Its official, South Africa has declared a state of natural disaster and with that our President has released some pretty hardcore regulations for us all to follow to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Schools will be closed for more then a month to see how things pan out and most families will be practising voluntary self-isolation. Queue LOTS of home time and kids climbing up the walls. I don’t think there has ever been a more apt post then this. Save it to your bookmarks and refer back to it, whenever you need quick easy activities to entertain the kids.
One of the central recommendations experts make in order to maintain some sense of security for your kids is to create a schedule. Focus on educational activities for the morning, or arts and crafts for the afternoon. Make sure your kids are getting enough outdoor time.
Start compiling items like sensory activities for younger children and put together baskets full of activity books and games for older kids. Take an afternoon and head to the crazy store and grab a bunch of items to store together.
Create a Scavenger Hunt – hide things around the house or garden and write down a list for the kids to go and find (draw pictures of the objects if they are too young to read)
Create an Obstacle course – a friend did this with the kids when we went around for a visit and they absolutely LOVED it. Send the kids to race to the wall, then hop across the yard on one foot, then skip to the tree etc, you get the picture.
Paint Outdoors
Go on a bug hunt
Wash the car – never underestimate how much the kids love this.
Build a bird house or make a bird feeder
Have a Pyjama party
Watch the clouds
Play with water balloons
Make a batch of home made playdough
Play Charades
Play Hide and Seek
Build Engineering structures
Good old colouring in
Make a sculpture out of cardboard
Play some board games
Set up a mini library at home and read books
Play Cards
Create something with Beads
Make some story stones – the images on the stones become characters in a story that everyone can tell
Play I-Spy
Plant a garden
Build some lego
Download and print some worksheets from the internet
Play catch with your kids – seriously, the power this simple game has is extreme
Have a puzzle morning
Stick some numbers or objects into plastic eggs and hide them around the house. As they open up the eggs they can tick things off the list
Grow some veggies
Play a round of bingo
Grab some paper and crayons and do some leaf and bark rubbings
Create your own stress balls – these are great for fidgety fingers!
Host a pretend cooking show (with the kids of course)
Build a Fort
Make a Marble Run
Do some crosswords
Do some sensory play
Make your own DIY Jellyfish (arts and crafts)
Make your own musical instruments
Create a suncatcher
Create something with air drying clay
Create a nature weave
Make some paper planes and have a competition to see who can get them the furthest
Make some finger puppets
Play with Foam Paint
Create some egg cartoon creations
Draw on the bricks with sidewalk chalk
Make some science crystals
Try some origami
Make a fairy garden (yes even boys will love this)
Make your own “wizard wands” out of sticks
Paint with bubble wrap
Make your own DIY Flip book
Make your own fridge magnets
Set up some tin can, carnival style throw games
Make your own water wall
Create a town with a cardboard box
Make some lemonade
Play a memory game
Paint with vegetables – potato or apple printing
Do some mazes
Do some sticker art
Set up some “bath” stations for your toys
Decorate some T-Shirts
I know its going to be hard for people to feel “trapped” at home. Sometimes I get into a space and cant think of anything to do with the kids and I often end up succumbing to TV if it weren’t for lists like this. So save this, print it out and whenever you need to try to stick to the game plan and turn to something more constructive.
We will get through this, one day at a time. Lets cherish this quality time, it’s the worlds way of telling us to slow down a little. Appreciate the small things xx
