While we’re all adjusting our lives for social distancing, our kids may be struggling the most. Without school, daycare, time with grandparents, and playdates (and for those too young to understand why) this can be a particularly rough time. Here are some fun, low-cost activities to help keep your kids – and you – happy and entertained.
GET OUTSIDE
- Plant seeds: This is a great time to teach children about starting vegetable or flower seeds for the growing season. (You can pick up organic seeds and soil on your next grocery run.)
- Take arts and crafts outdoors: Grab some paints and encourage kids to find sticks, seed pods, rocks (clean first), or other natural items to decorate.
- Create an obstacle course challenge: crab-walk across the grass, hop on one foot to the tree, crawl through cardboard boxes, etc.
- Search for Spring plants in your backyard or at a nature preserve – see how many you can identify. Be on the lookout for edible garden weeds, too!
RAINY DAYS
- Create a scavenger hunt.
- Have a dance party with some kid-friendly music. Challenge older kids to create choreographed dances to their favorite songs.
- Search YouTube for workout videos for kids.
- Build a fort. (Here’s some cozy inspiration!)
- Let kids give their plastic toys a bath in a basin of soapy water – fun for them, hygienic for you!
- Try these popcorn games.
ART PROJECTS
- Craft paper airplanes. (Up your game with one of these awesome designs!)
- Create a beautiful mosaic using glue, dried beans, grains, and cereal. (Find a colorful selection in our bulk section!)
- Print your own paper dolls.
- Make crayons out of old ones.
- Make folded paper bracelets.
- Participate in Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems.
IN THE KITCHEN
- Host an Iron Chef challenge: contestants must only use what is on-hand in the kitchen!
- Make this Oatmeal Smoothie: You likely already have the ingredients on hand.
- Prepare a cut-out fruit salad using cookie cutters. Slice fruit thinly and let little ones punch out fun shapes. Try apples, pears, kiwi, or melons.
- Make your own play dough.
- Make peanut butter fudge.
EDUCATIONAL SCREEN TIME
- Explore Scholastic’s Watch and Learn Library.
- Find Virtual Kids Events led by authors, artists, zoos, and more!
- Check out the Smithsonian Channel on YouTube to learn about everything from history, to nature, to space.
- Let your animal lover watch videos created by the Houston Zoo.