While the risk of a COVID-19 outbreak in the area is on every parent’s brain right now, there’s one other major concern plaguing their mind:

“What activities can I do with my kids safely and indoors during this extended Spring Break?”

We understand your concerns and the expert teams at ER Near Me are fully equipped to handle the risks of infectious disease. If you or any of your children are experiencing flu-like symptoms such as cough, congestion, or fever, send them to ER Near Me for evaluation.

If your kids are healthy but cooped-up and bored, try some of these 10 family-friendly indoor activities to stimulate their minds, get out their energy, and make everyone’s Spring Break a little more enjoyable:

1. Put Together a Puzzle

You likely have at least one, if not multiple, jigsaw puzzles gathering dust in a storage closet in your home. It’s time to pull out the puzzles and make a family affair out of putting them together. Puzzles are also an activity you can do while making conversation with your family, as they don’t require an extensive amount of concentration.

2. Play a Family Board Game or Themed Charades

Another thing you likely have gathering dust in the closet that is also a great family-friendly indoor activity is board games. Find your old favorites and pull them out to create a family game-night and spur some friendly competition between you, your partner, and the kids. Board games not only foster family bonding, but they also teach strategy, rules, reasoning, and fairness. Some board games are also highly educational, making up for those missed school days.

Bored with board games? Try a game of family charades. Write out funny scenes from well-know kid movies, random animals, or events on strips of paper and place them in a hat. Take turns drawing out pieces of paper and acting out the scene. The winning team gets to pick what you watch on TV that night (or create a similar, age-appropriate prize for the winners).

3. Create an Indoor Scavenger Hunt

Are your kids feeling like they are on house arrest? Try a classic scavenger hunt, right in your home. Print out clues and distribute them throughout your home so that one clue leads to another. Be sure to hide a “treasure” at the final destination, like a toy or treat for younger kids or some cash for the older ones.

If you have multiple kids, set some rules such as no running and make sure they take turns reading the clues. For younger kids, create an age-appropriate version of the game by drawing out pictures or printing them from your computer to lead them to the next clue.

4. Have a Family Movie Night or Movie Marathon

Perhaps one of the easiest family-friendly indoor activities to do is a movie night, and it’s also a great way to get the kids to wind down at the end of a long day. You can also make this a movie marathon by selecting a series of movies, like Toy Story 1-4 or for older kids, the entire Harry Potter series. Grab the popcorn and tub of ice cream and you are ready to go!

Want to take your movie night a step further? Build a “fort” in the living room with pillows, blankets, and sleeping bags, to engage the kids and turn movie time into a fun activity.

5. Bake & Decorate Easter Cookies

Easter is right around the corner, so what better way to celebrate than to bake some delicious spring-themed cookies? If you don’t have Easter or spring-themed cookie cutters, show the kids how to shape the cookies themselves to look like a bunny, chicklet, egg, etc. Pull out the decorating supplies and add toppings and color. Then, enjoy the cookies during your family movie night for an extra sweet treat!

6. Create a New Card Game

Tired of playing “Go Fish” with your kids for the millionth time? Try your hand at creating an entirely new card game. Host a friendly competition between your kids and spouse to see who can come up with the most creative, fun game. Vote on the winning game, then play it together as a family. If you have younger kids, turn the cards face down on the table and challenge your child to match the cards.

7. Do Family Yoga & Indoor Exercises

For older children especially, getting in some daily exercise is essential — not only for their health and wellness but for your sanity as a parent who needs their kids to get out some of that pent-up energy.

If you can’t go outside due to rainy, cold, or dreary weather, try indoor yoga. Clear some space in the living room and look up different yoga poses to try as a family. If that’s not getting out their energy enough, encourage your kids to also do jumping jacks, sit-ups, push-ups, or even a fun game of “The Floor Is Hot Lava” that requires the kids to skip around the house in creative ways.

8. Get the Kids Involved in Cooking

You’ll have to cook lunch and dinner regardless of the weather or what’s going on in the world, so why not make the meals together? Get the kids involved in the process in age-appropriate ways. Have them measure out ingredients, mix food together, or season their food with spices. Take this opportunity to teach them about knife and fire safety while cooking.

Need a few ideas of foods the kids can create themselves? Try personal pan pizzas or tacos where each member of the family can add a dash of their personality (and favorite toppings) to the plate.

9. Have a Craft Day

Crafting is a great way to stimulate your mind, pass the time, and entertain your kids for hours on end. Sift through your craft supplies to see what you have on hand. You can try one of these crafty ideas or get creative using the supplies you already have:

10. Decorate Your Home for Spring

Pull out the Easter and spring decorations from storage and get the kids involved. If you have multiple kids, have them help each other decorate or separate them into “quadrants” of your house or apartment to have them decorate those areas. Then, offer a prize to the winner who decorated the best (or a participation prize for all kiddos involved to avoid any conflict).

Don’t have any spring decorations in storage? No problem. Make another craft day out of it and create your own decorations using supplies you have on-hand. Pull out the yarn, scrapbooking supplies, tissue paper, glue sticks, paint, etc. Tell the kids to get creative fingerpainting baby chicks and flowers, creating cotton ball bunnies, dyeing Easter eggs, or practicing their writing skills by spelling out “Hoppy Easter” on construction paper with colorful markers. Then, hang up the creations all over the house when finished!