5 Ways you can Entertain your Small Children at Home
During this period of upheaval around the world, you may find yourself trying to entertain your small children at home.
If you happen to be stuck at home in isolation with Coronavirus, a cold or just escaping from it, these tips are well worth trying if you're running out of ideas....
After a day or two at home sick, my kids get a bit bored-especially when it’s freezing outside and they’re still not really well enough to do much.
Here’s my list of 5 ways you can help your children be entertained through their sickness, stop that bickering AND save your sanity!!!
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You, however, will probably get a great deal!***
1: Get them involved in something different.
This can be cleaning disguised as ‘sorting’, or whatever! My kids LOVE helping me tidy the pantry because they’re sure they’ll find yummy things in there to eat (let’s face it, that’s why)!
So use it to your advantage and get them to move it ALL outinto the kitchen while they are exploring-then use the free spaces toreorganize / wipe clean the pantry.
2: Declutter and Donate
These are perfect times to look through any old toy collections and earmark anything you can recycle or donate. (I suggest mentally doing so, not taking them off the kids right now!!)
My kids love looking through, reminiscing, and they can really get into some games with long-forgotten toys that you wouldn’t believe-whiling away some of those hours stuck inside when they’re sick.
3: Build a blanket fort!
We call this 'making a cubby' in our house, but it's the same thing.
Get out a load of old blankets, lay some on the floor, then set up the rest over the top, using chairs or tables around to make the top.
Kids LOVE this activity, and it’s a perfect opportunity to intentionally play with them too because you have to get into the fort to come check out their play. Have them read you a story in there, or ‘show you around the house’ they have made a home.
Bonus: Combine this activity with number 1 and clean out the linen cupboard while the kids have half of it out. #parentingwin
4: Have a 'Crafternoon'!
You can take this to any level really, depending on the age and stage of the child/ren involved.
Some ideas are:
- Cover the WHOLE table with butcher’s paper, draw and decorate a ‘world’ of jungle, farm paddocks or city blocks
- Cut and paste a ‘wish list’ from a toy catalogue (Warning: this might cause a lot of ‘I want’s’ so I try to steer clear-but helpful before a birthday to get some ideas!)
- Build a castle for your teddy out of recycled boxes, complete with drawbridge and turrets. Help teddy get his castle in order with his friends afterwards!
There we go, a few ideas… Grab one and run with it, or comeup with your own!
5: Imagination Inspiration!
Small children love and need imaginative play for good brain development, so get imagining!
Playing with toy animals:
Grab a few cushions and place strategically around on a mator carpet. Grab a green sheet if you have one (or whatever you can get yourhands on) and lay it over the top. There we have mountains, hills and valleysfor the animals to live in. THEN grab a blue piece of paper, scarf orpillowcase and lay it near the green one-that’s the ‘sea’.
Grab any toys animals you have-we have a Shleich collection-and place them around. Then pretend they have to work together to make friends,find a lost toy, recreate Noah’s ark, or whatever else you (and especially thekids) can think of! We love this one too!
There we go- my 5 ideas to beat the boredom.
Leave a comment and let me know how you went with my ideas and your small children!
Well, it will at least feel like it to you with less bickering and more imagination going on. That's gotta count for something, right?
Miranda xx
