Daily free ideas and activities for families at home
Stuck for ideas or overwhelmed by everything that's out there? We've got tried and tested daily (yes daily!) ideas for babies, toddlers, preschoolers and schoolchildren that are fun, educational and easy to do
Activities for Day 14
1. Explore inside the Pyramids and watch the most amazing free-running in Cairo (including camels)
Are your children interested in the Pyramids, the Pharoahs and mummies? Now you can 'walk' inside Ancient Egyptian landmarks through amazing 360° virtual tours on this popular VR museum Facebook page Egypt Cradle of Civilisation.
And that's not all. You can also watch some fast free-running around Cairo from the breathtaking sites to the bustling markets, with a few camels to bounce over along the way.
Don't miss these videos
- The Great Pyramids from the air - incredible aerial shots
- How the Egyptians made their mummies - a fantastic video explaining mummification
- Inside the Tomb of Nefertari - try to work out what the hieroglyphics mean
- Breathtaking Ramses II statues at Luxor Temple - virtually explore these iconic features
- Temple of Abu Simel - see incredible statues
Horrible Histories activity sheets!
Download this free printable Horrible Histories activity sheet where your child can learn how to draw a Pharaoh, a scary Egyptian mummy and other Awful Egyptians characters.
Don't have a printer? Try these...
We found a great website called Supercoloring which lets you colour images like the one above on line - so no printout needed!
2. Have a dance party in your living room with Big Fish Little Fish at 2pm today
Get your Sunday off to a lively start by raving with Big Fish Little Fish, as they host a live stream for you to dance along to in your living room.
This is something the whole family can get involved with - just head to the Big Fish Little Fish Facebook page at 2pm this afternoon to catch the live stream.
Kids will love the bubbles, confetti and dance moves to follow along to and parents will no doubt recognise a song or two.
Ahead of this afternoon's live stream, Big Fish Little Fish also posted this fun tutorial of how to make your very own rave crown. All you need is some cardboard and whatever craft supplies you have handy to make this fantastic accessory for your living room rave!
Activities for Day 13
1. Saturday quiz time
Which countries are these?
The first one’s OK but then it gets harder, so how many countries can you name?
Answers all the way down at the bottom of this article!
2. Join the lions and tigers live today with Big Cat Week Live at Paradise Park
When you can't go to the zoo - the zoo can come to you! Paradise Wildlife Park will be streaming live on Facebook this morning (and if you miss the live stream you can watch the video on their Facebook page later). Today, the keepers will be spending time feeding and talking about the Park's majestic white lions.
The last live streaming featured some incredible jaguars.
Big cat activities with The Tiger Who Came To Tea
If you enjoy this why not continue the big cat theme with some downloadable activities on The Tiger Who Came To Tea official website.
As well as dot to dots, colouring sheets, word search and drawing, there are also beautiful quote cards from Judith Kerr's much-loved children's book.
3. For you - Have a Bingo rave with the wild Bongo's Bingo
Bongo's Bingo is anything but a quiet eyes-down affair. If you're craving some noise, disco karaoke, crazy dancing and hollering, then tune in tonight to Bongo's Bingo on live streaming platform Twitch.
Bongo's Bingo 'Live from the Bungalow' kicks off at 8pm and you can expect some adult-flavoured fun.
Before the lockdown, Bongo's Bingo were running 50 events a week, which they describe as:
A crazy mix of traditional bingo, dance-offs, rave intervals, audience participation and countless magical moments
Like many, they've now moved to holding live online events (on Saturdays, Tuesdays and Thursdays). Last weekend they partnered with LadBible and more than 1 milliion Bingoers tuned in, raising £7K in donations for the UK's NHS heroes.
All you need to join in is WiFi, a mobile phone and paper.
Activities for Day 12
1. Free live magic fun for toddlers and magic science for homeschoolers
There's a whole party of online homeschooling classes and entertainers popping up right now on Facebook Live and YouTube. Some are good, some are, hmmm, not so good, and some are fantastic - like Captain Fantastic. An established party company who were running 50 parties a week until we all stopped having parties, Captain Fantastic is now throwing brilliant online events.
Today sees a couple of our favourites:
- Science and Magic Show for 5-8 year olds featuring Dr Zob (above) - every Friday at 2pm
- Daily Toddler group for 2-4 year olds with Paul and George (below) - daily at 10am
These guys are bursting with energy and so are their furry friends! But don't just take our word for it. One fan said on their Facebook page:
"Very enthusiastic entertainers, lots of different ideas packed into a session and it works online! My 2 year old loved it!"
