30 Educational Activities for Kids of All Ages

We all want our children to have fun while they learn, and that's where educational activities for kids come in. These activities offer a fun and engaging way for kids to explore new topics, develop new skills, and reinforce concepts they've previously learned.

In this post, we've compiled a list of fun educational activities for kids of all ages, including science experiments, art projects, and educational games. Whether you're a parent looking for ways to supplement your child's learning or a teacher seeking new and engaging activities for your classroom, you'll find plenty of options to choose from.

So let's dive in and discover some exciting educational games and activities for kids.

15 Fun Educational Activities for Kids at Home

Kids can sometimes be forced to stay indoors due to various reasons, such as bad weather, illnesses, or school closures. Here are the best at home educational activities for kids that will help you navigate this situation and stimulate learning.

1. MentalUP Educational Platform

MentalUP is a scientifically designed learning app that includes the best online educational activities for kids. With over 150 educational activities and 240 PE games, MentalUP offers a holistic approach to children's mental and physical development.

The app has been created by a team of pedagogical experts, academicians, and educators, who have used their expertise to develop a platform that provides kids with the most fun and educational learning experience possible.

The platform, which is also among the best educational websites for kids, brings together a wide variety of educational games and activities for children of all ages, providing them with a kid-friendly learning environment where they can practice their skills in an effective and entertaining way. Plus, it provides hundreds of educational activities for kids and parents to enjoy both indoors and outdoors.

2. Mindfulness Activities

Practicing mindfulness might be one of the best educational activities for kids to teach them about body awareness. These activities also help children improve their focus, attention, and emotional regulation skills.

To do mindfulness activities with your kids, you can try simple breathing exercises, guided meditation, or mindful coloring. This alternative, which is also one of the best rainy day activities for kids can be done alone or with a group and is suitable for children of all ages.

3. DIY Bird Feeders

This can be one of the most fun educational activities for kids to do at home. To make a bird feeder, you can use recycled materials, like empty milk cartons.

Hang the bird feeder in your kid’s window and watch as birds come to feed. This alternative, which is also one of the best STEM activities for kids, will promote your kid’s creativity and observation skills and help them learn about wildlife and nature.

4. Twist and Count

If you have a Twister game in your closet, you can use it to organize one of the most fun educational activities for kids. Using sticky notes, write different numbers and place them randomly on the Twister floor.

You can call out a number and ask the kids to use addition, subtraction, or multiplication to find a combination of numbers on which they can place their hands and feet to equal the called-out number. The players who make a math error or lose balance are eliminated, and the last remaining player wins the game. Don’t forget that you can always transform this activity into one of the best group games for kids and use it in your family game nights.

5. DIY Terrarium

DIY terrariums are one of the most hands-on educational activities for primary school kids. All you need is a clear container, soil, rocks, and small plants. Let your kids assemble the terrarium and watch as it grows over time. This will help them learn about plants and ecosystems and promote their responsibility, patience, and scientific curiosity.

6. Virtual Museum Tours

If you are looking for educational online activities for kids, you can try virtual museum tours to help them learn about history and art from the comfort of their own home. It is a recommended activity for kids of all ages and great for feeding their curiosity and critical-thinking skills.

7. Learning About a New Country or Culture

You can turn learning about a new country into one of the most fun educational activities for elementary kids. Pick a country and ask your kid to research through books or online resources. Before the research, you can use never have i ever questions for kids to encourage them to explore.

Then, your kids can create a presentation, artwork, or dish from the country they researched. It will be super beneficial for promoting their open-mindedness and empathy.

8. Alphabet Matching Games

If you want to help your kid improve their linguistic skills, you can utilize some educational activities for kindergarten kids. You can use flashcards, puzzles, or online alphabet-matching games to keep them engaged and help them learn about the alphabet.

The key is to find activities that allow kids to match uppercase and lowercase letters, or letter sounds with pictures. This way, the alphabet activities which are also one of the best classroom games can foster kids’ memory, concentration, and literacy.

9. Cooking and Baking

Cooking and baking with children is a great way to teach them about nutrition, measurements, and following instructions. It can also be one of the most fun educational activities for kids at home.

If your kids are younger, you can make simple recipes, like cookies or pizza, together or ask them to help with meal preparation. To turn cooking and baking into educational activities for older kids, you can choose more complex recipes, like lasagne or cheesecake, that your kids might be interested in.

10. Qwirkle

This board game might be one of the most fun educational activities for gamer kids who need some time off from screens. Qwirkle is a tile-based board game that involves matching colors and shapes.

Players can create lines of tiles that share a color or shape and score points for each line they make. So it can be a great alternative to video games for you to play with your kids and promote their critical thinking and strategic skills.

11. Watching NASA Live Stream

If you are looking for fun and safe and educational computer activities for kids, you can give them some time to go to NASA's website and watch the live stream. This will allow them to learn about space exploration, science, and technology in real time.

12. Color Mixing Experiment

This is one of the most fun and educational activities for kids, especially for toddlers and preschoolers. All you need is some paper towels, see-through containers, and some food coloring.

Mix the water and food coloring together and place the paper towels so it links all the jars. This will create a rainbow effect and foster your kid’s scientific observation and color recognition.

13. Word-Family Sunflower

This is one of the fast and easy educational activities for kids that promote their literacy skills. Cut out sunflower shapes and write a word family on each. Then, write words on petals that match each word family.

Kids can select a sunflower and read the word family in the center. Then, they can read the words written on the petals and determine if they belong to the same word family or not. Also, if you add some competition to the game by changing the rules a little bit, you can use this alternative as one of the most effective English games for kids.

