Activities to Keep Your Kids Busy While You're Stuck at Home
There’s quite a variety of reasons you might be stuck at home lately. The East Coast keeps getting hit with blizzards, others are encouraged to stay home while they’re sick, and tons of others reasons why you may be stuck at home more than usual. We’ve also personally been in this boat quite a bit over the last couple years and we’ve found that keeping the kids busy with fun (ideally educational) activities is a great help when you need to get some work done. Here’s our list of some of our favourite educational activities to enjoy while we’re at home.
STIX + BRIX
How about a fun new model kit to build and play with? Stix + Brix has a variety of fun buildable options for your little architects. They also have some downloadable activities for you to try! Find their store here.
Happy Egg Play Kits
These playdough kits are a blast to play with! They come with all sorts of tools and decorations for your kids to build whatever they can think of! Find them on Etsy.
Vancouver Art Gallery
Vancouver Art Gallery designed this Art at Home program, a series of digital family programs designed to inspire and encourage creativity. Each activity starts with some inspiration and then guides you step by step on what to do.
Gather Make Art
Our friend over at Gather Make Art has a TON of downloadable and online courses to keep kids entertained and creative while at home. If your child likes to paint and draw, this is the option for you! Find the list of courses here.
Outschool
This online education platform hosts thousands of online classes for any interest! Browse through the most popular classes or search by interest, there’s something for any child. Explore the catalogue here.
Apple Arcade
Apple Arcade is a great resource for all things games! Fantasy games, puzzle games, classics, brainteasers, they’ve got it all. New games are added to their collection every week and they have games suitable for all ages. They even have a one month free trial if you’d like to try it out first.
Stop Motion Kids Camp
This stop motion camp was a HUGE hit in our household. Trisha was an amazing instructor and the class was set up so any age could enjoy it. Check out the curriculum here. They also have specific themed camps and a new Lego inspired camp!
Netflix
When in doubt, Netflix has a great selection of documentary style movies these days. Abstract: The Art of Design is a personal favourite, which luckily has 2 seasons to keep you entertained. Some more docuseries appropriate for kids (be sure to check the rating!) include: 7 Days Out, Kevin Hart’s Guide to Black History, Bill Nye Saves the World, and The Mind Explained. If you’d rather a movie, some other kid friendly options are My Octopus Teacher, Kiss the Ground, Ladies First, and The Social Dilemma. It’s also worth it to mention Disney+ here as well since they have a National Geographic channel with a huge selection of interesting documentaries specifically targeted towards kids.
DOWNLOADABLE ACTIVITES
We couldn’t forget to mention our favourite downloadable activities! If you hop on over to our shop you’ll find 8 activities you can download to try at home. These projects start from the very basics of architecture where we learn how architects draw their plans all the way to creating your very own models. We even have a bundle where you can get all 8 activities in one!
HOUSE KITS
If you want something a little more adventurous, check out our House Kits! Build a A Frame Cabin and decorate it however you desire. Lots of fun that lasts for hours.