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!
- [For Kids] Indoor Games and Activities Recommended for Winter Break
- Crafts parents and kids can enjoy together. Recommended craft ideas to keep children entertained.
- [100-Yen Store Crafts] Handmade ideas that captivate adults too. Stylish DIY/handmade.
- [For Adults] Make the Most of Your Free Time! Ideas to Kill Time
- Have Fun with Your Kids! A Roundup of Board Games Recommended for Parents and Children
- [Indoor Activities] A Collection of Craft Ideas Recommended for Elementary School Students
- [Fun For Solo Adults] How to Enjoy Your Time at Home
- [For Kids] Today’s Handmade Craft Ideas
- [Children’s Club] Easy and fun indoor games. Exciting party games
- Indoor activities you can do at home—from educational play to physical games! Fun ideas that will fill your day with smiles.
- Solo indoor play ideas for elementary school kids: a collection to turn boredom into fun time
- Fun for adults and kids alike! Home festival ideas to capture the lively spirit of a Japanese matsuri
- Indoor Games You Can Do in 5 Minutes: A Collection of No-Prep, Instant-Fun Ideas
How to spend time at home with children (11–20)
Pretending to be at a night pool in the bath
Night pools attached to hotels and the like.
When you’re traveling with the family, having a night pool really gets the kids excited, doesn’t it? Let’s recreate that night pool experience in your home bath! All you need are those glowing toys you often see at summer festivals, sometimes called “pika-pika scoops.” Float various shapes of light-up toys in the tub and play, and you can create a magical, night-pool-like atmosphere! It’s also great for an adult’s relaxation time.
Perler beads
Especially for women, haven’t you played with them at least once? A great recommendation for spending time at home with kids is Perler beads (iron beads).
With iron beads, you arrange beads into your favorite shapes, fuse them with an iron, and make toys like accessories and keychains! They come in many colors and are relatively inexpensive, so they’re highly recommended! You can even create original items inspired by your favorite characters! Since it’s dangerous for children to use an iron by themselves, be sure they always play with an adult.
Making slime
Let’s make slime at home that kids love! Slime has become popular in recent years through ASMR videos.
Simple ones are great, but the colorful kinds with glitter and decorative pieces are so cute you can’t help wanting them, right? To make that kind of slime at home, you’ll need laundry glue, water, food coloring or paint for color, and borax.
You can easily find borax at drugstores! Since you can make it with easy-to-get materials, try creating your own original slime together as a parent-child activity!
table tennis
We usually use the dining table for meals or small tasks.
To make time at home more enjoyable, let’s try using it as a ping-pong table! Table tennis is a sport you can play without professional equipment.
Plus, ping-pong balls are very light and small, so they won’t break things if they hit them, and they won’t hurt if they hit someone.
That’s why it’s perfect as a sport to play at home! If you set up a net—or something that can serve as one—to divide the table, you’ll have a proper ping-pong table ready to go.
If you host a family ping-pong tournament, it can turn into a fun little family event!
Play with the whiteboard
These days, peel-and-stick whiteboards are widely available.
You might think they’re only for offices, but they’re actually very useful at home too! Stick one on a wall and it instantly becomes a drawing space for your kids.
If you have children who love to draw, you may have had trouble with them doodling on the walls.
In that case, putting up a removable whiteboard will solve the problem in no time! It’s also a good idea to put masking tape around the edges so kids don’t draw outside the whiteboard.
Treasure Hunt Game
There’s only so much you can do inside the house, right? When you’re spending time at home, you tend to end up doing the same things, and it can start to feel kind of boring.
That’s when a treasure hunt game is a great idea! Turn your usual home into a stage where treasures are hidden.
Hide toys, snacks, or other things kids will love, and create a few clues that lead them to the spots! Guided by the hints, the kids searching for the treasure will surely be more lively and excited than ever.
Crafting with milk cartons
In households with children going through growth spurts, many probably make a point of drinking milk every day, right? And in those homes, you always end up with empty milk cartons.
You often hear that they’re good for recycling, but if you’re not quite sure how to put them to good use, we recommend crafts made with milk cartons! Just paint them to make them colorful and cut them into your favorite shapes, and they become great toys.
They’re perfect for at-home time and fun to enjoy from the making process onward!
Colored water play
It always seems that when a child says, “I want to play with colored water,” we don’t have any paint at home.
In times like that, you can make colored water using tissue paper flowers! This is the soft, colored paper often used to make flower decorations for entrance or graduation ceremonies.
Here’s how to use it.
First, fill a plastic bottle about halfway with water.
Then tear the tissue paper flowers into small pieces and put them into the water.
Using scissors to cut them is fine, too.
Once you’ve added them, put the cap on the bottle and shake it up and down.
And that’s it—your colored water made with tissue paper flowers is ready!
Parent-child yoga
When you spend more time indoors, a common concern is getting enough exercise.
It’s a worry for both adults and children, but especially for kids at the age where they want to develop their motor skills—it’s no exaggeration to say it can influence the rest of their lives.
Even if you can’t go outside, you still want them to get some moderate physical activity.
That’s where parent-and-child yoga comes in! Rather than tackling complicated poses, you complete simple missions together, and before you know it, you’ve both been moving your bodies and having fun.
It’s especially recommended for anyone who wants an easy, low-pressure way to get some exercise.
Balloon volleyball
If you want to get moving and play a sport while staying at home, balloon volleyball is highly recommended! Using a regulation volleyball indoors could break things and turn into a disaster, but with a balloon there’s no speed, it’s soft and light, so you can enjoy volleyball with zero damage! Even at home, stretch a string or some tape across the middle of a spacious room as a makeshift net to divide the space.
Just like that, you’ve got an instant court! It’s a great option when you want to get some exercise and refresh yourself.