Indoor Activities for busy boys
Here you will find tons of indoor activities to keep your busy boys BUSY! I have included just the best of the best and use actual photos of my kids doing these activities. I use my own photos! I really want to convey how much my two boys have used and loved these.
***Some of these links are affiliate links. Read our full disclosure policy here.****
great Indoor Activities Do This:
- They keep hands, bodies, and brains active and growing – no zoning out on a screen with these. I want kids to build a foundation for play where there is not a screen in sight.
- They are versatile, many can be played alone or with a friend.
- They span the ages and will be played with for years! – super for multi-age families,
- They engage and build creativity and are open-ended to allow for all sorts of play.
- Using these helps a kid’s frustration tolerance grow rather than crash and burn.
- They are high quality and stand up to hard play.
Want easy? Here’s:
- Amazon LIst of Indoor Activities for BUSY Boys
- A Gift and Book LIst for ADHD Teens
- One for great books for boys.
Building Toys
These building toys promote mindfulness and concentration.
I love the open-ended nature of these toys and we’ve had them for literally 9 plus years!
Your kids will get lost in these for hours and can use them together to create the ultimate city!
Kevablocks
We have had our Kevablocks for about 8 years and they continue to be played with on a regular basis – yes, even by a 13 year old! They are super versatile and their long, thin shape makes them a little different from a regular set of wooden blocks.
Start with a set of 200, but you can never have too many of these!
Quercetti Skyrail Mini Coaster
The Quercetti Skyrail Mini Coaster is as fun to set up as it is to play with. This is like a marble run on steroids.
Your kids will think of so many ways to build the Quercetti Marble Run, it is a bit more complicated and engaging for older boys, too. You can constantly change the coaster to make unlimited configurations. Great for those loooong winter days. The Marble Run is great for 4 years and older, while the Skyrail Mini Coaster is best for 7 years and older.
Wooden Blocks and Tape Roads
Your kids will play for hours (literally) with these wooden blocks. If I didn’t already have them, I would purchase them 1000 times over now! These help create a curiosity for architecture, not to mention spatial abilities, and focus and concentration.
The Tape Roads were purchased for my kids on just about every occasion because they LOVED and used them so much. Building a whole city full of roads is a great way to keep kids active and engaged. They’ll be set for a career in city planning. The tape roads come up easily from wood floors and leave no residue. We’ve had the train track tape, too.
Wooden Fence
The wooden fence was a fun add-on to corral cars and animals! It can be used with just about any other set we have. This is such an open-ended toy, that the possibilities are endless!!!
Lego Classic Set
My boys love the Lego Classic sets, for their versatility. These sets really let’s kids use their imagination and create whatever they can dream up. The Classic sets come in large and small sizes. Your kids will continue to grow their creativity and imagination as they create to their hearts desire.
Lay-N-Go for Lego Storage
The Lay-N-Go is an absolute life saver for lego storage.
My boys first got the largest Lay-N-Go (seen above in blue) and have since expanded to each having an additional small one to keep in their bedrooms.
Lego clean up and storage is so much easier with this drawstring bag. You just cinch it up and all the legos are kept in one place. Lay it out and legos are visible to create!!
You’ll see a tackle box in the background too. It is great for storing tiny lego accessories and special minifigs.
Matchbox and Hotwheels Cars
My kids collect Matchbox and Hotwheel cars and dare I say, they have hundreds of them now! You can start a collection for about a dollar each and there are so many ways to use them. Set up tape roads, draw your own roads, invest in a car play rug. Use them outside in the dirt or snow! The ultimate open ended toy!
Family Games
Spending time and connecting with your kiddo, looking them in the face, sitting next to them on the sofa, working on something together – is the best memory maker.
Maybe this will inspire you to go to your game cabinet and get something out tonite. Take a look at our list and see which games we LOVE.
Labyrinth
Labyrinth is a super fun game for the whole family. The object of the game is to wind thru the castle maze to find treasures. BUT, each player changes the maze on every turn, so you are constantly rethinking your strategy. The set up is simple, but the ideas are big.
Cat Crimes
Cat Crimes – My younger son got this when he was 8 and we still play it, 3 years later. It’s a mystery solving game with lots of critical thinking involved. Many levels for all ages and abilities.
Game time: 5 to 10 minutes per mystery. The great thing is it can be played alone or with a partner.
Ticket to Ride
Ticket to Ride is a great game for a big crowd – or even just two. You build railroads from city to city amassing your empire! The skill level and strategy involved make this great for the 8 to 98 crowd.
This is a longer game which is good for building concentration and focus – plan at least 45 minutes. They do have a newer version for younger children, too!
Hangman
My kids and I have such fun with this game! Like the old fashioned pen and paper word guessing game, only you play two rounds at once, with each player trying to guess the other’s word.
It’s quick, a great way to practice spelling, and can be whatever level you choose. Ebay is the way to go with this one — find the 1988 version for under 10 bucks.
Shut the Box
We learned about this game when we visited Williamsburg, several years ago. Shut the Box or Ferme La Boîte, as it’s known in France, is an old timey game from 12th century Normandy. The dice are rolled, added up and the addends are flipped.