The best thing is that everything is delivered with a touch of magic, which keeps the kids engaged and excited. Plus during the live stream, the entertainers will namecheck children who are watching.
If you have other things on today, don't worry. Captain Fantastic runs 4 live shows a day, from Magic and Mindfulness to Cooking and you can rewatch everything on their Facebook video page.
2. Kids cook-along today - bake Chocolate Chip Cookie Monsters (Yum!)
Home chef James Bailey is running a live kids cook-along in the kitchen TODAY at 3pm. He's making the most delicious chocolate chip cookies that sound tasty and are easy enough for kids to bake along with James on his Suits You Stir Instagram page.
And to get you started, he's listed out the ingredients so you're ready to get the kids cooking along.
Ingredients
200g Chocolate Chips/Chunks⠀
160g Plain Flour⠀
150g Brown Sugar (Preferably Soft)⠀
120g Butter⠀
100g Granulated Sugar⠀
1 Egg⠀
1 teaspoon Salt⠀
1 teaspoon Vanilla Essence/Flavouring⠀
1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda/Powder⠀
Equipment⠀
Plain Paper and Colouring Pens (you’ll see why on the day) ⠀
Saucepan, Glass Bowl (that sits on top of the saucepan), Spatula, Whisk⠀
Greaseproof Paper and Baking Tray⠀
So we know you may not have all of the ingredients but this could still be a fun watch to give you some ideas for when you are able to get everything and baking's back on!
- For younger kids, why not watch an episode of I Can Cook on YouTube.
For babies and little toddlers - try this Easter basket game...
If you make a few of these baskets, why not use them to play a sorting game? Have some soft toys or other baby-friendly items in different colours and see if your baby can put the different coloured items together in the same basket.
...Or this simple sock sorting game
We love this homemade game where you cut out simple sock shapes and make a 'tumble dryer' out of a cardboard box. In the spirit of Easter, you could use an Easter bonnet and cut out Easter egg shapes and get them to put those in instead!
Enjoying these? Please share your own ideas and how you've got on with these ideas at contactus@madeformums.com. We'd LOVE to hear from you!
Activities for Day 11
1. Join in lambing live today - you may even see a lamb being born!
Bockett's Farm Park is opening its doors at 10am today for live streaming just as lambing season is in full swing! The farm is hosting a Facebook live at 10am with Farmer Martin in its Animal Discovery barn where you can learn all about the new arrivals.
Farmer Martin shows how they're taking care of the lambs, how they're being fed and potentially even lambs being born.
Don't worry if you miss the live at 10am as you can go back and watch all the previous videos on Bockett's Farm Park's Facebook page.
The farm has also been posting other short learning videos on its Facebook page with worksheets to go alongside, starting off with 'The Life Cycle of a Chicken'.
Make a farmyard cockerel
Get your kids to have a go at making their own farm animals with this craft tutorial from DIY Hacks. Grab your craft supplies that you have handy (you'll mainly need coloured card and googly eyes) and follow along to make a rooster, bunny, ducks or a bee hive.
This is a great activity for older kids to get creative with, while younger kids may need help drawing and cutting out the shapes.
Farm fun for toddlers
Sing along to one of the most well-loved nursery rhymes and learn about animal sounds with this animated video from Super Simple Songs.
There are lots of other great versions of 'Old MacDonald Had a Farm' on YouTube for your toddler to sing along to, including this one from CBeebies' lovable clown, Mr Tumble.
2. Go on a teddy bear hunt
Inspired by Michael Rosen's bestselling book, We're Going on a Bear Hunt, children have been putting teddy bears in their windows as part of a worldwide teddy bear hunt. It's also a great way to wish Michael well, as sadly the inspiring author is in hospital, currently poorly but starting to improve according to his wife.
Get your kids to pop one in your window to start a teddy bear hunt on your street and next time you're out on your daily walk, see if you can spot any others taking part!
Have a teddy bear hunt at home
Set up a teddy bear hunt around your home by putting together some clues for your kids to follow, so they can find a teddy bear who you've hidden in a secret spot.
If you've got the book handy, you can read it out to get your kids to mimic the actions like squelching through the mud or swimming through a river. You should still be able to buy a copy of We're Going on a Bear Hunt from online retailers - we found it at Amazon for just £3.48
You can also add your own clues to get them to move around the house to find the missing bear, like 'hop on one foot for 10 steps' or 'walk backwards for 5 steps'.
