“Being at home with the kids for two weeks need not feel like prison. Instead use those 14 days to create some family memories. Here are my top 10 ways kids can really enjoy being at home and learn something new”, states Guillaume Thevenot Founder of BabyBreaks.com.
- Improve your drawing skills
My daughter recently discovered this great YouTube channel Arts for Kids Hub. She spends hours drawing all of these cartoons. I’ve got the awesome pictures to prove it.
- Time to (really) bake with your kids
There is baking, and there is baking. Cooking fried eggs with kids takes around five minutes. What about baking a proper cake or even a whole menu for the evening. Usborne prints some great books on this, like this one
Or if you are lucky enough to have Thermomix at home, you can also get your kids following easy recipes on the incorporated screen.
- Play exciting Board Games…not just Monopoly
We love discovering new Board Games and we usually play for 1 or 2 hours every week. Recently we discovered three great board games our kids really love.
- Carcassonne
- Rapidough
- Pandemic (I kid you not)
- Develop Music knowledge with your kids
This is an easy one, but children with a fairly neutral ear can be receptive to all kinds of music. Usually kids are fed commercial pop music, however what if you let them discover all kinds of music, thanks to apps like Spotify or Qobuz. The recipe is simple, just turn up the speakers and play all kinds of music. Pause to ask them what they like didn’t like or how they feel. For instance you can start playing a very slow song and change it to some heavy metal song. Play funky music, a good rap song, a famous piece of classical music or even piano songs can be a very fun activity during this difficult times. Of course make sure you are not playing explicit songs.
- Get physical and move with your kids
You can do a Yoga session together and teach them all these positions you have learnt at your favourite weekend morning class. And why not improve your dance moves, by playing these dance games available on Xbox or Playstation such as Just Dance
- Time to Declutter the Kids room(s)
Maybe this time of self-isolation is the perfect time to make sure clothes still fit your kids. Remove toys or books they are not interested in too – give them away to a charity once you are clear to go out again. And if you need some help on decluttering, you can check Marie Kondo advice or watch her Netflix program.
- Get your kids to learn and improve how they play an instrument
Nowadays, there are quite a lot of cool iPad apps that let your kid discover how they could play piano. We’ve recently discovered SimplyPiano by JoyTunes, which is a great app. Your children can play say 30 mins every day, with different exercises, and even start playing some pop songs from lesson one. Other apps are available for other instruments too.
- Improve your vocabulary with fun books
We’ve recently purchased these two books called ‘Word A Day’, one for our daughter and another one for elder son. These are great books to learn every morning a new word with its synonym and also see drawings illustrating what they mean. A great way to improve languages skills, which our kids can put into practise at school and in everyday life. See books available from https://uk.mrswordsmith.com/products
- Learn the fun of doing Origami
This artcraft from Japan is a fun way to learn how to be patient and meticulous. Our daughter really enjoy picking a piece a beautiful piece of printed paper and choosing which animal she could create, using just one single sheet of paper. Djeco has a lot of boxes available and I have to admit we have been quite addicted to these.
- Power your child self esteem
I can’t recommend enough the book You Are Awesome by Matthew Syed. This is a book that your child can real on his own or even better, read it with him/her. Discuss how he feels about different things, such as how our brain works, how failure can lead to success or ‘who am I’. The book is full of examples and also can guide your child into writing his/her goals, both short and long term.
Anna Marikar, mum of four and seasoned blogger, has spent over a decade sharing her parenting journey and passion for kid-friendly crafts and free printables.
Her easy-to-follow craft ideas and practical parenting advice have transformed In The Playroom into a cherished resource for parents.