I’ve noticed a lot of home educators looking for formal/paid activities recently, rather than general play dates and get togethers. Especially with finances being tight at the moment I wanted to reassure other home educators and those who don’t home educate that activities with objectives are not necessary. Children learn through a myriad of ways and there’s no need to always pay for things or even do structured activities every day.
So with a little help I’ve put together this list of 100 free or low cost activities for HE kids to do either alone or with others. Hope this helps someone!
Table of Contents
Free Activities For Kids
- Visit a local park
- Have a picnic
- Paddle in a river/stream
- Pond dipping (some local wildlife reserves have free equipment to borrow)
- Play at a beach
- Investigate rocks at the coast – fossils?!
- Walk in a forest
- Birdwatching
- Bug hunt
- Climb a hill
- Learn to use a compass and map
- Go for a night walk – spot bats and moths
- Climb a tree
- Go for a bike ride
- Cook outdoors
- Camp outside – even in the garden, borrow a tent (ask on a local Facebook group)!
- Rock pooling
- Make a sand or mud volcano
- Experiment with fizzy juice and mentos
- Make cardboard sculptures
- Treasure hunts (treasure can simply be a pretty shell or food item), kids make their own.
- Draw a pirate treasure map and age it with tea bags
- Make dinosaur fossils from salt dough and coffee grains
- Bake
- Cook a meal
- Write a story
- Illustrate a story
- Make up a skit
- Choreograph a dance
- Create a song and lyrics
- Put on a play
- Make pasta from scratch
- Sew a sock puppet
- Have a board game day
- Make outdoor natural art
- Explore off a path
- Visit the library
- Go to a free museum
- Explore a ruin that has no entry fee
- Visit a village or town you’ve never been to
- Paint rocks
- Photo scavenger trail
- Write secret messages
- Listen to a new podcast
- Try Duolingo – free version
- Try Prodigy – free version
- Watch a documentary
- Make kites
- Build a marble run from recycling
- Write a shopping list, budget and go to shops to buy food for a meal
- Make a gift
- Plant seeds and tend them
- Go foraging
- Take watercolour paints somewhere pretty and paint a picture
- Make up your own language/code
- Make something to sell
- Gather all your foreign coins (or ask on local Facebook groups for some) to compare
- Make oobleck
- Write your name in Egyptian hieroglyphs
- Explore wildlife webcams in other countries
- Set up an obstacle course
- Construct a catapult
- Stay up late star gazing
- Make bouncy eggs
- Grow crystals
- Try pendulum painting
- Experiment with bread and mold (see how long it takes to grow mold in different locations)
- Make musical instruments from rubbish
- Build Lego
- Experiment with different shapes/devices for blowing bubbles
- Make giant bubble mix!
- Make mini weaving by hammering nails into a wood slice and weaving string into them
- Make a nature journal
- Grow things from used veg (carrot tops, avocado seeds etc)
- Make twig boats to sail on a stream
- Build outdoor dens
- Make origami
- Track animals (get a free id sheet)
- Make a solar oven to make s’mores
- Make a wormery
- Make a board game
- Back garden toy zip line
- Explore with a magnifying glass
- Grow cress heads
- Try using a sewing machine
- Test paper airplane and helicopter designs
- Try the red cabbage indicator experiment
- Make friendship bracelets
- Create armour and weapons from cardboard
- Go on a pretend holiday at home – choose a country, listen to their music, ‘visit’ places, make traditional food etc
- Make jam with foraged berries
- Press flowers
- Try out plantnet app for identifying plants
- Create potions! Either from kitchen ingredients or flowers etc outside
- Video yourself and friends telling a story together
- Random act of kindness
- Make a toy for a friend
- Draw with chalk on the pavement
- Learn a new skill with YouTube
- Play with friends!
Free Printable of 100 Free Activities For Kids
I created a free printable of my list if you want to print it out and stick it to the fridge when you need some activity ideas. Simply click on the link below to download and print it out!
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