Even at the best of times, parenting can be a tough, tiring gig. And we’re sure we don’t need to remind you; these are not the best of times.
For all those parents trying to juggle work, parenting and educational responsibilities during another extended period of domestic downtime, having some easy to assemble (and easy to clean up!) distractions can be a godsend when you need to keep your children occupied whilst you get the dinner ready or make a Zoom call. Fortunately, we’re here today to offer a few engrossing, inexpensive suggestions; here are 6 ideas to keep your kids busy and happy while working from home.
TOY BATH TIME
Keep your little ones occupied by tasking them with cleaning their toys. Sure, ‘cleaning’ might be a bit of a hard sell, but if you bill the cleaning as ‘toy bath time’, the fun factor can be dialled up several notches. Semantics, hey?
Fill your bathtub with water and throw in plastic cars, small toys, toy food, and dolls and let your kids give them a proper wash. Children love anything water-related, so they will be thrilled to spend a good hour or so washing their toys. You could even let them put on their swimming suits and enjoy a swim with their favourite dolls and action figures.
Supervision will be required for this one, but simply taking a seat next to the bath and staring into space for a while sounds kinda nice right now, don’t you think? This activity isn’t suitable for children under three.
BEACH TIME
Even though we’re in the deep, dark depths of winter, your children can still enjoy beach time. Don’t worry; there’s no mess involved. All you need is a sand table that you can place in your garden or somewhere inside the house when it’s too cold outside. Make sure you get one that includes shovels, rakes, and buckets to double the fun and really evoke that nostalgic feeling of beach time succinctly.
In 2021, water and sand tables are increasing in popularity because of the lockdown and the fact that jaunts to the seaside are off limits. Considering it’s still six months ’till summer, and there’s no telling when proper travel will be permitted again, why not indulge your kids with some summertime activities until they can visit a real beach.
CLASSIC DRESS UP
Even though we’re confined to our homes, a child’s broad imagination knows no bounds, with the little ones able to make the impossible become reality. Embrace that wonderful, innate skill via dressing up games!
Inspire your children with a chance to become a Mermaid and Ninja Nani, and keep them busy for hours in the process. Pull out that dress-up box drawer and set their imaginations free. And don’t worry if you don’t have a dress-up box; use old dresses, gloves, sunglasses, shoes, custom jewellery, mirrors, and old cellphones to create some truly spectacular characters. And remember; considering this is such a topsy-turvy time, you don’t need to be constrained by the time of year…Halloween costumes don’t just have to be for All Hallows Eve!
TOILET PAPER TUBES
Though we’re not accusing you of a partaking in a toiler paper panic buying spree, you probably do have some rolls or tubes lying around.
Don’t throw empty toilet rolls away! Once all the paper has been used, collect the cardboard tubes and deploy them in your very own arts and craft’s project to build an underground train system, tunnels or subways. Every child is fascinated by trains, so consider printing out the London Underground tube map and making a network from what would normally be rubbish. Hours of fun, indeed!
WALL PAINTINGS
Children just love to draw, doodle, and scribble on walls. Occasionally, they even scrawl a few swear words on there for good measure. Turn this bad habit into an amusing activity by covering a specific wall with paper and let your little ones unleash their inner Picasso.
Provide them with crayons, watercolours, pencils, and brushes, and they will spend hours turning your plain wall into a mural. Make sure you protect the floors by placing an old mat underneath the wall, where your kids can stand and mess freely. That said, knowing the tendency of little ones to, erm, colour outside the lines, we wouldn’t be surprised if the designated space for wall-doodling was the only area not covered in mess by the end of it
FIND THE HIDDEN OBJECTS
Like Hide and Seek without the necessity for a child to get stuck in the washing machine, ‘Find the Hidden Objects’ does exactly what it says on the tin.
Kids like a good challenge every now and then. In order to keep them alert and engaged (and to buy you a few moments to yourself), you can buy Squishmallows, Toomies, Wow Pods or those soft, squishy, and ultra huggable stuffed toys, and hide them in the different corners of your house. If your children are a bit older, make the task more challenging by dimming the lights before the treasure hunt begins.
THE BOTTOM LINE
You deserve a medal for managing to juggle work, childcare and even homeschooling during this inexplicably tough period of time. If you’re keen to buy yourself a few moment’s peace, or simply want to change up the entertainment for your kids using household items, then we hope you’ve found some inspiration in the tips above.
Now that your kids are busy and have their hands full, why not relax into these great tips on how to help relieve the stress of parenting through a pandemic?