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Are your kids television freaks? Do they seem to remain glued to their couch all day long? Then you need to help them get over too much television before they start wearing spectacles or develop a hunchback or begin to show negative signs that research warns us of. Here are our top 15 TV-free activities for your kids:
1. Do A Live ‘Strictly Come Dancing’
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Have a star-studded red carpet welcome for your kids and their friends on your live Strictly Come Dancing show. Make teams of two and the winning pair walks away with the most coveted prize (prepare a medal or a goody basket for the winner, but don’t forget the runners-up!)
2. Face-Painting
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Go ahead with some imaginative character or self-styled pirate or whatever your kids want to look like. Face-painting is a lot of fun. But make sure you are getting the right paint material with FDA approved ingredients. Acrylics, oil-paints or watercolors or any other color label reading ‘non-toxic’ is not necessarily safe for skin. Also, get glitters to add special effects. But make sure you avoid contact with your kids’ eyes and mouth.
3. Playing Hopscotch
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You could play this all-time hit at home just about any time of the day. Either in the porch or the basement – anywhere would be fine as long as you draw the cubes with chalk. All that it needs is some mopping towards the end.
4. Puffy Paint Ice Cream
Go a bit real with Puffy Paint ice creams. You will find this interesting:
5. Marble Painting
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One of the most elegant ways to make a masterpiece! Your child doesn’t have to be a super-duper artist to be able to do this. Just look for the patterns that can form on your sheets. It’s amazing. Although this link shows the most standard way of marble-painting, some variants are always there. You can check out for more in this video.
6. Jewelry Making
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Girls can swear by this activity. Amazon has many jewelry-making kits and tools that are up for grabs. There’s no sacrosanct way to make or design them. It’s pretty simple to get their hands around the beads and threads. Girls will love to show off their super accessory collection!
7. Family Album Time
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It’s good for kids to relate to the extended members of the family. Just dig out all those family photos that have been gathering dust for years. Help your kids to identify their roots. Do some amazing story-telling about the members of the family. They will be so proud of their identity and the family history!
8. Pet-Time
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Help kids to bond with their pets. Get them to take their dog for a walk. And yes, teach them how to use the litter-bags!
9. Bubble-Making
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So long as they are not toddlers, bubble-blowing is good for kids who are a little grown up and don’t ingest the soap suds or bubbles. Just ensure they aren’t making the flooring slippery – this can be extremely dangerous – either have a fairly big mat or take them to the grassy lawn in your backyard.
10. Kite-Flying
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Another beautiful activity. Kite-flying is awesome either in groups or silos. Your kids might need to be careful with the kite strings, though.
11. Go Biking
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A family bike-race must be an enthusiastic one! Just get your helmet and knee pads on, and get-set-go!
12. How About Hiking
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I love the long, exhaustive walks in nature. It’s good for kids to feel close to nature and get the scent of the countryside. It can be introspective and gives ample time to be close to the dear ones.
13. A Visit To The Art Gallery Or Museums
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You never know how inquisitive your child can be. Visits to local art galleries or museums can invoke an intellectual streak in them. It turns out to be real-time education.
14. Volunteering
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Volunteering can teach kids a lot about the people they work for and the natural surroundings. Voluntary work raises more awareness on the importance of health, heritage, history and conservation. Help your child value life and the privileges they have. Besides, volunteering also works towards fetching school credits. So it’s good in several aspects!
15. Hit A Recreation Center
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Don’t allow your kids to be lazy bugs or couch potatoes. Drive them to the rec center and get some exercise or rejuvenate them at a sauna. It’s not only the health, but also the holistic well-being that matters in molding their personalities.
You will be surprised with the benefits of family time together and activities as these on your kids!
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