Where ever you are in the world, I hope you are all doing well with your family. I’m telling you this because, at the time of writing this article, we are in the middle of lockdowns at home.
For almost two months now, the COVID-19 coronavirus has hit the world.
Many people fall ill, others lose their lives and, to a lesser extent, some also lose their jobs or what they have spent years building.
So I pray to the Almighty God that this virus can pass as quickly as possible so that people can finally go back to a normal life.
If I am not mistaken, today it has been exactly 16 days since my wife, my children and I have been at home. As millions of people all around the world, we are in quarantine.
We hardly put our feet outside except to go throw the trash or buy a few things to eat. I think it’s the same thing for you too.
If we adults fully understand the situation and do our best to comply with the recommendations of the government to preserve our health, for our four children, things start to get more and more difficult.
Schools are closed, there are no more sports activities, they no longer see their friends.
In short, they begin to find the time and this lockdown too long.
If you too are parents and you have children, you certainly understand what I am talking about.
So, to help you keep your kids busy during this pandemic confinement, I suggest you find in this article a few creative ways to entertain your kids at home during a pandemic.
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1. Keep them away from watching too many bad news on TV
It is very difficult to stay busy during a time like the present with the news about global warming and pandemics going around.
One of the most creative ways to entertain your kids at home during a pandemic or disaster is to keep them away from watching all these bad news on television.
That’s right! If you turn on your TV these days, all you see are bad news related to the coronavirus.
While it’s very important to be informed about what’s going on in the world and how this virus is doing damage, many children, especially the youngest ones, don’t have the mental capacity to understand what adults are talking about.
The truth is that this time of crisis requires adults to be more alert than usual, as well as more alert to what the children need to watch or hear on television and on the Internet.
There are many other creative ways to entertain your kids at home during a pandemic or disaster, but they require your attention.
Of course, depending on what you do, maybe you’re a busy mom or dad, maybe you work remotely from home and you have a lot to do with your day job already, maybe you’re an entrepreneur and your schedule don’t allow you to spend a lot of time at home during this period of time.
If you fall into one of these categories, you certainly don’t have time to always watch what your kids are watching on TV.
This is quite understandable. In this case, rather than leaving them alone, rather try to prepare them programs that you have selected yourself so that they can watch them with confidence.
2. Allow them to watch movies and documentaries that focus on developing their skills
Other creative ways to entertain your kids at home during a pandemic or disaster include watching movies kids love and even playing games that focus on developing their skills.
Your kids will be inspired by what you are doing and they will be able to develop good habits that they can use while they are at home during the crisis.
Depending on the ages of your children, movies such as Toy Story, The Jungle Book, The Lion King, or E.T the Extraterrestrial, for instance, have proven themselves time again to be very popular among kids from all the world.
Letting them watch these kinds of movies can play a major role in the way they see the world we live in. You can find more movies kids love here.
If your kids are older and they don’t watch Dumbo or Finding Nemo anymore, it’s okay. Just ask them what they like and check on Netflix if you can find these movies for them.
My kids do find what they want to watch themselves but I always try to keep an eye on what they are watching since my youngest daughter is only 6 years old.
Some movies today are effective in helping young viewers develop a set of strong character traits. You could even choose some great action films to watch for entertainment purposes.
In addition to watching entertaining movies that focus on developing skills, you can also explore other creative ways to entertain your kids at home during this period of pandemic and quarantine.
3. Allow them to listen to music if you’re comfortable with what they listen to
Music is one of the most popular creative ways to entertain your kids at home during a pandemic or disaster.
Music is not just a passive way to “listen” to what other people have to say through their songs. Rather, it is a form of entertainment that you play in your head while you are in the midst of an activity.
Music also motivates people, and it can help them find something to occupy their time, their mind and their spirit even if they are busy doing other things.
So to entertain your kids at home during this bad period, it would be a great idea if you could spend some time with them doing things that involve music.
For example, you can make a kind of karaoke at home with your children where you play songs they like to listen to but songs where lyrics are missing.
It would then be up to them to sing the song while trying to add the missing lyrics to the songs. I’m sure it can be fun and the kids will like it.
Children like to feel involved in what they do. Dancing and singing can, therefore, be a good way to kill boredom, both for you and your children.
4. Allow them to play educative video games
Kids love video games, especially ones that involve adventures.
