How to spend time at home with children
Even adults find themselves wondering what to do with time at home, so it’s even tougher for kids—when they get bored, they can get cranky, and it becomes a real challenge.
To help you enjoy those long hours at home, here’s a lineup of games and ideas that kids are sure to love.
There’s a variety—from things you can do with little to no money, to items you can get at a 100-yen shop, to activities that take a bit more time and effort.
Of course, there are also options that adults can enjoy together with the kids, so use these as a reference and have a great time at home!
How to spend at-home time with children (1–10)
home camping
When long vacations like summer or winter break come around, you just feel like going camping, don’t you? Home camping is the perfect way to make that wish come true! As the name suggests, it’s camping inside your house.
Once you decide which room will be your campsite, have everyone move the items in that room elsewhere so it’s completely empty.
Then set up a tent in there! Just doing this will change the mood right away! Also, if you prepare things in advance—like what you’d take camping, a change of clothes, and some snacks—you can enjoy an even more authentic camping experience!
Online content from zoos and aquariums
Zoos and aquariums let you encounter creatures you don’t usually get to see.
If possible, we’d love for children to be exposed to them from a young age.
While it’s best to see them in person, avoiding crowds is important too, so I recommend online content.
These days, there are plenty of videos on YouTube and elsewhere—long recordings of underwater scenes and footage of African wildlife.
You can even see animals you wouldn’t find in Japan.
Even if you can’t see them directly, it can lead to new discoveries and be a great source of inspiration for kids! If you have a simple projector, you can enjoy it on a big screen with lots of impact, so that’s recommended too!
Playing festival at home
When you think of big summer events, festivals come to mind, right? Seeing rows of stalls—goldfish scooping, lotteries, yakisoba, cotton candy, and more—can make even adults feel like kids again.
If you want your children to experience that feeling, try having a festival at home! Set up stalls and recreate the scene faithfully, and the kids are sure to love it.
Unlike a real festival, there’s no worry about getting separated, so you might actually be able to enjoy the festive mood more freely.
From the preparations onward, the whole family can have fun together!
Playing shop
Dagashi shops used to be like a dreamland for kids.
These days, it’s getting rare to see the old-fashioned kind.
If you want today’s children to experience some of that fun, a great idea is to play a “dagashi shop” pretend shopping game! All you need to prepare are some dagashi (cheap snacks), a toy cash register or a calculator, and, to set the mood, things like display shelves and price tags.
Then have the children take turns being customers and shopkeepers and do their shopping.
It’s a fun way to practice arithmetic and shopping skills!
Jiggly Ball
These jiggly balls you often see on overseas TikTok are fascinating.
At first glance they look like marbles—round and pretty—but they don’t break when dropped and bounce like super balls.
There are so many ways to play with them: toss them in a pool, launch them and play catch, and since they look so beautiful, they’re great for shooting videos and photos too! There’s just one thing to keep in mind: after you’re done playing, make sure to dry them thoroughly before throwing them away.
If you wash them down the drain, they can cause clogs and a major mess, so please be careful!
balloon mat
Let me introduce a balloon mat you can make with colorful balloons! All you need are lots of balloons and a vacuum storage bag for bedding.
First, inflate the balloons fully.
Then pack them into the vacuum storage bag and compress it with a vacuum cleaner.
Once the compression pulls the balloons tightly together, your balloon mat is complete! Strangely enough, in mat form the balloons are much less likely to pop.
Even if kids jump or fall onto it, they rarely burst.
If any do pop, just replace the balloons and compress it again to restore it!
Making snacks on a hot plate
When you’re watching TV or browsing online, don’t you sometimes find yourself craving those delicious-looking sweets? If you want to try them but prefer not to eat out, I recommend making snacks with an electric griddle.
The video here shows how to make Baumkuchen! It’s amazing that you can make that Baumkuchen at home—and with an electric griddle, no less.
Do you have an electric griddle lying dormant in your kitchen? This is a great way to spend your time at home if you do.
Round Sticker Art
Recently, “circle sticker art” has been getting attention on social media and TV programs.
It uses colorful round stickers—the kind you often saw as students—to create artworks.
By combining stickers of various colors and sizes, you can make pieces that look like mosaic art.
Round stickers are easy to get in large quantities at 100-yen shops and other stores for a low price.
The more stickers you use, the more polished and elaborate your work can become.
Be sure to check out the works of Kana Kitamura and Yukino Omura, who are active as circle sticker artists, for inspiration!
Make a timetable
When you spend more time at home, you tend to use your time differently from your usual lifestyle, don’t you? In times like that, I recommend making a schedule! Just because you’re at home more doesn’t mean you should let the day slip by doing nothing—it would be such a waste.
To avoid lazing around, create your own timetable and set up a daily routine; if you follow it, you won’t waste your time! If you decorate a small chalkboard or whiteboard you can get at a 100-yen shop, it’ll boost your motivation even more!
Hiragana Play
When it comes to things you can enjoy at home, crafts are a great choice! Toys you make yourself feel special, and just having them makes you happy.
Here, we’re making a toy that lets you play with hiragana using plastic bottle caps.
To make it, you simply stick your favorite hiragana stickers onto the caps, so even small children can have fun! Stickers from 100-yen shops are perfectly fine.
It’s two birds with one stone—you can learn hiragana while making and playing with the toy!