Free library
Screen free play ideas
Real, hands on things to do with what you already have in the house. Every idea is screen free, tied to one of our weekly themes, and written for children aged 4 to 11. Pick an age and the weather outside your window.
55 ideas for age 7 to 9
Salt dough fossils
Press shells, leaves and toy dinosaurs into salt dough to make fossils that dry hard by morning.
4 to 67 to 9IndoorRainy day
Build a bug hotel
Stack sticks, bark and old plant pots into a cosy hotel and see who checks in over the week.
4 to 67 to 9Outdoor
Symmetry leaf hunt
Collect leaves, fold them down the middle and sort them into the almost symmetrical and the wonderfully wonky.
4 to 67 to 9OutdoorSunny day
Pond dipping with a washing up bowl
Scoop a little pond life into a shallow bowl, watch it closely, then put every creature back exactly where it came from.
4 to 67 to 910 to 11OutdoorSunny day
Puddle depth survey
Measure the puddles on your street with a stick and a ruler, then predict which will vanish first.
7 to 910 to 11OutdoorRainy day
Make a rain gauge
Turn a plastic bottle into a rain gauge, then keep a week of readings on the kitchen wall.
7 to 910 to 11Rainy dayOutdoor
Cardboard box marble run
Cut, fold and tape a run that keeps a marble moving from the top of the box to the bottom.
7 to 910 to 11IndoorRainy day
Pasta skeleton
Lay out dried pasta shapes to build a human skeleton and name the bones as you go.
7 to 910 to 11IndoorRainy day
Rain in a jar
Make warm water, cold air and a plate work together until it rains inside a jar.
7 to 910 to 11IndoorRainy day
Shadow drawing three times a day
Draw round a shadow in the morning, at noon and in the afternoon, then work out what moved.
4 to 67 to 9OutdoorSunny day
Stick and stone sundial
Plant a stick, mark the shadow every hour with a stone, and tell the time without a clock.
7 to 910 to 11OutdoorSunny day
Pine cone bird cafe
Roll a pine cone in lard and seed, hang it up and keep a tally of every visitor.
4 to 67 to 9OutdoorRainy day
Seed bomb wildflower balls
Squash compost, clay and wildflower seed into balls and plant a patch that feeds the bees.
4 to 67 to 9OutdoorSunny day
Kitchen table post office
Set up a post office with stamps, prices, a scale and real letters to real people.
4 to 67 to 9IndoorRainy day
Halve the recipe
Cook something simple, but halve every quantity first and check your working by eating it.
7 to 910 to 11IndoorRainy day
Newspaper tower challenge
Build the tallest tower that can hold a tin of beans, using only newspaper and a little tape.
7 to 910 to 11IndoorRainy day
Sheet and peg den
Turn chairs, sheets and clothes pegs into a den, then move in with books and a torch.
4 to 67 to 9IndoorRainy day
Garden sound map
Sit still for five minutes, mark every sound on a map and discover how loud quiet really is.
4 to 67 to 910 to 11OutdoorSunny day
Family time capsule
Fill a shoebox with today, seal it, and write the date you are allowed to open it.
7 to 910 to 11IndoorRainy day
Map your walk from memory
Walk a familiar route, come home, and draw it from memory before checking against a real map.
7 to 910 to 11OutdoorIndoor
Leaf rubbing bunting
Rub wax crayons over collected leaves, cut out the shapes and peg them into a string of autumn bunting.
4 to 67 to 9IndoorRainy day
Measure a tree with a hug
Use arms, string and steps to work out which tree in your street is the oldest.
4 to 67 to 910 to 11Outdoor
Apple pip counting and printing
Halve an apple, count the pips, then use the cut half as a stamp to print a whole orchard.
4 to 67 to 9IndoorRainy day
Two loaf yeast test
Make two small doughs, leave the yeast out of one, and find out what yeast actually does.
7 to 910 to 11IndoorRainy day
Torch shadow puppet theatre
Cut simple puppets, prop up a sheet and tell a story in shadows on the wall.
4 to 67 to 9IndoorRainy day
Conker ramp races
Build ramps from books and baking trays and find out what makes a conker roll furthest.
4 to 67 to 9IndoorOutdoor
Home post office
Set up a counter with stamps, scales and prices, then post real letters to family.
