Fun Indoor After-School Activities for Kids in Grades K-5

As the days grow shorter and the weather cooler, or on blazing hot summer days, finding engaging and educational indoor activities for kids becomes a priority for many parents and teachers. I'm Lauren Mauel, a Create & Learn instructor with eight years of teaching experience. With a background in Mathematics and Analytics, and currently pursuing a PhD, I’ve always been passionate about fostering creativity in kids. Today I hope to inspire you with a variety of unique and educational activities to keep young minds active and curious during the cozy autumn months, whether it’s creating a DIY escape room or exploring virtual museum field trips.

Discover Indoor After-School Activities for Elementary Students

When looking for indoor activities for kids, it's important to find options that are educational, safe, and engaging. As an instructor, I understand these concerns deeply. The activities I've pulled together not only foster critical thinking and creativity but also provide safe, interactive way for kids to learn and explore. Plus, they cater to various interests and learning styles, making it easy to find enriching and enjoyable options for your child.

1. DIY Escape Room

Create an indoor escape room adventure where kids solve puzzles and riddles to "escape" from a room. Design clues related to subjects like math or history to integrate learning into the fun.

2. Science Experiment Stations

Set up different stations with simple science experiments, like making slime, creating a volcano, or growing crystals. Rotate kids through the stations for hands-on science fun.

3. Mini-Golf with Math Challenges

Build a mini-golf course using household items and incorporate math challenges at each hole. For example, kids might solve a math problem to get their next clue or move their ball to the next hole.

4. Game Building Club

Build a new fun project with beginner-friendly coding every week. In this live online club, an expert guides small groups of students through a different project from start to finish in a 55-minute session. Some examples of weekly projects include making a soccer game, creating a virtual pet, and bringing a dress up game to life. If your child doesn't have any previous coding experience, join Scratch Junior (Grades K-2), Scratch Ninja (Grades 2-5), or Accelerated Scratch (Grades 6+) first.

5. Build a Rube Goldberg Machine

Challenge kids to create a Rube Goldberg machine using everyday objects. This complex chain reaction machine helps them learn about physics, engineering, and problem-solving in a fun, hands-on way.

6. Chromatography Flowers

Use chromatography to create colorful flower art. Kids can use coffee filters, markers, and water to see how colors separate, which introduces them to basic principles of chemistry and color theory.

7. Language Learning through Cooking

Cook a recipe from a different country and learn basic phrases in that language. This combines cultural education with practical skills.

8. Minecraft Redstone Engineering

In this fun live online class, your child will learn how to incorporate a set of redstone related blocks to build light shows, automatic doors, and even flying machines inside Minecraft. They will also learn about real-world engineering and computer science.

9. Shadow Puppet Theatre

Create a shadow puppet theatre using a flashlight and cut-out figures. Kids can write their own plays and perform them, enhancing storytelling and fine motor skills.

10. Free Tech Expert Events

Learn from tech experts in free webinar sessions for students. Join tech experts from companies such as NASA, Pixar, and more, to discover the ways in which technology is used in movies, animation, sports, and robots! These sessions are immersive and give students glimpses into possible future careers while having fun today.

11. Play with Sphero Robots

Have fun coding robots and completing design-and-build STEAM kits. Sphero has a bunch of at-home learning kits that come with awesome activity cards, as well as bowling pins, and cones to build mazes, design obstacle courses, construct towers, play croquet, and more. Start by playing STEM-inspired games with the Sphero Play App. Or give your robot commands and complete challenges using the Sphero Edu App. Learn how to code robots in the live online class Junior Robotics.

12. DIY Marble Run

Use household items to build a marble run. This activity encourages engineering skills and creativity as kids design and test their runs.

13. Explore the Monterey Bay Aquarium Live Cam

Engage your child in an aquarium adventure using the live camera feature! Children can experience the wonder and awe of the ocean regardless of where they are. Begin the exploration anytime.

14. Make Lavender Playdough

Kids love playdough. The nice thing about creating their own playdough is that children get to see the product from start to finish. The lavender also has a calming effect which is excellent to help kids calm down.

15. Make An I-Spy Bottle

This is a super fun craft that allows children to design a craft surrounding their passions. Children can decide what will go in their bottles and design the I-spy list for the bottle. Use these directions, which include an example.

