21 support worker activities to try at home or online
21 Activities to do at Home with your Support Worker
By Mable · Originally published 9 August 2021
Deeper review: 6 October 2026. The deeper review adds article-specific decisions and audience guidance. Historical passages and their adjacent corrections remain preserved.
Choose the part you want help with
A cooking session can mean following a recipe, choosing ingredients or simply enjoying making something together. Say which part you want to try and where you want assistance. For a game, consider whether competition, a timer or a guessing task is enjoyable for you. Change the rules if they make participation harder.
Choose a stopping point before starting. It could be one photograph, one plant repotted or the first stage of a recipe. Finishing a small, enjoyable task can be more useful than working through a list someone else has chosen.
Decide together whether photos can be taken or shared. Keep the choice separate from taking part in the activity.
Original article and dated context
Mable is a website that’s revolutionising disability support, letting you find and connect with independent support workers around Australia, all with police and reference checks.
When times are uncertain, it’s reassuring to know that you can still receive support in your own home. The Mable team has listed 21 enjoyable activities that you and your support worker can do together in your home.
[Clickability update, September 2026: Use this as an ideas list. NDIS funding must be spent on eligible supports that meet the relevant funding requirements, rather than on every cost associated with an activity. Check the NDIA funding criteria.]
11 activities you can enjoy at home
While getting out and about could be off the cards for a little while, you can still enjoy fun, entertaining and educational activities at home, and get some exercise too. Here are our suggestions:
1. Meditation – Meditating is a wonderful way to clear the mind and relax your body. A support worker can introduce you to the basics of meditation and guide you, as you practise it.
2. Practise independent living skills – Increasing your independence often starts at home. A support worker can teach you practical skills such as cleaning, changing the sheets on your bed, preparing lunch, kitchen hygiene, tidying cupboards, doing laundry and writing a grocery list.
3. Learn financial skills – Learn how to budget your finances, save up for something you want to buy, and pay your bills.
4. Beauty routine – Have an at-home ‘spa day’ complete with manicure, facial and hair session. Your support worker can show you how to apply makeup and how to do a mini facial with products you already have at home.
5. Exercise in the sunshine – Go out in your front or backyard, put on some tunes and move to the music played on your phone. Your support worker may have some skills around Tai Chi or yoga that they can share with you too.
6. Treasure hunt bingo – Your support worker can make a list of ten items for you to find in your house or yard. Whenever you find one, it’s marked off the list and when you’ve found all ten... Bingo!
7. Colouring in – With some colouring books and some pens, pencils or crayons, you can while away an hour or so.
8. Tidy a space each session – Every time you have an at-home support session, you could pick a space to tidy and organise. One day it could be your bedroom and cupboards, another day it could be your bathroom or laundry.
9. Pot some indoor plants – Your support worker can help you make a planter with any kind of pot (an old saucepan, a bucket or even a teacup). They may have cuttings from home or you could bring in cuttings of succulents or herbs from your yard.
10. Practise smartphone photography at home – A support worker with photography skills can show you how to use your smartphone to take amazing photos of objects, pets, people and even yourself! You could upload them to Instagram or learn how to create categorised digital albums on your computer.
11. Make a slow-cooked meal for the family – Wouldn’t it be lovely to go through the fridge and pantry, find what you have on hand and turn it all into a delicious slow-cooked meal for the family? You and your support worker can look up recipe ideas online then adapt it to what’s in your kitchen. Slow cooking is very adaptable and forgiving.
10 activities you can do via virtual support sessions
An increasing number of clients on the Mable platform are making use of virtual support sessions! Aside from being extremely useful during the pandemic, lots of people are finding that they can connect with a support worker who has desired skills and interests but who doesn’t live in the local area. Here are some suggestions on activities you can do in a virtual support session for various ages and abilities.
1. Virtual exercise instruction – A support worker with appropriate training can guide you through an appropriate exercise routine such as chair yoga, stretches and basic movement.
[Clickability update, September 2026: A worker needs the skills to provide the agreed support safely. Clinical exercise advice requires an appropriately qualified professional; a video session does not remove safety responsibilities. The NDIS Code of Conduct includes competent and safe support.]
2. Play charades – An oldie but a goodie, charades is a guessing game that involves acting out syllables or words to give hints. Your support worker can explain exactly how to play.
3. The Alphabet Game – Choose a topic such as animals, foods or country names, and the first person thinks of one starting with the letter A then the second person uses the letter B and then you keep taking turns. An animal theme would go: Aardvark, Baboon, Chimpanzee, Dog, etc.
4. Category race – Choose a category such as football, baking, pets or fashion. Set a timer for two minutes. You and your support worker write down as many words relating to that category as you can and when the timer ends, you compare your lists. Whenever you have the same word, you each cross it off on your lists. Whoever gets more words not crossed off is the winner.
5. Origami tutorial – If your support worker knows how to do origami (the Japanese art of paper folding) or can learn how to do it online, they can show you how to create beautiful little origami figures via video chat. Same goes for paper aeroplanes.
6. Drawing activities – Decide on a topic together and each draw something while chatting and enjoying each other’s company. You could draw zoo animals, muscle cars, your dream home or even work from a photo of your favourite celebrity and draw their portrait.
7. Learn a new language – Search for a support worker who is fluent in another language and have them teach you the basics via video chat.
8. Interview your support worker – It’s always interesting learning about other people. You could conduct an interview with your support worker, write down the answers to the questions and write an article to share at your next support session.
9. Invent something – Is there something that you wish existed? What would you invent if you didn’t have to consider cost, materials or how possible it would be to make it happen? It’s fun to workshop ideas like these with your support worker.
10. Learn percussion – A support worker who plays drums can teach you rhythm and percussion sets using pots, pans, containers, wooden spoons and other household items.
Make an activity fit the person, place and support
Plan an online session around what you can actually see
Video support cannot provide physical assistance from a distance. Check camera position, sound, accessible controls and whether the person can safely handle the materials. An exercise suggestion is not permission to deliver clinical treatment or guide a movement beyond your competence.
Agree what happens if the connection drops and whether someone needs to be nearby. If an activity needs hands-on assistance, change it or arrange appropriate in-person support. Keep professional boundaries and safety part of the plan. Use WorkSafe Victoria’s home-support resource
Confirm who supplies and pays for extra materials, and use the agreed information-sharing process for session feedback.
Support a choice without turning leisure into homework
Ask whether the person wants company, practice or a chance to try something new. Offer materials already available and agree any personal purchases in advance. The fact that worker time is funded does not mean every craft supply, food ingredient or subscription is funded.
Afterwards, ask what they would repeat and what they would change. Respect a decision to stop or choose a different activity. If photographs are taken, agree separately whether they can be kept or shared; participation in an activity does not imply consent to publicity.
No. The list suggests activities, not funding approvals. Check whether the support and associated costs are eligible under your plan and current NDIS requirements. Official guidance
Can a support worker run a session online?
Discuss whether online support meets your needs, whether the worker has suitable skills and how safety, privacy and payment will work. Official guidance
Can every activity in this list be delivered safely by video?
No. Choose around the person’s needs and the worker’s competence. Tasks requiring physical assistance need an appropriate in-person arrangement. Official guidance
Find someone to share your next activity
Tell Clickability what you enjoy and what support you need. Start a service request to find support-work providers suited to your needs and location.
