30 Indoor School Holiday Activities Your Kids Will Love

Fun indoor Lego game with numbered tiles for kids' holiday entertainment.

Get your kids involved with indoor school holiday activities to look forward to. These are fun, educational and free to try, just as long as you have the chance to use a free and safe space at home. Here are 30 indoor school holiday activities that your kids will definitely love.

If your kids are not outdoorsy types, or if the weather is just too cold or rainy, they can still enjoy their school holidays inside!

  1. If your kids are not outdoorsy types, or if the weather is just too cold or rainy, they can still enjoy their school holidays inside!
    1. 1. Make Some Friendship Bracelets
    2. 2. Cardboard maze
    3. 3. Build a ‘Structure’ with 100 Cups
    4. 4. Indoor camping
    5. 5. Lego board game
    6. 6. Cotton ball painting
    7. 7. Toilet roll French knitting 
    8. 8. Indoor slide
    9. 9. No-mess finger painting
    10. 10. DIY tap shoes
    11. 11. Fairy jar
    12. 12. Building with marshmallows and toothpicks
    13. 13. Balloon-soda experiment
    14. 14. Vegetable experiment
    15. 15. Make a rainbow rice
    16. 16. Make Rainbow slime
    17. 17. Carnation experiment
    18. 18. Making homemade butter
    19. 19. Cookie decorating
    20. 20. Rainy day activities jar
    21. 21. Growing sweet potatoes
    22. 22. Cups and ping pongs
    23. 23. Tabletop soccer
    24. 24. Indoor bowling
    25. 25. Balloon tennis
    26. 26. Pool noodle “ball” pit
    27. 27. Indoor race track
    28. 28. Make Some Fruit Pops or Ice Popsicles
    29. 29. Recreate Mission Impossible
    30. 30. Have a Scavenger Hunt
How to Clean Toys | Stay at Home Mum

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1. Make Some Friendship Bracelets

Friendship Bracelets have been around for decades, and are coming back into popularity with a vengeance. Pop down to your local craft shop to pick up bright colourful embroidery thread to make them at home.

It’s great for kids’ fine motor skills, and takes them ages so it’s going to keep them occupied for days!

Night safety companion app for mums and families.

Follow this easy tutorial on how to make them from Honestly WTF

2. Cardboard maze

Cardboard maze | Stay At Home Mum
via Family Deal

3. Build a ‘Structure’ with 100 Cups

You can buy these cups from most supermarkets or party suppliers now – grab 100 of them and give the pile to each child to see what they can make!  Best of all, you can use them again and again.

Kids building a large cup tower with red plastic cups for indoor holiday fun.
via Rio Grande Valley Moms Blog – City Moms Blog Network

4. Indoor camping

The kids were really excited when they got home from school today. When we left for school today, I told them we would come home and do something that they had not done yet. I suggested we go to a different type of indoor camping. I looked on Pinterest for some ideas and started sketching out what we wanted to do. After looking at the different pictures of indoor tents that we had on Pinterest, I decided we were going to go to a treehouse theme.

5. Lego board game

Play a Lego board game with a friend or a family member ? you won?t even need a table. There are indoor activities to do when the weather is too cold. It’s the most basic indoor game around, but it’s great fun for children!

Lego board game | Stay At Home Mum
via kiddiclobber.blogspot.com

6. Cotton ball painting

You don’t have to make beautiful pictures like a professional artist. All you need is some cotton balls and paint. That’s it! Kids will enjoy doing it because they will get to create an intricate picture. This activity will teach them how colours interact with each other and how to paint with non-paintable materials.

All you need is a cotton ball and paint. In order for them to be able to create beautiful, delicate shapes with paint, you need to go a little slow. And when you finish, you’ll probably have some sticky paint all over yourself. Happy art-making!

Cotton ball painting | Stay At Home Mum
via redtri.com

7. Toilet roll French knitting 

You could cover Christmas stockings, card holders, or just about anything else you could possibly think of.