16. Arduino Kits for Kids

Arduino kits inspire children to love STEM! An Arduino is a device to control electronics. Arduinos use code to understand sensors, and decide when to turn on motors and lights. These pre-made kits come with all the parts you need to build circuits, gadgets, and even robots! Enroll in a Smart Devices class to learn how to program your kit.

17. Make Magic Foaming Spiders for Halloween

To get in the Halloween spirit, consider making these fun spiders! This link walks through the directions. There is even a STEM/design element to this activity.

18. Ice Cream In A Bag

Kids love ice cream. What would be more fun than creating their own ice cream concoction after school? The ice cream in a bag activity is fun and tasty!

19. Make Slime

Bond with your children in designing slime! In the blog post linked below, there are directions on how to design your own slime. This is a fun and simple STEM activity where children can learn to mix products together to create another product.

20. Create An In-Home Garden

Teach your children about sustainable gardening through designing your own in-home garden. You can design the garden to fit your personal style and preferences. This can be a great activity to immerse your child in science and the environment.

21. Design Milk Art

Using milk, food coloring, q-tips, and soap, you can design beautiful paper. It is a fun after-school activity that does not require too many supplies or too much time. Each time, your child will create something new and exciting.

22. Join the Arizona Science Center

A monthly subscription allows your child to select various activities. The Science Center has online courses on rockets, frogs, turtles, and more! There are 74 courses to pick from and students can take ownership of their learning.

23. Indoor Scavenger Hunt

When you are stuck inside, try an indoor scavenger hunt! Use the documentation sheet here, for kids to fill out as they find the items. This can be a super fun activity for the whole family to participate in.

24. Carnegie Museum of Natural History

Book a virtual field trip with the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Students can pick topics like dinosaurs, animals, reptiles, Egypt, and more! The reviews for this virtual museum are excellent.

25. Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

The Smithsonian virtual tour allows participants to take room-by-room tours of exhibits and areas in the museum. This virtual opportunity is a great way to learn from home.Students can use desktop or mobile devices to access the museum.

26. Discovery Education Virtual Field Trips

Discovery Education has various offerings for virtual field trips. For example, in September they will be offering a Home Depot Science Fair and a Boeing presentation. The varied options and the connections to real companies make this offering very attractive.

27. Online Music Lessons

Would you like your child to learn an instrument? Would you feel more comfortable if they could learn the instrument from your place of residence? School of Rock offers online music lessons in guitar, piano, drums, and singing.

28. Martial Arts Classes

Would you like your child to be more active? Does your child need more confidence in their own abilities? Check out virtual martial arts offerings.

29. The Nature Conservancy Virtual Experience

Families can work through virtual field trips together through The Nature Conservancy website. There are many topics to explore, like climate change, corals, and rainforests. There are also teacher guides that families can use to navigate the material together.

30. Make Rock Candy

Make some rock candy together! This can be a great STEM connection while designing something kids love to eat. Children will learn the ingredients and processes necessary to make rock candy. This is an awesome bonding experience

31. Design Lava Lamps

Engage your children in this fun activity as you recreate your groovy lava lamp from your childhood! You can incorporate a discussion of molecules during the project. Oil and water do not mix! Within this project, kids will see this firsthand.

32. Creativity Camp

Wacom Creativity Camp is a series of inspiring, educational, and instructive free online and in-person workshops from professional digital artists. Each workshop is aimed at inspiring the next stage in your creative journey, leveling up your digital art skills, and making sure you never stop learning. Create a suspenseful Manga page, create interesting illustrations with everyday object, and draw a narrative self-portrait project.

Indoor After-School Activities For Elementary Students

Now you hopefully have a few different ideas of after-school activities to engage children. From coding and STEM projects to museum tours, and more - there's something for every child. I hope you and your child have a great time trying new things!

Explore more fun fall activities for kids and get back to school ready. Start learning coding with the most popular beginner-friendly class, Scratch Ninja.

Written by Lauren Mauel, a Create & Learn instructor with 8 years of teaching experience. She also has a BS in Mathematics, an MS in Analytics, and is a PhD candidate. She loves seeing kids' creativity come alive.