Fun Activities for Kids with ADHD

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in 2015 that about 5% of American children between the ages of 3 and 7 have been diagnosed with ADHD. If you think your child might be one of them, and you want practical ways to ease the symptoms and help with focus and attention, this piece walks through a handful of activities built to do exactly that while keeping a kid entertained.

A quick definition first. ADHD stands for Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. It's a reasonably common, long-lasting neurological and behavioral condition marked by hyperactivity, impulsiveness, and difficulty paying attention. Most people first show signs in childhood, though it can appear later in adolescence or adulthood too. When it starts early, it usually sticks around well into the adult years. The causes differ from one person to the next, but genetics, hormones, and a child's surroundings all seem to contribute to how the condition develops and changes over time.

Activities for a kid with ADHD work best when they account for two realities: lots of energy and a short attention span. Aim for something hands-on and structured rather than open-ended and passive. Clear, individualized instructions tend to help as well. With that in mind, here are a few games worth trying.

Once Upon a Time. Most children, especially the younger ones, love make-believe, and that imaginative streak is useful when a kid has ADHD because channeling energy and creativity into a game holds attention and sharpens concentration. You can enrich pretend play with props: dolls, toy animals, little cars, action figures. Push your child to imagine new scenarios and think in unexpected directions.

The game itself is simple. Sit down together (morning, afternoon, evening, whenever works) and build a scenario with your child's input, then ask them to act it out. Keep it uncomplicated and age-appropriate. Say your kid loves Marvel characters. Together you might set up a situation involving Iron Man, Spider-Man, the Avengers, Captain America, Wolverine, or the X-Men, and let your child become one of those heroes and perform a little story around that role.

Jump in yourself as the sidekick, the assistant, the villain, or the accomplice. Playing along does more than move the story forward. Children with ADHD often struggle with social skills and with building and keeping good relationships, so this kind of shared play gives them practice interacting with someone else. If your kid is the superhero, you be the bad guy.

Ask questions as you go to feed their imagination: "What happens next?" "Why did you do that?" Questions like these keep your child engaged and keep the plot alive. When interest starts to fade, toss in a plot twist to pull them back. Because attention spans run short, break the session into chunks of roughly 10 to 15 minutes. As symptoms settle, you can stretch that toward 15 to 30 minutes.

Into the Wild. For this one, start by cutting back on screen and internet time, particularly for preteens and teens. Thirty minutes to an hour a day is plenty. Steer the rest of that time outdoors: playing, thinking, pitching in with yard work, walking the dog, or getting homework done for an older child. Research points to ADHD symptoms improving with time spent outside, and exercise tends to help too.

So rather than hauling a restless kid to the gym, head to the park. Toss a Frisbee, let them loose on the playground, shoot some hoops. The point is to make movement fun, exciting, or a little challenging: jumping, cartwheels, running, old-fashioned games with other kids. Older children can handle bigger adventures like camping trips and hikes, and you can rig up a tricky treasure hunt in a park or at the campsite to add a puzzle to the day.

What Am I? This is a group game that gets a kid's creativity going while encouraging them to interact with other children. Gather a handful of kids. Write down different animals, one per slip of paper, fold them into a bag or a hat, and have each child draw one without revealing it. Split the group into two teams.

Each child acts out the animal on their slip while their own team tries to guess, with a 60-second limit. If that team can't get it, the other team gets a shot. Whoever names the animal correctly earns a point. If nobody lands on it, reveal the answer and move to the next child. Let teammates talk it over amongst themselves, similar to how Family Feud runs. Alongside the fun, the back-and-forth of the game tends to settle ADHD symptoms.

Dr. R. Y. Langham. Sources include Batt, J. (2015), "Great activities for kids with ADHD," Parenting; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2015), ADHD data and statistics; and Mayo Clinic (2015), ADHD in children.