8 Things to Do at Home with Your Little Ripper

Being stuck at home can be no fun after quite a long time, for both parents and the kids. Cabin fever can lead you to experience stress, anxiety or simply a build up of energy in the kids. But with a little effort, you can create stimulating and fun activities to help improve not just your mental health, but your relationship with your little rugrats as well.

We’ve listed 7 things you can do with your kids at home:

1. Backyard Camping

We’re all dreaming of an epic outdoor vacation right now, but at the same time, you and your family may be feeling that now’s not the best time to get away. Do not fret—you can still achieve that ideal camping trip in the comfort of your own backyard.

Start your week right by turning your backyard into your own personal campsite by pitching a tent, setting up camping chairs, building a backyard fire pit, and cooking famous campfire recipes (it’s not camping without roasted marshmallows!).

This is also a good time to teach the kids how to pitch tents. When you’re finally going for that camping trip you’ve been planning, they can help out.

2. Dirt Bike Lessons

As a parent, you probably want to share your dirt bike passion with your kids and have fun adventures with them. It might be a good idea to get them started with learning the parts of a dirt bike first.

You can start by teaching them the basic parts of a dirt bike such as the wheels, engine, brakes, and chassis, and their purposes. Once they’re familiar with the parts and their functions, you can continue to teach them how to ride a dirt bike.

Or maybe they’re old enough to ride a dirt bike and have already been riding for a while. Then you can teach them how to take care of their dirt bikes instead, and what routine maintenance they should be doing. Make sure they have a good understanding of this pre-ride checklist too.

3. Learning Knots

Back in the day, everyone used to know how to tie knots. Learning how to tie knots is a useful skill in various ways, especially outdoors. Start them young by teaching them the basic knots. It’s a valuable skill that they will definitely use when you’re out camping, fishing, trekking or when they simply need to secure items when you go out riding. It’s better to know a knot and not need it than to need a knot and not know it!

4. Bike Wash

Before doing any bike maintenance, you’ve got to give your dirt bike a good wash first. By doing it the right way, you will not only make your life easier when you’re working on your pride and joy, but it will also make your dirt bike look brand new and last longer.

If you have young kids, you can start asking for their help while you clean your dirt bike, such as handing you the bucket, holding the hose, giving the bike a soft brush, wiping it dry, and spraying it with polish.

For older kids, it’s another learning opportunity for them. Give them more to do and teach them how to wash a dirt bike properly. If they’ve got their own bike, have them wash theirs while watching you wash yours. With them practising it themselves, they’ll learn much faster and remember the process better.

5. Cones and Chalk Tracks

Is your kid learning to ride? Turn your driveway and sidewalk into a fun track by using chalk and cones. They’ll love it! Following the chalk markings, they’ll be able to practice how to control their body and their bike. They’ll love zig-zagging through the cones or doing 8-figure loops.

You might find other neighbourhood kids coming to play with their bikes too.

6. Obstacle Course

Do you have a spacious backyard? Do your kids love challenges? This might be the activity for them. Turn your backyard into a mini obstacle course to improve their dirt bike skills: jump over huge rocks, balance on a log, and so on. Get creative. You might already have everything you need right there in your home.

Not only is this fun, but the kids will also learn bike control and balance. And most importantly, they’ll learn that it’s much more fun when they’re not glued to their gadgets.

7. Tidying Up The Garage

It may sound boring, but it can actually be fun. Most of the time, kids just want to be involved and spend time with you. Get the garage set up ready for your next dirt bike maintenance day. Show them where all the tools go and show them how to take pride in keeping things organised.

You can turn it into a learning experience too by teaching your kids about your tools and what they’re used for.

8. Movie Night

Some of the activities can be exhausting, so a relaxing movie night might just be the perfect way to cap the day off. You can do it outdoors with a projector if you’re camping backyard, or you can do it inside where you can be comfortable on the sofa. Dig out your old favourite dirt bike movies and show the kids how it was back in your day.

There are more ideas out there. These are just some of our favourites. Have a blast!