A lot of us are home with our kids, and will be for a while. School here is closed for 2 weeks but I expect this to be even longer so I made a list of activities that my kids love and that keeps them busy since I still have to work while they are home.
While they are home we have decided to take it easy and we will not be bringing school into our home. Our days are very laid back with a structure that revolves around meals and Theo's nap-time (we cannot miss a meal!). We also spend a lot of time outside, upward of 3 hours a day.
When we are home here are our favorite activities:
The Basics
Read, listen to music, play with Legos, cars, trains, Duplos and board games. It is also a great time to cook and bake together as a family.
Sensory Play
Our all time favorite is playdough. You can make it yourself with your children for more fun or you can buy some Playdoh. You will need some tools, usually a roll and some cookie cutters do the job. If you want to make it more sensorial you can add dried herbs, flowers (it is starting to feel like spring here), nature finds, essential oils for the smell...
Try out some goop! All you need is one cup of water for 1.5 cups of cornstarch! If you have never done it before, that's all you will need to entertain the kids as it is such an interesting fluid (I personally find it very fun to play with).
For kids 3 and up you can try out some air dry clay! At first let them experience with the new texture with their hands, then add basic tools such as craft sticks for cutting and poking the clay. After that you can try to add a roll and cookie cutters and demonstrate how to build things in 3D.
LOOSE PARTS, TINKERING AND STICKERS
Loose parts are well loved here! You can provide them with natural items and a few ideas on what to do! Since it is spring where I live we have done flowers but you can adapt it to anything you want!
My boys love building. They will build with anything they find and so I try to make the following materials available to them:
- Foam blocks with sticks
- Paper or cardboard with tape, scissors and markers to draw on
- Pipe cleaners with sticks
Also if you haven't tried it yet a large piece of paper stuck on the wall with a drawing that they place stickers on will keep them busy for a long time!
Science
Anything with baking soda and white vinegar is a blast! I like to have them sprinkle baking soda first then with a pipette add white vinegar. I use the pipette vs just pouring on top so that it lasts longer.
And since it is spring, it is a good time for 2 classic science experiments:
- Grow a seed in a jar and observe it every day
- Place white flowers in colored water and watch them change color
Outside
The good thing is that even with the lock-down, if you have a yard you are still allowed to be outside. The easiest outside activities we will to do outside are:
- A small mud kitchen
- Water bins. It is getting warmer and water bins with some pouring tools, ice, wood toys, Duplos... are always fun!
- Sand bin with tools
- Color nature hunt
- Gardening
Never miss a beat.