Ways to Keep the Children Entertained During Lockdown

Ways to Keep the Children Entertained During Lockdown

We’re just entering week 3 of our lockdown and for some, tensions are starting to boil. Everyday trying to find ways to keep the children entertained during lockdown can seem an impossible task. For some, week 3 feels like week 30. And for others, the days are enjoyable.

One thing I found during week 1 was that the school Mum chat was a constant source of agitation. Quite often the conversations between the Mums seemed to turn into who could come up with the best and most creative activities for their children. Many of the Mums in these chats are working on the frontline and don’t have time to spend hours planning elaborate games and fun-filled activities for their children each and every day. So as a rule, I steer clear of the “Mum chats” for inspiration.

I too have to work from home during this difficult time. My husband is in the extremely vulnerable category and so the whole family have to limit our time spent outdoors. My children have only left the home twice in the past three weeks. So our days are spent in the home.

Now, not all kids are the same. What works to keep my children entertained during lockdown might not work for yours. Nevertheless I wanted to share with you all some of the things we’ve been doing to keep our children entertained during this horrible lockdown period.

Crafts

Not a popular choice for all, but we’ve found crafts have kept us sane and provided hours of play. With Easter just around the corner and Spring making an appearance, we’ve been able to focus on some seasonal crafts.

Mrs Mactivity offer some amazing craft activities. And during lockdown, some of these activities are available free of charge!

An all-time favourite of mine is salt dough. When we’re stuck for something to do, salt dough is a cheap and easy activity that always seems to engage my 6-year-old.

Salt Dough Ingredients:

1 cup of plain flour

Half a cup of salt

Half a cup of water

Mix the ingredients together in a mixing bowl. Then roll out the mixture as you would pastry. It’s really easy to mould and make some fantastic shapes with. We used salt dough to make some Easter eggs!

You can then paint your salt dough creations. I find that acrylic paints work the best. However children’s washable paints also work fine too!

Exercising in the Garden

As noted above, because my husband is in a high risk category, exercise beyond the home isn’t really an option for us.

My 6-year-old and I have been making extensive use of our garden. We do have a rather small garden and the lawn is a mess. However, we do have patio flags. There isn’t much space.

We have invented a game we now play daily. We start out from opposite sides of the patio, and when we meet, we high five. We’ve turned this into our daily challenge. I set the stopwatch on my Fitbit and we see how many high fives we can do in 10 minutes. This is such a simple game which requires very little space but means we are both getting some much-needed exercise and some playtime too! And if the weather turns, well move the game indoors!

Start a Project

Aurelia didn’t really have much choice – at some point, she’d be made to do a history project of some sort. She has taken an interest in the Tudors, so last week we started our Tudors project. Now she is only 6 so I’ve made some very simple activities for her. We’ve created a timeline and she has coloured in some pictures.

I found all these resources online and they were all free! Check out my post Sites Offering Free Resources for Children for some great links!

Card Games

Day 2 of lockdown, I realised, to my utter disappointment that I didn’t have a full pack of playing cards in the house! However, all was not lost! There are some excellent apps which offer card games. In fact, solitaire was pre-installed on my laptop and tablet. I’ve used this time to explore some of these card games with Aurelia and have taught her how to play Solitaire – she will never be bored again!

If you do have a pack of playing cards, why not play some simple card games like snap or ‘go fish’ with the children.

Keep a Diary

We started a ‘lockdown’ diary earlier this week. I have told Aurelia that she can write anything she likes in this diary. I really want her to use her imagination here. She has drawn some adorable pictures in her diary and kept a daily account of the activities we have done so far this week. I can’t wait to read this with her in years to come!

Simple Science Experiments

Aurelia loves her science lessons at school and she has told me repeatedly that she really misses this aspect of her school day. We decided to conduct some really simple science experiments. Here is her favourite:

Rainbow Experiment:

Add a little water to two small bowls of water.

Take a piece of kitchen roll and shape it into a rainbow (we folded rather than cutting).

Take a number of different coloured felt tip pens. Colour a rainbow upto 2cm on both sides of the kitchen roll.

Attach a paper clip to the arch of your rainbow so you can hold it.

Place the rainbow into the water and watch the colours rise.

To take the experiment further, we used differ net volumes of water to see how the results differed.

Baking

The ultimate go-to activity in my house for children when they moan they are bored has always been baking! We’re currently struggling to find eggs in our local shops so our usual cake baking is a no go. We’ve enjoyed some delicious rice krispie cakes instead. Using rice krispies and melted chocolate, Aurelia has created some tasty treats!

Do you have any tips for keeping the children entertained during lockdown? Please share them in the comments below.

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10 Comments

  1. April 8, 2020 / 8:28 pm

    This is so helpful, thanks for sharing. My little brother is starting to miss school because of the boredom that comes with sitting at home, so these tips will definitely be useful!

    xoxo Olivia | http://www.oliviaandbeauty.com/

    • Lellalee
      Author
      April 8, 2020 / 8:40 pm

      I’m so glad they helped xxx

  2. Jaya Avendel
    April 8, 2020 / 8:40 pm

    I love your garden exercise idea and that rainbow experiment looks like such fun!

    Card games are a go-to in my house. We love Uno and Five Crowns from Set. And I can play Solitaire until I look up and the time has whirled by . . . keep on having fun and staying safe. 🙂

    • Lellalee
      Author
      April 8, 2020 / 8:42 pm

      I have never played UNO! I must give this a go!!!xxx

      • Jaya Avendel
        April 8, 2020 / 9:06 pm

        It is a fun and simple game. Hope you enjoy. 🙂

  3. thelifeofashleighdavis
    April 9, 2020 / 6:48 am

    There’s some great ideas here that will definitely help some parents in need! I actually wrote something similar recently 🙂

    Ashleigh

  4. Lisa Alioto
    April 9, 2020 / 12:35 pm

    I love the projects that they find fun that is our work – I know kids that love to do the laundry (i always did as a kid) or cooking treats. 🙂 They have fun and we have less work – win-win!

  5. April 9, 2020 / 9:15 pm

    I really feel for anyone looking after kids right now, especially if they’re still working from home (I’ve heard some very funny child interruptions on my mum’s conference calls the last few weeks). I’m glad you’re finding ways to try and keep them both entertained and learning in this difficult time. I love the sound of her little history project x

    Sophie

    • Lellalee
      Author
      May 20, 2020 / 7:53 pm

      Thank you Sophie xxx

  6. April 10, 2020 / 7:41 pm

    These are great ideas. The game you and your daughter play in the garden sounds fun!

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