Activities at Home for Children With ADHD

Say it is the weekend, three in the afternoon. The child wanders around the house, touching everything for two minutes and dropping it. The adult says "let's do something", the child says "I'm bored", and suggestions are turned down with "no, that's boring". In the end the tablet comes out and everyone feels a bit of guilt.

This loop is familiar in most homes. The problem is usually not a shortage of activity ideas but that the idea does not fit the child's state at that moment, its length and the way it starts. Below are 30 activities that I have divided by age and purpose; for each one it also says how many minutes it takes, what material is needed, how to set it up and what to do when the child drops it.

An honest note from the start. There are very few controlled studies in children with ADHD saying "this home activity increases attention". What I write here comes from two places: the general literature on the role of play in child development (Ginsburg's report for the American Academy of Pediatrics is a well-known example) and the general principles of behavioural approaches: structure, visibility, immediate feedback. These are good foundations, but they do not carry the claim "this activity reduces this symptom". I write not as a parent but as someone who reads and writes about these subjects; as I see it, the greatest function of activities is to make the day of the child and the home less tense and closer to shared memories.

Setting up the activity: before you begin

Before the activity itself, the setup decides. The same activity ends in three minutes when set up well, and drags on for an hour when set up badly.

First, get the materials ready. If the child hears "come on, let's do it" and the adult goes off to look for boxes, the child's interest is already somewhere else. Activity boxes work: dough and cutters in one box, beads and string in another, paints and paper in another. Write or draw the contents on the lid. When the child says "what shall we do", bringing two boxes in front of them works far better than asking an open-ended question.

Then limit the number of options. The question "what do you want to do" is often too wide for a child with ADHD. Give two options: "Dough or a tower?" Leaving the choice to the child increases ownership, and two options make the decision easier.

Shrink the start. Put the dough in the middle and say "I'm making a snake." Wait for the child to come and join. Starting with an invitation, without giving instructions, reduces resistance.

Say the end from the start. "When this sand timer finishes we'll tidy up" or "when this song ends it ends." Once the child knows where the end is, starting and keeping going get easier. For how hard transitions are, I explained the logic of a transition warning in the morning routine article, and the same applies to activities.

Finally, decide the place and the time. An activity started right before a meal, when the child is hungry or close to bedtime, is hard. I would start after a rest gap once the child is back from school, or at the weekend after breakfast.

Ages 4-6: short, active, tactile

At this age attention span is already short in most children. Let the activities be made of 5-10 minute pieces and use the body. For when activity in the preschool years counts as a problem, you can look at the article on ADHD in the preschool years.

Pillow river (movement, 10-15 minutes, pillows or cushions). Line up pillows on the floor with slight gaps between them. The floor is the "river", the pillows are "stones". The child jumps from stone to stone, and if they fall, they have fallen into the "river" and start again. Let them arrange the pillows themselves afterwards; the setting up is part of the activity too.

Animal walks (movement, 5-10 minutes, no materials). Like a bear on all fours, like a duck by squatting, like a crab backwards, like a frog by hopping. The child can pick the animal. Not a race from one end of the room to the other, but imitation.

Freeze dance (movement and inhibition, 5-10 minutes, music). Dancing while the music plays, a statue when the music stops. Stopping and holding yourself back is a real skill for a child of this age. If the child gets bored, swap roles: let them be the one who stops the music.

Rhythm imitation (focus, 5-10 minutes, pots, spoons or hands). The adult taps a short rhythm and the child repeats it. Then you reverse it. Start with three beats and go up to five if needed. Since it is noisy and active, most children like it.

Treasure hunt (focus, 10-20 minutes, a small prize or toy, picture clues). The adult hides picture clues in three or four places around the house. The child finds one, finds the next, and finally reaches the treasure. Make the clues with pictures, not writing. If it goes on too long it falls apart; three steps is enough.

Water-transfer tray (calming and focus, 10-20 minutes, tray, two or three containers, sponge, towel). Put two containers on a big tray: one full, one empty. The child transfers the water with a spoon, a sponge or a small cup. Spilling is allowed, the tray holds it anyway. Slow and tactile, a calming job. If it is done in the bathroom or kitchen, there is less cleaning to worry about.

