100 Super Fun & Free Activities for Kids – All Screen-Free Too!

Finding free kids activities that you can do at home can be challenging. We have put together a collection of free activity ideas that are not only easy to do at home, but they are all screen-free and TV-free as well! These fun play ideas are great for kids of all ages alone or in a group.

Let’s keep kids’ boredom at bay… and these 100 free kids activities that are great at keeping kids active and playing.

Kids Activities that are TV-Free & Screen-Free

This article was inspired by the Kids Activities Blog kids activities books with over 220K copies sold and counting…

As you can see, every moment can be filled with fun if you just think a little about it!

Screen-time has its place, but many of us get too much sometimes, so these 100 fun activities are great for keeping kids busy. From education, crafts, to activities, and more we have a little bit of everyone!

You will need some stuff to do some of these awesome crafts for kids so you may want to grab some supplies beforehand. Missing some? That’s okay we can help!

This post contains affiliate links.

Free Kids Crafts with Stuff You Already Have

1. Paper Plate Flowers

Create a bouquet of roses – all you need are some paper plates! This one might require some adult supervision as it also involves scissors and a stapler.

2. Upcycle Old Toys

Want to know what to do with old toys your child no longer plays with? Upgrade some treasured toys –  use stickers, foam and paint to redecorate them.

3. Sew A Toy

Sew a pillow buddy for a friend. It is simple to do and a great gift! Pick out your favorite fabric, thread, stuffing, and scissors, and you’re ready to go.

4. Star Wars Toilet Paper Roll People

Make TP tube people, put on a play! Like these Star Wars toilet paper roll people!

5. Giant Blocks

Create giant blocks, and make a backyard tower. All you need is wood blocks, paint, and paint brushes!

6. DIY Play Dough Toys

Decorate old outlet covers to be eyes, noses and mouths for play dough play.  Fun and easy to clean.

7. Toilet Paper Roll Crafts

Collect all the cardboard tubes and bottle caps that you can find. Make a tube train. There are a ton of toilet paper roll crafts.

8. Melted Crayon Art

Chop up your crayons and heat them in the oven on low – paint with your melted crayon bits!

9. Fake Snot

Play a prank on a family member.  Make a batch of the grossest fake snot – ever!

10. Video: How To Make Oobleck

11. Sensory Bottle Ideas

Make a bedtime sensory bottle, and count the stars in the dark. What a great way to relax, plus you get to recycle!

12. 3 Ingredient Edible Playdough

Gluten-free, safe play dough for kiddos who have gluten sensitivity – your kids can even eat this play recipe!

13. Giant Dry Erase Mat

Go BIG.  Make a ginormous dry erase mat for your kids to doodle over using  a shower curtain.

14. Peeps Candy Playdough

How fun!  Make playdough for your kids out of marshmallows!  You can eat it afterward for a sugar rush.

15. Frozen Painting Ideas

Frozen Sparkly Paint – Making ice paints is a great way to cool as you play.

16. Soft Playdough Recipe

Whip up a batch of super soft playdough – you only need two ingredients.

17. Peanut Butter Playdough

Peanut butter Play dough is super tasty and fun to play with.  Your kids will love it!

18. Hanging Skeleton

Make puppets – and have a show.  These wiry puppet skeletons are fun and easy to make.

19. Playdough Recipes

Whip up a batch of play! There are more than 50 recipes of fun for your kids to choose from! Boredom is banished!

20. Homemade Paint

Get colorful.  Make a batch of mom-made paint for your kids to play with and create.

21. Sidewalk Paint

Paint the colors of the rainbow, on your driveway. These sidewalk paints are easy to make. Cornstarch and baking soda are the main ingredients.

22. Broken Crayon Crafts

Make crayon wands!  Melt your crayon scraps and fill straws to make these fun instruments of creativity.

23. Glasses and Mustache

Create a set of mustache clings – you can decorate your face on the mirror.

24. Bathtub Paint

Paint… in the bath tub!  The perks of this recipe is that there is no clean up.  Genius! This is great for toddlers and preschoolers!

25. DIY Lightsaber

Dual with the forces. Transform the pool noodles into lightsabers. Great for cooling off and pretend play! This is probably good for preschoolers and older kids since a lot of people like Star Wars.

26. Peppermint Patties

Enjoy peppermint patties – in play dough form!  This edible recipe is tasty (make in small batches – you’ll get a sugar rush).

27. Small Monster Art

Ink Blot Monsters are a super easy and fun craft for kiddos! Grab paper, markers, paint, and yard…and maybe some googly eyes for this one.

28. How To Make A Drum

Transform a set of old cans into a banging machine – all you need are some balloons. DIY Drums!

29. Video: Painting With Balls

30. Make a Rain stick

Raid the recycle bin.  Make a set of wacky characters from the clean trash in your bin. Like this homemade rain stick!

31. Pretend Cookies

Make a pretend cooking stove from a box. Have fun making magical meals. You can even make pretend cookies!

32. Cloud Dough

Cloud Dough. This stuff is great, so light and fluffy but it acts a bit like sand.  You can build with this dough.