Don't miss - Fantastic hunt clues and riddles for a bear, treasure or egg hunt to print
Fantastic We're Going on a Bear Hunt activity sheets
Head over to Join the Bear Hunt where you can find lots of fun activity sheets that are free to download including making a handprint robin, paint with numbers and make your own bear ears.
Bear hunts for babies and toddlers
Watch the wonderful author Michael Rosen bring the story to life as he performs 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt' in this video.
Your little ones can act out the actions with Michael as he goes through the mud, river and grass to find the big bear.
3. Draw along with illustrator Rob Biddulph in a masterclass
Rob Biddulph, author and illustrator of books including GRRRRR! and Odd Dog Out is posting a #DrawWithRob draw-along video every Tuesday and Thursday at 10am.
You can find the videos on his YouTube channel which include how to draw Gregosaurus the dinosaur, Fred Bear and Sausage Dog.
Each video has step-by-step instructions that you can pause or rewind as you go along, making it easier to follow.
Rob's also posting lots of drawings on his Twitter page so once your child has their finished creation, you can post it with #DrawWithRob for a chance to have it shared!
Download Rob's activity sheets
Rob's site also has a whole range of bright and colourful activity sheets that are free to download. Take your pick from 'Decorate the dashchund', 'Odd Dog's Maze', 'Spot the Sausage' and loads more.
Activities for Day 10
1. Join Strictly's Oti Mabuse and her Greatest Showman dance class this morning at 11.30!
Every morning at 11.30am Strictly Come Dancing's Oti Mabuse is hosting a live dance class on her Facebook page. The classes are brilliantly geared towards kids and each day Oti choices a different movie theme.
So far we've seen Aladdin, Mary Poppins, Jungle Book and High School Musical and today is none other than The Greatest Showman.
Oti goes step-by-step through each routine with her husband and ballroom dancer, Marius Iepure, finishing with a fun and energetic dance routine at the end of the session.
The classes are getting upwards of 40K views - while the Frozen session gained over 80K - so don't miss out.
Each class is saved onto Oti's Facebook page so you can always go back and watch them later if you don't manage to catch them in the morning.
For babies and young toddlers
Why not try a cute Easter photo shoot? Take some pics of them snuggling a huge Easter rabbit toy or put them next to an Easter egg or two, or in a bonnet if you have one. Then send it to us at contactus@madeformums.com - we'd love to see it!
Make a bunny rabbit mask
This is great fun and straight-forward - a fantastic mask for your child to make and customise. This fantastic YouTube video from the CBeebies team shows how. You only need a paper plate, some white paper and something to make whiskers.
Watch the Peter Rabbit movie and listen to the books
Once your Peter Rabbit mask is made, why not watch the movie if you have Netflix. Alternatively (or as well as) you can listen to some of Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit tales for FREE on audio book app Audible.
For babies
There are some great bunny nursery rhymes on YouTube, such as the one above from My Little World of Song, if you've got a really small child.
There's also a version from Mr Tumble which starts nice and quietly and builds up (when the bunnies 'wake up', of course) - it's also under 1 minute long. Though, of course, there's good chance you'll be playing on repeat a few times.
Activities for Day 9
1. Go on a real safari and spot live elephants, lions and zebras in the wild!
Beware, we found this completely addictive!
Africam is a hub of live webcams set up in strategic positions in African bushland, enabling you to watch the most amazing animals ambling into shot. With a soothing soundscape of insects chirping and birds hooting, we were hugely excited to to spot two elephants (screenshot above) - you can just the eyes of the second elephant glowing in the background.
Then the first one started blowing dust over itself (above) and sloshing around in the waterhole. It seriously made us feel like David Attenborough - and a powerful reminder of nature continuing in its normal way in these abnormal times.
There are 8 cams to switch between, showing different and remote African locations.and it feels like you're on your own personal safari. The screens are updated with regular stills, so you can generally spot when animals are present.
Obviously they're live streams of the wild, rather than a zoo or wildlife park, so there's absolutely no guarantee you'll see anything - but that makes it even more exciting when something wanders on to the screen. The cams also zoom and slowly pan round and sometimes you can hear the animal before you see them - the anticipation is brilliant.
If you don't have any joy, then why not watch a zoo cam where you may be more likely to spot some giant animals:
More animal fun!