Blanket tent (building, 20-30 minutes, blanket, chairs, clothes pegs). Drape a blanket over two chairs. Put cushions, a torch and a book inside. Setting it up is a half-hour job, and using it is a kind of calm corner. If the tent falls down the activity is not over; you can build it again together.

Play dough (creating and calming, 15-25 minutes, dough, cutters, rolling pin). Squeezing, kneading and mashing the dough keeps the child's hands busy. Make a cake, cut biscuits, shape an animal. You can make the dough yourself too (flour, salt, water, a bit of oil), and the child takes part in making the mixture.

Painting on big paper (creating, 10-20 minutes, large paper, paint or pastels). Instead of small paper, a large sheet spread on the floor or the back of wrapping paper. Drawing with the whole arm is easier at this age. Instead of asking "what is it" about the picture, saying "tell me about it" is better.

Pasta necklace (focus, 10-15 minutes, pasta, string). Threading pasta with holes onto string takes fine motor skill and patience. Since small pieces can be swallowed, choose large-holed pasta at this age and stay with them.

Ages 7-10: rules, goals and a visible result

At this age the child likes rules and goals; they want to see the answers to "when is it finished" and "did it go well". Activities can be split into 10-20 minute pieces and carry simple goals.

Hallway obstacle course (movement, 15-20 minutes, tape, cushions, rope). Stick a line on the floor with tape and walk along it. In one place go under a chair, in another stand on one foot, in another jump. The child can design their own course too. Timing against themselves moves competition away from the sibling and turns it into the child's own past time.

Balloon volleyball (movement, 10-15 minutes, balloon, rope). Stretch a rope between two chairs and try not to let the balloon fall to the floor. Because the balloon falls slowly, even a child who reacts fast can keep up. Rule: if the balloon falls to the floor the count goes back to zero. This gives feedback and a goal at the same time.

Simon Says and reverse Simon (focus and inhibition, 10 minutes, no materials). In classic Simon Says only commands that start with "Simon says" are carried out. In the reverse version it is the opposite: do not do the command that comes with "Simon says". This is practice in stopping the automatic response, and it feels like a game to the child.

Memory matching cards (focus, 15 minutes, card, pen). Draw pairs of pictures on pieces of card and turn them face down. The child turns two over and looks for a match. If they draw the cards themselves, half the activity is creative work. Too many cards feels like a lot at first; start with 8.

Building with a goal card (building, 20-30 minutes, building blocks). In puzzles and building blocks, seeing "what you will make" on a card helps. Find a photo or a drawing and say "let's make something like this." With a goal, starting and finishing are easy. Building without a goal is valuable too, but there the ending does not come by itself.

Cardboard machine (building and creating, 30-40 minutes, cardboard, tape, scissors, paint). A robot, a car, a house from old boxes. The adult can do the cutting, or you do it together; with a child who has scissors it is good to be beside them. Let the child explain what the machine "does".

Recipe in the kitchen (building and focus, 20-40 minutes, a simple recipe). Something like biscuits or pancakes. Turn the recipe into picture steps or a numbered list. The child does the steps in order. The measuring, mixing and waiting parts need patience and sequence. The reward is a sweet result, so the feedback is quick. An adult is always beside them for the hot oven and the knife.

My own comic (creating, 20-30 minutes, paper, pen). Fold a sheet of paper into four and draw four boxes. The child puts a scene in each box. Start with four boxes, and carry on if the child wants to. Not a long story, a short event.

Mandala or drip watercolour (calming, 15-20 minutes, watercolour, brush, paper). The spreading of colours dripped onto wet paper is slow and visually satisfying. There is no right or wrong. It can also be used as a calm job at the end of the day.

Board games (focus and waiting for turns, 15-20 minutes, Jenga, Uno, dominoes). Practice in waiting for a turn, losing and keeping to rules. Careful movement in Jenga, quick decisions in Uno. If losing is hard, start with short games and try "winning together" games (there are cooperative board games). For details you can look at the article on friendships.

Ages 11-13: autonomy, challenge, shared work

At this age the child may refuse things that look like "child activities". Leave the choice to them, keep the work serious and make the adult a helper or an audience. For how ADHD changes at the start of adolescence, there is the article on ADHD in adolescence.

