30+ Home Activity Ideas for Kids

Here's 30+ fun activities that kids can do at home this school break from online museums and zoos to arts and crafts, games, books, dress-ups and make-believe. Most of the props you've probably already got at home but for other stuff we've included links to ordering online:

Colour My Pot - The popular pottery outfit is now doing take-home (or home delivery) pottery painting kits that kids will love, with popular figurines and more.

STEMPunks Home Learning - School may be closed but children can still engage in some fun and educational STEM activities online led by professional teachers through this excellent program.

MoB City Hall Activity - Kids can build a model Brisbane City Hall with this simple print-out, make and colour in online activity that is free to use.

Queensland Museum Activities & Books - You may not be able to visit the museum this holiday but you can order educational books, trains and a host of science activities like pocket volcanoes, freeze-dried ice-cream, lemon clocks and slime.

QAGOMA - The Children's Art Centre has a bunch of fun creative activities and games kids can now do online, like build your own humpy, creating a virtual art exhibition, mask making and more

Historical children's books - Take advantage of this fantastic archive of 6,000 classic and historical children's books that are all fully digitised and available for free to read online.

Visit Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary online - Brisbane's iconic koala sanctuary has a bunch of live webcams where you can watch koalas 24/7, as well as dingo pups, platypuses and even reptiles.

Hang some old sheets on the wall of the garage or the fence outside and let the kids paint a mural.

Crocodile Farm Home Visit - This Queensland crocodile farm is live-streaming some of its activities so you can watch baby crocs hatching from their eggs and giant 4 metre croc devour their lunch.

Home Disco - Turn your lounge room into a family disco with a fun dance class the kids will enjoy, under the guidance of dance and fitness instructors from Superstars.

Pay a virtual visit to an Australian zoo - Australia's best zoos - Melbourne & Werribee Open Range Zoo have set up webcams so you can watch animals up close as they go about their daily business while Wildlife Sydney Zoo has regular live streaming sessions.

Prepare a picnic lunch and enjoy it outside on a blanket or rug into the garden. Take some books and toys or board games with you and spend an afternoon in the fresh air.

Turn the lounge room into a pretend movie theatre – move the couches and chairs, make seat numbers and tickets, play usher and serve popcorn and ice-creams.

Eckersley's Art & Craft Shop has an amazing array of arts and crafts materials, activities and kits that can be ordered online.

Set up a campground in the garden and make believe you're on a camping trip - put up the tent, cook dinner on the camping stove, snuggle up in sleeping bags and read or tell stories by torchlight.

Pretend the dining room is a restaurant or cafe and create menus for lunch or dinner, set up the table and play at being a make-believe waiter.

Home Laser Tag - You can hire home delivery laser tag from Laser Commando for the family to play together.

Teach the children some card games like Go Fish, Gin Rummy and Snap and try making an old-fashioned house of cards.

Puppy Playtime - Watch a bunch of adorable puppies as they play on live puppycam.

Make a movie - Using Lego characters, plasticine figures, dolls or other small toys, kids can make a stop motion movie (download the app Stop Motion to your phone or Ipad) that they can script, film and the whole family can watch.

Harry Potter at Home - JK Rowling has launched an interactive Harry Potter website with puzzles, crafts, quizzes and more.

Play dress ups in mum and dad’s clothes - raid their wardrobes, get dressed up and do a fashion parade in the lounge room and a photo-shoot of all the different looks you can create.

Organize a treasure hunt either inside the house or outside in the garden with hand-written clues to follow and of course, a hidden treasure to find.

Spy on animals in the wild in Africa with this live webcam - the nearest thing to going on safari in your lounge room.

Jigsaw puzzles - Set up the dining room table with a jigsaw puzzle that the whole family can participate in - it's a great activity to sit for a while (either solo or with others) and then keep coming back to until it's done

Board games - No need to be bored when you can play some of the many great boardgames (classic and new) out there. Take your pick for home delivery from Presents of Mind, Puzzle Post and The Games Men.

You may not be able to visit the farm but young animal lovers can take a virtual Canadian farm and food tour here on Farm 360.

Go through all of your clothes, shoes, accessories, toys, games and trinkets and sort out what to keep and what to give to charity.

Write letters or make cards to send to friends/relatives that you can’t see whilst in isolation, especially grandparents and school friends.

Sea Life Penguins - Watch Sea Life's adorable little blue penguin colony's morning feed time via their live webcam.

Set-up an indoor or outdoor obstacle course.

Play journalist and set up an interview with other family members. Write down pre-prepared questions and take note of the answers. Get someone to video it - it'll be a great one to look back on in future years.

Listen to a kid’s podcast or audio book. Podcast suggestions include: Brains On; Wow In The World; Circle Round; Little Green Pod; Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls; Fierce Girls; Story Pirates; But Why?