Families: activities to do at home

A range of fun, hands-on activities for families to use at home, suitable for all ages from 4 to 16. 

• Activities for all ages

• Activities for ages 4-11

• Activities for ages 7-11

• Activities for ages 11-16

Activities for all ages

• Mission X: Train like an astronaut

  Train like an astronaut using physical and scientific activities and learn all about fitness and nutrition on Earth and in space.

  

• Moon camp challenge

  A European Space Agency challenge to design a Moon Camp using online design software.  

  

• the great exhibition at home challenge

  Learn how engineers can help protect the planet, and win super STEM prizes. All UK primary and secondary students can take part.

  

• Digital making at home

  A series of activities from the Raspberry Pi Foundation involving coding and projects at home.

  

• Virtual robotics from VEX

  Code a virtual robot using a block-based coding environment. Program your robot to solve mazes, draw shapes and patterns and collect and sort objects.
   

  

• The Great Indoors

  For anyone challenged with keeping young people busy, happy and learning whilst at home, The Scout Association has collated more than 100 activities for young people of all ages.

  

• Floating garden STEM challenge

  A great activity to do inside and out. Find out about problems around the world caused by flooding, then design and build your own floating gardens.
   

  

• Stop the spread

  After this activity, you will understand more about how COVID-19 spreads, and the importance of handwashing. You will also have built your own outdoor handwashing station.

  

Activities for ages 4-11

• the mars mission

  The six activities for each age group of children, allow them to find out more about the ExoMars Mission in 2020 and about searching for life on Mars.​

  

• Mission to the moon

  Practical activities, investigations and games all based on current lunar research, using a mission to the moon as a context for science learning.

  

• Engineering@Home

  Turn the materials you would normally send out in your recycling into something that you can design, build and test.

  

• ExpeRimental

  A series of short films making it fun, easy and cheap to do science experiments at home with your children.

  

• Code for life

  Free, educational and fun coding activities and lesson plans to help teach coding at home.

  

Activities for ages 7-11

• Skills Builder home learning activities

  A selection of tasks to develop young people’s essential skills like listening, problem-solving, and creativity.

  

• animal adaptations

  Look at how animals have adapted to cope with all sorts of conditions. Explore communication strategies, travel, camouflage and life in challenging settings.

  

• extreme elements

  Make models to understand how weather and extreme events occur, and what their impact can be.  

  

• fact finders

  Create a TV show that explores common myths, crazy stories and possible pranks.
   

  

• Movies and magic

  Explore how things are done to make movies look realistic, and investigate whether technology from the movies could be possible in real life.  

  

• the ice is melting

  In this set of four activities from the European Space Agency, students explore the impacts of global warming and melting ice on Earth.   

  

Activities for ages 11-16

• Skills Builder home learning activities

  A selection of tasks to develop young people’s essential skills like listening, problem-solving, and creativity.

  

• Stretchiness

  Work as an engineer to investigate the properties of materials- in this case: sweets!

  

• Hand-eye coordination 

  "The faster you are the more mistakes you make" Complete the hand-eye tester to find out!

  

• Knitting book

  Knitting patterns for a model of the human body and organs.
   

  

• a future stem

  Explore careers and research courses that would lead them into STEM-related occupations.

  

• how can we augment ourselves?

  The human body is an amazing piece of engineering. How can scientific innovations make our bodies even better?  

  

• can we live smarter?

  Can we use new technology and innovations to improve the quality of our lives as well as the world we live in? 

  

• survive on a desert island

  Use activities 1, 2, 3, 6, 7 and investigate the science, technology, engineering and maths involved in surviving on a desert island.  

  

• Working for efficiency

  Help devise the best way to complete a paper round, plus other logic puzzles to attempt!

  

• Building a town

  Make a net of a local building on your way to recreating where you live.
   

  

• Packaging

  Make and design boxes to be folded and used to package food and drink. You might need some chocolates to stimulate discussion!

  

• Minimise or supersize

  How many of us are aware of the calories, sugar, salt and fat contained in the food we eat? Take on the role of a nutritionist and explore...

  

• Going bananas

  How much does a banana weigh? Can you make a healthy smoothie cheaper than those found in the shops?

  

• Helicopter seeds

  Make a paper helicopter seed from the template, drop them and record the results. How far do the seeds spread?

  

• Code for life

  Free, educational and fun coding activities and lesson plans to help teach coding at home.

  

Page last updated: 20 May 2020