Looking for fun things to do at home with your 8-year-old? I first wrote this post when Hailey was eight because, while I had seen toddler activity lists circulating out the wazoo, there were not nearly as many ideas for kids who had moved beyond sensory bins but still genuinely wanted to play and spend time with us.

And I get it. Toddlers need a lot of hands-on activity and constant stimulation. Bless you, mama, because I remember those days! Flashback to Hailey at 20 months old.

But there are also a lot of us with slightly older kids who feel stuck somewhere between pasta sensory bins and our children being too cool to hang out with us. That will never actually happen, right?

Kids between the ages of 6 and 10 still love creative projects, active challenges, games and opportunities to connect. They are also old enough to participate in activities that are genuinely fun for the adults, too. With that in mind, I compiled this list of things we have enjoyed doing together at home over the years.

These activities have been hits with both of my kids during those big kid years, and I hope they inspire some fun in your home, too!

Fun Things to Do at Home With Your 8-Year-Old

Some of these ideas require a little planning, while others can be pulled together with things you probably already have around the house. I have divided them into creative, active, quiet and skill-building activities so you can find something that fits your child’s interests and everyone’s energy level.

Creative Fun Things to Do at Home With Your 8-Year-Old

1. Try a Craft Crate

We have used Kiwi Crate for years. They offer so many options for different ages and interests, and they never fail to be fun.

I love that every piece we need comes in the box, so I do not have to check our art supplies or run to the craft or dollar store before we can begin. My kids have received subscriptions for birthdays and holidays, and we keep any unfinished crates in a craft closet for a rainy day or slow afternoon.

2. Learn a New Hobby Together

David’s mom taught Hailey to knit, and she loves it. She will sit on the couch and knit while listening to a podcast or a favorite audiobook.

Knitting, crocheting, sewing and similar hobbies are creative ways to work on fine motor skills. You can order knitting needles for kids and yarn online or pick them up at a local craft store. Then find a beginner tutorial online or buy a circle loom kit that allows your child to make something wearable right away.

Other hobbies you could learn together include watercolor painting, hand lettering, photography, baking, embroidery or jewelry making. It does not matter if neither of you knows what you are doing. Learning side by side is part of the fun.

3. Write and Mail Letters

Who does not love receiving real mail? Let your child write a letter, draw a picture or make a card for a grandparent, cousin, friend or teacher.

You can also turn it into a practical learning experience by addressing the envelope together and weighing the letter to determine how much postage it needs. It combines writing, creativity and a little math in one simple activity.

4. Try a Building Challenge

You can create building challenges with LEGO bricks, Magna-Tiles, other magnetic building tiles, cardboard boxes, masking tape, toilet paper rolls or even toothpicks and mini marshmallows.

Challenge everyone to build the tallest tower, strongest bridge, coolest castle or most creative animal. You can work together or turn it into a friendly competition. Either way, it is great for creativity, spatial reasoning and plenty of laughs.

5. Make a Time Capsule

Any parent understands that the days can feel long while the years fly by. Capture the season you are in by making a time capsule together.

Include pictures, drawings, a family photo and a list of your child’s current favorite books, movies, foods, songs, friends and activities. You could each write a letter to your future selves, too.

Place everything in a box and hide it in a safe spot in the attic or closet. Choose a date in the future when you will open it together. Just make sure you write yourself a reminder so you do not forget where you put it!

6. Create an Herb Garden

Creating an herb garden is one of my favorite fun things to do at home with your 8-year-old when the weather is nice. Kids this age can take real ownership of planting, watering and caring for something.

You can dig in the dirt outside or create an indoor herb garden. Let your child choose what to grow, make plant markers and help decide how to use the herbs once they are ready to harvest. Basil for pizza night is always a good place to start!

Active Fun Things to Do at Home With Your 8-Year-Old

7. Create an Obstacle Course

Obstacle courses are one of our favorite fun things to do at home with your 8-year-old, especially on high-energy days. We have this ninja slackline and use it in the backyard, along with sidewalk chalk hopscotch, driveway ladders, cones, balls and anything else we can find.

An obstacle course makes a great indoor activity, too. Use couch cushions, pillows, painter’s tape, laundry baskets and chairs to create a path through the living room. Add instructions such as hopping like a frog, walking backward, crab walking between stations or balancing something on your head.

The kids can run the course for time and then redesign it for the adults. Fair warning that they will probably make your version much harder.

8. Plan a Scavenger Hunt

Outside scavenger hunts can include things such as a purple flower, a smooth rock, a feather, a four-leaf clover or a specific kind of leaf.

For an indoor hunt, ask everyone to find a penny from a certain year, a yellow LEGO brick, a pipe cleaner, something shaped like a triangle, a book with an animal on the cover or a dust bunny. What, just me?

