Thanks to Covid-19, we all know it is not business as usual at the moment, but children need as much (if not more!) stability as possible, especially during such uncertain times.
They look to their parents on how they should respond in the current pandemic and parents’ words and actions, are powerful ways to provide this re-assurance.
Maintaining a certain amount of structure to any day or week for your child is something that will certainly reassure them and help keep them entertained plus avoid any unnecessary tantrums.
Gulf News speaks to Kirsten Fairfield, mother and co-chief of BabySouk.com on her top 5 tips on keeping your little ones entertained at home during quarantine.
1. Start your day strong
Get dressed, eat breakfast together and maybe do a fun exercise to get everyone motivated and ready to start the day. Talk to your children at each stage, explaining what you are doing and why ensuring they are engaged in each activity.
2. Take part in daily arts and crafts
Create a project for your kids that they can work on every day. Paint a picture, bead sets to make your favourite jewellery - my kids for example love using leaves and flowers to paint on making prints. Another tip is to use potato cut outs to dip in paint and stamp. There are some great websites we love to help kids learn how to draw – for example, artforkidshub.com is super creative. We also sell wonderful colour pads and paint kits from Melissa and Doug on babysouk.
3. Engage in roll play
Kids love to do what we do. So why not create a shop market or build a little stall for them. Go “shopping” at home. You can price up food, cook lunch in a pretend kitchen, set up tea time with a tea set, create a restaurant – the list is endless. Another great idea is to use masking tape on the floor and create a road or a track track for cars so your children can ‘transport’ themselves from place to place. There’s this brand called Vilac, who have some beautiful wooden roll play toys that help the imagination get going.
4. Get involved in web cams and YouTube
My kids love watching feeding time at the zoo so we often login in to Edinburg Zoo or San Diego Zoo - they have live feeding times so you can easily plot these viewing sessions into your schedule. If your kids love animals, our ultimate favourite is Wild Earth’s safari LIVE - an award winning, expert hosted LIVE safari, broadcast directly from the African wilderness into your home. They are usually on in the morning and early evening.
5. Get creative in the kitchen
Choose simple options like homemade pizza, get all the ingredients into little bowls and they can add the toppings – you can make your own faces etc. Another favourite in our household is rice crispy cakes.
Mums should remember Remember - confront the topic head on, reassure your kids that someone will always be there to take care of them, and get ready to get creative.