Today there are many educational games that help children develop their minds as well as their abilities. By playing educational games, they don’t just play: they play and they learn at the same time.
To find educational games that suit your child, just do some research on Google or go straight to Amazon.
Adventure games are good because they allow players to put themselves in the character’s shoes.
So if your child is playing a superhero game, he will want to identify with his hero.
If he is playing a game where he is learning science or math, he may want to become a researcher or mathematician later. We never know.
5. Encourage indoor play at home to entertain your kids
Encourage indoor play at home to entertain your kids. This is a good way to keep them active and learning skills like reading, counting, writing, drawing, and multi-tasking.
Children prefer to play outdoor because they have more space and because they can play with other children from the neighborhood.
But you must explain to them that the time is not right at the moment and that they can’t go out as often as they would love to because of the pandemic.
Encourage indoor play at home to entertain your kids. Kids will appreciate you for doing this because this will provide them with a positive recreational experience.
They will feel much happier if they have something to do at home that is enjoyable and educational.
As a parent, you should not let your kids play outside or spend too much time outside with all that is going on right now; instead, you should encourage them to also play at home.
6. Encourage them to read educational books
An important part of entertaining kids with this kind of indoor play is providing them with educational books, which they can read when it is convenient for them. I told you earlier that kids love watching movies that can help them to develop their skills.
Books also can play that role and help your kids in many ways. The more they will read books, the more they will develop their intelligence and their communication skills.
You probably have plenty of books at home that your kids have never opened due to lack of time or for thousands of other reasons.
With this quarantine, now they have more free time so it’s a good occasion for them to start reading as much as they can. I remember when I was a kid I could read all day long because i loved it.
Older children though might not want to sit and read physical books during the day mostly because these days they prefer to spend most of their time on their phones or on social media.
However, there are also modern devices that allow children to play while reading, and this provides a great advantage for parents.
Encourage them to read so that they learn and retain important reading skills that will last them throughout their entire lives.
It is a wonderful thing for them to be able to express themselves creatively, so make sure you encourage this kind of play at home.
Be sure to bring a few extra books, magazines, or other reading materials so that your kids can look forward to something to read every now and then.
7. Teach your kids how to cook
Have you ever thought about what it would be like to teach your kids how to cook? It seems like a lot of work for such a simple skill. In fact, learning how to cook food is one of the hardest skills to learn but also cooking is also fun.
You have to get all of the necessary ingredients, make sure that everything is in good working order, and then work out the cooking process.
You need to know the temperatures that are best for different meats, cookies, vegetables, rice and so on. You need to be able to maintain the proper cooking times of what you’re cooking and you need to know when the food is ready and when it’s not.
However, it is one of the easiest skills to teach your kids how to cook food. After all, it just involves preparing the ingredients and then placing them in a pan or on a stove to cook.
It doesn’t take a whole lot of effort. All you have to do is just set up the tools required and ask them to follow directions you give them.
Of course, it helps if you have a reliable recipe book, but if you don’t, you will probably have to rely on your own experience as a parent when cooking the meal.
I’m sure that you would agree with me that kids love it when they can help their mom cook some good food. Not only they learn, but they also have a good time next to their mom.
Cooking with your children is both an opportunity to spend time with them and to teach them your values at the same time. So it’s a winning moment for all of you.
Often when my wife has time, she likes to bake cakes and our children are always happy to help her.
Moreover, if you teach your kids how to cook today, they will thank you for that later.
8. Let your kids help you so they feel they are important
Have you ever considered letting your kids help you?
For many parents, letting their kids help them does not come naturally. Parents sometimes find it quite stressful to let their kids help them because they want to do everything themselves.
However, during these times of pandemic, you can just take the opportunity to invest your children more in what you do. Earlier I told you that it was good to encourage them to make their bed themselves.
But to involve them more in other domestic tasks is even better. So if you have dishes to do, laundry, or if you want to sweep your house, why not let your children do these tasks for you?
It will keep them busy but it will also allow them to learn how to maintain a house.
You should think about letting your kids help you so they can spend some of their free time doing some of their day-to-day things like cooking and cleaning.
It is quite normal for kids to become bored of doing things as they grow up. As such, letting your kids help you will help them build good habits in which they can carry over into adulthood.
