Your usual weekend activities or going to the park, planning a playdate, or heading to the movie theater with your children suddenly isn’t possible due to COVID-19. This leaves many parents trying to figure out how to keep their children busy and entertained, without allowing them to sit in front of the TV for hours. While Yellow Brick Road Early Childhood Development Center is still open, you may still need some ideas for how to keep the kiddos busy.
In our last blog, we gave you some fun science experiments to try at home. While science projects are fun, they only last so long, so we wanted to give you some new ideas! In this blog, we are going to come up with some other fun things that you can do with your children during this strange time. Read on for more ideas on how to keep your children entertained while they are stuck at home.
Play Dress Up
Dress up is fun for kids and can be entertaining for you as well! Children have the ability to be someone else when they dress up. Whether they want to be the unicorn princess or a football player, dressing up is a great way for them to role play and pretend to be someone else. Pretend play like this, can be extremely beneficial for children. It can teach them to be more empathetic and give them a chance to express themselves in different ways. If you don’t have dress-up clothing, pull out some of your old clothes or order some online. Or, make your own! Get cardboard and craft supplies and let your children make their own costume, this can be a fun activity that can take them a while to complete. Plus, they will love showing off their homemade costumes!
Make a Movie
Another fun activity for your children to do while stuck at home is to make a movie. Let them use your smartphone or an old camera to film the movie. This is a great way to get your children to work together. They will be able to get creative and come up with a storyline for their movie. They will learn how to cooperate with each other as they take turns filming and acting. And they will have a blast! Plus, you will have a fun keepsake that will be fun to look back on as your children grow up. When your children make a movie together, they will be creating memories and boosting their imagination.
Do Some Art
The beauty of art is that there are so many different ways to create. Whether you are painting, sculpting, building something with popsicle sticks, or even making beaded bracelets, there are many different ways to do art. Giving your child the supplies to do different art projects can help to boost their creativity and entertain them day after day! Start with some basic art supplies like colored pencils, markers, coloring books, and sketchbooks. If your child shows an interest in doing art projects, you can invest in some other fun supplies.
Fuse Beads are a unique and fun way for your children to create. This is a craft that involves different patterned pegboards and small, colorful beads. Your child can create a pattern on the pegboard with the beads and then you will cover it with a piece of ironing paper and iron it. The beads melt together to create one solid piece! This is a fun art project for your child and can keep them busy for days.
If your children are a bit older, you can also give them a simple sketch pad and tell them to draw things they see around the house and yard. This can help improve their art skills and keep them entertained. It can also be very soothing for children and give them a way to deal with stress.
Make A Fort
Do you remember building a fort as a child? Forts are a fun way to build something exciting and allow your children to spend time together. Allow your kiddos to build a fort with sheets, couch cushions, and tall furniture that they can drape sheets over. Your child can build a fort around a TV so that, from time to time, they can watch a movie in their cozy fort. This is a great place for them to play games together, read, draw, or do other activities. The fort could even become a part of their movie!
If you do not want a fort in the middle of your living room, have them build a fort in a spare bedroom or in their bedroom! You could even let them have sleepovers in the fort, kind of like indoor camping. Forts can be a fun way for your children to bond and learn how to work together for the best results.
Indoor Camping
Speaking of camping inside, this is another fun idea you can try over the weekend! Clear out your living room or pitch a tent in your backyard if weather permits. This is a fun activity for your entire family to do together. Roast marshmallows over the oven burner, tell stories around the fireplace, and spend the day playing yard games and exploring your backyard. You can even order some glow-in-the-dark stars to stick on your ceiling and you can pretend to stargaze at night! Indoor camping can be a fun way to spend the weekend with your children and is sure to lead to lasting memories.
Virtual Playdate
Virtual meetings, game nights, happy hours, and workout classes are becoming a new norm in our daily lives. Why not let your children try a virtual playdate! If your kiddo is missing their friend, set a time with their parents and plan a virtual playdate. While playing together through a video call may seem strange, it could be a fun and unique way for your children to come up with new games. If they do not really know how to “play” together through a video call, give them some ideas! One of them can pretend to be on the other side of the world trying to find the last dinosaur bone to complete a dinosaur skeleton, while the other child is the museum owner who is trying to make sure everything goes as planned.
If they are not into pretend play like that, you could have them play hide and seek. One kiddo could hide an object somewhere in the frame and the other could try finding it. Whatever they play, we wouldn’t worry too much. Kids are extremely creative and they will come up with something fun to play through the video call.
These are only a few of the many different activities you can do with your children or have your kiddos do while you are staying at home. We know that it can be hard to have your kids home without being able to go to the park, a friend’s house, or the movies, but these activities can make it easier for everyone and help keep your children entertained!
Yellow Brick Road Early Childhood Development Center in Plymouth, Minnetonka, Maple Grove, and Eden Prairie is still open! Be sure to contact us with any questions you may have about our child care center. Stay safe and stay home when you can. We are all in this together!
