With Family Day and March Break coming up, the kids will be home and might need something to play with to occupy their time. I went to Dollarama, one of the popular dollar store chains here in Canada and found 20 activities that you can do with your kids, or for them to play with themselves.
These items range from $1 to $4 as you might see in the picture.
Contents
Here are 20 Dollar Store Kids’ Activities:
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You will see below that I have divided the activities and items into different categories. Please feel free to explore and see what the child or children will enjoy.
Sports
From basketball to chess, these are dollar store activities that kids can do indoors.
Basketball
What I like about this basketball game is that it is indoors and will not break anything (hopefully). It will test their aiming skills and finger dexterity. Also, you can make it a friendly competition with other family members or friends. This game can also be brought to a friend’s house or grandma’s house to play.
Simple yet really fun.
Darts
This dart and dart board game also requires accuracy, but also physical strength. For kids (or adults) who want to be more physically active, this might be a good game to try out. You can see how well you can throw the dart to land on the dart board.
You might want to get boundaries of where not to throw, especially if you have fragile items in the house.
Overall, this dart game would be a fun one and it is only $4.
Bowling
Set up a bowling station in a corner of your house and play bowling! Start close and slowly moving back to practice your bowling skills. Kids love bowling and it involves aiming at a target with a ball.
I would recommend this for younger kids as you can take older kids to a bowling alley to bowl. It is also a compact game where you can quickly store this when the kids are not playing with it anymore.
Billiards
This is another on-the-go game where the kids can play mini billiards. Whether they play with you or with their friends, it will test them of their focus, accuracy, and aim.
Or, you can get them the bow and arrows (as you can see on the left and right of the billiards). Depends on what your kids like and what you want them to play with.
Mini Ice Hockey
It’s like foosball, but for ice hockey. It’s probably such a Canadian thing but looks like fun. This would be a great activity for at home or if you are on the road and need something to keep your kids or yourself busy (or distracted).
Chess
Chess is always a good game for kids to learn. It will teach them strategy, patience, and how to think ahead of their opponent. The more practice they get, the better they will get at chess.
Who knows? Maybe one day they will be better than you and I. (Side note, I’m not very good at this game either).
Pretend Play
If your kid(s) like to play dress up or imaginative games, there are many items at the dollar that you can get.
Photobooth glasses
They can pretend to walk down the ‘runway’ with these fashionable glasses on. Or you can get fake moustaches, tiaras, or other pretend play items at the dollar store.
Doctor Set
Your kid can pretend to be a doctor and check on you or vice versa. The best part of it all, it only cost $2.50. Such a great deal!
If your kid is not into playing doctor and patient, they can play with this next item.
Tool Set
Do you know what would be really fun? If you got them a box and they will have their own toolbox, just like you. This might inspire them to want to pretend to fix things around the house.
It might be fun to give them these pretend play items and see what they can come up with.
Books
From colouring books to sudoku and word search books, there are plenty of options for kids at the dollar store.
Colouring books
They have giant colouring books like this one in the picture or regular size books. Just browse through the different books to see which one you want to get.
Reading Books
The amount of availability of books at the dollar store for kids surprised me. They have many picture books for young kids and some chapter books as well for older kids.
What is great is that you can get these books for a lot cheaper than online. You can always check on Amazon for reviews before buying the book at the dollar store.
Sudoku and Word Search Books
These activity books are great for both kids and adults alike. Using their mind to figure out the numbers and their eyes to look for the words in the word bank, kids can take their time to face the challenges in these books.
There are pocket size version and giant versions available in the dollar store.
Crafts
If you go to Dollarama, there is at least one aisle dedicated to craft items. Slowly browse and see what you want to buy for your kids’ activities. They can paint the pre-made wooden items, string beads together, decorate their room with stickers, etc.
There are so many ideas online in which you can create with dollar store items. You can let your kids use their imagination to create what they want to.
Puzzles
From alphabet and numbers puzzle to logic puzzles for older children, browse through the dollar store to find what will be challenging yet fun for your kids. I don’t remember if I saw puzzles where kids can put together the pieces to form the picture. If there is one in the dollar store near you, please let me know in the comments below.
Problem-solving games
In this category, there are activities that encourage thinking outside the box.
Code Breaker
This game looks like it involves thinking outside of the box and also trying to figure out what the other player is thinking. If your kid is into figuring things out, this might be a good activity to get.
Buzzer Maze
This game will test not only how stable you can go through the maze without touching the wire, but you will also have to complete it within the given time.
Bouncin’ Monkeys
Similar to the basketball game, you need to figure out how to bounce the monkeys making them hang on the tree. Your kid can play by themselves or compete against another person.
Travel Packages Activities
Whether you are on the road, or need some activities for the airport, these are some really great dollar store kids activities.
Bingo
You can browse through the different packages available to see what is best for your kid. These types of dollar store kid activities are simple, not messy, and yet engaging at the same time.
Bingo is always fun as they can check off what they see and look forward to other items on the bingo card.
Game Cards
If your kid is not into bingo, why not try these game cards? You can get a few to see which one they would like better. A suggestion is to only let them open one of these travel packs at a time so that they can focus on the said activity.
Whether you are throwing a party or not, these dollar store kids activities are just fun to play with.
Bubbles
Blowing bubbles for younger kids or trying to burst the bubbles is something that you can do with your kids in the bath or at play time. They are also $1.25, so it’s a really cheap activity to do with your kids.
Glow Sticks
Whether you throw a glow-in-the-dark party at your house, or for pretend play, glow sticks are such a fun item for both children and adults alike. There are so many types of glow sticks available at the dollar store. You can get different ones to play around with.
These are twenty dollar store kids activities. If you have any other suggestions, please let me know in the comments below.
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