Free Indoor Activities for Foster Carers and Families

Posted on 24th January 2014 by Zoe

Family time is precious but finding a few hours in the day where every family member can be together and enjoy some quality time is harder than you think! This time together is even more important when you’re a foster family. Creating a warm family environment for the foster child makes them feel part of the family and like they belong.

So with this in mind here are a few ideas the whole family can get involved with on a rainy day:

Pizza Party – get some pizza bases, put lots of ingredients in bowls and have fun decorating your pizzas! Make funny faces, write something or make a picture…get creative! Then whilst they are in the oven, lay out a picnic blanket in the living room and enjoy eating with your fingers.

Movie Afternoon – enjoying a nice family movie together is a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon! You can even get the kids to design and make some popcorn bags and tickets to make it even more realistic!

Board Games – dust off the old family board games and sit around the dining/coffee table, making sure there is a space for everyone. You can get some snacks together for all to enjoy!

Make a Magazine – this is a firm favourite with my son! Get a few sheets of paper, fold them in half and staple down the middle crease to create a book. Each family member has a book and creates a story to fill the pages. A top tip…on the last few pages design some little activities like wordsearch or dot to dot. Once everyone has finished swap magazines and complete the activities at the back!

Cress Heads – hard boil some eggs, slice the top off , scoop out the contents and wash so you are left with a hollow dry shell. Get creative and paint funny faces on the shells. Once dry, soak some cotton wool with water and place inside the egg shell, be careful when doing this so to not crack the shell. Sprinkle some cress seeds onto the cotton wool and watch their crazy cress hair start to grow!

Make a den – space out 4 dining chairs, get some old bedding sheets or blankets and throw them over the chairs to create the roof and walls. You could even use the dining table itself with  the chairs to make it bigger for adults! Hey presto…just like camping but with the expense! Use your imagination to role play or if you have a portable dvd player you could make some treats and all sit in and watch a film!

See how much fun you can have as a family on little or no budget! With the weather not that good at the moment why not use these ideas this weekend?!

For more inspiration you can find lots of stuff on the internet!