All of us are going to be spending time indoors within the comforts of our homes in the coming weeks due to the widespread pandemic. Although lockdowns are being eased down in many countries, at the same time, many families are still stuck home with their kids. Whether it is for self-isolation or just a precautionary measure, the entire idea of keeping the kids engaged and busy at home apart from homeschooling is tiring. Not to mention overwhelming.
But not to worry. For parents who already have their hands full with having their little ones at home 24/7 and their homeschooling, we bring you some great activity ideas you can indulge your kids in during this self-isolation period:
Make a Photo Booth
You could set up a photo booth and make memories. Take some props and costumes. You can even create your props with kids. Cardboard boxes can be the best props to make a home photo booth. You can mark off the days and select a theme for every week. There is so much you can do. Also, they could be of great use if your kids’ birthday is coming up.
You can make a crown of flowers, sunglasses, or use other props at home. You can also use your old Halloween costumes.
Plan a Home Spa Day
You don’t have to go out to have a spa day. If you can do everything at home – with kids. Who wouldn’t love a spa day? With so much time on one’s hand, kids, both young and teens, could enjoy this. There are so many DIY facial masks you can use by using basic kitchen items. Even a banana!
All you have to do is mash a medium-sized ripe banana and make a paste of it. Apply it on your face and neck for 10-20 minutes. Rinse with cold water. Add cucumber slices to your eyes too! You can also find some children’s skin-friendly masks. If you have little girls, they are going to enjoy it immensely and get you some time to relax as well.
Make Soaps
This is a fun activity! And no matter if you are in quarantine, you would still need to wash your hands. You are still making trips to the store, after all. And when kids make their own soap, they would love to clean themselves up with them.
There are plenty of DIY soap recipes on the internet. And you are going to have most of the ingredients required for it at home. You would need to get some soap dyes and pure glycerin soap. They are easily available. You can make them in your favorite shapes. Use cookie cutters or shaped ice-cube trays and have fun!
Growing Herbs and Veggies
This quarantine could be a great opportunity to teach your kids about growing their own food and what a healthy activity it is. Being stuck indoors all the time is not good for mental or physical health. For kids, it is especially quite hard as they are used to going to school and playing in the park.
A healthy lifestyle must include some outdoor activities even though it restricted to your garden/backyard. You can start growing herbs and vegetables. Both you and your kids are going to enjoy the fresh air and sunshine. You can use the seeds from the fruits and vegetables that you use in the kitchen. You can grow many things using kitchen scraps as well.
Learn a New Thing Everyday
Kids are having online school classes, and parents are certainly trying their best to homeschool their kids. But there is no harm in learning things apart from the school subjects. Take a jar or basket, and put three chits in it saying animal, person, place, and subject. Make the kids pick out a chit, and then use the internet to learn about them. Make them write a small essay or a short speech about them. Or you can make chits and write names of people or animals your child might be interest in or anything else. It can be a sport/fruit/vegetable as well. You can get creative.
Allow them 2- 3 hours of research so they can collect information. This will keep the children interested and engaged. Not to mention increase their knowledge as well. While you do that, see that you don’t leave them entirely on your own. You should keep an eye on their digital activities. It has become all the more important nowadays since screen time has increased considerably during this time.
to ensure that your kids are not lured into inappropriate activities on the internet you can install Xnspy. It is an app that is designed for parents to monitor their child’s digital footprints. Xnspy monitors social media activities, instant messaging apps, keeps track of the websites used by the phone user. For more information visit their site to know more about it
Time Capsule
Kids are going to love this one! And all of the family members can take part in this. Although the pandemic has disrupted everyone’s lives, and it can get a bit distressing to stay indoors all the time. You can find a fun way to remember this time and open that capsule five to ten years later.
You can use a water-proof container or a tin box to use as a time capsule. A mason jar would do as well. Write stuff you would want to read about ten years later. Add a few pictures from the photo booth. You can add items to it as a remembrance. For example, a mask and a sanitizer. Anything to make it interesting. You can add notes from everyone in the family. And newspaper clippings as well. Once done, bury it in the yard.
Try Science Experiments
Kids love science! There are so many fun experiments that they can do. Parents who are homeschooling their children during this self-isolation period could incorporate some science experiments once a week to keep the kids engaged and interested in studies.
Here is a fun example you can do with your kids to teach them about the importance of washing hands:
- Fill up a bowl or dish with an inch of water.
- Take pepper and sprinkle some of it on the surface.
- Ask your kid to put his finger in the water and see how the pepper sticks to their fingertip.
- Take some dish soap and put it on your kid’s finger.
- Ask them to touch the water again.
- See how the soap chases away the pepper.
Take Virtual Tours
Who said you can’t see new places from home? You and your kids can view digitized collections from the MoMA The Museum of Modern Art. Also, Google allows you to choose from hundreds of museums through its Arts & Culture partnership. This way, you can travel anywhere in the world from your living room.
This can be an educational and informative experience for your kids.
How are your self-isolation days coming along? Got something to add to the list? Go ahead!
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