With young students staying home from school, it can be difficult to keep them entertained within your home. While parents and guardians attempt to keep their children educated, it’s also important to encourage fun along with way. Here are 6 easy, active, and educational activities that use household items that you can do with your child.

Tape

1. Obstacle Tape Maze

Using a hallway or narrow space in your home, use tape, toilet paper, crepe paper, or string to create an obstacle maze. Connect the tape from high-up to down-low, straight across, etc. As your child maneuvers and tries not to touch the lines, they will develop gross-motor skills and balance.

2. Tape track

This activity allows your child’s creativity to roam free. Help them create a track, neighborhood, or whole city with tape on the floor for their toy vehicles. This activity encourages imagination, free play, and creativity!

 

Balloons

3. Don’t drop the balloon

This is the game that comes naturally once you blow up a balloon. Encourage your child to keep the balloon from hitting the floor. Make rules such as perform exercises when it does hit the floor. This activity support balance, hand-eye coordination, and concentration.

4. Balloon Tennis

Inspired by the game of tennis, use a balloon as the ball, set up a make-shift net, and find a pair of fly swatters, wooden spoons, paint stirrer, etc. with a paper plate. This game supports hand-eye coordination, and balance.

 

Plastic Cups

5. Bowling

cup bowling at-home activityHave your child stack plastic cups as high as they can. Then have him/her step back and toss, roll, and throw a ball of his/her choice to knock down the tower. This supports your child’s throwing and target hitting skills.

6. Cup Throw

Find a plastic cup and a small ball like a ping pong ball or crumpled tin foil/paper. Have your child put the ball in the cup and encourage him/her to toss the ball up while hanging onto the cup and catch the ball with the cup as it falls. Again, this encourages hand/eye coordination and spatial awareness.

Don’t forget to encourage you child’s imagination to go wild during these times. If you have any household item activities feel free to drop them in the comments! Otherwise, check out our other at-home activities here.