How to Keep Children Happy, Learning, and Productive: The At-Home Guide
As a parent, it can be hard to find ways to keep your children occupied at home when they get bored or antsy. It can be especially difficult when you and your family are advised to stay at home per safety protocol. The secret to keeping your kids entertained is quite simple: make a routine! We provide some activities that you can incorporate into your child’s day to keep them having fun while learning new things, all at home.
Schedule a Time to Read, Every Day!
Study after study shows the importance of reading to kids. Being at home all day is the perfect opportunity to increase that habit. You can do so by setting reading blocks; fifteen to twenty minutes a day of reading is a great place to start. It could also be helpful to consider structuring this reading block in a few different ways. Perhaps the parents read aloud, then next time, the child reads aloud (if the child can read), and then there could be family silent reading time. If your child wants to extend the reading time, even better! There’s no such thing as getting in too much reading, especially if your child is learning and having fun at the same time.
Schedule In Some Easy In-Door Activities
While you can easily supply some toys for unstructured free play, kids also tend to get excited when parents facilitate some of the fun. Think of activities as “invitations to play.” Easy indoor activities can be a lifeline, a great way to practice school skills and a way to quietly entertain kids. Here are three easy indoor activities for breaking up a day:
Box Road
- You can flatten out a box and draw a road in with a permanent marker. You can add blocks, trucks, and other toys to allow your childrens’ imaginations to go wild by building a city of their own!
Recyclable Art
- If you have some recycled material lying around, this can make perfect material for your children to paint on. Kids enjoy being able to experiment with different materials and make beautiful creations out of them.
Sticky Match-Up
- Draw shapes, letters, numbers, words, or math problems on sticky notes and hide them around the house for your child to find. Then, have your child match them up on a “key” that hangs on the wall.
Make a Screen-Time Routine
If you choose to have screens available to your children while they spend the majority of their time at home, you can set some time in their day-to-day schedule. Taking a break from the learning activities for pure fun is optimal. You can limit the video games and TV time based on your child’s meals, bedtime, and other scheduled blocks throughout the day.
Bob-O’s Family Fun Center: Your Best Source for Entertainment, Inspiration, and More!
Here at the Bob-O’s Family Fun Center, we care about entertaining El Paso’s children and families. And remember to keep us in mind as your source for fun when we all come out of quarantine! We want everyone to visit Bob-O’s Family Fun Center for fun once things get back to normal!
