When children come back home from school they still have a lot of energy to spend and some afternoons at home can be really challenging for parents, who always have to come up with new solutions to keep kids busy and involved in new exciting activities.The good news is that these afternoons can be a good quality playtime to play together and a precious opportunity for learning new skills and growing.What can you do together at home after school? Let’s see some brilliant activities. Some of these might seem very simple, but are super exciting for kids and parents as well!

1.  Becoming a Hollywood super star!image.png

How fun is for kids to dress up and wearing costumes? They just love it! Well, what about dressing up together and having some good role play? If you’ve read “How important are role play toys in children’s development”you already know how good and useful is dressing up and acting someone else’s role is for child development.You can choose a topic together to explore and act real, or simply play with imaginary characters dressing up as them.And what about recording your performance and watch together your movie on TV after dinner?This can be a very creative time, when the bond between kids and parents can be strengthened and when family can have a lot of fun far from digital devices. You should also know that activities like these stimulate fantasy and help kids develop problem solving skills.Try and you could be surprised by your kids’ vivid imagination!

2. Feed your scientist brainimage.png

Not all kids love to perform in a drama or a movie, some of them might prefer introspective and quiet activities, such as a science exploration. A good solution for little scientists is to explore together the World of Science with some fun experiments.Any idea? Put some cabbage leaves into a jar and pour some water and food coloring in it, just wait a few minutes and you’ll see  your kids’ faces break into a wide grin, as they watch the leaves changing color!This is just one of many experiments you can do with your little scientist to explore physical and natural laws together. Some STEAM toys can help, of course. These toys enrich your play experience providing exciting experiments on physical laws. Hape Magnet Science Lab, for example, will introduce your kids to the world of magnets, giving them the chance to explore it with seven different experiments.
3. Unwind making puzzleimage.png
Looking for something more relaxing?A puzzle can be a good idea! Puzzles activities stimulate the logic and imaginative skills. If your child is old enough, you can try to do one together, for babies in earlier ages, you better choose age-appropriate puzzles, with big pieces for their safety.Start by  choosing the theme of your puzzle, do you think your toddler will prefer an animal parade or a puzzle of numbers? This animated cityscape puzzle also has a magic card camera viewer which creates animated effects! You are spoilt for choice!

image.png4. Become a REAL chef!

An afternoon with kids at home can fill your house with warm and love, especially if you bake cookies together! Doing cookies is so fun!  so why don’t you prepare your breakfast biscuits or a slurpy muesli? This can be a good opportunity to learn on some nutrition education too!

5. Good, old fashioned Dominoimage.png

If you’re looking for the right activity to make your kids busy for hours, here you can find it! Children love Domino Effect and could spend hours watching domino’s cards tumble down, so what about building together the greatest trail of dominoes?Beyond all these activities, the most important is to share some good time together with love and care, because where there is love, there is home!  What is your favorite activity with your kids?