Top 5 Indoor Activities To Do At Home with Boys

“We can’t watch TV all day!”, our energetic, boisterous 5 year old spouted off recently. He just couldn’t stand the thought of sitting still and not DOING something, but we preferred not to go out in the cold that chilly winter day. So, some indoor activities that we could do at home were in order. Here are some of our favorite ideas for our boys to fight off cabin fever and keep their minds and bodies active—even when we’re stuck inside all day.

1. LEGOs

I feel like the possibilities here are endless. I mean just Google or search Pinterest for “LEGO activities” , and you’ll be flooded with idea after idea.

It’s no secret that we love LEGOs around here. From birthday parties to Valentine’s Day boxes, LEGOs are one of our absolute favorite activities. Here are some of our favorites:

Build a New LEGO Set

A new LEGO set is always fun . We gave our boys each an inexpensive set of LEGOs for Valentine’s Day, and we can’t believe how much Reed has enjoyed it. It’s turned into one of his favorite indoor activities at home. These particular sets have 3 different sets of instructions for the same pieces, so they can build and rebuild and rebuild again. If you know a storm is coming or you’re going to be spending some time inside, you could buy a smaller LEGO set and save it for just the right moment.

Rebuild Old LEGO Sets

The 3 in 1 sets opened our eyes to rebuilding old sets. If you still have the instructions, gather up the pieces and build the set again. Don’t worry if you don’t have all the exact pieces. You can improvise with different colors or combining smaller pieces to equal larger ones. Reed has really enjoyed taking assembled sets apart and rebuilding them, so you could try it that way too.

Make Up Your Own

Come up with your own ideas

• What’s your child’s favorite animal? Dragons are one of our favorites.
• Does he have a favorite type of vehicle? Build a LEGO version.
• How about a favorite color? Try building something all from the same color or same color family of LEGOs.

Do a One Minute LEGO Challenge

Set a timer for one minute and have a contest to build the highest LEGO tower. We’ve done this at our LEGO birthday parties, and it’s always a big hit. The kids will do this one over and over!

There is no end to the LEGO ideas on Pinterest. Make a list of LEGO building ideas and turn them all into a one minute challenge. Who can build a car in a minute? How about a dog?

2. Nerf and Dart Guns

Nerf toys provide us with great indoor activities to do at home. While our boys tend to lean toward having Nerf wars with their Nerf guns, you could also play it a little safer and have a dart shooting contest. Whichever option you prefer, they’re sure to provide some much needed entertainment on a day when you’re stuck indoors.

Nerf War

Be careful with this one! We don’t allow Nerf wars without eye protection, and beware that it most likely will get wild. It’s a great way to get some energy out when you’re cooped inside though! Here are our tips for a fun and successful Nerf War:

• No head shots. It’s just a good rule of thumb to avoid some more painful injuries.
• I mentioned it already, but EYE PROTECTION. Even with the “no head shots” rule, accidents happen, and speaking from experience, you do not want to get hit in the eye with a dart. Ouch!
• Make teams and build forts. Nerf wars get a little intense in our house—we’ve even been known to move couches around to create a base for each team.
• Stock up on darts. You’ll run out fast, so it’s nice to have a bunch for each person or team.

You WILL end up with darts all over your house. We’ve gotten so used to the darts that we almost don’t notice the ones we’ve missed after picking up. Make a game of picking up the darts. Whoever gathers the most darts is the winner!

Target Shooting

Gather your recycling, set up some targets, and take aim! Give targets different point values to make the contest more interesting. Our boys love a good competition, so this a great way to use our Nerf guns. It’s also a little less likely than a Nerf war to result in an injury.

3. Marble Tracks

When I was little, I’d spend hours and hours building marble tracks with paper towel and toilet paper rolls. I built multiple tracks and set them up to race trying to figure out which track was faster. Now our boys have discovered the fun of racing marble tracks too. When you can’t go outside to play, marble tracks are a perfect indoor activity to do at home.

Build Your Own Marble Track

Go old school like I used to, and build your marble track from supplies around the house. The recycle bin is a great place to find the important pieces to your next marble track. Here are some items you can use:

• Cardboard tubes. Toilet paper, paper towel, and wrapping paper rolls work great.
• Boxes. We once made a small marble track from a cereal box. You could make a mini marble track like we did that time, or you could make it part of a larger marble track.
• Juice containers. If you’re helping your kids, you could modify a juice jug by cutting it to form a sort of funnel (or toilet bowl as we’ve heard it sometimes called) for the marble track.
• LEGOs. Use LEGOs to build a track like this one on Pinterest.

Buy A Track

There are plenty of marble tracks available for purchase. Here is our new favorite. We like that this particular marble track is large enough for the regular glass marbles. We’ve had tracks in the past that were too narrow and would only work with the plastic marbles that came with the track.

Marble Track Inspiration

As silly as it may seem (to me at least), you can actually watch marble races on YouTube. While I’m not particularly crazy about the boys watching mindless videos for too long, they do get some ideas and inspiration from watching the videos. Here is one of our boys’ favorite channels.

4. Play Board Games

Playing board games is probably one of Reed’s most favorite things to do. He doesn’t stick with just one for very long though, so we can play several throughout a day cooped inside. Here are some of our favorite family board/card games:

• Blokus
• Ticket to Ride First Journey
• Qwirkle
• Mouse Trap
• Uno (any version)
• Jenga
• KerPlunk
• Chutes and Ladders Super Hero Squad
• Candy Land
• Five Crowns

5. Movie Night

If all else fails, a good movie or show may be in order to get you through some of those indoor days. Sometimes snuggling up on the couch together is the perfect activity. Disney+ is our streaming service of choice right now. We like that it has so many family friendly options and are particularly enjoying the older movies like Swiss Family Robinson, That Darn Cat, and The Ugly Dachshund.

We’re getting closer to Spring here in Colorado, and we really can’t wait. How do you pass the time waiting for Spring when you’re stuck inside? What indoor activities do you do at home? We love to hear from you! Leave a comment or send us a message.