Their own choreography (movement, 15-20 minutes, music). Choose a song and design a 30-second dance to it. There is repetition and development, so it is both movement and planning. If they wish they show it to an adult, and if not they work alone. Recording it is not required.

Skipping rope and a speed goal (movement, 10 minutes, rope). How many jumps in a minute. The child tries to beat their own record. Even a short movement session may help: in the study by Pontifex and colleagues, improvement was seen in inhibition and in reading and arithmetic tests in children with ADHD after a single moderate-intensity treadmill session. The study was small and single-session, so the direction is interesting but not definite.

Code box and home puzzle (focus, 20-30 minutes, box, lock or paper codes). An adult or the child designs puzzles for each other: a code on one piece of paper leads to another piece of paper in a cupboard. The one who designs works hard, the one who finds it thinks hard. Roles can swap.

Big jigsaw (focus and calming, weekly, 500 pieces or more). Set it up on a table and leave it uncovered. The child comes and places a few pieces whenever they want. A project that can be completed in short sessions, with nobody waiting on it. It can take weeks to finish, which is a kind of long-term goal.

Taking apart an old device to look inside (building and curiosity, 30-60 minutes, screwdriver, an old device). A broken radio, an old keyboard, a toaster that doesn't work. It must be unplugged, the battery taken out, and under adult supervision. Separating the parts, the question "what is this for", researching together. This is an activity that needs safety; you decide which devices are suitable.

Design your own game (creating, 30-60 minutes, paper, pen, dice). A board game, a card game. The rules will be written down, and someone will play it and find the broken spots. Writing rules, fixing them when stuck, setting the order: planning and flexibility are all in the work.

Mini restaurant (role and building, 40-60 minutes, menu, kitchen materials). The child writes the menu, does the preparation and serves the family. There is planning, sequencing and time management. If they make a mistake, the customer should stay understanding.

Potted plant or mini garden (building, through the week, pot, soil, seed). A few minutes of watering each day. A fast-sprouting plant like a bean shows growth. An experiment that gives visible feedback to a child with ADHD, for learning long-term follow-up.

Baking soda and vinegar experiment (focus and curiosity, 20 minutes, baking soda, vinegar, colouring). Foam rising in a glass. Forming a hypothesis and seeing the result, changing a variable and trying again. One of the easiest controlled experiments that can be done at home.

Quick pick by purpose

A rough guide to which activity to go to for a particular need. It is not definite; the child's preference and the day decide.

Need	Ages 4-6	Ages 7-10	Ages 11-13
Movement, burning off energy	Pillow river, animal walks	Hallway obstacle course, balloon volleyball	Skipping rope, own choreography
Calming down	Water transfer, play dough	Drip watercolour, mandala	Jigsaw, plant care
Focusing	Treasure hunt, rhythm imitation	Simon Says, memory cards	Code box, baking soda experiment
Structure, building	Blanket tent	Cardboard machine, recipe	Taking a device apart, mini restaurant
Creating	Painting on big paper	Comic	Design your own game

If you are thinking of an order through the day, my suggestion is this: movement first, then focus or building, calming at the very end. Starting with movement makes the work after it easier in most children; I covered this separately in the article on sports and movement. For a child who is very tired or angry, though, the order reverses and calming is needed first; the details are in the article on calming activities. If you can go out, doing the movement outdoors instead of at home is also an option.

If the child drops it after three minutes

This is the most common thing that happens with activities, and it annoys most adults. The first reaction is "so they didn't like it" or "they can't keep going with anything". I would take a step back and ask these questions.

Was the activity too hard? If the child can't complete something easy, it needs to be shrunk. A tower of three blocks instead of a tower. A single-box picture instead of their own story. When a child succeeds at something, they usually carry on.

Was it too easy? Sometimes the child finishes the activity fast and gets bored. In that case add a challenge: "can you do this with your eyes closed", "how fast can you do this?"

Was it too long? Split the activity into two halves and put a short break in the middle. The idea of a movement break is used with the same logic when studying. Count the break in the middle as part of the activity; when the child stops, they have not failed.

Was an adult beside them? If there is no adult in the first five minutes, the child may struggle to start. Sitting beside them is enough; no intervention is needed.

Even so, when they stop, saying "okay, let's try the next one" and leaving the activity out on the table (like a jigsaw) sometimes leads them to come back and carry on by themselves later. Stopping is not a reason for punishment, it is a piece of data.

