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Looking for screen-free activities for kids? You’re not alone! Parents everywhere are asking for fun ways to cut back on TV, video games, and tablets. As a book lover, my first suggestion is always reading. But I also know not every child has fallen in love with books yet.
Over the years, my boys have had less screen-time than many of their peers. My husband and I wanted them outdoors, using their imaginations, being creative—or even getting bored (which often leads to the best ideas!). Since we do less screen time than the national average, we’ve built up quite a list of fun screen-free activities. Hopefully you’ll find a few that your family will love too.
Activity Books for Kids
Activity books don’t take up a lot of space, are highly portable and budget friendly. Take them on a road trip, to the waiting room or in the backyard. There are different options for each book, so you don’t ever really run out of choices.
1. Dot by Letter Activity Pad: These are the coolest activity books! You choose which color to assign to each letter and fill out the key at the top of the page. Then you start “dotting.” These activity pads are calming, creative and surprisingly addictive!
2. Family Fun Search and Find: This has had a long life in our household, over 5 years! The great thing about this book is that it’s reuseable with dry erase markers.
3. Where’s Waldo books: I loved these as a kid, and I knew my boys would enjoy these too. Make the fun last longer by utilizing the additional lists in the back of the books to find other items in each scene.
4. Sticker Books: Dollar Tree carries sticker books for younger ages which are great. As my boys have gotten older, we found more challenging sticker books for them to complete. Option 2
5. Hidden Pictures Book: Dollar Tree also carries easier versions for younger kids to do. Last Christmas, my younger son received this one, and I think he enjoyed the challenge of combating the “hardest picture book ever.”
6. Color by Number Coloring Book: This was another grandparent gift that has been a big hit for my boys. These take longer to complete and really hold an attention span as the picture develops.
7. Word Ladders: My younger son was assigned Word Ladders every Friday in 4th grade, and he asked me to find him more so he wouldn’t have to wait for Fridays. If you’ve got a word lover, this is a great workbook.
8. Paper Airplanes: This book shows how to make 10 different planes and comes with 40 sheets of fun paper to use. You can also have different contests – who can make the nicest-looking airplane? Who can fly his/her airplane the farthest?
9. Extreme Connect the Dots: My older son introduced these to our family, and now both boys are addicted. They love the challenge as well as the sense of accomplishment when they finish a 1000+ connect the dots.
Screen-Free Family Board Games
Board games never go out of style! One of our favorite places to look for board games and puzzles is at Goodwill (just make sure all the pieces are included).
10. Racko
11. Sorry!
12. Battleship Shots
13. Othello
14. Guess Who?
15. Clue
16. Jenga
18. Catan Jr.
19. Telestrations
20. Puzzles
Fun Card Games for Kids
Card games are space-savers, easy to travel with and often lead to lots of laughter.
21. Uno
23. Taco Goat Cat Cheese Pizza
24. Solitaire, 2 ways – learn Pyramid solitaire or Klondike Solitaire
25. Dog Man The Hot Dog Card Game
Building Sets: Toys that Last
These building sets entertained my boys for several years! They might be a little more expensive than other toys, but they should have several years of use in them.
26. Creative Flakes
27. Magna Tiles
28. K’NEX
29. Subscription boxes – Kiwi Co. and Crunch Labs
Creative Crafts for Kids
Hands-on activities spark creativity and reduce screen dependency.
30. Painting rocks: We get river rocks from a local rock supplier and buy paint at Walmart. We either look ideas up online or use our imaginations to come up with ideas. Once they’re painted, I spray them with a sealant and leave instructions on the back, “Keep or Hide. Post a picture to [local Facebook rock hiding/finding] group.” And I include our signature.
31. Kinetic Sand
32. Pinecone Bird Feeder, see tutorial here
33. Diamond Painting
34. Water WOWs
35. Sidewalk Chalk
36. How to Draw Book
37. Olly Ball Keepy Uppy Coloring Ball
Other Fun Screen-Free Ideas
38. Podcasts: These are a few podcasts my boys have really enjoyed over the years: Brains On, Average Boy, Smash Boom Best and Tumble Science.
39. Adventures in Odyssey – audio drama series with a free 2-week trial
41. Rubik’s Cube
42. Swashibo Shape Shifting Box
Final Thoughts
Screen time isn’t always bad, but it’s easy to rely on it too much. Having a list of screen-free activities for kids helps balance family life, spark creativity, and build memories together.
Which of these activities will you try first?
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