These days, many of us find ourselves at home. While families stay home to help their countries manage the recent outbreak of COVID-19, you may be wondering how to keep your kids occupied with all this spare time. However, you can spend your time doing multiple activities that involve using your outdoor living area instead of keeping the kids cooped up inside. This is a great way to minimise their screen time too. If you encourage them, your children can find multiple interesting activities in your garden area. This will help keep everyone happy, healthy, and with a good dose of Vitamin D.
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| Garden |
Here are some of the ways we’re keeping the kids occupied outdoors:
- Creating your own games that can be played in limited space is the best way to engage your children in fun activities and keep them occupied so that they don’t feel bored. Whether you have a big lawn or a smaller courtyard, you can create games to play in your space outdoors. Whether it’s kicking a ball, playing catch, or a game of tag, let your children teach you their favourite games.
- Create a challenging environment for your little ones by creating a course of hoops, jumping challenges, and walking planks on your lawn and let your little ninja warrior work through their course. Setting a challenge like this will exercise their mind and body!
- Educate them about various vegetables and herbs. Now is the time to teach kids about how they can grow their own food to cook in the kitchen.
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| Play Together |
- Teach your kids how to take care of plants. Get them involved with pulling weeds and watering plants. This is a fun way to teach them and get some chores done too!
- Involve your children in morning exercise in your outdoor garden area early in the morning to keep them physically fit and get their day off to an energetic start. Practice yoga with your children to involve them in physical activities and keep them physically active to stay fresh and active throughout the day.
- Get messy! Outside is the perfect place to do activities with your children that may get a little messy. Practice some safe and fun science experiments with household items. Get them to paint the plants in your backyard or the shapes they see in the clouds above! This way your indoors won’t get messy and your kids are occupied and getting some fresh air all at once.
- Let them get creative! This one is great for those with courtyards or big concrete or paved driveways. Grab some sidewalk chalk for your kids and let them draw all day! They can even draw up hopscotch and other games and play. This is sure to keep your kids occupied and creative all day long.
- Have a picnic! When lunch time rolls around grab your picnic blanket and set up outside. This is a great way to spend time with your kids and make lunchtime fun!
Distinguish Between Work, School, and Leisure
Make as much as possible a clear division between working time, school time, fun time with the children, and time for yourself. If you try to do everything at the same time, you are actually shorting everyone. A clear separation between working time and free time can provide peace of mind. Children know when they can or cannot disturb you. It’s great for parents when there are times when they don’t have to keep all the balls in the air.
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| Time For Yourself |
If this is possible in your situation, make arrangements about working hours with your employer. Also, make agreements about care tasks with your partner or support or neighboring family. If children are a little older, you may be able to combine your work time with their school time. Make sure you are available for questions about school. Try to avoid important phone calls in between. If you do get such a conversation, be clear to the caller and your child. For example, say to the caller, “I’ll just help my child with school work, I’ll call back right away.” Or say to your child, “This phone call is important to my job, I’ll be right back.”
April 24, 2020
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