Every parent knows that keeping kids occupied indoors can be a challenge. And with months of stay-at-home time due to the Covid-19 outbreak, we’ve all been spending more hours indoors than ever before. Here are some favorite indoor activities that get our kids excited and capture their attention. And whether your kids are impacted by Autism Spectrum Disorder or not, we think they’ll be a hit in your house, too.
Make a sensory table
Want to keep younger kids entertained? Create your own sensory table. If you already have a sand table or water table that you use outside, try bringing it inside and filling it with different sensory materials. If you don’t have a table like that, a large storage bin works just as well. Fill the table or bin with rice, Legos, shredded paper, or almost anything else you can think of and let the kids run wild. To help kids hone their fine motor skills, you can also add tools like spoons, tongs and measuring cups and teach them to sort out shapes or measure certain amounts of the sensory materials.
Do puzzles—or create your own
Many kids with ASD enjoy the challenge of jigsaw puzzles. This might be the right moment to dust off your old 500- or 1000-piece puzzles and see if your older kids are ready. For a younger child, try drawing colorful pictures together on a standard sheet of paper, and make your own puzzles by cutting the pictures into various shapes. Drawing pictures also gives your child the chance to express their thoughts and emotions, which is helpful for any child.
Schedule some music time
Music has a way of engaging kids and letting their personalities shine. So this is the time to break out the musical instruments, or to get creative and make some of your own. Almost anything can become a drum or a maraca with a little imagination. Encourage your child to improvise and express themselves freely—creating their own rhythm and style of music can be a boost to their self-confidence.
Create rubbing artwork
Making artwork out of other textures is a classic pastime that you might have done yourself in elementary school. Go on a nature walk in your backyard or in an outdoor park to find leaves, bark and other natural materials. Then, back at home, set your child up to make rubbing artwork with crayons. You can also find various coins around the house and make rubbings of those, too. Your children might enjoy sorting the coins by denomination or color once they’re done.
Do you have other favorite indoor activities for kids? Share them with us on Instagram or Facebook and we’ll try to feature them in a future post.
