When the news came out about COVID-19, it was shocking. I don’t think most of us knew what the future would entail or what it meant for our families. The first wake up call was when schools were closed. It was unexpected and really saddened us. Little by little, our daily activities were stripped from us. My daughter was starting her first library class and I was attending a mommy and me class with my other daughter while my son attended school. These were two opportunities to show my daughters some time with just their mama. My son was also in karate for the first time. It took him about two months to finally be comfortable in the environment there and go out on the floor without me. I was so proud of him. When your child overcomes challenges like these, it’s not only rewarding for a parent, but also a huge relief is taken off their shoulders. Initially, we all thought that we were dealing with two weeks of social distancing. We had no idea that we would be here almost a month later.
I understand that all families are going through their own struggles with this pandemic (financial struggle, graduations and proms canceled and our medical staff putting their lives on the line). I realize all this and my heart aches for them. My own experience is at the forefront of my children’s lives. I was planning my daughters first birthday and mourning the fact that I would not get to see my son in his last few months of PRE-K. I loved hearing about his day, what he learned and what he ate for snack. I wouldn’t get his school picture for the year or my invitation to Mother’s Day. These may seem minor in the greater scheme of things, but they are huge for me. He is my first born and these moments will never come again. I was also saddened by all of the special events for my daughters “firsts”.
I started putting things into perspective and making the most of our time together. We no longer had to set an alarm and stress about running out of the house on time. The mornings are structured to a degree, but we take time to snuggle in bed. I get to now make the kids breakfast every morning and not rush them to finish. We do science projects every single day. My daughter (who is almost 3) gets a head start on learning as she observes her older brother.
I had an entire birthday planned for my daughter who is turning three in May. Instead of canceling the party, we put it on hold, but that is not stopping me from making her day one she will never forget so she doesn’t even know the difference. Stay tuned for my blog post on her “Young, wild & Three Birthday party.
I can honesty say that I am giving 100% to my kids and family despite what is going on in the world. I have explained to my eldest and middle child what is going on in the world. They know their is a virus and that they cannot go anywhere. My son is of course taking it harder then his sister because he has friends and sports. His life has been effected much more then his sisters have been. I struggle with this as a parent because I am torn with wanting to shelter them and with telling them the truth. At the end of the day, I am making the best of our time together and filling our days with fun activities that they will (hopefully) remember. Without further ado, here are 10 Fun Activities for Kids during Your Unexpected Stay at Home.
- Get dressed:
Ok, let’s be real! I do change out of my pajamas (most days) but only to put leggings on. I am not going to put on good clothes to only be spit up on, have dirty hands wiped on me and clean a house 5000 times during the day. It’s just not happening. - Create a schedule:
We do not have a schedule hour by hour, but we do have an outline of what we will be accomplishing. I usually have one fun activity each day that the kids look forward to. We also have story time, karate, library class, learning colors, letters, sight words. We also have recess. For days that it is raining or really cold, we do yoga or have dance parties! Who doesn’t LOVE A GOOD DANCE PARTY? A lot of things are repetitive, but it’s the age of my kids. - Community involvement:
With Easter on the horizon, we decided to “egg” our friends. My son chose 6 families he wanted to egg. We cut out signs and each family received 8 eggs and bunny beanie babies and a balloon. The eggs were filled with chocolate, bubbles and chocolate coins. Everything was wrapped and our hands were thoroughly washed before handling the items. I am not sure who was more excited to do this, me or the kids and it showed my kids that we could make something good out of bad situation (COVID-19). We also wanted to bring happiness and smiles to families faces during such a trying time. Because it was daylight and most people are home now, we were spotted at the majority of the homes. I was sent texts and photos of the kids in all smiles. It really made our day. The next day, it was my sons idea for all of us to match and wear all black. He said he wanted us to look like ninjas. It was so much fun! - Social time:
We FaceTime our family, even great grandma. It is good to check in with people that are older and also live alone during this time. It can be very lonely for them. We also used zoom to chat with my friends and my sons friends. - Self-care:
Oh boy how I long for a pedicure or a massage. I feel like I am on my feet more now then ever. While we cannot do those things right now, there are still other ways to care for ourselves. - Online resources:
Our local library hold story time three days a week online. I make sure the kids sit down and listen to the books that are read and interact with the teacher. If we miss a class, the lessons are recorded so we can do them at a later time. - Experiments:
One of the experiments we did was the egg drop. I gathered supplies from around the house (straws, boxes, paper bags, plastic bags, bubble wrap, paper cups, plastic cups) and I laid them out on the counter. I let the kids pick five items to protect their egg. Then we dropped each egg from our deck and inspected to see which eggs cracked and which ones didn’t. For the eggs that didn’t crack, I let them build another experiment. My son loved this so much am we redid it again that week. - Home renovations:
I involve my kids with projects around the house. They love to paint. My son also has his own tool kit. My kids are huge helpers and they love to learn. - Car rides:
We all need to just get out of the house and the kids miss going places. I will treat them to an ice cream at sonic or to chick fil a. We also do scavenger hunts. I have a list of items that we need to find and I drive through our town looking for each item. It’s not just fun looking for the items, but also sightseeing and looking at the new homes throughout our neighborhood. We came across a new development of homes I never saw before and I couldn’t stop dreaming about how gorgeous they were. - The cardboard challenge:
With all the boxes coming to our house (we have been getting everything delivered), we wanted to find resourceful ways to use them. My son took a piece of paper and drew a food truck. We then decided it would be a food truck that served bakery items and drinks. We used the cardboard boxes, wrapping paper, black paint for the wheels and LOTS OF TAPE. It was a lot of fun. We even gave the truck a pull down window that food could be served out of. - Support Local Shops:
Ok, I realize this post says “10” things to do, but I just thought of a super important mention. So we can call this a bonus for you all. It is so important to support local and small shops during this time. They simply do not have the resources to shut down like large businesses do. We have been ordering from our local restaurants and I purchased items from Etsy for Easter gifts. My local pizza restaurant was offering at home pizza making kits, so we took advantage of that a couple times. The kids loved it and the homemade dough and sauce was fantastic. Thank you Napoli Pizza!
Every day is a new day and some days we have to just go with the flow. We have bad days where someone is cranky or the weather is just not great and no one is feeling activities or learning. With those days, we break out the pillows, make a fort and turn on a good movie. It’s important to keep the kids happy and safe during all of this. Their happiness is my number one priority. I really am enjoying every second of our new normal together. I do long for the days that we did have, but they will be back and we will be ready. We just have to keep positive and deal with the cards we have been handed because we don’t have any other option.
When my kids are older, I just want them to remember all the quality time we had, not the virus or COVID-19. That’s my goal.
I hope these activities have inspired you. I will keep you all updates as we do more throughout the upcoming weeks.
