By now there may be many parents who are running out of ideas on how to keep their children occupied and entertained and are desperately thinking of options other than sitting them in front of the telly all day.

Help may be on hand thanks to a Peel dad and some of the inventive pastimes he has created with his children.

Matt Brown has released ’Trapped Indoors With Kids’, a book containing 100 different games to play with children around the house.

The games are either physically or mentally stimulating, inventive and, above all, fun, and have been invented by Matt and his two daughters River, nine, and Willow, six.

They are all designed to be played in the house, garden or backyard, and can be played with only a few household props.

Matt home-schools his two daughters and said that the games they have made up help to keep his children stimulated, active and thoroughly entertained throughout the day.

When the lockdown restrictions came into force, Matt said both he and his girls wanted to share their games and help kids and parents at home.

’Obviously there are parents who will be struggling with how to juggle working from home whilst entertaining and occupying the kids,’ said Matt.

’Me and the girls thought we could help with that, so we came up with a list of some of the different games we created together and play at home.

’The girls in particular were really excited about sharing the things we have done and come up with over the years.’

Among the games included are ’Gingerbread Man’, where the children pretend to escape from being baked in an oven and the ’Chamber of Horrors’, where a onesie is stuffed and hidden behind doors in the house, ready to fall on unsuspecting victims.

’We devised "Sleeping Dragon" where the adult can lie on the sofa and pretend to be asleep and the kids try to steal treasure from under you,’ said Matt.

’The kids can get really into it without you moving too much!

’Then there are games that you can set up and the kids can do for a while you make meals or whatever, such as detective games. We also have one called "Hit Me with a Chicken", which uses beanbags. That’s great fun and burns off energy.

’There are oral and story-telling games, where you can get the kids to talk about their life or make up round robin stories. These can also help spark imaginative play that they can then go and do at another time.

’Some are indoor games, some are good for being outside in the garden or yard, but all of them are for playing in and around the house. Most of them don’t need many ingredients or setting up, just a sofa, rolled up bits of newspaper or just things you can find around the house.’

Matt said that playing and inventing games with children can provide many positives other than keeping children occupied and entertained.

’Play helps to burn off energy or stimulate the imagination, can help children with multi-tasking, or winding down,’ he said.

’Or even tackling emotions and things which children aren’t able to articulate properly. You can find a lot of things out when you are playing one-on-one with your children.

’You can use play to tackle different situations when they arise, so they don’t lead to problems or arguments when they come up.

’This book isn’t aimed solely at home-schoolers. I am a home-schooling full-time dad and we have used play over the last few years on and off when we are stuck indoors on rainy days. But it can be used by anyone who is a parent.’

Matt’s book is currently available only as a Kindle edition and has only been out for a week.

However, he has already received messages from parents across the world who have found it useful, while a parenting website has shown an interest in publishing games .

More information on the book and Matt’s game creations is available from mattbrown.im

by Mike Wade

Twitter:@iomnewspapers