If you're looking for an activity to get your kids away from screens and exercise their bodies and brains, we've put together a list of eight easy activities you can do at home inspired by popular children's video games.
1. Angry Birds in the Backyard
Inspired by the popular mobile game Angry Birds, you can create your own pig fort and let kids attack it with their own Angry Birds. I found the tutorial by sheknows very helpful. All you need is a cardboard box, a bouncy ball, and paint.
Assemble the cardboard boxes and paint them to look like trees and ice cubes (spray paint some gold if you like). For birds and pigs, buy bouncy balls that resemble the colors of the original characters (green, red, blue, yellow) in any size you like. But make sure it's large enough to draw a pig or Angry Birds face.
Once you've finished drawing, build a pig fort, place a bouncy pig ball inside it, and have your kids throw the Angry Birds as hard as they can to win the game.
2. Super Mario Obstacle Course
If your child loves Mario games, he'll love playing as him in real life. This Mario-inspired obstacle course was created by Kids Activities, who has a great tutorial on how to DIY this course. Describe some of the obstacles you can create. All you need are brown balloons, paper plates, blue streamers, bubbles, and a small red plastic ball.
Hang a streamer in a tree and use a bubble machine or hand-blown bubbles to recreate the water-themed world from the Super Mario games and let your kids run through it. Have other participants throw red plastic balls at people passing through the waterway. If you want to make it a little more difficult, you can add a Goomba to stomp on as you pass.
To make a Goomba, blow up a brown balloon and tape it to a paper plate. To create the face, draw one with a marker or print it from the internet, cut it out and tape it on. Place it on the ground between the streamers and let the fun begin.
3. Lego Video Game Art
All you need for this activity is a lot of Legos and your imagination. There's no need to assemble complex 3D LEGO figures. Use the 2D pixel art version instead. The Financial Post explains that they searched for Pixel Mario in old games and used it as a reference to create 2D Mario. Kids can also take this opportunity to recreate their favorite video game characters as 2D Lego art.
4. Minecraft Wall Art
Minecraft continues to be a popular game for kids, so you might want to color your favorite Minecraft characters. All you need is a blank square canvas, a ruler, and art supplies. Amy Latta Creations has easy tutorials for creating amazing Minecraft art.
First, we need to draw an 8×8 grid on a square canvas. Next, find an image of your Minecraft character and paint the squares individually until you're done. Some of his Minecraft characters require more colors than others, so you may need more preparation than others.
5. DIY lightsaber
If your child loves Star Wars, they'll love building their own lightsaber. The tutorial by Keeping It Simple Crafts is inexpensive and easy for any family to make. All you need is a glow stick, pipe insulation foam, and silver and red duct tape. The size of the pipe insulation foam should be small enough to allow you to stick a glow stick through its center, but if not, you can glue a string to the bottom of the glow stick so that it fits snugly into the hole.
Cut the foam into 6-inch pieces and attach the glow sticks (make sure the glow sticks are already cracked and glowing). Use duct tape to decorate the pipe foam to look like a lightsaber handle and you're done. Now your kids can have fun being a Jedi or a Sith.
6. Cosplay
Kids love dressing up, so why not dress up as their favorite video game character? Known as cosplay, this costume can be made with materials you have around the house or found at thrift stores. can help you make the costume. There are many tutorials online that you can use to create costumes that your child will love.
7. Pokemon Bookmark
Origami bookmarks by RedTedArt are a fun experience for kids of all ages. You will need paper in different colors, scissors, a glue stick, and a pen. Follow the origami instructions on the website to create a simple origami corner bookmark and use a pen to draw different Pokémon faces. Now your child will have their own bookmark to use when reading.
8. Official Nintendo Crafts
Nintendo has lots of printable crafts and activities for kids to do. There is a wide variety of items including origami, activity books, and DIY paper crafts. You will need a printer to access these activities, but the best part is that they are all free.