Write a list and work together as a team or compete to see who can find everything first. This is an easy, inexpensive activity that you can adapt to almost any location or theme.

9. Try Geocaching Near Home

Geocaching is essentially a real-world treasure hunt that uses GPS coordinates. We first tried it at Vermejo, and it is such a fun way to explore the area where you live.

Start by searching for a beginner-friendly cache close to home. Let your child help navigate, look for clues and sign the logbook when you find it. It gets everyone outside and turns an ordinary neighborhood walk into an adventure.

Quiet Fun Things to Do at Home With Your 8-Year-Old

10. Start a Book Club or Poetry Tea

A family book club can be as simple or elaborate as you want. Read a book aloud or separately, talk about your favorite parts and then watch the movie if one is available. Comparing the book and movie has become one of our favorite family activities.

We have also participated in a monthly poetry tea time with friends. One family hosts and provides tea and snacks, and then everyone takes turns reading or reciting poetry. The kids usually search for the silliest poems they can find, which keeps it fun and far from stuffy.

11. Play Board Games Everyone Enjoys

One of the great things about having an 8-year-old is that you can move beyond Candy Land and play genuinely engaging games as a family.

Two of our longtime favorites are Ticket to Ride and Parcheesi. Do not sleep on Monopoly Deal, either. It is a fun, much faster card game version of the original.

Board games are perfect for rainy afternoons, but they can also make a porch lunch or family picnic feel a little more special.

12. Look Through Family Albums and Videos

The girls and I love looking through old family albums and watching videos from when they were younger. They have also helped me work on the albums I have fallen behind on.

We use Mixbook, and the finished albums always turn out beautifully. Letting the kids choose pictures, captions and page layouts turns catching up on albums into an activity we can enjoy together.

13. Have a Family Slumber Party

Set up a tent in the bonus room, put a mattress on the screened porch or pile blankets and pillows on the bedroom floor. Nothing excites my kids more than when Mom joins the slumber party.

It does not happen often, which adds to the excitement. We paint nails, tell jokes, read books, watch a movie and all pile into the same space. It is simple, but it always feels special.

14. Work on a Puzzle

A puzzle is a simple activity, but for the right kid it can be such a hit. Puzzles offer great practice for concentration, spatial reasoning, patience and fine motor skills.

Start with a 250-piece puzzle to get into the groove, then step up to 500 pieces or, dare I say, 1,000. Leave it set up on a card table so everyone can add a few pieces whenever they walk past.

Skill-Building Fun Things to Do at Home With Your 8-Year-Old

15. Practice a Useful New Skill

Hailey learned how to email her grandparents and friends around this age, so typing became one of the skills we practiced together. There are so many useful things an 8-year-old can begin learning at home.

Teach your child how to make scrambled eggs, sew on a button, wrap a gift, use a basic tool, read a map, organize a drawer or start a fire outdoors with close parental supervision.

For crafty and outdoorsy kids, I highly recommend Attainable Sustainable. It is full of practical life skills, projects and fun activities.

16. Let Your Child Create the Menu

Letting the kids plan and prepare a meal is another one of our go-to fun things to do at home with your 8-year-old on a slow weekend.

You can do this for a real dinner or just an afternoon snack. My girls love creating “Sister’s Restaurant,” complete with a handwritten menu, forks rolled in napkins, background music and some highly creative food options.

My only rule is that the food has to be truly edible so we do not waste it. We stick to that rule most of the time.

Let your child choose the menu, write it out, set the table and help prepare the food. Depending on the child, you might end up with an impressive café experience or crackers topped with three unrelated condiments. Both count.

17. Practice Phone and FaceTime Skills

Hailey loved using FaceTime to connect with friends and family, and it gave us a natural way to practice conversation skills and etiquette.

We worked on asking questions, listening without interrupting, holding the camera still and knowing how to politely end a conversation. Kids can also practice making a phone call to a grandparent, ordering their own meal for takeout or leaving a clear voicemail with an adult nearby.

Choosing Fun Things to Do at Home With Your 8-Year-Old

When choosing an activity, consider your child’s personality and energy level. Some kids will jump at the chance to create an obstacle course, while others would happily spend an entire afternoon working on a puzzle or learning to knit.

You can also offer two or three choices instead of asking an open-ended question. Saying, “Would you rather bake something, play a game or make an obstacle course?” usually works much better than asking, “What do you want to do?”

Whatever fun things to do at home with your 8-year-old you choose, I have found that what matters most is the intentional time together. It does not have to be an elaborate activity or even take up an entire afternoon. Setting aside an hour that is solely focused on being together can do wonders.

As a bonus, these activities force me to reconnect with my inner kid and forget about the outside world for a while. Being silly is good for the soul!

What do you love doing with your big kid at home? Share your favorite ideas in the comments so we can add them to our list!