Coming up with activities to keep your kids busy- and learning- can be exhausting if you’re not used to it. This week try choosing one of the activities I’ve described below and each week you can try something new. Come back often for new ideas every week!
Build an Indoor Fort – Gather as many pillows, cushions, blankets, chairs, etc and bring them all to the room where you’ll build the fort together. Building forts helps foster problem solving skills, as well as teaching them about engineering principles like gravity, balance, and structure integrity. Get creative. Join the process. Let your child take the lead as much as possible!
Grow a Vegetable – Choose something from your kitchen, like a potato, onion, or garlic, that easily resprouts if you don’t use it quickly enough. For each vegetable, the directions are slightly different, but even in a small pot, with sunlight and soil you can grow your own vegetables. You’ll just want to google the specifics for the particular veggie you’re using.
Outdoor Discovery– Exploring the natural world is a great way to teach your child about science and nature as well as hone their gross motor skills. Give your kids a paper bag to collect things from outside and take your child outside to collect the things they find (ie- leaves, roly polies, rocks, twigs, flowers, blades of grass, etc). After they’re done collecting, give them each a magnifying glass from the dollar store and a paper (or other non-breakable) plate that can act as the observation deck. Help them get a closer look with the magnifying glass and explore with their hands.
Make Tortillas Together – Working together in the kitchen is a great bonding experience! (And it’s one of my favorites.) Tortillas are an easy recipe to start with since there are very few ingredients and kids love using a rolling pin to help make the tortillas flat. Another reason they’re a great introduction to the kitchen together is that they don’t take a lot of time.
Make “Oobleck” – I love it when a good book inspires some fun science at home! At some point since it was written, Bartholomew and the Oobleck, written by Dr. Seuss got connected to a non-Newtonian fluid (basically a substance that acts like a liquid and a solid). Grab the book at your local library, then invite your kids to help you make your own Oobleck at home! You just need 1 cup of cornstarch per ¾ cup of water. Put the cornstarch in a bowl, slowly add the water and mix it. Toss in some toys for added play time!
Hopefully these ideas help spark your own curiosity along with your kids’ so you can come up with even more ideas on your own! Don't be afraid to get creative when it comes to keeping your little ones busy - they'll thank you later!
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