60 Lazy Parenting Activity Ideas for Kids, Toddlers and Preschoolers
Don’t have the energy to set up or clean up an educational or bonding activity for your stir-crazy kids stuck inside all winter? Enjoy 60 of the best lazy parenting indoor activity ideas to create fun and joy inside this winter from the comfort of your couch.
Scroll down for 60 lazy parenting ideas for easy indoor activities for kids!
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60 Lazy Parenting Indoor Activity Ideas to Entertain Kids all Winter!
Create a cozy reading nest with a pile of pillows and blankets in a cozy corner, and read a book or free Libby App eBook.
Read stories under a blanket with a flashlight (phone light).
Put 1-3 toys under 3 cups, move around and try to identify the correct cups.
Make shadows with a flashlight (phone light).
Take shadow photos.
Play “I Spy” using shapes, colors, numbers, letter sounds and prepositions (under, near, between).
Mix oil and water plus other ingredients to see what blends or dissolves and what won’t mix.
Pretend your couch is a boat on the Nile, and you are going on an adventure over rapids, through barracuda, past giant wakes made by large boats, and seeing/hearing monkeys, birds, crocodiles and other African animals from your boat. Alternatively, pretend you are in a hot air balloon or helicopter over the Savannah or dinosaur park, bumping through turbulence, parking in the clouds for lunch and spotting amazing animals below. Next, try a submarine, a time machine, a teleport portal, a space ship, a pirate ship, the adventures are endless.
Have a dance party! Feel free to stay seated with a (chair/couch/bed dance)! Get kids excited about “adult” music by watching the read along video, The Story of Rock. Try some of our favorite adult songs for kids:
Live Like a Warrior by Matisyahu
Dance Around and Jump Around by Octopretzel
Going on a Bear Hunt by The Kiboomers
Blippi Songs: Boat Song, Garbage Truck, Firetruck, Airplane, Excavator Song, etc.
Thunder by Imagine Dragons
Sedated by The Ramones
Rock and Roll Music by Chuck Berry
Baba O’ Riley by The Who
Hound Dog by Elvis
Thunderstruck by ACDC
U Can’t Touch This by MC Hammer
It’s Tricky by Run DMC
Good Vibrations by Marky Mark
Satisfaction by The Rollingstones
Open any illustrated picture book and instead of reading, ask, make up silly thoughts and dialogue to show what they are thinking or feeling: “He’s thinking, ‘P.U. stinky feet!’”
Play hide and seek with a small toy but instead of getting up to find it, use prepositions to guess where you think it is (inside the box, behind vase, under the couch, on top of the fridge).
Play a hotter/colder version of hide the toy.
Cut up a magazine or coloring page into grid-like squares for a DIY puzzle.
Draw a simple picture with the word written above it and cut it into thin strips with one letter per strip. Have your child arrange the DIY puzzle to correctly form the image and word: bat, cat, hat, pizza, carrot, banana, egg, cat, dog, bear, bee, ant, fish, sun, star, boat, car, train, etc.
Ask would you rather questions:
Would you rather be a hummingbird or bald eagle?
Would you rather be able to fly or be able to breathe under water?
Would you rather be able to teleport or time travel?
Ask yes/no or favorite questions:
What’s your favorite toy, game, activity, vacation, field trip, park?
What’s your favorite color, shape, shirt, book, movie, animal, bird, bug, etc.?
What’s your favorite snack, dessert, breakfast, lunch, dinner?
Ask philosophical questions:
What makes you happy?
What makes something funny?
What makes a good day?
Why do you think we cry when we'‘re sad?
Why do you think we laugh when something is funny or ticklish?
How and why do you act when you’re angry, scared, worried, excited, etc.?
Make a paper towel roll telescope or toilet paper roll binoulars
Hide from dinosaurs or monsters under a blanket.
Go on a (seated) alphabet scavenger hunt to find everything of every letter that you can see (artwork, book, card, door, electric outlet, furniture, glass, hand soap, ice cube, jar, key, light, mantel, nose, oil, paper, quarter, recycling bin, scissors, tape, underside of table, vacuum, window, xbox, yellow yarn, ziplock bag.
Melt ice cubes in cold and luke warm and hot water and time how fast they melt.
Look through old photo albums.
Make toy car/truck tracks and toy animal/figurine foot prints in play dough.
Mix baking soda and vinegar in muffin tins with different food coloring or colorful spice (turmeric, chili powder, beet powder, mooring, matcha, etc.) in different muffin tin cups.
