With most of the school across the world closing, and many businesses moving to remote-work situations (to prevent the spread of Coronavirus) many of us are unexpectedly finding ourselves working from home with kids underfoot. This can present an interesting conundrum. Our kids are home. We’re home. We have work to do. We want our kids to be entertained. What to do?
Here are a few tips:
- Your child can entertain his or herself more than you give them credit for.
- Allow them to get bored and let their imagination wander.
- Yes, they may make a mess, but that’s okay.
- Let your child help you do the daily tasks that still need to be completed: making beds, cooking dinner, putting away the dishes. These ordinary routines anchor our souls and give a sense of normalcy during this tricky time. Let them help, even if they don’t put the dishes away just right.
- Allow yourself to lean to the “family” side as much as your work will allow. We’re all giving each other more grace (hopefully) during this time, so make the most of it with your children. Embrace the time together and the forced “slowness” if you are quarantined.
What type of activities could I do with my kids with just what I have in my home?
Be safe with all of these ideas, everyone. Proper supervision required, of course.
- HAVE FUN in the bathtub. Glow sticks, finger paints, popsicles, pudding painting on the walls, kitchen tools, the ideas here are endless!
- GO on a treasure walk outside. Get outside. Take a basket or a box and collect treasures. Leaves, flower buds, cool rocks.
- BUILD a fort. Use pillows, blankets, chairs, whatever you can find. Yes, it makes a giant mess. That’s okay.
- READ with a flashlight. Read books by flashlight. Get under a blanket or sit inside your fort!
- COOK with what you have. Whether you’re making PB&Js for dinner or you’re creating an elaborate snack tray in a muffin tin with whatever is in your pantry, let your child help. Again, they will make a mess. Messes are okay.
- CREATE a fun invention. Our kids love what we call Creation Station. This means that we gather the random boxes and tape and glue and lids and jars and pomp moms and trash and whatever we can find and we make stuff. We throw all the scraps back into the box for easy clean-up for next time. Robots. Race car tracks. Princess dresses. It’s all been made at my kitchen table.
- LOOK through old photos. My kids could do this for hours. They lovelooking through my old photos or scrapbooks and seeing photos of mommy’s silly bangs when she was in third grade! #1991
- The ideas here are endless: sidewalk chalk, blow bubbles, relay races in the back-yard.
I have to actually get work done with my kids in the house. How on earth do I make this happen?
We spoke about this in detail in a previous post, but here is my general tip: don’t do two things at once. It’s impossible to multi-task and you’ll just end up frustrated (and so will your child). This may be a time that you have to wake early to work and work after bedtime. Or during nap times. Or high five your spouse on his way to watch the kids while you go to “work” at your kitchen table.
Just remember, this is temporary. Screen-free is wonderful during “normal times,” but this might just be a good time for Disney movies, blankets, and bowls of popcorn. Just be sure to get them moving as well. Sitting for long periods of time doesn’t help our mental health or stir-craziness much.
Here are a few great resources we love and have found helpful around here:
- Cosmic Kids on YouTube – I like this channel very much and we often include exercises from this channel to our daily movement. Each episode is a journey to the imagination, plus movement. Highly recommend.
- Or maybe a museum? Now you can go for a virtual walk around the largest museums in the world.
- Live coloring Application – The rule is simple: you install the app, print the coloring book and the child colors it, and then we invade the application ad…. our picture comes alive! This is magic, because the character on the phone or tablet has the same colors that the child used.
Ps. I was afraid that playing with the phone would take children too much time, but that no: the children color for 15 min and 1 minute use this app, so be calm.
- Free printable Disney coloring pages from Crayola
- Storyline offers videos of celebrities reading favorite children’s books. Ok, this one involves a screen, but it’s adorable.
- Common Sense Media (one of my favorite sites for vetting kids shows and movies) has a list of the 25 Best Podcasts for Kids. Great for kids to sit still, close their eyes, and listen to during a quiet time.
- Simplicity Parenting: a great book on Audible if you’re looking for one (paperback also available on Amazon). Full of great ideas to do with kids. My #1 favorite parenting book.
