21 Awesome Activities to Keep Your Kids Busy While You Work from Home

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In the current climate of quarantines and social distancing, many of us are suddenly finding ourselves trying to work from home while our children’s schools are also closed. Many of us are also trying to find some activities for kids at home. If you are struggling to get work done while also having your children home too, this big list of activities is sure to keep your kids busy for hours while you can concentrate on work.

Here are some activities to keep your children happy and busy so you can keep your sanity while working from home.

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Print out this checklist, tack it to the fridge, and direct your children to go find a new fun activity from the list while you work.

Awesome Activities to Keep Your Kids Busy While You Work from Home

Creative Activities

When children’s imaginations are sparked, they will happily play in a world of their own for hours on end, giving you time to get some work done. Here are a few activities to get your children’s creativity flowing:

• Create a living room fort with sheets, blankets, and pillows. Perfect for reading, playing pretend with dolls and stuffed animals, or watching a movie. 

• Save cardboard shipping boxes for a few days and then hand them over to your kids to become forts, rockets, or houses for stuffed animals and dolls. Throw in some markers or crayons (and maybe scissors for older children) and your kids will be happily entertained for hours and even days—buying you valuable work time.

• Ask your children to create a play to perform for you after dinner. Provide them with puppet supplies, a song playlist, or costumes to dress up in.

• Fill a plastic tub with a shallow amount of water and place it in an empty bathtub or on the porch. Add some measuring cups, spoons, ice-cubes, plastic animals, or toy cars. This is the perfect time to get some work done by taking your laptop into the bathroom or on the porch while you supervise your children. 

• Build a city with legos or blocks. If you are brave and/or extra-desperate for a large amount of time, dump every block or lego your children own on the floor and challenge them to use every single one to build their city. This is sure to occupy them for quite some time!

• Have a paper airplane challenge. 

• Have art time. Everything from simple coloring books and crayons, to paint, scissors, and glue gets a child’s creativity flowing. For a craft that your child can do independently and that requires minimal clean-up, stock up on easy kits from clearance aisles year round.

• Challenge your children to create the longest or most creative domino chain. As the chain will invariably be knocked over several times, this is sure to buy you a considerable amount of work time.

• Make a sensory bin. Fill a large tupperware or plastic kiddie pool with dried beans or rice and throw in some cups, spoons, and small toys. If you are going to set this up inside, lay out a sheet to keep the mess contained. 

• Provide your children with craft pom-poms and plastic spoons to create pom-pom launchers. Challenge your kids to see who can launch their pom-pom the farthest? The highest? Who can launch the most? Set up some plastic cups as targets for extra-fun.

• Have a tea-party. A pitcher filled with a special drink like pink lemonade or hot chocolate and some crackers or cookies never fails to entertain children. 

• Play with play dough, clay, or slime. The valuable work time you get out of this activity is well worth the mess!

Active Activities

It doesn’t take long for children to start bouncing off the walls when they are cooped up inside, which makes it extremely difficult for you to remain sane and get some work done. Here are a few activities that will allow your children to burn some energy while you work:

• Balloon volleyball is a fun activity for kids of all ages. Hang a string or a sheet from the backs of two chairs, blow up a balloon, and let the game begin! 

• Have a dance party.

• Play a kids yoga video.

• Play a game that requires activity. Some fun active games are Twister, Dancing Eggs, and Hullaballoo.

• Set up indoor hopscotch in your hallway. Use masking tape to create boxes and numbers on the floor and use a soft beanbag or other object as the rock. 

• Do a kids work-out. If you have an Amazon Alexa, the Animal Workout Skill is great for this. 

• Create an indoor scavenger hunt. For a fun scavenger hunt that doesn’t require set-up, tell your kids to collect or take pictures of objects around the house that start with the letters of the alphabet. 

Quiet Activities

When you are working from home, it can be difficult to find some quiet time until after the kids are in bed. These activities will give children time to chill and you time to get some work done in peaceful quiet:

• Audio books are a great way to entertain children of all reading levels. A fascinating story can entertain children for hours on end.

• Some parents feel guilty entertaining their children with screen time, but an occasional movie afternoon can be a special way for children to have some down time and you to get some work done. To make movie time extra special, lay out a picnic blanket and treat your kids to a yummy snack. 

• For children who are too old to nap, quiet time is a great way for you to keep your sanity and get some work done. Establish a daily routine that sets aside an hour to two hours in the afternoon for independent quiet activities, such as reading, writing, or coloring. 

These 21 activities are sure to keep your kids happy and busy while you work from home. Don’t forget to print out the checklist, so your kids can independently choose and try new activities while Mom is busy working.
This HUGE list of activities for kids at home will give you even more great ideas for keeping your kids busy.