What To Do With My Kids During the Coronavirus
Last updated: March 20. Day 8 of self distancing and isolation for us.
My boys are 7 and 4. Let’s call them “extremely active.”
Here is my plan. Here are my resources. Maybe this will help you.
Need help teaching your kids the importance of washing their hands in a way they can understand? This classroom video could help.
At first, I thought I needed a schedule. I just need a plan. From the “daily schedule” below, we are now many blocks of activities. In other words, I talk to my kids before the dog walking, and we plan together, with visual notecards, until lunch. Then we do the same while eating lunch. I don’t know about your kids, but mine MUST feel like they have also helped create the day.
This will hopefully be the daily schedule.
One example of the Kindness Lesson … We sit in a triangle (knees touching) and take turns saying …
"I appreciate when you…"
"One thing I like about you is…"
"I think you’re great at…"
(Based on ideas from BigLifeJournal.com)Marco Polo with friends and family has been amazing. My boys are pretty terrible at FaceTime, and my parents … hang on, let me take five deep breaths … my parents sometimes struggle with the technology of it. Marco Polo is video texting (for the most part). My 7-year-old currently five friends he is talking to, laughing with, and coming up with amazing ideas for the next video. Plus we created a group of all of his 1st grade classmates, and everyone has an activity for that day (Favorite stuffy, dress up like a superhero). I’m sure that will be going strong two weeks from now when we are all insane.
The five minutes of quiet is very powerful. If one kid can’t handle it (the younger one), then you let them know they will have to be in a different bed, alone, for the remainder.
Wednesday afternoons will now be free time/screen time, free time/screen time
The weekends will be complete chaos as I attempt to reset and gear up for the following week.
This is their kindness challenge. They share the heart. Whenever I see them do something kind, I let them color in a section. I display the prize as bait, and I tease them the next category of prize (it’s Lego).
Here is a tiny list of websites I will be using.
Vooks (30 days free) Slumberkins books are on this service. Wow. This is a book series I knew of, but never bothered with. I honestly think my kids could find comfort with “Sprite” if someones dies from this ordeal.
Cosmic Kids Yoga This is amazing for us. We are going in order on their channel. The boys know if they keep doing it, they’ll eventually get to Pokemon Yoga, and all the other ones they try to get me to do every morning.
Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems (the print out helps).
If you want your kids to dance, do art, or anything else, do a search. Many people are popping up to help however they can (like Debbie Allen on Instagram).
A list of random ideas, many of which were suggested by Princess Awesome & Boy Wonder.
Have each kid pick a topic they'd like to learn about and spend 30 mins each day on that topic.
Tell your child that you are a robot who must obey all of their orders. See how long you can make it.
Spend one day reading every single picture book we have in the house.
Bake something every day.
Have each kid write a letter and/or emails to a different friend or family member each day.
Use all of our building toys on one giant structure.
Races of various kinds in the backyard (hopping on one foot, crab walk, walking backwards, etc.).
Make stop motion animation videos. Stop Motion Studio is a great app.
FaceTime grandparents a lot.
Inventory the plants & wildlife (from bugs on up) in your yard.
Learn the parts of plants/flowers & how they function (bonus if they learn the Latin names).
Write a short story & illustrate it.
Have the kids help with yard work in between playing games outside. They're little, but they like getting dirty and "working" in the gardens.
Board games, card games.
Legos.
Make tents and reading caves (flashlights, tidy snacks, books, and pillows).
Have a shadow show in the reading tent (we used blankets over chairs or a table).
Get binoculars and learn about the birds near your house, look them up on google and search for their birdcalls on YouTube.
Play with cornstarch and water and cheap action figures.
Family puzzles. Ones that are 500-1000 pieces and a challenging but not frustrating picture.
Team up and really clean and organize each kid's space, making a donation box for each. Parents are included.
Write a story cooperatively. One person picks a character and the other picks a setting and then go gangbusters together.
Have your kids make a giant board game list, and cross them off while you play.
Teach them checkers, chess, or dominoes.
Scavenger hunts, indoor treasure hunts where they follow clues through the house to a "treasure" at the end (could be candy, a movie, whatever).
Charades.
Make slime.
Give the dogs a bath and brush.
Wash and clean out your car with your kids.
Listen to kid podcasts.
Declutter toys and create a donate pile.
Have an Olympics with a bunch of events competitions - funny ones, helpful ones like cleaning and really fun ones like minute to win in style.
Learn new card games.
Dig up all the activity books, presents, etc that never got played with, and use those.
There’s always time tested building a tent in the house with blankets and chairs.
Puzzle races: put several puzzles (20+ piece puzzles) in a paper bag and shake it up. Pour pieces out and give each person the puzzle box they are to put together. Go! (Cooperation tends to be a result as pieces are traded.)
Audio Kids Book
Make banana "ice cream" with a food processor, frozen bananas, and anything else you want to toss in (like peanut butter).
Create a secret language! We create two new signs a day. On the second day we created signs for Minecraft and Scooby-Doo. I cannot hear them ask for these things … ever … again.
Good luck, everyone.