Playing as a family is very important for child development. Therefore, it is very helpful to know some activities to do with kids at home.

As we always say around here, playing is much more than a hobby for children. Playing encourages children to develop various skills. Sometimes, activities to do with kids require some imagination, but they’re not hard to come up with.

Although playing alone or with friends has its benefits, family play contributes a lot to child development, especially in the social and emotional areas. This is because spending time together strengthens the emotional bond between family members, encourages complicity and companionship, and promotes self-confidence and self-knowledge.

We know that your repertoire of activities may be limited. After all, parents don’t always know what to do. That’s why we decided to share with you 8 suggestions for activities to do with your children. Keep reading!

8 Activities To Do With Kids

1. Musical Jars II

This game is not only fun, but it also helps fostering your child’s coordination. Get some jars with lids and pasta of different shapes and sizes. Invite your little one to play and tell them that you will make your own musical instruments.

Ask your child to help you open the jars. See if they can hold the object and unscrew the caps on their own. If they can’t, help them by showing them how it’s done. Put some pasta in the jars and put the lids back on. That’s it! Now, simply shake the jars to the rhythm of your child’s favorite songs, singing and dancing.

This activity is designed for 2 to 3-year-olds.

2. Shake The Rattle

This sensory activity encourages your child to interact with you. Sit with your little one on the floor. Use pillows to prop them up if they can’t sit up on their own just yet. Take a rattle and show it to them, observing how they react when they see the toy.

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Then, give your baby the rattle and see if they can shake it. Keep playing for as long as they want. This simple game, suitable for babies from 3 to 6 months old, will boost their social skills and strengthen the bond between parents and children.

3. Hugs And Kisses

To bring family and baby closer together, you can invite your child to sit at one end of the room while a guest sits at the opposite end. Then, ask your baby to walk over to the other person for a hug.

Then, ask them to come back and give you a kiss. While receiving hugs and kisses from your little one is very pleasant, this will also strengthen your bond. This Kinedu activity is suitable for children from 1 to 2 years old.

4. Painting With Water

Painting stimulates creativity and imagination and helps develop fine motor skills. However, many parents do not like the idea because it can get messy. So playing with water instead can be a good alternative!

 For this activity, you will only need a container with water and a brush, as well as some brown paper. Make a masterpiece by dipping the brush into the water, just like paint. The coolest part is that in a few minutes the water will dry up, leaving the “canvas” blank again so that you can paint on the paper again.

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5. Let’s Talk III

To help your child use longer sentences in conversation, we recommend this activity for 3 and 4-year-olds. Invite your little one to talk about what happened that day. Always make eye contact and ask them to tell you about their day as if it were a story.

You will need to pay attention to how they form sentences and how many words they can put together. Ask open questions, so that the conversation flows. 

6. Puzzles

Did you know that puzzles are a stimulating and relaxing activity even for adults? Fitting pieces together encourages your little one’s cognitive development. It also strengthens brain connections and helps building new ones.

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In addition, it improves mental agility, logic, reason, creativity, and artistic vision. Therefore, it is an excellent option for activities to do with kids after a day at work, for example. Remember to choose a design according to your child’s age. The younger they are, the fewer and larger pieces the puzzle should have.

7. Fruit Basket II

Just like painting, writing, and coloring, this activity for children aged 3 to 4 fosters their imagination, creativity, and hand and finger coordination. To do it you will need:

• Green playdough;
• Scissors for children;
• Red, white, and orange cardstock;
• Tape;
• Markers.

Put all the items on a table and present them to your child. Tell them you’re going to make a fruit basket. First, draw a basket on the white cardstock paper, then ask your little one to draw circles on the red and orange cardstock. These will be the apples and oranges.

Once they’re done, cut out the fruits and ask them to paste them inside the basket. Then, have them make some leaves with the green playdough and color the basket with the markers.

By the way, if you want, you can use other cardstock colors to represent more fruits, like green for lemons and purple for grapes. This Kinedu activity helps your child develop their ability to draw circles. Keep practicing!

8. Bowling With Plastic Bottles

Using recyclable material to play with is a great way to teach your child about the importance of recycling and taking care of nature. Therefore, make bowling pins out of plastic bottles to play with. It is very easy to make and you will only need some bottles and a light, medium ball.

Arrange the bottles in a triangle, like in bowling, and ask your child to roll the ball towards them to knock down as many as possible. This activity also stimulates gross motor skills.

As you can see, playing as a family is very important for children to develop their self-confidence and strengthen your parent-child bond. Therefore, make sure you add activities to do with kids to your household routine. Time flies, but you’ll cherish these memories with your little one forever.

At Kinedu, you can access interactive play sessions and find more than 1,800 activities to do with your child. Download the app HERE.