After school activities are a phenomenal way to keep kids active when school is out for the day. They’re also excellent at keeping their mind’s active and learning. There are hundreds of after school programs and activities that your child could get involved in. Let’s talk about 101 after school activities for kids that are both at the home and at a center near you!
These are our top 101 favorite picks!
Enroll them in after school sports:
- Football
- Indoor swim team
- Baseball
- Basketball
- Tennis
- Rock Climbing
- Lacrosse
- Softball
Get involved with arts and crafts:
- Make friendship bracelets
- Knit a scarf
- Take up art lessons
- Learn to draw
- Make a ukulele out of a tissue box and rubber bands
- Make a bird house
- Create a whole city out of popsicle sticks
- Make a time capsule
- Learn how to sew by hand or with a machine
- Play with sidewalk chalk
- Make your own kite
- Paint a mural in your room (with parental permission!)
- Decorate a picture frame and print out a photo for it
- Learn how to stamp real leaves
- Make a scrapbook
- Melt crayons to look like they’re dripping
- Make your own colorful sand bottle
- Create a lava lamp using a water bottle and vegetable oil
- Make snow globes out of small mason jars
- Make your own slime
Read The Ultimate Guide to the Best After School Activities by Age
Play a game:
- Play any old board game you’ve never played before
- Learn card games
- Play hide and seek
- Create an obstacle course for you and your friends to navigate
- Play pretend in the backyard (you can be pirates or even robots!)
- Put on a puppet show
- Use those ukuleles we talked about earlier to put on a concert!
- Play dress up with your parents clothes
- Pretend to be princesses and princes
- Play charades
- Play Pictionary
- Play around with improv acting
- Get outside and play tag
- Play chess
- Play checkers
- Enhance your vocabulary with a game of scrabble
- Play house with a friend
- Pretend to be professional chefs and cook up an after school snack
- Play video games
- Get involved in a trivia game
Read : 11 Best After School Activities for Middle School and High Schoolers
Use your hands to build something
-
Build a fort out of blankets
-
Make a bird feeder using pinecones and peanut butter
-
Play with legos and make giant towers
-
Create roads on the living room floor using tape and drive toy cars all around
-
Make a tree house
-
Create a fairy house
-
While you’re at it, make a fairy garden!
-
Build a spaceship out of old boxes
-
Take something apart and put it back together
-
Try your hand at building a computer! You could even take coding classes!
Get active
- Take up MMA fighting
- Get involved in jiu-jitsu
- Learn karate
- Discover break dancing
- Get into yoga or tai chi
- Visit the zoo
- Check out an aquarium
- Go for a hike or walk in the woods
- Take up photography while on that hike!
- Set up an outdoor scavenger hunt
- Check out a museum
- Learn how to golf (or mini golf!)
- Hit some balls at the batting cages
- Try indoor rock climbing
- Choreograph your own dance routine to your favorite song
- Create a cheer routine
- Learn to ride a bike
- Go on a long ride if you already know how!
- If you live near one, walk the boardwalk or shorelines
- Check out geocaching
- Go roller skating
- Learn how to ice skate
- Try your hand at skateboarding
- Take up BMX biking
- Ask to take dirt biking lessons
- Learn about nature by googling plants you see
- Take some kid friendly fitness classes like Zumba
- Take tumbling lessons
- Get into rollerblading
- Invite friends over and go on a hunt for your favorite flowers
- Gymnastics
- Dance classes
Get involved in your community
- Volunteer at an animal shelter and play with some puppies or kittens
- Put on a bake sale and raise money for a local homeless shelter
- Host a lemonade stand
- Help set up meal trays at a homeless shelter
- Collect trash off the street and take them to the trash
- Collect empty cans and cash them in (donate the money to a shelter in your area!)
- If you’re old enough, tutor younger kids in the area in a subject you excel at
- Read to younger kids at the local library
- Walk dogs in your neighborhood with the help of a parent
- Ask to help with yard work for your neighbors
- Host a fundraiser for supplies for your school!
Baxter Karate Dojo: Shaping Yonkers Martial Arts as a Key After-School Activity
Final Thoughts on 101 After School Activities for Kids
There you have it! 101 after school activities for kids! There are so many more things that kids can get involved in. However, with this list, they’re sure to find at least one (hopefully more!) things that they’d love to do! Let us know what they picked!
Before You Leave Our List of 101 After School Activities for Kids
Don’t forget to check out our explore page to find some after school activities in your area! We have a plethora of options for you to choose from. Make sure you also take a look at these 30 skill developing after school activities for kids in middle school!
Unleash the life-changing power of reading! Explore our expert's secrets to optimizing your child's learning and unlock their full potential.