If the child cannot stay with any activity for more than 3 minutes and this happens in every setting, that is a matter for evaluation, not for activities. In such a case talking to the doctor or the school counsellor is more right.

How close should the adult be

This section is what gets missed most in home activities. We want the child to do an activity alone, but "alone" is not a starting point, it is a destination.

In the first stage the adult is right beside them and inside the activity: starting together, doing it together. In the second stage beside them but busy with their own work: the child does it, the adult is near. In the third stage in the same room but on another job. In the last stage the child is alone. How long these transitions take varies with the child. At ages 4-6 most activities stay in the first two stages, and at 11-13 most are in the third and fourth.

The reason for the adult being beside them is to help the child begin and to pick up where they left off. The presence of another person works in a similar way in adults with ADHD too; I described this in the article on body doubling. I do not know of a separate study on whether this works in children, but the logic is the same.

Being beside them does not mean teaching, correcting or directing. The adult here is an audience and a helper. Saying "tell me how you made this tower" instead of "you're doing that wrong" both shows interest and leaves room for the child's own thinking. In behavioural parent training programmes this kind of positive, non-directive attention is a basic component. For what the programmes teach, see the article on parent training.

In homes with siblings, some kind of turn is needed in the activity too; setting aside a short time that belongs only to each child reduces sibling conflict. I described this in the article on the sibling of a child with ADHD.

Ending the activity

Finishing is as hard as starting. For a child with ADHD, transitions are demanding, and coming out of a fun activity is harder still.

Give the time beforehand. Instead of "we'll tidy up in half an hour", use a visible tool: a sand timer, a visual timer or a song. It also helps for the thing that finishes to have a "closing move": putting the materials in the box, taking a photo of what was made or placing it on a shelf. The building or the picture is not wiped, it is kept.

Frame the tidying not as the end of the activity but as part of it. "The building is done, now it's time to put it in the box." If the child hates tidying, you can turn the tidying part into a game: "the box is open, how many seconds do we take to put these pieces in?"

On rewards, I would be very careful. Giving the activity as a reward ("if you finish your homework we'll play") or taking it away as a punishment ("you made a noise, no activity") can spoil both the activity and the relationship. If you want to set up a reward system, the framework in the article on reward systems works, but I would like the activity itself to be rewarding enough most of the time.

If the activity ended badly, that is, the child dropped it, shouted or something broke, it is better to leave them to calm down instead of lecturing at that moment; for the moment of the outburst there is the article on anger outbursts.

Screen-free, without the sermon

There is a trap here. "Screen-free activity" often sounds like "screens are bad, do this". That message does not do the child good and starts a power struggle at home.

I would put the screen to one side and keep the activity separate. Saying "we'll set up a jigsaw at three in the afternoon" instead of "no tablet for an hour". The screen itself is a separate adjustment: in the article on screen time and ADHD in children I explained what the research says and what is not known. In short, a small association between screens and ADHD symptoms is reported, but it has not been proven that screens cause ADHD.

What works in practice is that the activity does not compete with the screen. Coming off a screen, the child needs a transition margin, for example "when this episode finishes". A bridge works when moving into the activity too: "come and look at this, I've built something new." After the activity, the screen can be a normal part of the day, not a reward.

One more thing: if the child is bored of the screen or tired, an offer of an activity may push them even harder. At that moment something calming or restful (the blanket tent, a book) may be better.

What I make of it

The mistake I see most in home activities is presenting the activity like a task. A tone of "come on, let's do this now, it's useful" is just another instruction in the child's ear. As I see it, an activity, even if it carries a purpose, should come to the child as an invitation. I would start building a tower myself and wait for the child to come.

Second, I think a short one that ends well is better than a long one that ends badly. If a five-minute activity closes with laughter, it can be started again the next day. If a half-hour activity ends in tears, the child says "again?" the next time. When undecided, keeping the time on the short side feels safer to me.

Third, I want to say openly that none of this is a treatment. Activities do not treat ADHD. They make the home routine, the relationship and the child's daily life a little more liveable, and that is valuable in its own right. If the child's symptoms seriously affect their daily life, the treatment plan is something to talk through with the doctor; the activities in this article do not replace that plan, they can be added alongside it.