6 Activities to keep the little ones busy At Home

I know it is a trying time for mother’s, with the kids being home full time.  We must cook, clean, help with homework; This list is never ending. Trying not to pull your hair out and keep the kids busy is a challenge for any mother.  Let’s talk about how to make this easier.

Arts and Crafts

My daughter and I love crafts.  You do not have to spend a lot of money if any on supplies to make things. Most things for arts and crafts are already lying around the house.  We always have plenty of art supplies.   My daughter has even had the opportunity to work with clay.  I got a 25-pound block online for around $20.  It is air drying you do not want the stuff you have to cook it takes forever in a normal stove. Her working with the clay she just made “squiggly worms” with it.  Basically, she took a chunk and rolled it to make a worm like things.  We put them in a little fish tank and she “takes care of them.” Here are some examples of the projects we have been doing.

• I printed her off a template for her alphabet and numbers, it was a train.  She colored, cut it out, and glued it to a piece of cardboard.  We tied string to it and now her artwork in hanging on her wall. 
• Made the solar system; planets and stars and taped them to the ceiling in her room.
• Painted on mini canvas, her painting is more abstract, because of all the colors she uses.
• Tissue box Princess, we cut out a crown and used color paper to make the face. Of course, she picked Elsa.

Game Night

We have a bowling night, we made the “pins” out of paper-towel cardboard.  We painted them different colors and put decorations on them.  We set our lane up in the hallway and of course we do not use a real bowling ball, we have a soft cushion ball. Made our own score cards and have burgers and fries for dinner on that night. The kids also like to play bowling on our Nintendo Wii, they each have a “mii” they created themselves. Other games we have played since lock down began.

• The floor is lava: my son is not a fan but my daughter loves it.  If it is not carpeted its lava! Oh no!
• Hide and Seek: we play it after dark; way more fun that way you really must look for everyone.
• With my daughter I have a “find your sight words” hunt.  I put up her note cards in random places she must find them then tell me the word.
• We also played Monopoly and war.

Baking/Cooking

We have done a ton of baking since we been stuck in the house.

• Cookies (peanut butter, chocolate chip and monster)
• Cakes (and even an ice cream one)
• Brownies
• Cinnamon rolls

My son doesn’t help with the baking, but he sure loves his brownies.  My daughter will help cut out the cookies but wants to eat most of the dough before it even goes in the oven.  She loves her sugar cookies.  They also help me make dinner. We made a menu that is on the refrigerator. Each week everyone gets a day they write what we are going to have for dinner on that day. This has been fun, and I am hoping it help improve their handwriting skills. I’ve been teaching my son how to cook well slowly anyways.  He is not that happy about it at all.  I let my daughter help cut things with my assistance.  She wants to be a great cook like her mama. We also eat dinner as a family every night. 

Game Night

Every Friday we do a family movie night.  Each week one of use pick what we want to watch.  So far, we have watched Frozen one and two, Rambo last blood, A league of their own, The Waterboy, Mr. Deeds, Tommy Boy, and Clash of the Titans.

Quiet Time

Being cooped up in the house is not fun for anyone.  We do quiet time; this is where they go to their rooms. My son the x-box king would be on his game all day if I let him.  My daughter lovers her tablet, You-tube is her favorite.  They can do whatever they want for an hour or two by themselves.

• Read
• Draw
• Play with toys
• Games
• Phone. 

Quiet time normally is when the baby takes her nap.  Trust me this mama need a break, so quiet time is my favorite.

Learning

Homework, I know this is a struggle in my house.  My son fights me tooth and nail every day. His words why do I have to learn useless things I am never going to use in life. But he just does not understand he will use it more times than he thinks.  I know it does not help that I have not multiplied a fraction since high school, so helping him with math is a struggle for me too!  I try to keep it an hour a day, because anything more both we both go off the topic of homework.  My daughter makes flashcards for her numbers, letters and site words.  I have her write them out and she can decorate them however she wants.  The writing part is not fun to her but everything else is. 

Other things to plan

• Dance Party: Wii has a game for this, and everyone can participate and get some exercise.
• Science experiment:  You can do anything from oil and water to making a volcano the possibilities on this are endless.
• Write letters: I want each of them to write letters. To family and friends then when the lock down is over, we can go hand deliver them!
• Make a time capsule:  A Quarantine capsule everyone in the house writes what they have been doing during lock down.