If you’re like most parents in this country, you encourage your children to do more offline activities. Technology has dampened creative abilities as well as robbed this generation of spending time in the great outdoors.
However, as a parent, you want them to use their brain and enhance their playtime without being hooked to WIFI.
Fifteen Offline Activities That Enhance the Brain
Since you want your kids to put down the electronics do other things, you will need to show them. Making mud pies and playing in the rain isn’t as appealing to this generation as it was the ones previously. However, here are fifteen amazing ideas for offline activities that can help your child train their brain and have fun in the meantime.
1. Offline Puzzles
Puzzles come in all sizes, and they can be simple or extremely challenging. First, puzzles help with your memory and recall features as they work in both hemispheres of your brain. A study posted on the National Library of Medicine found that working puzzles can help keep the brain sharp and keep dementia at bay.
2. Blanket Forts
There’s nothing better than building a blanket fort inside on a rainy day. How many times did you create these structures growing up? You don’t need a bunch of tools, and you can throw one together in no time.
It’s fun seeing how creative you can be with a few blankets and a free afternoon. Your children will love you, helping them create a masterpiece worthy of pictures for social media. Plus, you’re creating memories that will last a lifetime.
3. Sidewalk Chalk Art
Allow your child’s creative side to blossom with the use of chalk. Those oversized pieces of colorful chalk can make all sorts of pictures on your sidewalks. The best part about this art is it washes away with a bit of rainwater or a garden hose.
4. Baking
Baking is a great activity that incorporates math into something yummy. They will never know that baking chocolate chip cookies involve math, science, and creativity all in one. The benefits of spending time together are priceless, but you’re teaching them life-long skills they can use.
5. Scavenger Hunts
Who doesn’t love a scavenger hunt? Get the neighborhood kids involved so that you can increase the fun of this activity. You can hide things for the children to find, or you can ask them to see things in nature, like a red leaf, a pinecone, and other various things in your yard. Give prizes for the most found items and make it a bit of a competition too.
6. Dancing
Dancing and listening to music help your children coordinate their moves. It takes brain work to go with the flow and allow your body to feel the beat. Dancing is so fun, and it’s a great workout too. They will strengthen their minds and muscles with this common activity.
7. Create a Play or Skit
Your kids can really let their imaginations run wild when they create a play or skit. Even if they bore you to tears, act like you’re interested. Remember all those times you did silly skits for your parents, and they watched with excitement?
When your children do offline activities such as this, they are using their creative abilities. Sadly, today’s generation has lost the capability to use their imagination because everything they could ever think of is provided through technology. Who knows, you may have an up-and-coming Broadway star on your hands.
8. Offline Reading (a Book not the Reading Device!)
Curling up with a good book is always recommended. Teach your children to love reading more so than sitting in front of a television. If your kid can’t read yet, then you can read to them.
You will open doors you never thought possible to them when you instill a love of reading. Use funny voices, act out a story, and really engage with the characters and what’s happening.
9. Gardening
There are so many plants and vegetation that you can grow to get your kids’ hands in the soil. Allowing them to see something grow from a seed to a fully blossomed plant is a fantastic experience. Use this as a teaching opportunity to learn where their food comes from and how much hard work goes into each fruit or vegetable they eat.
Homesteading is a big thing these days, and teaching your children to live off the land is wise. They can use this knowledge to help their families in the future. Additionally, this is one of the offline activities that pay dividends.
10. Arts and Crafts
Tons of crafts can help you spend time with your kids and get them to put down the electronics. They can paint, draw, use clay, make wood art, and the list goes on. Find something that interests them and let them get to work.
Their brain will be challenged by the detailed work that goes into each activity. They will improve their motor skills as well as use reasoning and rationale. The Crafty Classroom is a book that incorporates art into brain-enhancing activities. Teachers and homeschooling parents use it to make learning fun.
11. Legos or Lincoln Logs
Any child that can sit down and put a Lego set together is quite intelligent. Those small intricate pieces in these sets, as well as all the time it takes to build them, are indeed giving their brain a workout. There are so many things that they can create when they tap into their imaginative side.
Sure, it’s not fun for you to step on these little pieces that get left behind, but you need to make sure they have dedicated storage space. Legos and Lincoln Logs allow them to channel their inner designer and create something their little minds never thought possible.
12. Origami
Of all the offline activities, origami requires some real skill. This Japanese art will allow them to fold paper into unique creations. Turning a flat sheet of paper into 3D art is nothing short of amazing.
According to Brain Athlete, origami helps your child to learn sequencing skills, improves their eye-to-hand coordination, enhanced non-verbal thinking and comprehension, as well as increasing their ability to focus. Plus, the art is just fascinating to watch.
13. Geocaching
GeoCaching became popular a few years ago. It’s like a scavenger hunt for all ages. You will need to download the app, but you can use a compass to find the item’s location. People place items in safe, public places for you to discover.
You can even hide a few of these catches for those in your neighborhood. Once you find the item, you take one of the treasures located inside, and you leave something in the treasure box. A little bit of math and science is involved as your child will need to learn about GPS and coordinates.
Though some of these can be pretty tricky to find, it’s a great experience. If you’re bored and need to get in the great outdoors, take your kids Geocaching. There’s a whole tribe of people who participate in this activity worldwide, and you can even get cool shirts and hats that commemorate the game.
14. Build a Slip and Slide
Forget those store-bought slip and slides that don’t last long. You can build one yourself for hours of fun. In fact, you might want to slip and slide along with the kids.
All you need is a strong tarp, some dish soap, and a garden hose. Spread some soap around on the tarp and wet it down till it forms bubbles. The soap enhances the sliding abilities, and your children will have a rough time.
This is one of the offline activities that will burn calories too. As far as their brains, it can help with motor skills and teaching them to establish boundaries.
15. Offline Word Searches
Word searches and crossword puzzles have been around for centuries. You can pick up one of these books for under $1.00, but they provide hours of entertainment. Sure, you’re three-year-old isn’t going to like these offline activities, but it can really help the older kids.
Final Thoughts on Offline Activities
If you’re tired of your kids being hooked to a device all day long, then it’s time to show them some alternative activities to enjoy. Once you open the door to allow their creative imaginations to run wild, the sky is the limit.
Plus, most of these activities allow you to spend quality time with your kids. When you’re laughing, talking, and creating memories, it just enhances the brain. Sure, you’re busy, and life goes 100 miles per hour, but you will blink, and your children will be grown.
Take the time now and invest in your relationship while doing good things for their little brains. Many of these skills they cultivate will follow them throughout life. One day they will teach their children about stuff they did in the “old days,” and you will remember each one with glee.
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