Indoor fun to fuel the imagination

Is your little one driving you crazy indoors? Are you struggling to think of things you can do together? 

Well, if you want to entertain your child you have to get into their frame of mind – lose your inhibitions and remember what is was like when your imagination could change the world around you.

That’s why we have come up with a comprehensive list packed full of imaginative games that you can play together. With these ideas you won’t run out of things to occupy them with for a long time. They are challenging, educational and will get your little one’s mind working (and maybe yours!)

1. Feely box

The mystery of this game is always a winner with little ones. Choose some items from around the house that your child knows. Place one object in a cloth bag or pillow case and tie the open end with a rubber band. Then let your child feel the bag from the outside until they can guess what object is inside. After you’ve done this for a while let them choose some objects to test you!

2. Hand Animals

Turn all the lights off in a dark room except one and shine it at the wall. Then play hand puppets - you and your child can take it in turns to try and create different animals for the other to guess what it is. Let them make some good animal sounds alongside. Try combining both of your hands for those really tricky ones!

3. Talent Show

Encourage your child to prepare a talent show for you – give them lots of ideas for what they could do including dancing, a magic act, telling stories or making music. Then set up a stage space in the living room and have them put on the show. It really doesn’t matter what they do or how good/bad they are at doing it just clap lots! Then swap around and show them your talent.

3. Poem Dance

Find your little one’s favourite poem. Then go through it with them looking at the different images, sounds, movements inside it and work out actions to go alongside them. Let your child really think creatively about all the different things they can associate with the words. Finally read it out and have them perform.

4. Create a band

This can be a special project for you and your child to work at. Spend a few days making special instruments ready for your band and then start trying to create some songs. Here 's how to make some quick instruments:

Maracas
1. Put some dried rice in an old yoghurt pot
2. Tape another yoghurt pot onto the original and then shake!

Guitar
1. Take an old tissue box
2. Stretch a few rubber bands around the box over the hole and slide a pencil under the rubber bands on one side of the hole
3. Tape on a toilet role tube to one side to give effect of a guitar then get strumming!

Drums
Bang on anything!

5. Treasure hunt

Organise a treasure hunt around the house. Write out clues and remember to make them challenging but not impossible, for example if you want your child to find the breakfast cereal write, 'something you eat with milk'. Choose lots of objects that you can lead them to around the house and place the clues by the objects you have chosen. At the end of the treasure hunt have a special present waiting.

6. Indoor camping trip

Kids love doing make believe activities and this one has all the excitement and action they could want. Tell them you are going on a camping trip indoors and transform your living room! Spend time collecting together everything you are going to take – pots, snacks, books, torches and some games. Then set up a small tent in the living room or create one with some chairs and blankets – use your imagination. Spending an afternoon inside the tent will give you some quality time with your child and you can keep the atmosphere going – turn out the lights, turn on the torches and listen out for the bat wings...

You can vary the theme everytime... create a castle, a den, a space ship... the living room is your oyster.

7. Create a story book

You don’t always have to resort to reading them stories instead to really get their creative juices flowing have them create their own book! Get an exercise book and think through with them ideas for the plot, what their characters will be like and what pictures they can draw. Then leave them to it – when they are done tell them they can read it to you instead.

8. Enact a story

Another way to make story-time that little bit more interesting is to create one between you. Have your child make up and act out one line of a story, “Once upon a time a great dragon was asleep in a big cave…” then you create the next line, again acting it out. Your little one will have heaps of fun becoming the hero in their own story.

9. Memory Game

Get some objects from around the house and place them evenly on a tray. Give your child a minute or two to stare at them and take in what is there. Then cover them with a towel and ask them to recall or write a list of everything they can remember. It’s a really fun way of improving their memory.

10. Mouse

Dice have always been used by children to play games since the Egyptian times so they must be doing something right! For this game all you need is a die, paper and a pencil. Then explain to them that:
The number 6 = tail
The number 5 = eyes
The number 4 = body
The number 3 = ears
The number 2 = nose
The number 1 = whiskers
Have them roll the dice and whichever body part of the mouse the number corresponds to they can draw on the piece of paper. They have to keep doing it until they have created the whole mouse – if they get the same body part more than once they have to roll again!

11. Record the sounds around you

We have all this technology at our fingertips so there is no reason why you can’t use it to play with your child. Get a tape recorder or digital recorder and go around the house recording everyday sounds. Have them choose sounds you can record like opening a door, running a tap, hoovering etc. Then you can play back the sounds and get them to remember what they were.

12. Make an indoor obstacle course

This is a classic game that never fails with young kids – or old ones! It might mess up your living room for a little while but when you see how much they enjoy it, it will definitely be worth it. Lay chairs, small tables or boxes across the room. Cover certain areas with blankets to create tunnels and use cushions around the room as ‘stepping stones’. Then get your child to work their way through the obstacle course – you can add instructions to make it even harder like when they reach the ‘magical pond’ (i.e. a blanket on the floor) they have to do five star jumps before they can move on.

13. Dress up

Kids love to dress up – they have probably already raided the wardrobe and come down for tea in your shoes. Make it even easier for them and get loads of old clothes together that you intend to throw away – clothes, hats, makeup, jewellery, shoes…  then just let them raid it and have fun. Get them to act out different parts depending on what they are dressed as. Have a go yourself, afterall, we never get to old for dress-up. 

14. Put on a puppet show

Make some puppets together (see instructions below) and then think up a plot for a puppet show that you can put on together. Create a mini stage by throwing a blanket over the kitchen table and performing behind it or cut out the middle of a cardboard box and decorate it.

You will need

• Cardboard
• Scissors
• Drinking straws
• Pens
• Tape
• Googly eyes

Instructions

1. Help them to draw the outline of an animal head on the card…anything they like!
2. Cut it out for them and then let them design it with colours, googly eyes and anything else you have i.e. bits of yarn for hair.
3. Tape a straw onto the back and voila you have a puppet head!
4. Have them make a whole menagerie of animals and people ready for the show.

15. Treasure chest

Make a treasure chest together and fill it with all their special objects. Just take an old shoe box and let them paint it (you can either help them to make it look like a real treasure chest or just let them go wild!) Take the lid and snip down two corners on the long side. Then using sturdy tape connect the lid with the box so that you can raise it up and down. Finally pierce two holes in the front and tie some string into each so that you can join the pieces of string together and ‘lock’ the box.

Your little one will love the idea of creating something so secretive and special and they will spend hours finding what deserves to go inside.

16. Design a flag

Teach them a bit of geography while having fun. Go through different countries, where they are and what their flags look like having them think about the different ways flags look. Afterwards get them to design their own flag for their made-up country. They can also spend ages planning what their own country will be like – will it rain chocolate? Will everyone fly in a spaceship? Get them thinking!