12 After-School Activities to Keep Kids Off Screens

The first few weeks of school can be a little awkward.

Everyone is getting used to earlier mornings, new teachers, new routines and being "on" all day. By the time the kids get home, they're tired—but it's still hours until dinner and bedtime.

And that's usually when the screen requests begin.

"Can I watch something?"
"Can I play on the iPad?"
"I'm bored."

I'm not anti-screen. Some afternoons, the TV absolutely buys me the 30 minutes I need to make dinner. But I also don't want a screen to automatically become the answer every time my kids walk through the door.

So I've been trying to keep a few simple things around that they can do instead.

And I'm not talking about elaborate crafts that require a trip to Hobby Lobby, 14 different supplies and an hour of preparation. The best after-school activities are usually the ones you can pull together quickly—and that kids can make their own.

Here are 12 to try this school year.

1. Make Bead Pets

All you need are pony beads and some kind of flexible string or cord. Once kids learn the basic pattern, they can make animals, princesses, characters, keychains and whatever else their imagination comes up with.

The best part is that there isn't really a "right" finished product. They can experiment with colors and make something completely different every time.

And if your child is anything like mine, you may end up with enough tiny bead creatures to populate the entire house.

Try it: Keep a small container of beads and cord somewhere accessible so this can become an easy grab-and-go activity after school.

2. Start a "Make Something" Box

This requires almost no planning.

Find a box and fill it with random craft supplies you already have: construction paper, pipe cleaners, popsicle sticks, stickers, googly eyes, ribbon, string, cardboard, tape, paper bags and crayons.

Then give your child one instruction:

"Make something."

No example. No Pinterest picture. No step-by-step directions.

They might make a robot. A house. A creature. A restaurant menu. Something completely unidentifiable.

That's kind of the point.

3. Make Friendship Bracelets

Friendship bracelets are one of those activities that can quietly eat up a surprising amount of time.

Older kids can learn different patterns, while younger kids can simply string beads onto elastic cord.

Have them make bracelets for siblings, friends, grandparents or themselves.

Bonus: It gives them something they can work on while sitting beside you while you make dinner or catch up on your own things.

4. Give Them a "Restaurant" to Run

My kids can turn almost anything into a restaurant.

Give them paper, crayons and maybe a few play dishes, and let them create the menu, name the restaurant, take orders and "cook."

You can even give them a little stack of pretend money.

The best part is that you don't have to run the restaurant for them. Once they've established their very serious business, let them take over.

5. Let Them Make Their Own Books

Fold several pieces of paper in half and staple them together.

That's the book.

Now they can write a story, draw a picture book, make a comic or create an entire series.

You don't have to tell them what the story should be about. Give them the blank pages and see where they go.

For younger kids who aren't writing independently yet, let them dictate the story while you write the words.

6. Have a "Build With Anything" Challenge

Give them a pile of random household items and a challenge.

Build the tallest tower.

Build a house for a stuffed animal.

Make a bridge.

Build something that can roll.

Build something that can hold 10 toys.

Cardboard boxes, toilet paper rolls, paper cups, craft sticks, tape and LEGO pieces all work.

The trick is giving them a problem to solve instead of a project to copy.

7. Make a Snack Together

After school is already snack time, so why not turn it into the activity?

Let your kids make something they can mostly do themselves: fruit skewers, yogurt parfaits, homemade trail mix, ants on a log, mini pizzas or smoothies.

Give them a few choices and let them assemble their own.

Yes, your kitchen may look worse afterward.

But they'll be fed, occupied and learning something useful.

That's a win.

8. Start a Family Puzzle

Instead of expecting everyone to sit down and finish a 500-piece puzzle in one afternoon, leave one out somewhere accessible.

Everyone can work on it when they walk by.

Your kids can do a few pieces after school. You can do a few while dinner is cooking. Someone can add pieces before bed.

Eventually, you'll have a finished puzzle—and hopefully fewer requests for the iPad.

9. Give Them a Roll of Painter's Tape

This one is almost embarrassingly simple.

Painter's tape can become roads across the floor, a hopscotch board, a race track for toy cars, a maze or the outline of a pretend house.

Give them the tape and let them figure out what to do with it.

Just establish the "no tape on furniture" rule before you walk away.

10. Make a Neighborhood Scavenger Hunt

You don't need to create a complicated scavenger hunt.

Give your kids a short list:

• Something yellow

• A bird

• A flower

• A rock shaped like something

• Something that starts with the letter B

• Something smaller than your hand

• Something that smells good

Take a walk around the neighborhood and let them check things off.

If it's too hot to walk right after school, save this one for later in the evening when things cool down.

11. Pull Out the Card Games

Don't underestimate a deck of cards.

Go Fish, Uno, War, Spoons and simple matching games can become regular after-school traditions.

For younger kids, try games that involve sorting or matching. Older kids can learn games that actually require strategy.

And yes, sometimes you'll have to play with them.

But that's not necessarily a bad thing.

12. Let Them Be Bored

This one may be the hardest.

Sometimes the activity is no activity.

Tell them, "I'm not giving you an activity. You need to figure something out."

They may complain.

They may dramatically announce that there is absolutely nothing to do in your entire house.

And then, five minutes later, they may be building a fort.

Or drawing.

Or digging in the backyard.

Or inventing a game you've never heard of.

Boredom isn't necessarily something we have to fix. Sometimes it's the space where kids finally come up with something themselves.

And Maybe Sit Down With Them Sometimes

The bead pets that started this whole list ended up reminding me of something I wasn't expecting.

My girls figured out how to make them pretty quickly. Within about 10 minutes, they were choosing their own colors, making different animals and princesses and coming up with their own little variations. They didn't need me to sit there explaining every step or telling them what to make.

So when I got up and walked away, I assumed they'd keep going.

Instead, they just sat there.

At first, I couldn't figure out what was happening. They knew how to do it. They had plenty of beads. They had ideas. They weren't stuck, and they certainly weren't bored.

They just wanted me to come back.

It took me a minute to realize that they weren't asking for help. They wanted me to be there.

And honestly, that got me a little.

I think it's easy to approach after-school time as something we need to fill. The kids come home, we have a few hours before dinner, and we're looking for something to keep them occupied while we answer emails, make dinner, help with homework and attempt to keep the house from completely falling apart.

Sometimes they absolutely need to learn how to entertain themselves, and sometimes Mom really does need 30 uninterrupted minutes to get something done. I'm not pretending otherwise.

But there are also these little pockets of time when what our kids are looking for isn't necessarily another activity. They want to sit at the kitchen table while we make something together. They want to tell us about their day while they're coloring. They want us to see the weird little creature they just made out of six beads and a piece of string.

Those moments don't require much from us, and they probably don't feel particularly important while they're happening.

But I'm starting to think they're the moments we'll miss.

So as we settle into this school year, I'm trying to keep a few simple activities within reach—not because I need to keep my kids constantly entertained, and definitely not because every afternoon needs to become some beautifully planned enrichment experience.

I just want there to be things around that give us an excuse to put the screens down and make something, play something or simply sit together for a little while.

Because apparently, sometimes the thing my kids want most isn't something I can put in a craft bin.

It's just me sitting beside them. ❤️