For most kids, the term “school” translates to stress or sitting still and having to squeeze the brain, all at the same time for hours on end. All of this calls for a good amount of relaxation after school hours! So we’ve come up with 5 kinds of screen free after school activities for you so you can help your child unwind after the long grueling hours of their brain training. Let’s dive right in!
Best Relaxing Screen Free After School Activities
- Listening to classical music
Classical music is a combination of soft and touching piano, harps, and violin which can be incredibly relaxing after a day of heavy mental work.
Not only is music known to help calm the mind but it’s also a great enjoyment to sit together on a laggy afternoon with your kids recollecting and catching up on their day. It diffuses any tensions and is a screen free activity that may enhance creativity and focus for young minds!
Or, what about virtual music lessons? View Singing Studios.
- Designing a collection/book of family photos
A trip down memory lane is always great for winding down. Going through nostalgia-inducing photos helps your child forget about the tension from school work and homework and have some personal time reflecting on themselves.
Not only that but going through old photos can help to remind your kids of everything they’ve loved through the years while they get to learn more about their cultures and family history!
- Tai Chi or yoga to relax
This is one of the best screen free after school activities. Tai Chi is known to be an ancient Chinese practice involving deep breathing, stretching and slow movement exercises, originally designed for self defense training all those years ago. Yoga is something similar but instead of heavy movement, it’s more towards meditation and holding your position while changing it only a few times focusing on the breathing and relaxing the mind.
You can find several tutorials and routines online and design one that your child would enjoy unwinding with. You can design a whole plan with positions listed out with the seconds/time listed for each in order for your child to follow themselves when you’re busy.
- Detailed dot-to-dot drawing or coloring
We all remember enjoying a session of scribbling with crayons and colored pencils in order to create the perfect superhero/princess drawings. Remember how we couldn’t stop for hours before our drawing took shape and the suspense increased as to how it would turn out? Plus, it’s a screen-free activity which is still really gratifying to a child’s eye.
So activities like completing the extreme dot-dot patterns and finishing coloring books can help wind down your kids by taking the stress off their minds. It lets them be creative and relax before jumping into homework.
If you’re on a budget and cannot afford to buy piles of these books, then consider printing out a few pages of extreme dot to dots or coloring printable like flower patterns, mandalas or their favorite show characters!
- Preparing a snack
More often than not, kids tend to head to the fridge after school, in search of something fun to eat. A fun and relaxing activity to do after school is letting your kids prepare a quick snack. So consider this your opportunity to get them to consume healthy snacks rather than junk food.
Popular quick after school snacks include making smoothies, baking muffins, ramen recipes, and microwave mug meals like mug cake, mac & cheese, wild combination tacos, etc.. Make sure to guide them with these recipes the first few times before letting them do it on their own. You could even use our explore page to find some after school cooking classes for kids near you!
Using These Activities Effectively
When it’s about keeping the children away from phones, these screen free after school activities are great quick fixes but it’s important to note when to use which. See, each of these activities are different in nature so it depends on what you want to accomplish.
If you know you’ll be busy and need to have some quiet time for working or doing chores without having to actively participate in the unwinding, then the drawing/coloring activities are your best options!
While if your child tends to be more towards a social butterfly and requires more attention, then the family photos, listening to music or preparing a snack together is what’s going to suit them best.
On the other hand, if they’re more towards the introverted side, then it’s best to get them to do yoga or Tai Chi, music and some personal space to lie down.
Final Thoughts on Screen Free After School Activities
These incredible activities will help your child unwind after school without them spending hours staring at a screen. We are huge advocates for interactive play, but sometimes your kids just want to be left alone. Allow them that time but in a way that’s soothing and productive. Let them decide what will help them. Sometimes that’s coloring, other times it’s yoga, sometimes it’s just listening to music!
Check out these resources for some additional screen free after school activities!
- 10 Things to do with Your Child After School
- View summer camps by state.
- 21 After School Activities for Kids and Teens
