Fun Homeschooling Activities

Homeschooling can become quite challenging at times! Sometimes you might feel that you need to take a step back and breathe, think things through, right? We are here to help! You can find important information for homeschooling parents, together with a free e-book, in this How to Start Homeschooling article. Throughout my experience as a teacher, I’ve tested many fun activities that I think could help all homeschooling parents. By introducing fun homeschooling activities in your regular timetable children can become more responsive, learning can be made more meaningful and your regular routine can become more engaging.  The ideas below work great as fun homeschooling activities in themselves, but also be used as warm up activities or to introduce learning objectives. 

GRAB our FREE E-BOOK for homeschooling hands-on activities that require little or no preparation. 

I believe that homeschooling parents need to pay attention not only to cognitive development but also to physical development.  Physical activity is very important for children between 5-17, according to the World Health Organization. Physical activity doesn’t refer only to exercise and sport, it also involves games, play, transportation, recreation, or even chores.   The activities below are suitable for homeschool, but also for large classrooms, and are aimed at children between the ages of 4 and 16. However the activities are quite flexible, so you can try them with other age groups as well!

11 Fun Homeschooling Activities for Kids

1. Darts

Benefits:

• can be played individually or in teams
• easy to set up
• it is quite versatile and it can help consolidate numbers, additions, etc.
• it improves hand-eye coordination  
• you can use it as a learning homeschool activity while at the same time helping your child have fun

Don’t have a darts game around the house? Make your own. For my 2-year-old I made one with animals:

1. Cut a circle out of cardboard
2. glue a white piece of paperpaper over it
3. start drawing/ add simple mathematical calculations /words you wish children to learn/ grammar aspects to practice/ difficult words to spell/read.

You can choose to keep the points on the board to make it into a fun homeschooling competition if you are homeschooling more children. Or take away the points and offer rewards when the activity is completed.  2.  Jump and shout The activity is called jump and shout because children must cross an invisible river by stepping on the rocks. The rocks are pieces of paper with words or numbers on them. Set up:

1. Print the sheets from the Fun and engaging indoor games booklet 
2. Spread them out around the room
3. Tell players that when stepping on one rock, they must quickly shout the word they stepped on
4. After saying the word, they can jump on the next stone
5. If he fails to shout the word, he must go back to start and do it again.
6.  To make it more engaging, set a time limit to cross the river.

3. Fruit basket I love this indoor activity but bear in mind that it requires at least 4 players. It is a game for older children because of the skills it requires, but you can give it a try with 5-6 year-olds too. Set up:

1. First, players need to sit on chairs/cushions in a circle.
2. One player is IT so he is not in the circle.
3. Players are assigned the name of a fruit/they choose one. It is better if more than one player has the same fruit name. 
4. IT calls out a fruit.
5. The children that have been assigned the fruit called out must jump up from the chair and find a new seat.
6. But at the same time, IT will compete for an empty chair.
7. When competing for a chair, ne player will be left standing.
8. Repeat the procedure over and over again, calling out different fruit

With older children or bigger groups, you can decide together on different categories or even questions: favorite pets, free time activities, who has ever been to Greece? etc. Answers might vary so there might not be two similar answers. This means everyone will have to stand up and look for seats.  4. Hopscotch

When you need a break from sitting down activities, try this all-time favorite. Homeschooling will surely become more fun when after spelling/reading/additions comes playing! 

Set up:

1. Depending on the situation, you could stick some tape on a hard floor/ lay down large foam numbers/A4 pieces of paper on which you write the numbers. 
2. The children could give each other dares: to hop with their eyes closed, to say the alphabet while hopping, to hop backwards.

They will most certainly find great dares for each other and have loads of fun. Then they can return to regular homeschool activities with a smile on their face! 5. Blind man’s buff This game can be played it in large numbers, but it can also be played in as little as 3 players. Set up:

• blindfold a person
• he must run around to touch the others and guess who he touched
• if he guesses correctly, then the person he touched would be blindfolded next.

