5 Must-Do Activities For Kids With ADHD

Finding the right activities for kids with ADHD to enjoy can make all the difference in their lives. For instance, they will likely need a range of engaging options for exerting energy, learning to self-regulate, and building skills that will benefit them into adulthood.

But don’t worry, finding the right ways to entertain/teach a child with ADHD isn’t as hard as it sounds. And I’ll be sharing multiple ideas with you today, within five overarching sections that I think can serve as “pillars” in the lives of these kids.

1. Spending Time Outdoors

First of all, spending time outdoors is a necessity for any child. But it’s particularly important when they have ADHD. Because this “green time” has actually been linked to lessened anxiety and stress, as well as heightened concentration!

Some ways that you can make going outdoors more enjoyable for your child include…

• Scavenger hunts, which you can set up in your own backyard!
• Nature walks with you. Perhaps with some sort of objective in mind, like spotting a specific number of birds or finding a small memento to take home (rocks, leaves to be pressed into a scrapbook, etc).
• And hideouts! This could be in the form of temporary forts that your children construct themselves, such as draping sheets over an object. Or maybe even a tent, treehouse, or playhouse that you build for them in your yard. Most kids will love hiding out in their special spot, and this can really encourage them to head outdoors daily.

And if you’re dealing with older kids, you’re in luck. Because I recently wrote an article all about outdoor toys for teens that you can use to tempt them away from their computers!

2. Exercising

Exercise is another extremely helpful category of activities for kids with ADHD, because it can actually boost neurotransmitters in your child’s brain and therefore improve cognitive function. It’s even been shown to potentially reduce sleep difficulties.

Some fun ideas for incorporating exercise in your little one’s life are…

• Dancing (It’s so easy to customize this experience with a playlist of your kiddos favorite songs, and it’s something you can easily do together.)
• Games like “Simon Says”, since not only does this get your children moving, but it also helps them hone their concentration and listening skills.
• Jumping rope, this helps build focus as well as hand-eye coordination. And obviously it burns a lot of energy as well!
• Learning martial arts. Getting involved with an after-school activity or sport can be a great way to give your child consistent reasons to move around. But things like martial arts are especially helpful because it once again teaches them focus!

3. Learning How To Make Cleaning Fun

In the past, I’ve written an article all about the various age-appropriate chores you can/should assign children to teach them valuable life skills like cleaning.

But instilling these skills in a child with ADHD can be harder, and yet even more important, than with children without ADHD. Because people with this condition are so much more likely to struggle with executive disfunction when they get older if they weren’t taught how to manage it when they were young.

One of the key things you need to keep in mind here, is that the more you can make the task fun for your child… the more likely they are to keep up with it.

I used to play a game with my girls (both of whom have ADHD, even though we didn’t realize it at the time) where we would set a timer for half an hour and see how much cleaning we could get done within that time. We would also play pretend, and act like we were a professional cleaning service called “Clean, Check”.

This made them start to see chores as a fun activity, instead of a boring one.

4. Being Creative

Children with ADHD tend to be quite creative! So some of the best activities for kids with ADHD involve fostering that. A few ideas for this could be…

• Finger painting (if your child is still quite young) or regular painting (if they’re older)
• Coloring and/or drawing
• Knitting, crocheting, or sewing
• Learning performance art, perhaps participating in theater at school
• Learning to cook
• Or even learning to build things by hand!

Personally, my girls’ favorite outlets for their creativity were making up all sorts of imaginary games or writing stories in their notebooks. In fact, the writing has even been a hobby that stretched into their adulthood.

5. Finding Strategies To Calm Themselves

Teaching your children with ADHD how to self regulate is one of the most powerful things you can do for them. And it will pay off in spades as they get older. So it’s definitely something you should research and learn about!

But for now, here are some tried and true methods…

• Teaching them deep breathing exercises
• Finding different sensory relief items for them; textures that comfort them, things they can fidget with, calming things to watch, etc.
• Performing deep focus activities like solving puzzles or building with blocks.

Final Thoughts

I hope you enjoyed learning about these activities for kids with ADHD. And I hope you found some information that can help you with your journey. Because I know that being a parent to a child with ADHD can be equal parts amazing and exhausting. 😂