Things To Do With Kids During The Coronavirus

If you’re like us, trying to do our part and participate in social distancing during the coronavirus, the day can get crazy while being stuck at home most of the time with little kids, especially if the weather is bad over half the time. Here are some of our favorite outdoor and indoor activities that we hope will help provide more ideas for fun with your kids!

Indoor Activities:

-Do indoor pretend long jump (use masking tape to draw a line and mark where each child lands).

-Have a dance party. There are lots of kid songs on YouTube. Most of the time we don’t even use the screen, but just hook up the audio from our phone to our bluetooth speaker.

-Watch/do a kid fitness class on YouTube.

-Play Play-Doh (look online for recipes to make your own!)

-Build a fort or tent.

-Play games together. UNO has been a game we have enjoyed recently and has helped Samuel (2 yrs. old) have fun learning his numbers and colors better!

-Set up an obstacle course. Make sure to play kid-intense music while playing! Our boys like the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack (thanks Uncle Benji 🙂 ).

-Make pretend grocery store or city with various places. Make fake money to pay for stuff. (As a kid, we used to play “store” when it was time to clean up and we’d use our treadmill as our grocery store conveyor belt, then go put stuff away.)

-Let them help make something in the kitchen with you.

-Check out new books and movies from the library (if yours is still open!) or online if you have that option and read a chapter book together as a family! We’ve recently started reading the “Boxcar Children” book series to the boys.

-Make cards for friends and family.

-Play the balloon game (try to keep it up in the air).

-Do an indoor scavenger hunt (you can find fun ones online!)

-Do art lessons for kids on YouTube (the boys enjoy art for kids hub).

-Sensory play bins. @busytoddler on Instagram has lots of great ideas!

-Extend bath and shower time and add food coloring and toys (kitchen scoops work great!) for extra fun!

-Rotate toys and books to keep kids interested and actually be able to see what all they have.

Outdoor Activities:

-“Paint” the fence with spray bottle or paint brushes and water

-Take lots of walks or go for a hike

-Have backyard races or set up an obstacle course.

-Make pretend “soup” outside

-Have a picnic at home or out

-Have rock stacking contest

-Do a scavenger hunt (you can find fun ones online!)

-Make s’mores or dinner outside over a fire pit or a coffee can fire outside. Our kids even love making toast over the fire!

-Play chalk. I saw something recently that suggested writing encouraging messages on sidewalks for neighbors or people passing by.

Tips:

-Set timers for everything! (Making our kids aware of the transition helps them prepare and mentally shift)

-Play a cleanup song (there are several on YouTube) or other favorite upbeat song while doing quick cleanups throughout the day.

-Let little kids help with chores. We have a little chore pack for the boys with pictures of simple chores. We don’t do it every day, but they like being able to switch the cards out and all.

What tips do you have for keeping kids busy while having fun? Drop a comment below.