Write/draw (preemptive) thank you, birthday, Valentine’s or holiday cards to family members.
Play restaurant. Place your food order while your child serves you food.
Create a pillow and furniture obstacle course.
Time your kids as they run a relay race, up and down stairs or circles around house.
Find shapes in the clouds out your window.
In junk mail, catalogues or magazines, circle letters from your child’s name or any word they want to learn (cat, dog, sun). If text is large enough, cut and paste to spell out the name/word.
Freeze small household or nature objects, food coloring or household herbs and spices in ice cube tray and melt.
Play DIY air hockey table with a large baking sheet or tray. Use an ice cube as the puck and two spoons as hockey sticks.
Place one clear container of water in a sunny spot and one in a shady spot. Track with tape or washable marker how fast each evaporates.
Draw or describe your dream home, dream vacation, dream birthday party, etc.
Play Go Fish or memory matching games with real or DIY cards.
Hammer golf tees into a cardboard box.
Find real-world writing on food containers, toiletry bottles, advertisements and toys.
Play Simon Says.
Play Red Light, Green Light.
Ply Tic, Tac, Toe or Connect Four using paper and pencil.
Play the Lava Game: Must only step on pillows, books, furniture or blankets because the floor is lava.
Draw a map of your neighborhood or world including places you frequently visit.
You can also draw a make-believe treasure map to hide treasure in your house. For example: Climb over the Giant Boulder (labeled couch); sneak past the palm tree (fridge), crawl beneath the jungle forest (kitchen table) and dig up the buried treasure hidden in the cave (bottom clothing drawer in closet).
List everything for which you are thankful. Challenge yourself to come up with 100 things on your “Gratitude List”.
Practice writing address on paper/envelopes and dialing phone number on paper or real phone key pad.
DIY Choose Your Adventure Story: Makeup a remix, sequel or prequel to a favorite book, movie or show. Brainstorm aloud as you change up the characters, settings, conflicts, choices, consequences, etc.
Tell a semi-true, semi-fantastical story about your child. Make sure it highlights a positive character trait: “Once upon a time, there was a little boy named Beau. He was scared to try swimming for the first time but he did it anyway and now he can swim so well he might turn into a fish and explore buried treasure in a sunken pirate ship filled with friendly sharks and mermaids.”
Trace your child’s footprint and handprint inside your own. Write the date inside their print. Agree to redraw their print inside yours on the same paper every year until you have 10+ prints inside your own showing their hands and feet steadily growing until they are as big as your own!
Create a simple pulley system. Loop twine through a bucket or basket handle. Load with stuffed animals, toys or fake food. Simply lift and lower the basket up and down over a balcony, stair banister or from the top of a bed or couch as you pretend to deliver supplies in game of make-believe. For example, pretend to be the Swiss Family Robinson in their island tree house.
Change up simple crafts by painting with a fork or flower or rolling a golf ball though paint.
Have two stuffed animals kick a ball back and forth across a bed or table.
Ten Bonus Screen-Time Ideas:
Snuggle and watch read along videos together on my YouTube channel @LaurenMartinBooks.
Google one science question, experiment, natural phenomenon, animal, planet, habitat, fun facts, etc.
Google an address, city, town or country and use Google Maps Street View to go on a virtual tour.
Consider showing them where you lived, went to school or travelled before they were born.
Search virtual tours of museums, wonders of the world, and other famous natural and man-made landmarks.
Draw “abstract” designs or specific images (dog, tree, family, self-portrait) on iPhone notepad.
Try these free education apps: PBSKids, Khan Academy Kids, Bimi Boo Kids learning Games (drawing, puzzles, etc.).
Try 1-week free trials (set a reminder to cancel): Noggin Free Trial; ABC Mouse Free Trial, Lingo Kids Free Trial
Let your child type on your keyboard in your notepad, word document or blank page.
Let your child use phone calculator to add up toys, snacks, back yard trees, etc.
Let your child use phone compass to draw a map key or to determine the direction of different household objects as well as sunrise (east), sunset (West), the Southern Cross and the North Star.
Have your child make a simple how-to video to share (or pretend to share) with friends, family members or other kids.
How-to…make pancakes, peel and cut a banana, build a tower, identify shapes, sound out letters, make animal noises, do a somersault, rhyme, create drum beat patterns, etc.
I hope you enjoy these 60 lazy parenting indoor activity ideas for toddlers, preschoolers and kids to keep kids engaged all winter even when you’re stuck inside and stir-crazy.