Parents everywhere are in the same boat. While it’s essential to stay safe during the pandemic and keep away from other people, impatient children are likely getting on your nerves, and it’s not even summer break yet! It can be challenging to keep your child entertained these days without giving in to letting them play games on your phone or watch YouTube videos all day. Planning out activities to fill each day can be a daunting task, but it doesn’t have to be.
Have no fear, moms and dads! There are plenty of ways to keep your kids active without putting a screen in front of their faces. If you’ve been looking for new, healthy ideas to beat boredom for your kids, you’ve come to the right place.
Here are eight healthy family activities to beat boredom in lockdown.
1. Cook Healthy Meals Together
It’s never too early or too late to begin teaching your children how to fend for themselves once they reach adulthood. With restaurants limiting menus and capacity, you probably have resorted to more home-cooked meals, and nutrition is essential for human health.
Don’t be afraid to try healthy, new recipes and get your kids involved from time to time. They can assist you with stirring, measuring and cutting vegetables if you feel comfortable with it. Have them add healthy, fun foods to your grocery list. When your children are able to help you, they’ll be more likely to choose those healthy foods later in life. Plus, it’s a fun activity and will keep them busy for a while.
2. Enjoy the Outdoors
Lockdown doesn’t mean you have to stay cooped up in your house 24/7. If you have yard space or are near a local park, take your family outside! Even a few minutes in the sun makes a difference. Just make sure you keep your social distance and wear masks if other people are around you.
When you go outside, you get a change of scenery. Plus, your family will experience mental clarity! There are so many things you can do outside, like go for a hike, birdwatch, bike ride, throw a ball, start a garden, or just let your kids run off some energy. Try to get the family outside and doing physical activity for a little bit each day to gain all of the health benefits of being outdoors. You can even include your children’s friends on safe, outdoor masked activities like hikes or hopscotch.
3. Keep Learning
Sure, your kids are either schooling online or in-person, but that doesn’t mean they have to stop learning on the weekends or when school isn’t in session. At home, your child can learn life skills that they don’t learn in school. This could be through chores, cooking or a subject that your child is passionate about.
During the lockdown, museums have offered virtual tours, which is a fun activity to plan for the whole family. You can ask your children if there is something they would like to explore or learn more about to get them involved in their own learning. Allowing your kids to have a thirst for knowledge will set them up for success down the line.
4. Try a New Exercise
Have you ever tried family yoga? What about a game of tag with your kids? Physical fitness is an integral part of your overall health, improving immune function, mental health and sleep, and giving you a sense of well-being.
You can involve your kids in exercise by not even mentioning the word exercise! Have them chase each other around the yard or learn how to jump rope. Teach them yoga positions or have them lead an exercise or dance routine to get their blood pumping. You can even set fun exercise goals with your kids to encourage their motivation, just be sure to choose activities for their fitness level. Exercise benefits both the body and mind, and it’s never too late to start.
5. Read Every Day
Young or old, reading every day is beneficial and is a great way to beat boredom during lockdown. There are so many books available to invite you into a story that your kids are sure to love! Many libraries have books available digitally, so if your library is closed, check online.
Building good habits like reading can help your children stay focused, increase their attention span, and build their vocabulary. If your children aren’t able to read yet, allow them to pick a story for you to read to them that is appropriate for their age levels. Chapter books are fun as well since you can read them over a few days. Your children won’t be able to wait to continue the book!
6. Create a Routine
Everyone’s routine was thrown to the side when the pandemic hit. With uncertainties for schooling, work, and other aspects of life, chances are it might be challenging to keep a routine with your children. However, it’s important to find a way to implement some structured routine into their daily lives.
This provides structure to your day and also gives your child something to look forward to each day, whether it be 30 minutes of screen time at night, reading a book before bed or just getting ready in the morning. Routine keeps the day full, which helps to beat boredom and helps keep your children occupied so they don’t end up doing something that is unsafe, unhealthy, or a waste of time.
7. Get Crafty
Do your kids love to explore their creativity? Set up a mini craft station just for your kids. Supply them with paper, glue, kid-safe scissors, crayons, markers and any other craft supplies you have lying around. Let them get to work on an art project for some unstructured time to hone in their creative side.
Have them craft cards for loved ones they are unable to visit because of the coronavirus. You could even hold an art show for an extra level of excitement. Crafting is a safe and healthy activity because it allows children to hone their creativity and improves their motor skills. You can even get involved as well with an adult coloring book and fancy markers!
8. Establish a Game Night
It doesn’t hurt to have a little bit of family competition once a week! Lockdown is the perfect time to pull out the board games in the closet. Board Games are a great way to incorporate family bonding time and have fun for hours. Whether you play a strategy game or put together a puzzle, your whole family will be actively involved. You can even choose games that exercise the mind, like math-based card games or word search races.
Additionally, you’ll be creating family memories for your children. When they’re older, they’ll remember a childhood full of fun, healthy activities, not just a time where they were bored in a lockdown.
Keep Your Family Entertained
Make a list of activity ideas to grab when boredom hits, and in no time, your family will be sure to beat boredom! Put the phone and ipad down, turn the tv off, and enjoy every moment with your family during this time. Make the most out of it by establishing creative entertainment with healthy and fun habits in and outside the house!