The most important thing to remember is to remove all dangerous obstacles from the room when playing indoor games. This is a game all the family can enjoy, so don’t hesitate to take a break from homeschooling yourself and join in the fun! 6. Balloon pop Playing with balloons is at the top of the list for many children. But why not make it interesting? Set up:

1. before you blow up the balloons, write some secret messages on tiny pieces of paper.
2. fold them up into tiny rectangles.
3. place one secret message in each balloon
4. blow them up.
5. children compete to pop the balloon and read the secret message.
6. the first to pop and read wins points for his team.

Make sure you have many balloons handy!  For more fun no-prep activities please see other fun five minute activities.  7. Race you there My students enjoyed this game greatly! Racing is fun and engaging so make sure to give it a try! Even indoors. Variations:

• you can race with a spoon in your hand, fill it with water, and go from finish to start without spilling a drop.
• race to retrieve an object and take it to the finish point.
• Get little pieces of paper from a plate by using only a straw and taking it to the finish line without using your hands.
• Get little toys from the water with the help of a spoon/net and compete.
• You could also try to race with their legs tied or with super large shoes on
• race together in a large shirt.
• Use magnetic fishing rods and toys to make it easier for younger children.

There are many things you could try and all of them are a wonderful break for homeschooling routines! 8. Musical chairs When you are homeschooling, you might often find yourself wondering how to start the day. I always use a warm-up. And it often involved music, as it creates a fun and positive atmosphere. Variations:

1. To make the activity more meaningful, let the children choose the music! 
2. You could also choose to sing the song. Simply assign a person to press a buzzer/ring a bell/make a loud noise to signal when to stop singing and sit down.  
3. It becomes even more fun when you join in, dear parents! There is a laugh a minute with this game when children and adults play together!

9. Ring toss The game of ring toss doesn’t necessarily have to be played with actual rings if you don’t have any around. My first suggestion would be to try and make your own ring toss game. Make sure to check out this video on how to make a very simple ring toss game. Variation:

• throw pom-poms in a plastic bottle. I played it with my 2-year-old and he had lots of fun.
• We threw pom-poms in a large plastic bottle which I’d previously cut out and painted in a funny way.
•  We drew and painted a large mouth so that when throwing the pom-pom my son thought we were feeding it.

Of course, you can also try other options. Maybe throw small colourful balls/paper balls (put the paper in water, squeeze hard, and shape it) in a container of different sizes and shapes. 10. Antwalk Try this activity when homeschooling as it is very simple and fun. It requires only two players, so join in the fun. Set up:

• The players start from opposing sides of the room
• They must walk towards each other by taking tiny steps, heel in front of the toe.
• Before starting, players must decide on a number, 7 for example.
• They take the 7 steps toward each other
• Then players must perform a dare, one they can actually do without having to move from the spot.
• The players give each other one dare and then they decide on another number and start walking again, tiny steps.
• The first to get to the other side of the room wins.

If a player moved from the spot while performing the dare, he loses. But you can always try again. And again! 11. Obstacle course My personal favourite activity when homeschooling is an obstacle course. It gives you so much freedom and the child has so much fun, that you cannot not play it! It can be played by children as young as 2. Variations:

• For younger children, create a simpler and shorter obstacle course: a chair to crawl under, a cushion to hop or step over, balls to throw in a basket, and something to climb onto.
• For older children, you can make more complex obstacles and spread them all across the house.  Supervise the children closely and let them enjoy the race!

Include some other tasks to perform throughout the race: a puzzle, a matching activity etc Make sure to place a reward at the end of the obstacle course: a fruit or a toy, anything your child likes.

Conclusions

I know that homeschooling can be stressful and sometimes scary, but be patient! Give it time and always trust your instincts. We are also here to help. We constantly add articles for homeschooling parents, so make sure to come back for more inspiration, dear parents!  If you also need more fun learning activities, read the fun number recognition activities article.   Make sure to read our guide for homeschooling parents for useful tips and tricks.  You, dear parents, are doing a wonderful job! Children learn best when adults model.

So keep calm and model on!

Join our Facebook group Learning Activities for Kids and make parenthood easier!