This is a strange and unprecedented time in our lives. Families all over the world are in lock down. Whilst this might be a really difficult time in so many ways, it is also an opportunity to do things we might not normally have time for in everyday life.
Learn new skills
There are tons of things that I always feel we should invest more time in but we can’t when we are rushing from here to there.
Lock down is a prime opportunity to learn new skills. It might be teaching children to tie their own shoe laces. It might be clicking or whistling, riding a bike (if you have a suitable outdoor space), chopping fruit and vegetables – learning to use a peeler and knife safely.
It could be teaching children how to use the washing machine and how to separate laundry. With older children, perhaps it’s a good time to teach them how to use the iron.
All these things are useful skills that will help children later in life. We have the time now, so let’s use it wisely.
Foamy fun
Keeping children entertained can be hard at the best of times, but with your little ones spending a lot more time around the house, it’s a great time to encourage their creativity as an outlet for their energy!
Crazy Soap is a fun tool for creative play, and comes with the added bonus of providing an extra hand cleaning session.
Crazy Foaming Soap is a mild and gentle formulation of mouldable foam, that allows children to explore their creative side. You can use this in the bath of shower, or for sensory play away from the bathroom.
Use it to write numbers and letters on the bath tub to encourage learning through play, or let your little artists draw shapes on the tiles.
Listen to audio books
David Walliams has been releasing a free audio short story every day. The stories are funny and engaging and a great opportunity for a different pace during the day. Listen to David Walliams audio stories, together, or let your child relax with some headphones.
With more and more children using electronic devices to watch films, play games or listen to music, the importance of protecting their hearing is paramount. We love the Puro Sound Labs headphones, as they put children’s hearing health as its top priority when designing headphones and the PuroBasic is its entry level product with volume limited to 85dB to reduce the risk of Noise Induced Hearing Loss.
They currently have a deal on the PuroBasic headphones where they are reduced to £14.99 on Amazon from £29.99. These come in a range of colours and are really robust. We’ve gone through so many headphones in the past with rubbish wires, but these are superb quality.
They also work really well plugged into a keyboard, so I can have one child doing music practice but not disturb another.
Bake
All of my children love spending time in the kitchen, especially when it involves baking. We are struggling to get hold of eggs at the moment, so we haven’t made any cakes as yet but we have made cookies.
There are tons of easy bake methods online, I always find it handy to have in a couple of ready mix packets that just require a couple of ingredients. These are great to have in and of course, once baked, you’ve got a ready made snack to hand for the children.
Choose a language to start learning
We’ve been using our daily walk to practice counting in different languages. Today we did 1-10 in Spanish. There are some great apps to access for things like this and they make learning a new language lots of fun.
You can also print off tons of resources online. It’s often fun to learn the same thing in several languages. So, for example counting 1-10 in say 5 languages and then learning days of the week or animals perhaps?
Play games
We’ve collected tons of board games over the years. We always take a couple when we go away, but generally speaking ‘real life’ is so manic that there is rarely any time to just sit down and play a game.
We’ve been taking advantage of the time at home to make sure we play at least one board game every day. The children have also been doing tons of jigsaws and other puzzles.
Lock down is the perfect time to play games together. Take the time to learn a new game that you can all enjoy together.
Start a project
Is there a project you’ve been wanting to do at home for ages but never have the time? Perhaps your garden needs a tidy up, or maybe your wardrobes would benefit from a new system, or the fridge even. Perhaps you’ve had the paint to decorate a room but never got around to it?
Whatever it is, now is the perfect time to crack on with it and get the children involved, teaching them new skills and team work along the way.
Make a time capsule or memory box
The COVID-19 lock down represents a unique moment in time. We have never experienced something like this before. It’s something that is so far removed from our day-to-day reality that we will remember it forever.
Something we have started doing is making a time capsule/memory box of this time to put away and keep.
We thought that this would be a good reminder in years to come to look back on what we all experienced, how we felt and how we spent out time.
We also thought it would be something to put away to show grandchildren and great grandchildren – freezing and preserving a period in history.
Why not find an old shoe box and put in your memories and moments of this lock down?
Make a den
Making a den is something so many children enjoy. The beauty of a den is that one can be made indoors and outdoors.
I remember as a child making a den underneath my cabin bed. I loved it. I’d have a picnic for my teddies and sometimes even sleep in there.
Our children love making dens, both inside and outside. If you’ve not tried it yet, give it a go.
Toast marshmallows
Toasting marshmallows is one of those must-do things. Our children get so excited about this. The thing is, you can toast marshmallows on a BBQ (even if it’s a small disposable one), on a chiminea, a bonfire, or even a little camping stove.
Wooden skewers work really well, but so to twigs from the garden. Toasting marshmallows is a total memory maker.