4 to 67 to 9IndoorRainy day
Secret kindness envelopes
Fill seven envelopes with small kind acts and open one each morning.
4 to 67 to 910 to 11IndoorRainy day
Bird cake for winter birds
Mix seed into softened fat, press it into a cup and hang it out for the hungriest month.
4 to 67 to 9Outdoor
Ice suncatchers on the line
Freeze petals, berries and leaves into ice discs and hang them out on a frosty morning.
4 to 67 to 9Outdoor
Paper chain story of the year
Write one good memory on each paper strip, then loop them into a chain across the room.
4 to 67 to 910 to 11IndoorRainy day
Moon diary for a month
Draw the moon at the same time each evening and watch a pattern appear over four weeks.
7 to 910 to 11Outdoor
Frozen bubble hunt
On a freezing morning, blow bubbles outside and watch crystals grow across them before they pop.
4 to 67 to 910 to 11Outdoor
Corner shop with real coins
Price up the kitchen cupboard, open a shop and let real coins do the maths teaching.
4 to 67 to 9IndoorRainy day
Red cabbage colour potions
Boil red cabbage to make a purple liquid, then turn it pink or green with things from the kitchen.
7 to 910 to 11IndoorRainy day
Timetable treasure trip
Plan a bus or train trip together using a real timetable, then follow the plan for the afternoon.
7 to 910 to 11OutdoorRainy day
Castle with a working drawbridge
Build a cardboard castle with a drawbridge that really lifts on string.
4 to 67 to 9IndoorRainy day
Roman mosaic from paper squares
Snip magazine pages into small squares and lay a Roman style mosaic panel.
7 to 910 to 11IndoorRainy day
Shoebox longship
Turn a shoebox into a Viking longship with a real sail, then test it in the bath.
4 to 67 to 9IndoorRainy day
Tudor street from cereal boxes
Build a row of leaning timber framed houses and talk about why fire spread so fast.
7 to 910 to 11IndoorRainy day
Paper bridge load test
Fold one sheet of paper five different ways and find out which bridge holds the most coins.
7 to 910 to 11IndoorRainy day
Bean in a jar diary
Sprout a bean against the glass so the roots are visible, and draw it every day for two weeks.
4 to 67 to 9IndoorRainy day
Frogspawn watch and life cycle wheel
Look for spawn in a local pond, then make a spinning wheel that shows each stage in order.
4 to 67 to 9Outdoor
Butter in a jar
Shake cream in a jam jar until it turns into real butter, then taste it on toast.
4 to 67 to 9IndoorRainy day
Bee cafe and pollinator count
Plant or place a few flowering pots, then sit still for ten minutes and count every visitor.
4 to 67 to 910 to 11OutdoorSunny day
Bottle siphon water play
Use two bottles and a length of tube to move water uphill, then work out how it happens.
7 to 910 to 11OutdoorSunny day
Stick race and river map
Race sticks under a bridge, then draw a map of the stream showing where the water runs fastest.
4 to 67 to 910 to 11Outdoor
Tide line survey
Walk the strand line with two bags and sort what the sea brought in from what people left behind.
4 to 67 to 910 to 11OutdoorSunny day
Rock pool two minute watch
Choose one rock pool, watch it without touching for two minutes, and list everything that moves.
4 to 67 to 9OutdoorSunny day
Foil boat cargo challenge
Make three foil boats of different shapes and find out which carries the most coins before sinking.
4 to 67 to 910 to 11IndoorRainy day
Bottle xylophone tuning
Fill jars with different depths of water and tune them into a scale you can actually play.
4 to 67 to 9IndoorRainy day
Paper plane fair test
Fold three plane designs, throw each one five times and work out an average distance.
7 to 910 to 11IndoorSunny day
Magnet hunt and the iron in cereal
Test the house for magnetic metals, then pull real iron out of a bowl of crushed cereal.
7 to 910 to 11IndoorRainy day
One week rubbish audit
Keep a tally of what your family throws away for a week, then choose one thing to change.
4 to 67 to 910 to 11IndoorRainy day
Blackberry ink and picking rules
Pick late summer blackberries, squash them into ink and write with a feather or a stick.
7 to 910 to 11OutdoorSunny day
Want the whole week planned?
Homeschool Club builds your weekly plan around ideas like these, keeps your records for you, and leaves room every day for the Wonder Hour.
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