I never thought that I would be writing a blog post about fun things to do while you are forced to stay in your house. It’s funny that the last draft that I was going to post before the schools shut down was about how I feel like my child is busier than me because of her social invites and after school activities. Now because all of that has stopped, we as parents have to take full responsibility of keeping our children occupied.
Along with homeschooling I have came up with a few things that can make the day a little more fun and hopefully keep your children from saying “I’m bored.”
During home school hours to break things up, have some outdoor time if it’s nice outside. For example, I had Mila create a list of outside things you might find for the first day of spring. Then we took a walk around the neighborhood and went on a scavenger hunt. It was a break from the house, good exercise and fresh air.
We also made our own bubble solution [2 cups water, 1 cup dish soap and 1 tbsp sugar ] and tried different objects to be the wands. Easy fun!
For rainy days, art projects during the day are fun too, and gives them something to do if you’re trying to get work done yourself. On St. Patrick;s Day we made these easy leprechaun cut out faces. On April Fool’s Day we may make a silly face one.
Find new spots in the neighborhood to play. Since most of the parks are closed you kind of have to get creative with your play areas. We took Maxwell (our toddler) to the neighborhood tennis court to run around and play. I think he enjoyed the change in scenery.
Have a dance party. My daughter loves to ask “Alexa, play [insert song by Lil’ Nas X or Jojo Siwa]” and ask everyone to dance with her. It’s a fun way to let loose with the fam and it tires out the kids. A good idea to do before bed time.
Make sock puppets and have a puppet show. Most people have a few socks that don’t have a match, use these and other crafts you have around the house to make your puppet. Even if you don’t have anything to glue on your sock, you can get creative with markers and paper. We haven’t done this yet, but with some rainy days coming up, I think we’ll give it a try.
Exercise with your kids. We all have been eating snacks and mostly sitting or laying down. Get moving with your kids. My gym sends at home work outs that my kids will join in sometimes, or we’ll play outside together. Just recently I searched on YouTube “workouts for kids” for at home PE class. Don’t let you and your kids body go into shut down too.
Have your child help make a meal or a snack. From simple things like “just add water pancake mix” to homemade cookies. They won’t even realize that they’re learning a new skill.
As the weeks go on I’ll add more things to this list. Feel free to share your ideas and activities you try with your kids. Let me know how these go, if you try them out.
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