Many thanks to Kensington Mums for sharing their recent blog post with us – 40 things to do during lockdown.
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Over to Dina from Kensington Mums now
The schools have officially closed and we don’t know how long for. Year 11 students won’t get to sit the exams that they worked for or attend their end of term prom. Primary children are relying on their parents to teach them the curriculum and current conversation amongst all parents at the moment is ‘what will we do with the kids?’ How will we work from home ? educate them?, make sure we all stay healthy? and have enough to eat? How do we make sure they are protected from the awful time we are in as much as possible? This is uncharted territory it is the unknown and makes everyone feel uneasy.
Parents have become educators, as well as having to work from home, join Google hangouts and Zoom meetings and ensure that their families are well looked after and have enough of the necessities at home. In addition to finding ways to get through the days and entertain the children.
There is a lot of advice online, articles and Facebook groups including ours are sharing valuable advice, ideas and planning schedules and these will be invaluable to visit when the time comes and even to prepare for this inevitable event. So, what will we do with all this time? We all want to lead a stress free parenting time at home.
Time to do all the things that have been pending on your to do list. The gift of time will not last long. Use it doing what you can do, don’t waste it thinking of what you can’t do and trust that all is happening for your best. It’s ok if you are feeling like it’s hard, remember you are not alone.
Families around the UK are adjusting. We are living in uncertain times, be easy on yourself and on those around you. It’s ok if your kids are not following a proper schedule, it’s ok if they are watching TV and snacking more. It’s ok if you are losing your temper more often…what is important is that you are all safe because this too shall pass. Explain to your kids what is going on, this article this might help them understand things a bit better.
We share with you 40 things you can do at home with your kids:
- Reorganise the closets – how long have you been needing to do that for. Decluttering and spring cleaning its the time to do it. Read about the KonMari method here.
- Redecorate the house – boredom may inspire you
- Clean out the pantry get rid of those jars from 2015
- Finish all the load of laundry. Everything maybe cancelled but laundry is never cancelled.
- Try new cooking recipes. Check out our recipe section for a bit of inspiration.
- Meditate
- Hold online playdates via what’s app or skype
- Get kids creative from things you have at home.
- Enjoy messy play and play with play dough. Check more activities here.
- Pamper yourself at home
- Arts and Crafts. Check some activities here and here. Try colouring which helps reduces stress and boost creativity.
- Read your favourite book
- Take an online course
- Listen to podcasts, including one with our founder on her idea in starting Kensington Mums and another on finding your mama tribe.
- Watch online documentaries, National Geographic has a special site for children.
- Learn to play an instrument using online resources
- Exercise and work out from the comfort of your own home.
- Stay hydrated
- Enjoy quality family time
- Keep positive
- Catch up on some well deserved sleep.
- Don’t forget to breath – there are some great apps to help with being calm
- Get fit and download workout apps.
- Practice yoga, Cosmic Kids Yoga is great on YouTube to do yoga with the kids
- Chalk drawings on the pavements in the garden
- Recycle old magazines and make vision boards and collages.
- Board games – get out your back catalogue of board games and revisit them, we have shared a few on our Instagram Stories
- Make your own playdoh – there are so many things to learn on YouTube
- Body painting arts and crafts with the kid’s hand printing foot printing they will love the mess
- Pinterest has an entire list of Free and cheap ideas to keep kids entertained.
- Kids Activities blog offers free printables and over 600 learning activities for kids of all ages.
- Write postcards to care home residents they will love receiving these
- Learn dances from apps like (TikTok)
- Lego building it takes time and lots of fun for the whole family to get into
- Free Jigsaw puzzles are very calming and self-satisfying
- Travel and Leisure is offering FREE virtual museum tours could be fun and informative
- Parents should visit Twinkle Parent hub for help with kids learning from home
- Enjoy treasure hunts and playing tag at home with the whole family
- Become an instagrammer or youtuber sharing useful information and tips with others
- GoNoodle, is great to move and learn at home with a bit of mindfulness downloadable curricular activities and recommended off-screen home activities
If thats not enough, you can read more fun things to do at home here, and maintaining education provision. Sometimes, you just need to disconnect and enjoy time with your families and little ones. This too shall pass.
Make sure you follow us on Instagram and Facebook as we will be sharing more of what we are doing during our quarantine diaries. Remember you are not alone. Stay safe everyone!
Again, many thanks to Kensington Mums for sharing their post with us. We’ll be blogging soon about how we can help during this time. In the meantime, we’re on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram with information about online resources and other exciting content.
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