Letting your kids help you at home also makes you less dependent on other people for their children’s work. It also gives you some time to spend with them on your own. One great way of doing this is by making them cook for you or even doing housework in the evening.
If you feel like you have a lot of chores for you to be responsible for, you should be thankful for the fact that you can choose to delegate certain things that you don’t have time for to your kids.
This will actually be a good choice for the kids. Since you are the parent, you will probably take on more things than you can really handle.
Doing chores during these times of pandemic where all the family stays at home all day long can be very draining for busy adults. In fact, most adults will get stressed out because of having to take care of various chores around the house.
By letting your kids help you, they will be able to delegate some of these tasks and still be able to maintain a good relationship with you.
While you should not expect your kids to do everything, it is best to see that they are being taken care of by you. This will not only make your kids happy, but it will also allow you to have time to do things that you enjoy. I mean things for yourself!
If you ever want to have your own kids helping you, you should consider letting them do some of the household chores around the house.
you can just take the opportunity to invest your children more in what you do.
Earlier I told you that it was good to encourage them to make their bed themselves. But involving them more in other domestic tasks is even better.
So if you have dishes to do, laundry, or if you want to sweep your house, why not let your children do these tasks for you?
It will keep them busy but it will also allow them to learn how to maintain a house.
9. Have your kids to make their bed every morning
Every child deserves to have a clean and cozy bedroom, and one of the best ways to ensure that this happens is to let your kids make their bed every morning.
Of course, this may take some getting used to, but it can also be an excellent way to teach them responsibility and to teach them the value of taking good care of themselves.
First of all, make sure that they have clean bedsheets on their beds at all times so this will motivate them to change their old bedsheets and use the clean ones.
Moreover, having clean sheets, helps the sheets maintain their integrity and to prevent a lot of dust from accumulating on them.
Also, don’t be afraid to use disinfectant or antibacterial products on the sheets to help prevent any possible cases of bed bugs, as they can be quite a nuisance in the bedroom.
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Make sure that the room is well ventilated, especially when it comes to a young child’s room. This can often mean using a window for the purpose of letting air circulate in the room and to help cool it down a bit.
If you allow the room to get too warm, then your children will find it difficult to sleep at night and when they wake up in the morning, they will get tired and won’t want to spend another minute in their room just to make their bed.
No matter what you do, it’s important to remember that a child’s bedroom is their own private space, and should be treated as such. When it comes to letting your children make their own bed each morning, there really is no right or wrong way to go about it.
The idea here is to show your kids that even if they are confined, they can be useful at home because there are many things to do to keep busy.
If until now your kids did not use to make their own bed, at first, you can continue to make their bed for them but show them how you do it. Then, little by little let them do it themselves.
Not only will they learn by watching you do it, but it will keep them busy for a while. This will make confinement less difficult.
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10. Play verbal games with your kids
There are some great ways to help your kids to learn and enjoy the process of playing verbal games with you. This is especially true when your kids are a little older and are ready to have more adult interaction and are able to take direction from you more effectively.
By having fun verbal games, you are showing them that they can learn how to play games with adults and that it is not always about playing against them.
You can encourage them to have fun by being careful with their words, making sure that you teach them the difference between saying what is on their mind and accidentally hurting your feelings.
In addition, they will learn that there are different types of communication and they can also learn to use it to achieve a goal that they have set for themselves.
Just be sure that you do not hurt your kids’ feelings and they do not become upset with you for not allowing them to participate in the verbal games that you want them to play.
One great way to enjoy a verbal game with your kids is to teach them at an early age the benefits of being polite.
It can be really easy to assume that a person is not being as nice to you because they are rude or inappropriate and therefore they seem kind of bitter or angry at you. In fact, this is usually a ploy that some people will use to try to get something they want.
Your children will learn from an early age that they should always be polite to other people and that it is a very good way to develop their social skills.
In addition, they will also learn that there are certain situations that call for polite behavior, like if you are getting ready to have a baby or if you are getting ready to take a test.
As your children get older, they will learn that they are going to have to deal with rude people on a regular basis and it is important that they learn how to deal with these situations.
By teaching them early, you will find that they are far less likely to lose their temper and become upset with you because they were only thinking about one thing and that is what they want.
Another great way to play verbal games with your kids is to ask them what they would like to do for their birthday or their school project.