  • Use household toilet roll
  • Drop 1 twist of yarn down, and pull up the yarn. Wrap around a toilet roll tube and twist up the wool, starting at one end. Then continue to wrap and twist each roll-up. Cover the skein with a rubber band.
  • Fold in all the ends of the wool and tie the ends in place with a plastic baggie, or another strong piece of string. Stash the baggie somewhere safe.
  • To use the yarn, pull up the wrap, twist and then pull the yarn down, knotting at each twist.
Child's colorful drawing of a lucky duck with spots and a smiling face.
via inspb.info

8. Indoor slide

Indoor slide | Stay At Home Mum
via BlazePress

9. No-mess finger painting

There?s no need to scrub out messy finger paints. Simply wash your hands in warm water, squeeze out any excess finger paint, rinse, and pat dry. Here?s how to do it:

No-mess finger painting | Stay At Home Mum
via hippiehousewife.blogspot.com

10. DIY tap shoes

DIY tap shoes | Stay At Home Mum
via LittleThings

11. Fairy jar

Fairy jar | Stay At Home Mum
via http://www.colors.life

12. Building with marshmallows and toothpicks

Indoor marble run construction with wooden sticks and marshmallows for kids' entertainment.
via Messes to Memories

13. Balloon-soda experiment

DIY balloon rockets made from Coca-Cola bottles and balloons for kids' indoor play.
via Messes to Memories

14. Vegetable experiment

Vibrant rainbow lettuce leaves in jars, perfect for fun indoor school holiday activities with childr.
via mountainstyle.co

15. Make a rainbow rice

Bright rainbow rice for indoor kids activities.
via My Kitchen Escapades

16. Make Rainbow slime

Rainbow slime for kids' indoor holiday activities and sensory play.
via Best Images of Home Design

17. Carnation experiment

Carnation experiment | Stay At Home Mum
via The Mad Scientists

18. Making homemade butter

Homemade butter in a jar with fresh cream for kids' cooking activities.
via Buggy and Buddy
Night safety companion app for mums and families.
via silviomessina.pw

20. Rainy day activities jar

Do you find yourself dreaming of a glorious vacation, wanting to recreate the picture of a charming night spent in a rustic inn with fairy lights strung out on the pillars? Don?t despair: there are many family-friendly indoor activities that will leave you with happy memories! Take some time to enjoy the sights and sounds around you and decide on a few fun, easy indoor activities which you could do.

Rainy day activities jar | Stay At Home Mum
via How to Nest for Less

21. Growing sweet potatoes

Potato plant craft with faces and sprouting leaves in jars.
via brieripley.info

22. Cups and ping pongs

Cups and ping pongs | Stay At Home Mum
via ThinkingIQ

23. Tabletop soccer

Tabletop soccer | Stay At Home Mum
via Miraman.ru

24. Indoor bowling

Indoor bowling | Stay At Home Mum
via Öğrenen Öğretmen

25. Balloon tennis

Balloon and paddle toys for kids indoor play.
via BreakBird

26. Pool noodle “ball” pit

Colorful foam pool toys and water beads for children’s indoor play activities.
via provanthealth.co

27. Indoor race track

Indoor race track | Stay At Home Mum
via decoratioon.com

28. Make Some Fruit Pops or Ice Popsicles

Making fruit pops | Stay At Home Mum
via Deavita

29. Recreate Mission Impossible

Recreate Mission Impossible | Stay At Home Mum
via Frawsy

30. Have a Scavenger Hunt

Scavenger Hunts are fun for kids of all ages – and we have different Scavenger Hunts for different ages.

The Lego Colour Hunt:

Allocate each child one Lego colour.  Grab 10 pieces of Lego in that colour, and hide it in one room.  Each child has to go and find all 10 pieces of ‘their colour’ – the person that collects all of their 10 pieces first – is the winner!

The Wooden Puzzle Hunt:

This works much like the Lego Colour Hunt – but instead with all the pieces of a kids wooden puzzle.  As your child finds the puzzle pieces, they need to fit them back into the jigsaw puzzle.

Which of these indoor school holiday activities do you want your kids to play first?

author avatar
Clare Whitfield Chief Editor
Clare Whitfield is the Editor of Stay at Home Mum and a recognised voice in practical home management for Australian families. Based in the northern suburbs of Sydney, she balances editorial leadership with life as a stay at home mum to two school age children. Her background in home economics and more than a decade of experience in recipe development, family budgeting, and household systems inform her work.

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