Making a Fun Idea List

Outdoor or Good Weather Play Requiring Other Children

Have a popcorn and fruit drink stand; camp in the back yard in sleeping bags or tents; go for a walk or hike; participate in a vigorous activity like swimming, running games, or ball games; do water play with hose and plastic slide cloth; have a water fight with squirt guns and cups, using buckets of water as the source of ammunition and the goal is to douse the other person without getting doused in return; do supervised long distance bike hiking as a group.

Indoor or Inclement Weather Play Requiring Other Children

Play jacks; make a tent with a sheet and a card table; telephone a friend; gather shoes together from around the house and play shoe store; using a comb, brush, cup with water, and towel, play barber or hairdresser; put things in a mystery sack and give clues about what is in the sack, allowing the other child to reach into the sack and feel the object as the last clue; play card games; play table games; make up a pretend radio or television interview and talk into the recorder.

Outdoor or Good Weather Solitary Play

(Most can be shared with other children if feasible.)

Look at stars through a telescope; look through binoculars; work on gardening; hug a tree; line up pop cans and throw pebbles at them; feed pets; practice jump rope stunts; draw pictures of your yard to show the seasons of the year; water some flowers with a sprinkling can; make a collection of leaves from the yard; swat flies; feed spiders; volunteer to sweep a neighbor’s sidewalk without pay; draw a portrait of a house, tree, flower, or other outdoor scene on an art pad; play on a climbing structure or swing set; play in a sandbox; roller skate; ride a bike; use a skateboard; go jogging; go swimming; go fishing; go horseback riding; build something for your yard (bird house, bird feeder); feed bread to birds; train and groom pets; ice skate; select, clean, and label objects for a garage sale; earn money by washing cars or mowing lawns; feed ducks, pigeons, songbirds, or squirrels; collect interesting rocks; write or draw on the sidewalk with chalk; play with pets.

Indoor or Inclement Weather Solitary Play

(Most can be moved outdoors in good weather.)

Listen to music; try out an electronics kit; punch a punching bag; make muffins; hum; pop popcorn; make an item for a model railroad or toy car set out of frozen fruit sucker sticks; toy logs, or building toys; plan a day trip from the travel drawer for the family to take; write letters to relatives or friends; color in a coloring book; make a crossword puzzle for family members to solve; organize a home slide show; dance; work on a large jigsaw puzzle; play with building toys and construction kits; draw with colored pencils; sing; make a collage out of pictures from old magazines using liquid glue; practice a musical instrument; start or work on a collection (stamps, butterflies, coins, trading cards); play with a flashlight; make shadow pictures on the wall; make new greeting cards using pictures and words from old ones and drawing additional designs; make things with modeling dough; draw a picture of something you would like to do; invent a machine that would help you in some way and draw a picture of it; draw a picture of your house or apartment; draw pictures of inventions we could use in our family, such as something to clean the bedrooms or cook or serve the meals; put one letter of the alphabet on each card, shuffle and try to put them back in order faster each time; cut shapes from construction paper and paste them onto a large piece of colorful cardboard to make an attractive design; make a standard shape, such as a circle or triangle, then cut into smaller pieces to make a puzzle for family members to put together; past a pretty picture onto cardboard; then cut into pieces to make your own homemade jigsaw puzzle; use stencils to write letters, numbers and designs in pretty or unusual ways; color the ribs around the edge of a paper plate and make an attractive design in the center; stand dominoes on end in a long line that winds around, then knock them down; make a rub drawing by putting something with a distinct texture (such as a leaf or coin) underneath a paper and rubbing across the paper with a colored pencil; play solitaire card games; juggle three balloons simultaneously; make a tunnel by draping a sheet over the back of a sofa; cook or bake with supervision; write down some good charades titles and topics for the family to use later; use a tape recorder to record sounds around the home; sort family picture albums; develop magic tricks; assemble model kits; play with a train or race car set; make drawings with charcoals or colored chalk; make and decorate stationery for personal use with stencils; make personalized gift stationery using stencils; make holiday decorations such as tree or wreath ornaments; measure things with measuring tape and rulers and yardstick, and write down the measurements; make up a quiz for family members about the results.