Each player tries to flip the entire board before he rolls a number he can’t play. It is a favorite of my kids and my classroom! This is a great idea for kids who have trouble learning their math facts.
Indoor Activities for Energy Burning
Automoblox
We are huge fans of the Automoblox line of toy cars. My oldest son received a red sports car for his first birthday and we collected them for years. The cars are super high-quality and can be taken apart and interchanged with each other. Switch wheels, people, front ends, etc. to create all new vehicles. My kids have spent hours making tape roads for these all over the house. The cars are big, so their whole body gets involved pushing these around the house.
Exercise Ball
We use ours to do lots of therapy movements, but it also gets used All. Day. Long. Balancing, sitting, bouncing (sometimes annoyingly often). My kids fight over it, so I probably need to get a second one.
A YoYo
Yoyo’s are coming back–at least at my son’s school –and he is happy to follow this trend. We have had a vintage one for awhile, but a good Duncan yoyo can be purchased for under $8.00. Yoyo’s are great for balance and coordination skills and perseverance–you really have to put some time into practicing to get good.
Stuff we found during Covid that we still love!!
These were the things that saved us during shelter in place and we kept because we loved them so much. These items helped my boys with ADHD who have an excessive amount of energy to burn. Can you relate?
Our Mondo Koosh ball and scooter board were used on an hourly basis! Zoom Ball is great for an upper body workout(and bi-lateral coordination!) and getting brothers who have been fighting to work together. The whole family has been using it.
Cooking Classes to take at home
Kids Cook Real Food Classes
Both of my kids have taken Katie Kimball’s Kids Cook Real Food ecourse and loved it. The course includes modules for ages 3 to teens. Your kids will learn skills like cutting with real knives, measuring dry and wet ingredients, and cutting and peeling fruit and veg.
Learning a skill like cooking builds confidence in kids and gets them helping out at home. Katie also shows how to cook real food, from browning meat to making salad dressing, to cooking meals. My teens are now in charge of one meal per week and are pretty darn confident in the kitchen.
Raddish Subscription Box
My tween and teen surprisingly LOVED the Raddish Subscription Cooking Box.
Maybe it’s because we’ve already taken an online cooking class with Katie Kimball.
Or maybe it’s just because the box is expertly created to engage kids of all ages in fun and yummy cooking activities.
All the work is done for you: The box contains recipe cards, tools, shopping lists, puzzles, fun facts all around a different theme each month.
This also makes a great gift. Check it out HERE.
Purposeful work tools
Kids love to work side by side with their parents. Start young and they’ll learn the rewards of doing purposeful work! These make it easier for ADHD kids to do their chores. They kind of make chores fun, too!!
Brooms were brought by the elves for my kids about 8 years ago and were used every single day. So great for fine motor skills and crossing the midline and learning to contribute to the family.
A crumb sweeper makes cleaning the table fun!
Our mop and bucket are still used and mopping is my oldest’s favorite chore!
Art supplies to keep hands busy(even teens!)
Calligraphy Pen – Really great for practicing cursive and writing fancy thank you letters. Just the thing to write secret notes, too!!!
Markers – we’ve had many sets over the years and love these and these the most.
Wax crayons – Seriously these rectangle shaped ones are the best!! They last for years, even with a lot of use. Made of beeswax, they smell wonderful!
Paper– a good heavy white paper is a must! And the big rolls of paper are super for getting your whole body involved! Lots of cities have been created with them.
Fine Black Markers – I have to hide mine like this because my boys steal them all the time! Great for fine drawing and just feeling a bit more grown up!
Clay – This air hardening clay is great for the older set(7 and up). Model Magic is great for younger kids. This engages my kids for hours!!
Travel water color set – A very, high quality set for on the go or at home. The color is amazing!! Really great for nature journaling!
Spirograph – We have a vintage set, but the new ones are a bit more tricked out. Super for hand strength and concentration! Best for ages 5 and above.
Other Fun Indoor Activities
Light Table
I found one like this at a thrift store about 7 years ago and we get so much mileage out of it!! It’s great to use in the winter when it gets dark so early. My kids love to draw on it using tracing paper. We’ve played with stacking cups, colorful shapes and clear legos also. Here is a smaller, more economical one, if you are not lucky enough to find one at the thrift store!
Puzzles
Puzzles are so great to promote concentration and visual-spatial skills. We’ve had many over the years, but the Geography ones are the best. My kids have such a broad knowledge of world geography because of their states and continents puzzles.
Typewriter
Check your local thrift store or Craig’s List. We got ours for about 5 bucks at Goodwill. My kids go in phases with ours, so I keep it around for when the mood strikes. So great for keyboarding practice, thank you notes, story writing, pretend play, and budding journalists. This thing is heavy and great for heavy lifting exercises, too.
A good journal
There is something so inviting about a really nice journal. Over the years we’ve had many different kids. This, this, and this one have been favorites. The journals come in the car, to waiting rooms and restaurants, on family trips, and are used to write lego instructions, and draw big plans. We keep a list of the books we’ve read in one, too.
Want to Save These Ideas for Later, Click Here for a PDF with all the Links
