hit it, or kick it as much as they want! Let them get their energy and anger out doing this!

Frozen Ice Balloons. Put some little toys or pom poms or whatever you want in a balloon and fill it with water. Stick it in the freezer (or outside overnight if its cold enough) and pull it out when you’re in a pinch. Peel the balloon off and give them some hot water to pour on the ice. Tell them to try to get the toys out. This one is best done outside, but can be done in a bathtub or sink. Our kids ended up smashing it and they had so much fun!

3 – Pictionary

We all know the game Pictionary, right? I like to get white boards or chalkboards for my kids to use on this indoor activity. Something about drawing on the whiteboards or chalkboards that makes this game so much more fun. Here is a list of ideas you can print off and cut out. Put them in a ziplock and take turns picking one to draw. Keep them on hand and use them over and over. Good laughs will be had all around, I guarantee it!

4 – Cup Stacking

You can always stack blocks, but it’s fun to switch it up every once in a while, right? It’s so fun to stack cups in all different ways, and then nock them down. You can have the kids race to see who can build the tower the fastest, or time them and see how long they take and if they can beat their own time.

5 – Potatoes and Toothpicks

Sometimes when you don’t have much to work with, you have to be creative! Why do kids love poking sharp objects into things? This activity is geared more towards kids who are 3 and up for safety reasons. Not sure why, but they really loved poking toothpicks into potatoes and then playing pretend with their new characters. If you do not have potatoes on hand, you can use anything else. Fruit, play dough, or anything else that you can poke toothpicks in.

Indoor Activities #6 – Laser Beam Obstacle Course

Our “epic laser beams” as our kids called it, are alwyas a huge hit! All we used was yarn and tape and they were entertained. You can use anything you have on hand for this 🙌🏻 ribbon, just tape, or any type of string. Tape the string on the walls and have the kids try to get from one end of the hall to the other, without getting “zapped”! This keeps my kids busy for hours!

7 – Baking Soda and Vinegar Squirt

Of all the indoor activities, this one is the best duel purpose! Entertainment and Science. All you need is vinegar and baking soda. You can put the baking soda in any container and we put the vinegar in little squirt guns. You are not only keeping your kids busy on a cold winter day, without electronics, but you are also doing a fun little science project! Win-Win!

8 – Movement Activities

This is one of my favorite indoor activities, because it requires almost no supervision or mess, so I can do it when I need to clean, or do something that I need my kids busy without me. Have them stand on one side of the room and tell each other the movement they should to do all the way to the other side of the room and all the way back. Here are some movement ideas:

• Hopping
• Stomping
• Frog Jump
• Bear Crawl
• Crab Walk
• Head Shake
• Wiggle
• Spin
• Head Nod
• Skip
• Side Shuffle
• Crawl
• Tip Toe
• Run
• Crouch Walk
• Bum Scoot

If they get bored of that, you can turn on these songs on this Spotify playlist.

9 – Paper Tunnel and Balls

This is a fun activity that can be done in multiple ways! It’s just paper, tape, and any ball. Most of these things you probably already have on hand, so it’s good in a pinch! Here are some different ways this activity can be done.

You can:

• Tape the paper to the wall and have them drop the ball.
• Space the paper out to make it more difficult.
• Put the paper closer together to make it easier.
• Turn it into a ball obstacle course, making the ball roll over other paper or over a pen.

When they get tired of doing it one way, switch to one of these other ideas to make play last longer!

Indoor Activities #10 – Object Hide and Seek

I find no shame in the lazy parent game. This is something we love to do with our kids that requires minimal effort on our part, and the kids love! We have our kids pick any random object (the smaller the better), then we make them go into the other room while we hide it. When they come out, we play hot or cold until they find the hidden object. Repeat as much as your kids are entertained. You can complicate it for older kids and not do the hot and cold thing.

I hope these indoor activities help you keep your kids busy during the cold winter months without electronics. Also check out this post about how to keep your kids entertained with PAINTERS TAPE!! Let me know if you try any of these ideas and how your kids like them.

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