With all this free time at home with your kids, it can be difficult to keep everyone from getting bored. Without worthwhile activities to entertain the whole family, it can be easy for everyone to seclude themselves in their rooms and mind their own business.
Although that can be healthy at times, it’s also important to make the most of this time by creating fun memories together, particularly for children. An article published by the Washington Post emphasizes the importance of quality time over quantity.
If you’re having a hard time thinking of fun ways to keep everyone in the house busy, here are some ideas:
Board Games
Dust off those old games you’ve been keeping on the attic. These games still have the power to bring everyone together for hours of fun. They even have the potential to become family traditions and you can keep having board game nights even after the outbreak. Reader’s Digest put together an excellent list of timeless board games you can all enjoy.
Work Out Sessions
Physical inactivity is one possible result of all this idle time. This can be bad for both kids, who are used to playing, and to adults who can develop an array of conditions because of it. To keep your family fit, you can facilitate healthy exercise sessions for everyone. It doesn’t have to involve rigorous workouts, as long as you all work up a sweat. Parents created a list of 10 fun exercises for the family.
Cooking Together
Since most of your meals now are likely made at home, why not involve the kids in the cooking process? This will be a very educational experience for them that may potentially spark future interest in the craft. At the same time, you’ll also get a helpful boost with your task. Kids Health wrote a nice article with recommendations when cooking with kids. You can even turn it into a little competition, Mom pairs with brother while dad pairs with sister and you come up with the best dish for your household. It’ll be fun and delicious.
Puzzles
Whether it’s playing detective games on the computer or working on actual jigsaw puzzles, this is sure to pique everyone’s interest. This isn’t only a fun way to spend an afternoon, it is also very beneficial for kids. According to Teach, puzzles help develop physical, cognitive, and emotional skills in young children. You can take this a step further by creating personalized puzzles for your family, adding another layer of meaning to the activity.
Spring Cleaning
It’s April and it’s time for some spring cleaning. Since everyone is already in the house, this is the perfect time to start a thorough cleanup. Ask your children to clean their own rooms and see if they need some help. It’s important to be honest and involve them in the process to help sustain their interest in the activity. You can even turn it into a sort of Easter Egg hunt by hiding candies around the house, just be sure all of them are accounted for by the end of the cleaning session.
This list hopefully gives you ideas for fun ways of spending quarantine with the family. If you can think of more stuff, feel free to share them with your friends, too.