14. Story Map

Creating a story map is one of the most fun educational activities for elementary aged kids. Draw a story map including separate sections for characters, setting, and beginning, middle, and end of the story. Then, you can ask your kid to fill in these sections and create their own stories as they wish. You can benefit from writing prompts for kids to make the activity more entertaining.

15. Fingerprint Painting

Finger painting is one of the most fun and effortless educational activities for nursery kids. All you need is some paper and colors. You can allow your kid to use their fingers to make shapes, lines, and patterns on paper. This activity will develop their fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and creativity.

15 Fun Educational Activities for Kids at Outside

Now that we’ve evaluated educational activities for kids at home, let’s take a closer look at some of the best educational nature activities for kids that will keep your kid engaged and allow them to enjoy fresh air.

16. MentalUP Fitness Exercises

The award-winning learning app, MentalUP, comes with a fitness module offering the best physical educational activities for kids. Thanks to its adaptive algorithms, the app continuously tests kids’ physical fitness and provides them with personalized, daily exercise plans tailored to their needs, abilities, and interests.

MentalUP’s fitness module features animated exercising and gymnastics games videos where kids can customize characters according to their interests, which makes the app even more enjoyable for kids of all ages.

17. Backyard Treasure Hunt

A backyard treasure hunt might be one of the most exciting educational summer activities for kids. It is a simple yet entertaining activity where kids search for hidden items around their backyard or outdoor space. You can hide items like toys, snacks, or small trinkets for children to find.

It is a highly beneficial activity for helping kids develop better problem solving skills, expand their spatial awareness, and learn about teamwork.

18. Insect Hunt

This is one of the most interesting educational outdoor activities for middle school kids. It is an activity where children explore their natural environment and search for bugs, butterflies, and spiders.

Children can also use magnifying glasses and bug catchers to observe and capture insects. It is a great way to feed kids’ curiosity, expand their observation skills, and enable them to have an appreciation for nature.

19. Rock Collecting

If you are looking for free educational activities for kindergarten kids that will improve their shape recognition skills, you can try collecting rocks together. Let your kid explore their environment and collect rocks of different sizes, shapes, and colors. Then, you can ask them to sort and organize their rocks based on different criteria, such as color, texture, or shape.

20. Shadow Art

This is one of the top 5 spring educational activities for kids that foster their creativity and imagination. As one of the best creative activities for kids, all you need to do is use some objects, such as toys, leaves, or even your hands, to make shadows. Then, you can ask your kid to trace the shadows and color them to create a unique shadow art.

21. Scavenger Hunt

The classical scavenger hunt game might be one of the most fun Friday activities for kids who need to spend more time outdoors. The activity is also highly beneficial for kids’ observation and naturalistic skills.

Playing scavenger hunt is a great way to teach your kids about nature and the environment. Make sure to create a list consisting of a variety of items to search for. Your kid will be excited to find and collect them.

22. Sun Printing

This is one of the most entertaining educational activities for kids older than 3. To do this activity, you will need some special sun print papers. You can start by placing a variety of objects, such as flowers, leaves, or small toys, on the sun print paper and expose it to the sun. When you rinse the paper after a few minutes, your kid will be amazed to see the results.

23. Nature Journal

If you regularly go hiking or camping with your family, this might be one of the most effective summer educational activities for kids to foster their observation, writing, and critical thinking. All you need to do is to encourage your child to write down or draw what they see and experience in nature and reflect on their observations.

24. Balance Bike

If you need a hands on learning activity that fosters kids’ gross motor skills and coordination, you can consider giving them some time with balance bikes. It is a great way to teach young children how to balance and ride a bike.

These bikes have no pedals and are propelled by the child's feet, allowing them to focus on balance and coordination. So it is one of the best educational activities for kids aged 2 to 5.

25. Mud Kitchen

Mud kitchens are one of the best summer educational activities for kids that promote creativity, sensory exploration, and imagination.

Just set up a mud kitchen in your backyard by providing your child with pots, pans, and utensils to create their own outdoor kitchen. They can mix mud, water, and natural materials to create their own imaginative recipes.

26. Cloud Gazing

Cloud gazing is one of the most relaxing educational activities for kids and parents. Simply lie on your back and look for shapes in the clouds above. This activity helps children develop their imagination and creativity, as well as their patience and mindfulness.

27. Identifying the Parts of a Plant

If you are looking for simple yet effective learning activities for kids to teach them about botany, try collecting a variety of plants when you are outside with your kid. Then, you can put these plants on paper and identify their leaves, stems, and roots together. You can create a plant sketchbook with your kid that includes small notes and information about these plants.

28. Charcoal Paint

Charcoal painting is one of the most fun learning activities for kids aged 6 and up. All you have to do is collect charcoal from your backyard and use it to create beautiful black and white paintings with your kids. The activity will help children develop their artistic skills, as well as their appreciation for nature and the environment.

29. I Spy

This might be one of the most fun and educational activities for kids. To play, one person chooses an object within view and says "I spy with my little eye something that is…" and then describes the object. The other players then take turns guessing what the object might be until someone guesses correctly.

This game is recommended for children aged 4 and up, and it can be played with any number of players. It is a fun and simple activity that can be played indoors or outdoors, and it encourages kids to pay attention to details in their surroundings.

30. Capture the Flag

If you are a parent with multiple children or a teacher looking for fun educational activities for four year old kids in school, you can try playing Capture the Flag with them. It is an exciting game that involves strategy, teamwork, and physical activity. The game is played by dividing the players into two teams and trying to capture the other team's flag without getting tagged by their players.

Frequently Asked Questions About Educational Activities for Kids

So far, we have evaluated all the best outdoor and indoor educational activities for kids. In case you still have some questions left in your mind, let’s take a look at the most commonly asked questions about the topic.