With schools shutting down & children staying home across the country, the main challenge most of us are facing is – what are we going to do with our children all day?!

In order to manage the current routine changes in a positive way, one of the best things you can do is create a daily routine for your family & display it for your children to see.

When there is more structure & predictability, it will give you confidence in knowing there’s a plan, & significantly lessen the questioning from your children.

In order to display your daily family routine, you can create visual routine charts.

This is where you draw or write the 3-4 main activities of the day & display it so that your children can clearly see it.

In order to support you during this time, we have created a free download of daily & weekly routine charts, click here

Note: During these unusual times (and especially if you are juggling other demands such as work) don’t try to be a hero. If your children are having more screen-time than usual, that’s ok. Remember – this is not “normal”.

SCREEN-FREE ACTIVITIES FOR CHILDREN

Audiobooks are an incredible way of your children engaging with a story, while giving you some much needed free-time.

Some of our favorites for young children are – (click title for links)

Under Age 5 (or for Highly Sensitive Children) 

• Winnie the Pooh: The house at pooh corner (dramatised)
• Beatrix Potter: The Complete Tales
• Pinkalicious: The Pinkamazing Storybook Collection
• Fancy Nancy Audio Collection
• The Snail & the Whale
• The Magic School Bus series

Ages 5-10 years old 

• The Paddington Bear series by Michael Bond 
• Peter Rabbit: Based on the Major New Movie
• The Velveteen Rabbit
• The Magic Tree House Collection
• Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
• Chicken soup for the child’s soul: character building stories to read with kids ages 5-8

• Get outside 
• Jump in puddles
• Blow bubbles & catch them
• If you have a backyard, play “tag”or ball games together
• Take your kids out for a walk, run, ride or scoot around the block
• “Hit Balloon game” –  if you’re stuck inside, blow up a few colorful balloons & hit them to one another (children under 5 love this game!)
• Dance party – create a list of your favorite music & dance! You can make this more fun by closing the curtains & using torches or ‘glow in the dark’ sticks

• Painting
• Coloring pages – Crayola has free disney printable coloring-in sheets, click here
• Cut up colorful paper (or old catalogues) & glue pictures
• Stamps
• Magic Rocks – find some large flat rocks around your property & pain them with brightly colored paint or glue sparkly sequins onto them
• Beads & string – if you have colorful threading beads, your children can create their own necklaces
• Nature crafts – if you have flowers, leaves or twigs in your backyard, you could make pictures or decorations with them
• Michaels crafts has lots of fun crafty ideas

• Legos or magnetic building tiles – you could have a lego family building competition. If your child loves legos, you should check out the “Lego Masters” tv show (for your screen-time 😉
• Make a cubby house
• Have a tea party for all your stuffed animal ‘friends’
• Make paper airplanes & have a competition of how far they can fly
• Puzzles
• Chess, monopoly, Uno or other games you can play together as a family
• Performances – your child can dress up, put on some fun music & they can ‘perform’ for you

• Baking cookies or cakes together as a special treat
• Involve them in meal preparation for the family dinner
• Older children could be responsible for making a meal for the family
• Gardening together – watering, pull the weeds or planting new seeds.
• Allow your child to add value to the family by doing age-appropriate chores.

Reading books with your children is a grounding tool for them. It not only helps them process big emotions & develop empathy, but the time of connection with a parent is also calming for them.

• If your local library is still open, you could borrow books
• Book swap with one of your mama friends
• Get a copy of your favorite children’s books (check out our children’s book about courage “The Boy Who Stood Up Tall”, click here)

Every day, at the same time of day, have your children have “quiet play” in their bedrooms.

This means they can choose any appropriate activity to take into their bedrooms & everyone plays quietly & separately for a set amount of time (20-30mins for children under 5yrs old, & 60mins for children over 5yrs old).

This may take a few practices for young children to learn, but if you stay consistent, they’ll learn.

Quiet play time is not only a life-saver for parents who are managing children at home all day, it’s also a time of day that many children thoroughly enjoy once they have started it.