Our 10 Favourite Screen-Free Activities for Kids
My next picture book ‘Shine’ (written by Danny Parker, published by Fremantle Press) is coming out on Mother’s Day and we can’t wait to share it with you. Shine is a love song between a parent and a child, celebrating the beauty and joy of everyday family life, through mess and chaos and daily routines. Shine is also a story that seeks to find the beauty in ordinary things- the wonder of a lazy afternoon, the joy of being together. It is an attempt to put words to that spark of connection that we have with each other.
In light of the release of ‘Shine’ we thought it would be fun to share some of our family’s favourite screen-free activities! Here goes:
LEGO Challenges
We have regular LEGO building frenzies at our house! Right now (in a sudden five-day lockdown here in Perth) four of my boys are undertaking a challenge every day. This is completely unprompted by me, and apparently I’ve been appointed as the judge. Yesterday they barely had time to eat, as they had to finish their builds. Huge thanks to Brickman and Lego Masters for the inspiration. Other times they collaborate on building a huge city or fantasy world together. LEGO is one toy that we are prepared to spend a reasonable amount of money on, as it is timeless, and stimulates creativity and interaction. (I consider most of the regular toys to be a waste of money and space).Jigsaw puzzles
Whenever our regular routines break up for a period of time (long weekends, school holidays, lockdown) there is guaranteed to be a jigsaw puzzle on the go at our house. We put it somewhere central and I love how it brings different family members (and even visitors) together at different times of the day. A jigsaw puzzle is a great mental exercise too!Keeping a sketchbook
My children have all kept sketchbooks over the years. While we encourage a lot of reading around here, and love it that the children can be happily occupied anywhere when they love to read, keeping a sketchbook is the next best thing. Especially for those children who don’t love reading as much, or who have just finished a really good book. I keep a sketchbook myself, for all my art and illustration ideas and research, and have made a habit of drawing with the children over the years - at home, at the playground, at the zoo, while we enjoy a treat at a cafe. I find that the children treasure having a place for their drawings, and being able to refer back to them. Whenever we head out in the car, they’ll grab their current favourite read and their sketchbook - sorted!A simple softie sewing project
Every child here has loved making simple softies with me. It’s a great way for a child to gain some simple sewing experience, and the satisfaction of making something themselves. Our favourite project involves screenprinting a self portrait onto plain fabric, and turning that into a cushion of sorts. This introduces simple sewing, the concept of stitching fabric right sides together before turning it the right way around, and the process of filling a toy with stuffing. An older child can also stitch the opening closed themselves. If screenprinting is not in your repertoire, the children can either paint directly onto fabric with textile paint, or draw a design using fabric crayons. I find it helpful to draw the seam line onto the fabric so that the child knows exactly where to stitch. Younger children may need an adult to operate the foot pedal of the machine while they ‘steer’ the fabric. It still gives them a great sense of accomplishment!Mini golf at home
This was a fun project during our first quarantine period. The children spent several days creating a mini-golf course outside. The youngest was thrilled to be allowed to make the numbered flags for each hole. And then we had a fun family afternoon playing the course together.Building a cubby
Cubbies are the bane of my life. I do NOT like my house being turned upside down. However, I know how much fun they are, and they involved a lot of teamwork and creativity, so I try to let the kids go when they’re planning a cubby. I’ve also created some simple fort building kits - incorporating sheets with handy ties, rope, clamps and a torch. I usually set a time limit for how long the cubby can stay up. I always remember something a more experienced mum once told me, though: if you always make them clean up their elaborate setups right away, or the same day, they will decide it’s not worth the effort - so when I can, I let the mess stay for a night, or several nights.Creating board games
We play a lot of board games here. My younger children have learned so much from playing board games with the older children - counting, reading, logic. (Through all the children, there has always been an older child so desperate for someone to play a game with him, that he has sat his far-to-young sibling down and patiently taught him the rules and the strategy of the game, until the younger sibling develops into a worthy opponent, and in turn coaches the next sibling down…). A really fun activity that has come out of this, is that the kids devote hours and hours to planning and creating their own board games - designing the worlds in which the games are set, discussing the goal and tactics of the game with their siblings, planning the board setup, painstakingly creating stacks of cards and other game pieces, testing the game, and tweaking the rules as they go. This means there are always random bits of cardboard lying around and piles of tiny pebbles or twigs that are ‘very important pieces of the game’ - but so worth it!Creating worlds for the Schleich animals
I have a collection of Schleich animals which has received much love over the years. I collect the wild animal range. We’ve always loved visiting a good toyshop and selecting an animal that we don’t have. And I’ve claimed the collection as ‘mine’ and stressed to the children that playing with them is a special treat, so that they’ve treated the animals with extra care. They’ve all thoroughly enjoyed creating elaborate homes and environments for the animals to play in - with wooden blocks, books for walls and roofs, LEGO trees, and anything else that is within reach. I always have some pieces of artificial grass and a piece of blue fabric (for water) handy for this kind of play. Some of my children have also spent hours sorting the animals by family, or by environment type, or by country.IKEA ironing beads
This activity has occupied some of my children for many, many hours. It’s such a handy thing to have in the back of the cupboard for a rainy/sick/lockdown day. While this technically breaks the ‘screen-free’ nature of the activity, we will often use an iPad pull up some simple design ideas on Pinterest for them to refer to. So good for seeing and reading patterns, and for fine motor skills. I find that the children really calm down and zone out while they do this.Cleaning out the bedrooms
Your children won’t initially thank you for this one, but here it’s our go-to activity for at the beginning of the school holidays. I usually get involved in this, as the children need coaching in understanding what is worth keeping, and when it’s time to let go of some of their treasures, as well as how to sort out their things into some kind of sensible and functional order. Without fail, my children feel so good after we’ve sorted through their bedroom, cleared out accumulated ‘junk’ and rediscovered old treasures. They’re usually happily occupied for days after with the things they rediscover along the way!DIY movies
This activity is a bonus, and it’s NOT screen-free, but I consider it to be in line with the spirit of all the other activities, as it involves a whole lot of creativity, interaction and team work. Our kids love to create movies together using the iPad to record short video clips, and assembling them together in iMovie. At our house this takes one of two forms. The first and more simple version is a LEGO stop motion movie, where they take a whole series of photos of a LEGO scene, and then string them together. They’ve learned a lot over the years, about setting up a good backdrop, and about accuracy, and about pacing the activity in the movie.
The second more elaborate movie project involves acting out a complex drama in the backyard, (and the nearby empty block, and the local bush…). It involves allocating acting roles, and cooperating together. It includes many hours of assemble props and costumes. (It also involves down time and time out when the negotiations don’t go so well.) It also includes assembling video clips on the computer and adding music and sound effects to create drama.
If you’re looking for more ideas, I have a Pinterest board jam-packed with fun, creative things to do with the kids right here!
