Pick a theme
Each theme hub lists every kind of activity we have for it — builds, crafts, pretend play, games and the rest — so you can pick the format that fits the afternoon.
Situations
When the day itself is the problem.
Rainy Day
Stuck inside with restless kids and a grey window. Activities that fill an afternoon without a trip to the shops.
24 activities · Indoor Builds, Pretend Play, Arts & Crafts, Kitchen Projects, Science Experiments, Active Games, Quiet Activities, Paper Crafts
Snow Day
School is cancelled, everyone is home, and the day needs a shape. Indoor projects plus a few that use the snow outside the door.
24 activities · Indoor Builds, Pretend Play, Arts & Crafts, Kitchen Projects, Science Experiments, Active Games, Quiet Activities, Paper Crafts
Sick Day
A child who is under the weather but bored: low-energy, low-mess, sofa-friendly activities that do not need much from a tired parent.
24 activities · Indoor Builds, Pretend Play, Arts & Crafts, Kitchen Projects, Science Experiments, Active Games, Quiet Activities, Paper Crafts
Birthday Party
Games, crafts and set-ups for a small home party, sized for a handful of kids and a parent running it.
24 activities · Indoor Builds, Pretend Play, Arts & Crafts, Kitchen Projects, Science Experiments, Active Games, Quiet Activities, Paper Crafts
Worlds
When your child will do anything, as long as it is about this.
Dinosaurs
Fossils, footprints, volcanoes and the dinosaurs themselves, for kids who know a stegosaurus from a triceratops.
12 activities · Pretend Play, Arts & Crafts, Paper Crafts, Indoor Builds
Space
Rockets, planets, astronauts and the night sky.
12 activities · Pretend Play, Arts & Crafts, Paper Crafts, Indoor Builds
Ocean
Under-the-sea creatures, boats, waves, rock pools and the beach.
12 activities · Pretend Play, Arts & Crafts, Paper Crafts, Indoor Builds
Animals
Pets, wild animals, animal homes and animal sounds.
12 activities · Pretend Play, Arts & Crafts, Paper Crafts, Indoor Builds
Farm
Tractors, barns, farm animals, vegetables and harvest.
12 activities · Pretend Play, Arts & Crafts, Paper Crafts, Indoor Builds
Jungle & Safari
Rainforest and savannah animals, explorers, binoculars and expeditions.
12 activities · Pretend Play, Arts & Crafts, Paper Crafts, Indoor Builds
Pirates
Treasure maps, ships, islands, parrots and hidden loot.
12 activities · Pretend Play, Arts & Crafts, Paper Crafts, Indoor Builds
Castles & Knights
Castles, knights, dragons, crowns and royal feasts.
12 activities · Pretend Play, Arts & Crafts, Paper Crafts, Indoor Builds
Superheroes
Capes, masks, secret identities and saving the day, without naming any trademarked character.
12 activities · Pretend Play, Arts & Crafts, Paper Crafts, Indoor Builds
Construction & Trucks
Diggers, dump trucks, cranes, building sites and roads.
12 activities · Pretend Play, Arts & Crafts, Paper Crafts, Indoor Builds
Classic games
The games you played, written up so you can run them.
Classic Games
The games American kids have played for generations — hopscotch, Simon Says, musical chairs, the floor is lava — the way they were played in the 1960s, with the versions other countries play named alongside.
12 activities · Active Games, Quiet Activities, Paper Crafts, Indoor Builds
Or browse by kind of activity
Two kinds of theme
The situation themes are the ones you reach for when the day has already decided things for you. A rainy day set leans toward projects that take a while and use up an afternoon; a sick day set stays on the sofa, keeps the noise down and asks very little of a child who is not at their best; a snow day set assumes school is off and everyone is home; a birthday party set is sized for a handful of children and one adult running the show.
The world themes work the other way round. Your child is, this month, entirely about dinosaurs, and the fastest way to get them to do anything is to make it about dinosaurs. So the same kinds of activity — a build, a craft, a pretend-play set-up — are written again for each world, with the details that make it feel like that world rather than a generic craft with a sticker on it. How the activities are written, and how to ask for a theme that is missing.