33. Fairy Crafts

Love fairies? Make a fairy condo building!  Use random boxes and bits of wrapping paper to make it a home.

34. DIY Jump Rope

Jump and skip – with a DIY jump rope.  This classic is a blast and great to get kids moving when they are solo.

35. DIY Globe Sconce

Make a globe, from straws. Who knew you could make such a cool looking sconce with drinking straws! I wonder if colored straws would make it look cooler.

36. Toilet Paper Tube Crafts

Build with TP tubes. Decorate them to look like houses, cut slits and stack. Or make it to look like a super cool wizard’s tower.

37. Chalk Drawings

Make a sidewalk mosaic with items you can find in your yard. Love textures! This is great for small kids to practice fine motor skills.

38. DIY Finger Paint

Finger Paint!  Mix up a batch with your kids favorite colors. All you need is sunscreen and food coloring. This is perfect for toddlers, just make sure they don’t put their fingers in their mouth.

39. How To Make A Paper Cube

Fold paper to make boxes.  You can build towers with them!

40. Origami Eye

Create origami.  This is an origami eyeball that you can make – it actually blinks.

41. Glowing Slime

SLIME!! Make it glow with this fun recipe. It is easy to make! All you need is corn syrup, glow in the dark paint, water, glitter, and borax powder. 

Fun Kids Activities To Try Right Now

42. Pasta Sensory Bin

Gather the rainbow!  Mix up a batch of colorful fun.  Add food dye to pasta for a fun sensory bin.

43. Rocket Balloon Races

Race your cars, powered by balloons, across a room. Rocket balloon races are the perfect family activity!

44. Mop The Floor With Your Socks

Mop the floor – in your socks. It cleans, it is fun, and it gets you up and moving! Don’t slip though! 

45. Egg Carton Plane

Go fly a plane!  Make one from an egg carton.  You can cut and then decorate your carton to be a fun glider. 

46. Monster Puzzle

Go get a handful of paint chips and make monster puzzles. They’re so easy to make! All you need is a marker and scissor.

47. Build A Pillow Fort

Build a fort.  Too cool and your kids are learning about geometry and developing spatial awareness at the same time! You’re never too old for a pillow fort.

48. Pretend Aquarium 

Play with cardboard boxes.  Make an aquarium for all the imaginary fish you can come up with!

49. Dart Game For Kids

Build a tower out of disposable cups. Use straws and Q-tips and blow darts at your tower to watch it topple. What a cute dart came for kids! This is great for kindergarteners.

50. Paper Dolls

Paper dolls are fun to create, color and decorate, and then to play with in pretend worlds.  Print up a set for free.

51. Kerplunk

Play Kerplunk – only make the game yourself using a metal side table and plastic balls! The best part is you can get some sun, this is an outdoors version.

52. Yarn Maze

Make a yarn maze in a laundry basket – your tots will love fishing items through the leveled web of yarn. This is perfect for preschoolers and kindergarteners.

53. Mystery Bag Ideas

Give your kids a challenge – fill a bag with random supplies and sit back and watch the marvels your kids will make!

54. Craft Stick Puzzles

Create puzzles from Craft Sticks for your kids to exchange and solve with each other.

55. Printable Kindness Quotes

Say no to boredom with the help of smile coupons.  Ask your kids to think of ways to make others smile.

56. LEGO Zipline

Send your toys on an expedition!  Make a LEGO zipline across a room in your house, fasten your toys and watch them soar across the room.

57. Aqua Sand

Aqua Sand – it’s mesmerizing and will keep your kids entertained pouring sand into water and pulling it back out again – dry!

58. Free Bunny Sewing Pattern

Sew.  Fine motor skills are gained through sewing.  Create a sewing project for your kids from cardboard.

59. Garden

Garden. Plant some seeds in your backyard and watch them grow. It is good to get outside and in the dirt sometimes! Kids of all ages will love this.

60. Video: Pool Noodle Light Saber

61. Crash Mat

Go Big!  You can transform giant foam blocks, recycled from old furniture cushions, into a giant crash mat.  Hours of fun!

62. Dominos

Play line dominos – make a set of cards or stones with wiggly lines for your kids to line up into a train.

63. Silly Songs

Sing a song together – one that requires whole body motions! These are fun for the whole family! This is perfect for young kids!

64. Activity Book Ideas

Make a busy bag for your kids to create and explore. This is great for toddlers and preschoolers.

65. Geoboard

Get crazy with a DIY Geoboard.  Use colorful bits of yard and even elastic and other textures to make shapes.

66. Unicorn Cookies

Get Colorful!!  With your cookies.  Make a batch of Unicorn Poop – your kids will think it’s hilarious!

67. Cardboard Box Car Ramp

Simple play ideas are the best!  Line a set of stairs with boxes and drive your cars down them.

68. Ping Pong Roller Coaster

Watch balls drop with a ping-pong roller coaster. You can make this one from cardboard tubes and magnets and put it on your fridge.

