This is a letter about coronavirus emergency and: what to do if at home kids start climbing the walls. Ideas for quality with your children if you’re stuck at home, and the best games for children to entertain for hours.
Perhaps your school is already closed or planning to close. Maybe there are no signs of school closures but no one has a crystal ball to predict the future.
Think there’s no chance your school will close? In mid-February, China was the only country mandating school closures. By March 10, 32 countries have implemented school closures. Things are changing rapidly and exponentially.
Teachers, students, families, administrators, departments, and whole communities are being forced to respond and adapt quickly.
Referring to COVID-19 (coronavirus), UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay recently announced: “…the global scale and speed of the current educational disruption is unparalleled and if prolonged, could threaten the right to education.”
THE NEW SITUATION IS: OUR CHILDREN ARE AT HOME. ALL THE TIME. NO SCHOOL, NO PRESCHOOL. Stop to concerts, museums, trips and playdates and outings. It sounds terrible.
But don’t panic!
OK, so what to do if at home the kids start climbing the walls (mostly figuratively, but sometimes literally)?
Find the answer by clicking on this article (click).
It’s true, kids are home, and it’s not easy. But let’s consider the positive side of the medal. Kids grow up so fast! When they are little, we feel like we have forever to enjoy them. But the truth is that time goes by so fast and we need to cherish every moment that we get to enjoy our kids!
This coronavirus emergency and the fact we are all lockdown in our homes, maybe is a wonderful gift for us, parents.
Perhaps this time is given to us to be used with our children. Watch this time wisely and use it well. Here are my ideas, from our weekly family night, that you could use with your child at home during this difficult time (not only at night, of course). That tradition will bring you many happy moments that will become precious memories as the kids grow up.
Read about it here.
Maybe this emergency favors us – parents to stay at home and enjoying being a parent you’ve always dreamed to be (but had no time?!).
To connect (or re-connect) with our children, sometimes very little needs to be done. A child is an amazing creature who does not take offense and gives a second chance without further ado. It is enough to show him your love and some true interest, and his devotion will be immediate and direct. How to do so? By playing with them! Games are one of the simplest and fastest ways to help us bond and entertain for hours of fun and laughter with our children.
I have chosen games listed below because most of them can be played from three years old, which means everyone can join in and bond as a family. And I love that games are also a great shared experience for siblings!
Here are my favorite family games:
Double – This is a great game for the whole family, and everyone has an equal chance of winning. Even Victoria played this at age 2,5! And I love that it’s small enough to fit in your handbag for games on the go.
Uno — perfect to entertain the over 5-year-olds and their parents for hours. I love it when the whole family can play together!
Dixit – Humorous Party Card Game with Loads of Imaginative Storytelling. To develop language acquisition and creative play for children from 3 years old.
Also, I would like to add to the list two more games that my children are loving these days at home with the closures of the schools.
This wooden tower game is time-honored classic testing the player’s skills of deduction and nerve. The object is to remove a tower out of the wooden block structure. Only the most careful of players are strong enough to survive.
This is one game that children and adults can play together. It has no learning curve and never gets old or boring. The rules are simple enough for the whole family to play, just stack the blocks into a tower without letting it fall. Perfect for indoor or outdoor events. Great game on a family day, friend party day, party, camping, after-dinner game, gardening game, executive desk toy.
My children use the Tumbling’ Tower blocks as Dominoes set blocks to race. They set them up all in a row, and then push one of them! It will have a chain of effect of the dominoes tumbling over like a race. You also can watch the dominoes videos on YouTube and figure out how is work, open your mind of creativity and imagination, as you are constantly building designs to knock down.
I hope I gave you some good inspiration during this strange time we are in.
Because we all need a little cheering up.
All the best,
Joanna
