Stimulating, fun, easy activities to do at home with your 4 to 10-year-old

Your child's school has probably given you some suggestions for curriculum-based learning your child can access from home – and maybe even set work for them to do, on or offline. But there are also loads of other fantastic educational resources available online.

Many of them feature worksheets, games, videos and quizzes, all closely linked to learning outcomes for Early Years, Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2. Others focus on single topics or subjects – from foreign languages to animal facts to learning to play the piano (on your phone) – that either reinforce your child's curriculum goals or boost their wider knowledge and skills.

We've pulled together the best of them for you here:

Brilliant educational resources for primary-schoolchildren to keep your child learning while school is shut

Downloadable activity sheets

Let's hear it for downloadable activity sheets! They're perfect for kids at home because they offer fun, well-targeted, structured tasks to complete – with very little preparation from you, other than printing them out and handing over a pencil or two.

We have lots of engaging activity sheets for you to share with your child, covering a range of skills from Maths and Phonics and puzzles and colouring to drawing challenges and games based on much-loved TV or film series, such as Doctor Who and Horrible Histories...

Maths and literacy

Puzzles and colouring

More arty challenges

Doctor Who downloadables

Horrible Histories downloadables

Horrible Histories activity sheets

Other themed downloadables

And if your child's under the weather

Simple animal activity sheets for when your child's unwell

Games to play

To break up the pencil and paper activities with something more active and dynamic, indoor games can be a great way to vary the pace – and introduce a session of more imaginative, unstructured play.

Dressing up (in costumes or old clothes) and making camps (in a play tent or under blankets strung between 2 chairs) are always go-to indoor-games choices. And, if you're casting around for other ideas, try these suggestions for indoor activities that will get their bodies moving and their brains buzzing in all sorts of different ways...

5 games to teach your child phonics
Games to get your child moving (these are outdoor games but many can be easily adapted for indoors)
Best board games

And when all else fails – or you just need a break...

Best video games for 5 to 8 year olds

Books

Chilling out with a book – or snuggling up to you for a book session together (no, they're never too old!) is an essential every day, we reckon – maybe even several times a day. There are hundreds of brilliant children's books out there that'll grab your child's attention, stimulate their imagination and, once they're reading independently, give you a few moments' peace.

Here are a few of our most-loved book recommendations...

Toys

There are so, so many toys aimed at the primary-school child but only the very best ones amuse, entertain and stimulate the brain. We test and review hundreds of toys – from the declaredly 'educational' and 'learning' ones to the more creative and imagination-sparking ones. And we pick out the very best to recommend in the dozens of toy articles we publish and regularly update. Take a look at the toys we really rate for 4 to 10-year-olds...

Toys to keep them thinking and working things out

Toys to stimulate the imagination (and lots of dressing up)

Toys to get them creatively lost in their own little world

Toys to get them moving, even indoors

Best toys for active play

And the pick of the toys our child testers loved the best

Crafts

A good, absorbing craft project can take up most of a morning or afternoon – maybe even several afternoons – and give your child a real feeling of pride and accomplishment when the finished creation is ready for all to admire.

We've collected a bumper variety of crafts here for you to try, using skills from painting and glueing to sewing, cooking, bubble-making and paper mâché. Don't be put off, when you click though, if you notice that some of them are labelled as 'toddler' crafts: yes, a toddler could make them, with lots and lots and lots of parental help but we think they make brilliant solo or almost-solo projects for school-age children, too...

Easter crafts

Here are some great ideas for home-based learning, downloadable activities, games, books, toys and crafts for 4 to 10 year-olds...

Educational resources

Downloadable activity sheets

Games to play

Books

Toys

Crafts

Read more...

Authors

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