69. Rube Goldberg Machine

Rube Goldberg machines are fascinating! Look around your house and see what you can use to create your own giant machine.

70. Hopscotch Board

Make a mat to play hopscotch on!  You can roll it out for play and clean up is a breeze!

71. Dance Party

Turn up the music and exercise together.  If possible, try bringing your family-friendly workout outdoors. Everybody loves a dance party. This is great no matter how old.

72. Chore List

Refuse to listen to your kids say I’m Bored. You can make a list of chores or even activity ideas. When your kids are bored they can draw from the jar. There are lists for toddlers, preschoolers, older kids, and teenagers.

73. Take Selfies

Be silly together.  Take selfies with your phone, print them out and doodle on your faces.

74. Watch It Fall

Watch it fall. Create a set of funnels that dump into a box and drop stuff through them. Fun!

75. Paper Dolls For Preschoolers

Create a set of paper dolls for your child to decorate and play with! I love these, such a classic “toy”. 

76. DIY Ball Pit

Make a ball pit!! Or a balloon Pit! Your kids will be lost in the balls for hours.

77. Candy Ink

Candy Ink.  Yum!! Fill a glue bottle with concentrated Jell-O and paint away – it’s edible art!

78. Exercise

Exercise!!  It’s easy to be fit with these ABC moving games. It will make you feel great and burn off that extra energy.

79. Making Music

Got Rhythm?  Want it?  Look around your house for different surfaces to bang on – like trash cans, or even the washer machine.

80. Fold Away Doll House

Make a foldable doll house. You can bring this toy with you anywhere for on-the-go-play.

81. Exploding Popsicle Sticks

Explore kinetic energy with exploding popsicle sticks. Stack the sticks and watch them blow!

82. Melted Ice Cream Play Dough

Whip up a batch of melting ice cream play dough.  This recipe tastes horrid, but is tot safe and smells and acts just like ice cream.

Easy Kids Science Experiments

83. Marble Maze

Make a pinball drop for a ping pong ball to drop from. This one is made from a box and craft sticks! Making a marble maze is a great STEM activity.

84. Dig Up Dinosaur Bones

Pretend you are an archeologist and dig up dinosaur bones from a tar pit.

85. Kinetic Sand

Create Kinetic Sand and pick one of these ten ways to play with it! It is easy to make all you need is slime, sand, and a container.

86. How To Make Ferrofluid

What is ferrofluid? It’s magnetic mud! Magnetic Mud is easy to make, if you have the supplies, and mesmerizing!

87. Making New Brain Connections

Don’t let the brain cells die during summer brain.  Keep building neurons (and develop empathy) with this brain-building trick.  

88. Science Experiments With Water

Mix oil and water together with whisks.  Watch how the globs stay separate.  Add a couple eye droppers and food dye for an afternoon of play.

89. Video: Fizzy Drops Art Activity

90. Cup Stacking Game

Practice spatial awareness and fine motor skills by building a cup tower with your kids. It’s harder than it looks!

91. Building Contest

Bust out the Legos and have a brick building contest. To contain your bricks use a kiddie pool. Another fun STEM activity.

92. Rain Cloud Experiment

Be a rainmaker.  Fill a cup with water and top with shaving cream.  Drip food dye onto the top of the fluff and watch it rain through to the water.

93. Food Coloring Experiments

Watch your milk explode with color!  Add some food dye and soap and of course milk.

94. Melting Ice

Ice! It’s cold and fascinating!  Fill cups with colored water, freeze them, and watch the ice mix and melt as you add salt to the blocks.

95. Bubble Tent

We did this and it was a blast!! Make a giant bubble tent. Tape ends of a sheet together and add a fan, The result is fun!

96. Video: Dinosaur Break Out!

97. Balancing Contest

Have a balancing battle. Stack a book on your head and walk around an obstacle. Try it again with a pencil on your nose. Or holding a basket on a ball.

98. Another DIY Marble Maze

Solve a puzzle, like this DIY marble maze. Your kids can make them and then swap to solve the maze puzzles.

99. Deck Of Cards House

Build a house with a deck of cards. It is harder than it looks! This was my favorite thing to do as a kid.

100. Lemon Juice Experiment

Watch lemon juice bubble and pop!  This experiment smells delish, is taste safe, and is a great example of chemical reactions for kids.

Free Printable Activities for Kids

101. Free Coloring Pages

We have 100s and 100s of free coloring pages for kids.

Here are some of our free printable coloring sheets you can download and print right now:

102. Free Learn How to Draw Lessons

We have free printable step by step tutorials on how to draw a ton of different things.

Here are a few of our favorites:

103. Make a Fort

Build an indoor fort together with stuff you already have on hand. It makes it way more fun when your fort changes each time you build it.

104. Go on a Backyard Scavenger Hunt

Download and print this outdoor scavenger hunt for kids of all ages and then see who can find the most things on the scavenger hunt list.

Crafting Supplies to Have on Hand

Oh so many things to make and do for free. We hope you have a really fun time today playing together!

What free kids activities are you going to try first? What is your favorite way to keep boredom away?