Next time they ask for the tablet, have this guide ready.

We hear you. It’s four in the afternoon, you’ve run out of ideas, and the phone or the TV looks like the easiest way out. It isn’t laziness or a lack of love: it’s that no one ever handed you a list of activities to keep within reach for the exact moment you need it. Today, we’re handing you one.

These 10 activities don’t ask you to buy anything new, they don’t require you to be a Pinterest parent, and most of them come together in under five minutes with things you already have at home. We’ve organised them by what your child needs in the moment: to burn energy, to calm down, to create, or to wind down. Save this guide. You’ll come back to it.

When they have too much energy

Those days when they’re bouncing off the walls —especially when it’s raining and you can’t go out— the body needs to move before the mind can focus. The goal isn’t to wear them out, it’s to give that energy an orderly way out. Ten minutes of directed movement is worth more than an hour of shouting across the house.

1. The floor is lava

What you need: cushions, newspapers or pieces of cardboard.

How: the floor “burns”. Your child crosses the room jumping only on the safe islands you lay out.

Develops: balance, spatial planning, body control.

2. Treasure hunt

What you need: 5 or 6 objects and slips of paper with clues (or spoken clues if they can’t read yet).

How: hide objects around the house, and each clue leads to the next.

Develops: gross motor skills, logical thinking, memory.

3. Freeze dance

What you need: music and nothing else.

How: you dance together; when you stop the music, everyone freezes. Whoever moves dances for the others.

Develops: coordination, self-regulation, impulse control.

When they need to calm down

After intense play —or before bed— the challenge is to bring the energy down. These activities ask for busy hands and a quiet mind. They don’t work if you impose them; they work if you offer them calmly and sit down to do them together for the first few minutes.

4. The calm jar

What you need: a jar with water, glitter or liquid soap.

How: they shake it and watch everything settle slowly. They breathe while they watch.

Develops: emotional regulation, focus, patience.

5. Sorting and grouping

What you need: buttons, socks, tiles or bottle caps: whatever you have.

How: your child groups them by colour, size or shape. It sounds simple; for their brain it’s a full workout.

Develops: logic, order, concentration.

6. Homemade dough

What you need: flour, water, salt and a little oil.

How: you make it together, then they knead, cut and build freely.

Develops: fine motor skills, creativity, independence.

When they want to create

This is where you do the least. Your job is to hand over the materials, step back, and watch what they invent. Resist the urge to correct or suggest: the value of these activities lies precisely in what they come up with without your help.

7. The fort

What you need: blankets, chairs, clothes pegs and big cushions, or a modular sofa if you have one at home.

How: they build a den and you let them disappear into their world. The fort can last all afternoon.

Develops: spatial planning, symbolic play, independence.

8. Shadow theatre

What you need: a torch, a wall and your hands.

How: turn off the lights and make animals and characters with the shadows. Then they invent the story.

Develops: narrative language, creativity, expression.

9. The loose-parts box

What you need: a box with caps, fabric scraps, sticks, large buttons, spools: nothing small enough to swallow.

How: no instructions. They decide what each thing is and what it’s for.

Develops: open-ended creativity, problem-solving, divergent thinking.

When it’s time to wind down

To close the day, or for those waiting moments, a quiet activity that also leaves a memory behind. They’re perfect for that half hour before bed when you no longer want screens but it’s not quite bedtime yet.

10. The day journal

What you need: a notebook and some colours.

How: before bed, your child draws the best part of their day. It doesn’t have to be pretty: it has to be theirs.

Develops: emotional expression, memory, fine motor skills.

The goal isn’t zero screens: it’s having options

None of these activities replaces the screen overnight, and that’s not the point. The point is having real options within reach for those moments when the phone feels like the only way out. Every time you choose one of these, your child gains something: a skill, a memory, the confidence that they can entertain themselves. And you gain something too: seeing what they’re capable of when you give them the space.

If you’d like a physical ally for several of these activities —the fort, the floor is lava, the calm corner— the Klip Fun Sofa is designed to transform into all of that and more. Built for screen-free afternoons.

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P.S.

Save this guide to your favourites and share it with that friend who’s also hunting for ideas. And tell us in the comments: which one will you try first?