As we are all spending so much time at home, keeping kids entertained has become one of the biggest challenges facing parents across the country and the world. You only need to look at social media to see post after post offering lists of hundreds of ideas. This can all become a bit overwhelming and so I wanted to help.
Don’t Panic
Firstly, I want to tell you it is totally OK to feel overwhelmed. You also need to give yourself a massive break. None of us were prepared for this. Once you’ve stepped back and taken a breath, I’d suggest taking some time to decide how you want to structure your day. I’ve talked about how we are doing it in this video.
Keeping Kids Entertained
Maintaining a loose routine will be the first step in keeping kids entertained. You may decide to do some learning sent from school or maybe if you have younger ones, you may want to explore the option of encouraging learning through play.
One way you can do this is through theme days. Over the last few years, I’ve written a number of posts with ideas for crafts, baking and learning. As I share some of these with you know, you can click the links to take you to the posts and they will open in a new window. This way you can continue reading and open all those that pique your interest.
Theme Days
Some of my posts are based on National or World days coming up such as World Penguin Day on April 25th or World Bee Day on May 20th. Others have already passed but I’m doubtful any child is going to mind if you celebrate National Fairy Tale Day or Winnie the Pooh Day or Roald Dahl Day at the wrong time.
All of these posts were written for preschoolers but the animals ones especially could easily be extended to make them suitable for older children. Both the Bee and Penguin posts could include research, watching nature documentaries and more advanced artwork.
Checklist
Another way of keeping kids entertained could be to work your way through my comprehensive list of 100 life experiences to give your children before they start school. We got through a great many of these before my girls went into reception but we are still to complete it. Although there are a few that cannot be done under current restrictions. Approximately three quarters are experiences you can have at home, in the garden or on your daily exercise.
Other posts I thought might give you some inspiration for keeping kids entertained include my one on Rainbow Crafts, which have been a massive hit for children to spot on their daily walks. Also my post on Everyday Preschool Maths. Some of these ideas will work with children in Reception and Key Stage 1.
Ditch the Guilt
I’m sure we are all using screens more than usual during this time in isolation. I’ve written about finding ways to make screen time count. Of course, this is an exceptional time and we shouldn’t feel guilty for overusing right now. One idea is to give your little one a challenge. Here’s my post on Preschool Thinking Challenges. Again these are suitable for slightly older children too.
Keeping it all together
Finally, I wanted to share a few posts I’ve written to help make your life a little easier at this tricky time. I highly recommend Pinterest for ideas, you can search by theme, age, season and you’ll find countless ideas to keep you busy. I’ve written more about how I keep Organised with Pinterest.
Of course, with children home all day, now might be a good time to think about how you are organising toys and so here is my post with my 5 top tips to keep toys organised. If you prefer, you can watch the video instead.
If all else fails, you may need to resort to bribery. Check out this post on How to Bribe your Child. No judgment. It is going to be needed at some point over the coming weeks.
I really hope this post has been useful or at least pointed you in the direction of a post with something that will help keeping kids entertained. We can do this.