5 Better Ways to Distract Kids at Home
What do you do when you have to stay inside during a lockdown and want to keep your kids engaged and active? You don’t want to let them watch TV all the time. Here are 5 healthy ways to keep them busy and having fun without spending money on expensive toys.
There are so many household items that you already have that make a great play for kids and teach them new skills.
Cook Together and Bake Cookies
Cooking is a lot of fun if presented the right way. Why not let your little ones help you out. You can give them basic tasks like mixing things or preparing ingredients.
And if your kids are still little, persuade them by making fun foods like cookies and mini cakes. Let them spruce up their own or even create new shapes.
All you need is ingredients for basic cookie dough, decorations, and some molds to make it lots of fun. After they’re done, they can help you clean and wait for the sweets to bake. By helping you out, they learn basic cooking skills and get creative. Just wait until they proudly show you their baked creations and expect compliments for them. You can easily distract them for hours and get your cookie jars full at the same time.
Let Them Listen to Music and Have Their Own Party
But without distracting you. You probably don’t want to listen to kids’ music over and over again. Frankly, it gets a bit frustrating after a while. But there’s a solution.
Let them listen to music with headphones.
Give them headphones, turn on their favorite music and let them have their own little party. In the meantime, you can take some time off or do your chores.
Kids today listen to more music than ever before. That’s why it’s essential to let them do it in a healthy way without risks and bad influences. Check what music they’re listening to and give them the right headphones suitable for children.
BuddyPhones makes great headphones for kids of all ages, and most importantly, they’re safe. With an integrated volume limiter, your kid’s ears are protected from noise-induced hearing damage no matter how long they listen.
You can even adjust them depending on your kid’s age. HeadphonesAddict chose BuddyPhones as the best headphones for toddlers who have more sensitive hearing and need extra protection from loud noises. And BuddyPhones headphones are also perfect for watching cartoons, TV, playing games, and school work over the internet.
Awaken Their Creative Side with Painting
There’s nothing more fun than making images in your head become a reality. There are many options, from pencils and drawing chalks to edible finger colors. Choose the coloring method and canvas, and the fun begins.
In times of a lockdown, you have to make drawing extra enjoyable. Here are a couple ideas:
- Get extra big sheets of paper and let them make huge drawings
- Use big packaging boxes and let them create their own toy out of it. You can make it into a house, vehicle, or anything else you can imagine.
- If you feel incredibly daring, let them color a wall.
The forbidden things are always more fun. But instead of drawing a painting in the living room, let them have their own colorful wall in their room. If it’s something new, it’s always more fun. Just make sure you have enough wall paint to clean the canvas afterward.
Plus, colors don’t cost a lot of money, and they never get old, even for older kids.
Create a Tent or Blanket Fort
Are you stuck inside, and kids are bored with all of their toys? Create a tent blanket fort. You can imagine it to be anything you want. A pirate base, a castle, an adventurer’s tent, or a princess mansion.
Take out your old blankets and let kids have some fun with them. Letting them “redecorate” a part of your home that’s usually not a playground will make it more appealing. They can roleplay and create their own story, play games inside their new home, and even sleep over.
To keep it new, go the extra mile this time, help them out with some cool ideas and new things that can make the whole experience of a magical tent more attractive. If you’re feeling it, you can even roleplay yourself and take the role of a horrible monster that wants to eat them while they cover in a tent. And let the laughter ensue.
Create a Treasure Hunt at Home
There’s nothing more fascinating than the allure of a gift and playing a game to get it. Tell your kid you have hidden a treasure. It can be any small thing they like. And they have to find it to get it.
You can help them out with some pointers by creating a hand-drawn map or guiding them they’re getting closer or further away, but never tell them directly. Let them roam around enthusiastically and search for the reward. They can even dress up into pirates if that’s what they like.
And don’t forget to let them know they have to put back everything they make a mess of. After that, just watch how engaged they get. It’s interesting to see how they tackle the problem. Some kids try to cheat a bit and negotiate the information from their parents. Some go into a searching frenzy. It’s an excellent way to keep them active without toys, and it’s a good excuse to let them tidy up their rooms.
A lockdown can be challenging for kids who always need new things to do. But with a little bit of creativity, you can create a fun playing time without expensive toys or constant supervision. And it beats watching TV every time.
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