Activities for Children and Families - Freedom Inside the Box

I’m always on the hunt for something new and fun to do with my children. I love doing different activities and projects with them, regardless of their age. There are many lists of activities floating around out there. This discusses how to ensure your activities are fun and educational, how to set yourself up for success, and where to find excellent ideas, including some I have written about as well.

Learning Through Play

The first question you might have is what the point of doing silly activities is. For children, playing is about more than fun. For children, playing is about learning. Children (and arguably adults) aren’t programmed to learn by memorization or practice. They learn through play. What happens when I drop this spoon? Oh, it falls to the ground. Oh, Mommy picks it back up! Does that happen every time? Playing is your child’s way of engaging with and exploring the world.

Since play is your child’s teacher, it is important to give them the chance to explore in their own way. I have and entire blog about product vs process art that you can read here. Generally though, you want your activities to be child centered and child guided. If you are telling your child how to do every single step, or even doing everything for them, what are they learning? Make sure to give your child plenty of space and room to experiment and make mistakes.

Most importantly, the whole point of doing activities at this young age, is to have fun. Having fun now can start building the pathways in your child’s brain to associate learning with fun. If you or your child are not having fun, you’re doing something wrong. And never hesitate to stop your activity, walk away from it, or reset. Just because you have an idea of how it is going to go, if you aren’t enjoying yourself, find a different activity or a different way to engage.

Setting Up

Not every activity that you do has to be incredibly complicated or require a ton of time or set up. However, you can make your life a little easier by completing a littler preparation in advance. This can be for anything, from science experiments to crafts to field trips.

Buy in Bulk

I cannot stress the usefulness of buying in bulk. I know I personally get really anxious about wasting materials. This can range from anything like paper, beads, and even yeast for experiments. That is because of my own childhood, where abundance wasn’t really something I was used to. Now that I am an adult though, I am trying to change that poverty mentality for my children. One way that has helped me with this is buying in bulk. I still limit the quantity of supplies my children can use for any one project, but it helps me feel less like I’m going to run out soon. Plus, buying in bulk is cheaper.

Favorites

These are some of my most common items that I purchase in bulk.

Make Time to Prep and Clean

I find one of the most valuable ways to ensure that an activity goes smoothly is to set aside time for preparing beforehand and cleaning afterwards. This doesn’t have to be a lot of time, but enough that you don’t feel like the world is out of control.

For preparing, I clean up the space where the activity is going to take place. We have a designated art table at my house that the kids know is where we do big projects. So I will clean off the table and set the materials for the activity out on it. I also always grab a towel or two in case of spills.

For clean up, I always clean up the children first. Sometimes that’s as simple as putting them in the sink or the bath. Other times it’s more involved. This way they aren’t tracking a mess through the house though. If it’s appropriate to have them help me clean up as well, I will. Then my goal is to get the messiest bits out of reach. So dishes go in the sink, table gets wiped down, floor gets cleaned up. I save doing dishes for last because it is the least likely to get tracked through the house once it is next to the sink. I also have a designated space where we hang artwork to dry, which is also up high. Only once art is dry does it come down and go on walls.

Activity Ideas

If you ever feel stuck and need ideas for an activity, there are endless resources. From books to social media to blogs, there are so many possibilities. I’ve even written a few books myself that are packed full of fun learning and ideas for school age children.

I feel like activities for toddlers is one of the more common search items. But even infants can be engaged with fun ideas. I have written a monthly curriculum (link) for ages birth through 5 to help generate even more ideas for play and learning that you can do with your child.

More Activity Ideas

Nature Walk (All Ages)
Making Playdough (Ages 8 months – 8)
Sugar Cookies (Ages 8 months – adult)
Car Painting (Ages 1-4)
Painting Onesies (Ages 1.5 – adult)
Foam Activity (Ages 2-8)
Skittles Experiment (Ages 5-8)
Letter Writing (Ages 5-10)
Baking Soda Powered Boat (Ages 7-12)
Balloon Racing (Ages 7-12)

Beyond the Home

Not every activity and learning experience you have has to be some big to do at home. There is a lot of value in getting out of the house and going places as well. Don’t underestimate the value of memberships (link) to get into places, especially things like the Zoo or Museums.

I like to think of going places as a field trip. Where are different fun, educational places you can go to expand your child’s learning and experiences? The possibilities for engaging with our children are nearly endless!