Covid-19 entertainment

10 ways to keep kids entertained (and yourself) during Corona

I know times are tough for most of us right now because of this Corona virus and we have children at home and our heads are spinning trying to keep them busy. There’s only so much x-box and YouTube they can be on, right? I have 3 children all different ages, a 13-yr. old daughter (lord help me), an 11-year-old son, and a newly 3-year-old daughter who thinks she’s already grown (and has the attitude of my teenager).

Yes, they’ve had school work for most of the time they’ve been home but I want to get them off of the computers and give their eyes a rest every once in a while. I just recently had to get glasses because of too much computer time (guilty).

Plus, I don’t want their days to just be school work for 8 hours a day. The first week was like that and it drove all of us insane! My older two were literally doing school work for 8-10 hours the first week. After that I said No this isn’t working and I don’t care if you get behind there is no way you should be doing school work for this long.

My son’s teacher has been amazing at everything and listening to the parents about that so she changed her whole schedule and assignments and now my son is only doing school work for 3 hours max! We love her so much; we have been blessed with her as our teacher. Shout out to all of the amazing teachers out there your job is way too underrated!

Unfortunately, my middle schooler has 8 different teachers, so they are all on their own program.  A few have been lenient with the time frames but some, well let’s just say they’re quite difficult to reason with. Her work schedule is harder than online college courses and I’ve went to two different college’s online. This Corona has hit us hard in this department.

Anyway, sorry to ramble on about my own struggles (can you tell I haven’t had an adult to talk to in quite some time). The reason you came her is to get some ideas of what you can do with your own children to keep them happy, healthy, and most of all keep you sane! Here is my very easy and frugal list of 10 ways to keep kids entertained during corona.

1. Cook with them (c’mon you knew this had to be the first one on the list of ways to keep kids entertained right?) After all this is a cooking blog.

Below is a list of Easy meals you can do with your children as young as two years old! I’ve done these with my toddler and she loves them so much she asks me to make things all the time.

Pancakes– This goes to the top of my list because my daughter asks to make pancakes literally every day. You can have everything measured out for them and they can pour into the bowl and mix. If they’re older they can help flip the pancakes as well.

Ice Cream– Who doesn’t like ice cream? I haven’t met anyone yet, but I know you nay-sayers are out there..lol.. We bought a small ice cream maker LIKE THIS ONE.

It was actually cheaper than I thought!

Lunchables– No I’m not talking about the ones you can buy at the stores that taste quite awful if you ask me. I’m talking about making your own, better yet let your kid make their own! You can use storage containers LIKE THESE BELOW to put your meat, cheese, snack, crackers, fruit, whatever else you can fit into them to make a nice and healthy lunchable you both like!

If you have smaller children you can do fruit trays and incorporate counting with them. Win/win right! Just cut up some fruit (make sure to cut grapes extra small if you have toddlers) and sort them into their categories and start counting each category. After they get a category right let them eat that category! It’s super fun with little ones and keeps them happy for awhile because they’re occupied and eating. For older children you can use nuts and fruits with multiplication as well.

For any recipe you can let them pour the ingredients and mix. If they are younger go ahead and measure the ingredients out before hand, if they’re older let them measure out to get their brains going. Ask them questions like: which is more a tablespoon or a teaspoon. Get them converting teaspoons or ounces into cups and cups into quarts etc.

2. Other than cooking (and learning) Get out those gameboards, cards, dice, and any games you have stashed in the closet.

Get your whole family playing! Most games (if not all) can be used as a teaching moment. Use cards and dice for math, use strategy games for problem solving and cognitive abilities.

They won’t know they’re learning; they just know they’re having fun! For older children I think the best game is Monopoly, any card game really, and the game of Life! Who here has a kid that’s into Fortnite? Check out this sweet monopoly Fortnite edition! But for us older peeps HERE is one you will like 😉 Check out this Game of Life for my Anime gurus (my oldest loves this one) BELOW. Not only is this an amazing teaching time and ways to keep kids entertained but it is most importantly family time and that’s better than anything, right?!

3. Easy and Fun Science experiments!

We’ve all done the vinegar and baking soda volcano when we were younger right? It was super easy and you don’t have to make a volcano if you don’t want to. Well lets’ get back to do them while we’re stuck with this Corona business! Here are some great ideas for you and your kids to try at home that use every day household items. Ways to keep kids entertained Science part!

 https://boyslife.org/hobbies-projects/funstuff/1374/amazing-science-tricks/

4. Exercise!

At our household we make it a priority to do some stretches after every hour of school work, that way your body doesn’t get stiff and you stay refreshed. Even my toddler likes to weigh in on the stretches. Also, you can still go for walks or bike rides and still be safe from this pandemic but I wouldn’t be going to the gym just yet. Dancing and singing is a must in our house. For a song, replace a word with Corona and see how many times you say Corona.

5. Arts and Crafts

I mean you knew this was coming right? But I’m not talking about Martha Stewarting anything just the basics, easy stuff you and your kids can do or your kids can do by themselves. One big one is glass painting on windows with washable paints. All you need is White or clear glue, food coloring, and Liquid dishwashing soap. For full instructions follow this link:

https://www.firstpalette.com/craft-recipe/glass-paint.html

Here’s everything you need : CLEAR GLUE Food coloring and Liquid dish-washing soap

6. Go on a Scavenger Hunt or treasure hunt

This can get super fun and last all day if you want. Think about areas, places, and even landmarks around your neighborhood. Describe them in detail then put them in the order you want…maybe something fun at the end like a pizza party or (treasure of some sort) to make it more interesting! Keeping social distance because..well…Corona lol. Not only is this ways to keep kids entertained it is quite fun for us adults too.

7. Read together

I will say it again and again Corona or no Corona! No matter how old your kids get you can still read together, even if it’s sitting next to each other reading to yourself and then after an hour or so discuss what you just read. Of course if they’re small you want to read to them and engage them into the story as you read. Usbourne books are our favorite because they have something for everyone and their books last forever! They are the best in terms of durability and quality I have ever found. Click here to browse https://t8253.myubam.com

8. Does your kid love video games?

If so try and play one of their favorite video games with them for 30 minutes or so. I have learned that my son just wants me to be with him sometimes and play the games he likes. It’s a special bonding time we have together.

9. For the youngins you can always do educational fun things like ABC mouse!

This site is so amazing in terms of fun for the kids and it teaches them so many things. My toddler loves this and we used this when my older two were younger. Right now they have 49% off of their yearly subscription and you can do monthly payments as well so it is highly affordable! But I don’t know if it is because of Corona or not so jump on it while you can.

10. Last but certainly not least Have a Photo shoot or Photo Montage.

Do your kids love taking pictures like mine do? Take them on a walk or car ride and see what they take pictures of, go even farther and put them into a story. Do a fashion show and put into a scrap book. This is so much fun and one of my favorites!

There you go, I hope I have given you some ideas on ways to keep kids entertained and remember we are all in this together and we will come out of this together! Be safe and Stay Blessed! My Corona!! lol that song gets stuck in my head every time I say Corona.

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If you liked this post about ways to keep kids entertained check out my other posts to help you out with this Corona mess:

Food staples for emergencies

Freezer meals post and you can get more cooking ideas.

Don’t forget to grab your FREE MEAL PLAN HERE!