By Colleen Bernardis, Youth Programs Coordinator
Being stuck at home and trying to get work done without being distracted by the news and social media is already tough enough, but adding in kiddos who are bored out of their minds and constantly bugging you makes things even harder. Creating a daily routine will help children and thus parents feel less stressed and give everyone a sense of comfort in the midst of all of this craziness. Having different ideas in mind to make sure kids are staying busy and not getting into trouble will help occupy them and therefore let you get more accomplished.
Here are 10 ideas to keep your kiddos busy:
Quiet Reading
Let your kids pick out books that they love and have them quietly look at these books. Even if they are unable to read, they can look at pictures and use their imagination! You can even have them “read” these books to you after they quietly read to themselves for a while.
Encourage Outdoor Play
Give your children different toys to play with outside. Balls, bats, bikes, scooters, chalk, bubbles, you name it! Encourage them to run, skip and jump around in your yard and get energy out.
Children’s Workout Videos
Some of the Kids’ Club staff have been creating kids’ workout videos for your children to follow along with. It will be fun for them to see people they know completing these workouts and will encourage them to follow along! You can find these videos on the Club Greenwood Workout Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/671745846995320/
Or visit Kids’ Club Online:
https://clubgreenwood.com/kids-club-online/
You can also look up kids’ workout videos on YouTube, put it on your television and have the kids mimic these videos and burn energy. Cosmic Kids Yoga is a popular choice for a lot of people!
Arts and Crafts
Roll out a large piece of paper on the ground, tape it down and let your kids color and paint all over it.
Give them kid-friendly scissors and paper to cut into pieces, then glue onto a different piece of paper.
Have them play with pipe cleaners and create different figures out of these.
Give the children ideas of what to draw and have them draw and color it in before showing you their final product.
Then ask the kids what they have created and explain it to you, this gets their imagination running and helps them feel proud of their work!
Science Experiments
Creating slime with glue, shaving cream and borax. Add drops of food coloring to change the color of the slime!
Make a tornado in a bottle, tape two plastic water bottles together neck in neck, one filled and the other empty, swirl back and forth and watch the tornado happen!
Create a sparkly volcano by mixing baking soda, vinegar and glitter! To make it colorful, add six drops of food coloring.
Make a Fort
Give your kids old sheets, blankets, pillows, stuffed animals and cardboard boxes and have them create their own hideaway fort.
Set up a Sensory Bin
Create a sensory bin in a large bucket for kids to play around in. Some ideas to put in the bin include rice, beans, packing peanuts, buttons, pom-poms and cotton balls. Give the kids spoons to try and pick the different items up or just have them touch all the items with their hands.
Dance Party!
Turn on some music and have the kids come up with a dance routine that they can show you once they have perfected it. You can also just turn on some music and have them dance around to get their wiggles out.
Legos and Blocks
Give your children ideas of what they can build with Legos and blocks and then have them create this and show you when they have completed the task.
Wordsearches
Google has some great word searches for older children. You can print these out and have kids highlight the words they find in different colors.
We miss all of your kiddos at Club Greenwood and hope to see you and them all soon. Try and keep them busy to make things a lot better for them and for you!
Colleen Bernardis
Colleen graduated in 2017 from the University of Colorado, Boulder with a Bachelor of Science in Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences. She began her career at Club Greenwood in 2013, as a Camp Counselor. In 2016, she was a Camp Lead and in April of 2019 she was promoted to Youth Programs Coordinator. Colleen’s passion is working with children and she loves spending time with them, and brightening their days. In her free time, Colleen enjoys hanging out with her friends and family or spending time outdoors.
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