Both available from Twinkl (don't forget your month's free sign-up using the code UK TWINKL HELP)
- Download and play your own African animals top card game - for KS1 school children
- African animals to colour - for toddlers
2. Create your own puppet show
Creating your own puppet show is a fun craft idea as well as activity that's sure to give hours of fun once you have your finished creation.
First start by making the cast of your show - the puppets! There's lots of simple ways to do this, for example if you've got any odd socks laying around you turn them into sock puppets by sticking on a pair of googly eyes.
You can also get your kids to draw out their own puppet characters and once they've finished, cut them out and stick and lolly stick on the back.
For babies and toddlers, if you're feeling creative and you have some coloured card handy, take a look at this tutorial of how to make an animal hand puppet out of just paper and glue. Older kids can even have a go at this themselves.
Once you've made all your puppets, grab a spare cardboard box to make the theatre. Take off the sides, cut out doors on the front and finish with paint to create your own makeshift puppet theatre.
We also spotted this brilliant tutorial of how to make your puppet theatre out of a cereal box.
And then it's showtime! Set up the theatre in your living room for a live show or video call friends and family for an even bigger audience.
3. Sneak vegetables into yummy cakes
Are veggies not your child's favourite thing? If so, why not try one of these tasty cakes which contain a good helping of beetroot and courgettes. The beetroot chocolate sponge (above) tastes like chocolate (rather than beetroot) and when you cut into reveals a red-coloured centre.
Or try Jack Monroe's delicious courgette and chocolate loaf cake, which again tastes chocolately - the courgettes bringing a rich moistness to the cake rather than a vegetable taste.
Even better, it's a no-egg vegan recipe, so if you're short of eggs, you still have cake!
Activities for Day 8 (Monday)
1. Watch a new Draw A Story masterclass with Mr Panda illustrator Steve Antony
Pens at the ready, because every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at 11am, award-winning illustrator Steve Antony will be running his Draw A Story masterclass. The creator of the beloved Mr Panda series, Steve also created the Queen Collection and has illustrated a new version of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. The workshops are aimed at children aged 6 and over, with 10 minute sessions full of imagination and creativity. If you miss it, fear not - you'll find each new masterclasses available on Steve's website.
Plus Steve is also running Mr Panda Story Time and Drawings for babies and toddlers every Friday at 11am.
There are also activity sheets to download where you can design Mr Panda's PJs, Spot 20 things in the Queen's handbag and learn how to draw Zibbo, the friendly little dragon.
2. Make a nature garland
We love this super-simple leaf band, inspired by whatever you can find outside, either in your garden or on an exercising walk.
How to make a nature garland bracelet
- You just need some sticky tape, which you circle around your child's wrist with the sticky side on the outside
- Stick the ends together while it's on their arm so you can see how big it needs to be
- Then go outside and stick on whatever they can find - petals, leaves, feathers and sticks
- If you have any jewels or buttons in your craft kit you can add those too for extra decoration
For toddlers - play Nature Spotting in the garden or on a walk
Nature-spotting can be done even if you're only in your back garden, as well as out and about on a walk (staying at least 2 metres away from others, of course!).
For younger children, make a nature walk or afternoon in the garden more entertaining by printing out one of our nature activity sheets.
They can tick off the items - such as a cloud, a tree or a flower - as they see them.
For babies
Your baby will love the sensation of various textures on their skin, so use outside time to let them feel all sorts of different surfaces - a leaf, the softness of a petal and, of course, how tickly a feather can be.
3. Play the postie game
Babies and toddlers love posting things - especially into places where they can see something come out of the bottom. Posting can help young children develop fine motor skills (picking up an object and then popping it through a hole) and also understand that when they drop something into a container it doesn't go away.
Mum and primary school teacher, Kate, has posted a great Posting Games video on YouTube featuring 8 different posting activities for babies and toddlers using everyday household items, such as milk cartons, toy blocks and lollipop sticks.
Indeed any box you have lying around will do. For younger ones make the holes bigger. For older toddlers and pre-schoolers, make just a slit and let them post cards through. An easy way to make a slit is to turn up a box on its side, slit the tape sealing the bottom and then cut a hold below so the cards drop out of the bottom...
For older children - being at home is a great opportunity for them to write a letter to friends or family members who they can't see at the moment. Or they could draw pictures - say, 3 activities they've been up to during the week.
If you're not able to post them - you can ask the kids to read them out during a video call or take a photo of them and send them digitally.
You could also send them in the post (without leaving home) by uploading them a digital postcard website, such as TouchNote.
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