If you can find out what they want to do, you can often set up a special activity for them or give them a surprise of some sort that involves them acting out their ideas or their wish list.
This can also be a great way to teach them the importance of doing things right. Most people do not know what they want until they ask for it and if you ask them for their wish list, then you can find out exactly what they do not want and how to get it to them in the most effective way possible.
This is a great way to encourage them to get the word out about their wish list and how you will be able to make it a reality for them.
11. Give your kids responsibilities
As we discussed in this article, there are thousands of ways to entertain your kids during a quarantine like the one we are going through these days. It’s not a question of having a lot of money or not here. There are a lot of ways you can entertain your kids at home without spending a lot of money.
You may be surprised to learn that there are many inexpensive ways to entertain your kids at home.
You may want to consider these ways to entertain your kids at home in the future by giving them some little responsibilities, like washing dishes, tidying up their room, finding, and putting their dirty socks in the washing machine, setting the table before the meal, cleaning the table after the meal, doing their homework, going to bed earlier, etc.
One way that you can give your kids a little more responsibility is to allow them to make decisions about television and video games. Allow them to choose where they want to sit. You can set rules such as no talking on the telephone, no going to the bathroom in the house, etc.
Don’t be too rude with them and most importantly, try not to restrict their choices too much though. Let them make up their own mind. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t set a limit on how many hours they can spend playing video games or watching television.
Another way you can set limits on them is to only allow them to do certain things at certain times. You do not want them running around the house all day long or making a mess in the house because they were doing things anytime and anyhow.
Also, you do not want them to end up getting into fights with one another. By setting limits like this, it makes them responsible for their actions.
Therefore, you set the limits, and they should follow them. After all, they are the ones that will end up paying the price if things go awry.
Conclusion
Whoa! I can’t believe you read this article to the end. In any case, if you have come this far it proves that you are looking for solutions and ideas to have a good time with your children during this quarantine.
I know that depending on your situation, things may not be easy for you. Getting stuck at home with the kids all day without going out is really hard.
But let’s hold on and pray to God that this whole pandemic that is hitting the world will pass as quickly as possible. Anyway, I really hope my article was able to help you find some ideas to keep your kids busy.
I have four young kids and when it comes to parents, we always expect our kids to have an enjoyable time in the house, not only for ourselves but also for them.
That’s why we always try to entertain our kids at home so that they will learn to value their own time as well as ours. But the trick is that we have to ensure that this time we spent with our kids is enjoyed by them.
The first and foremost thing that you should do when you want to entertain your kids at home is to establish the rules of engagement.
What I’m mean here is the basic structure of any family. How your kids will behave and how they will be entertained are two different things. You can start by agreeing on some basic rules. These rules would be simple and easy to understand even for the youngest ones.
For example, it is never appropriate for kids to play games inside the house or watch horror movies on television without adult supervision. This rule could be written down so that you don’t have to repeat it again.
Of course, it depends upon the age of your kids and the kinds of activities they like to do.
The next thing you should do is to provide your kids with everyday activities so that they feel motivated to learn. They might not always feel enthusiastic about something but if you provide them with daily opportunities to indulge in their favorite hobbies, they will become more eager to get going with their activities.
One such type of activity is to have a big board games room, which is ideal for kids.
The next thing you should do if you want to entertain your kids at home is to teach them how to communicate with each other so everyone at home may feel important.
Communication skills can be taught through games, crafts, songs, and reading books. Kids will learn how to communicate with each other through these activities.
Another thing that you should always keep in mind is that it is not possible to entertain your kids at home if you don’t have an appropriate space for them to spend time in.
Make sure that your house has a room where each member of the family can go and relax when they feel like to. Besides, you should also make sure that the room is well ventilated so that your kids can have fun and stay healthy.
It’s really important that you don’t ignore the needs of your kids, but instead, prioritize their needs. Make sure that you keep in mind some of the tips mentioned above so that you will know how to entertain your kids at home. Just think of it as preparing a good start for your kid’s life, and I am sure that you will never regret it.
As I told you, I hope that this coronavirus pandemic will finish soon and that we’re all going to go back to our normal lives soon.
Also, if you have a blog and you would like to grow it, make sure to check out my resource library here to see all the tools I use to grow my business.
Thank you for reading and take care of yourself and your family.
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