For most stay-at-home parents to keep up with the kids, sometimes taking out “me” time is almost impossible when the kids are at home. The struggle of juggling between the regular household chores while also attending to the kids is exhausting and sometimes, even frustrating.
In addition, if you are one of those parents who work from home, the pressure of managing work-related responsibilities while also taking care of the house and kids are overwhelmingly arduous. Therefore, it is imperative for working parents to strike the perfect balance in allocating their time and energy to the kids and their professional commitments.
The key to keeping your kids occupied at home is to create a daily schedule of fun and engaging activities for them. For school going kids who are not participating in their normal activities due to the closure of schools, assembling an organized schedule will help them spend their time more productively while also enjoying their time off from school.
In light of the current health situation around the world, parents have been faced with a challenge to keep their children productively occupied while also limiting their screen time to avoid the unhealthy repercussions of technology on their mental and physical health.
Here is a list of ten indoor activities to keep the kids engaged and excited while at home.
1. GIVE THEM BOOKS TO READ
This is a smart way to encourage kids to read while at home. During the time off from school, parents have an excellent opportunity to help their kids develop effective reading habits to improve their analytical and critical thinking skills. The trick is to let your children decide what type of book they are interested in reading.
You can also start an activity where you encourage the kids to summarize what they read. This will motivate the kids to read more intently and enthusiastically. But make sure that you do not pressurize them to read every day because it might just start to feel like a chore to them instead of an engaging activity.
2. PAINTING
Painting is an essential tool to assess your child’s creative inclinations. At a young age, most children are extremely fascinated with different colors. Personally speaking, painting has been a hobby for me since a very young age. I think that painting allows individuals to express their thoughts and imagination in a, particularly picturesque manner.
Encourage your kids to transmit their imagination and creativity to the poster boards by making use of all the different kinds of colors available. You must allow the kids to be as imaginative and creative with their drawings and paintings as possible. Do not let the mess bother you, let them have fun with the paint and create their own masterpieces.
A poster board, some paints, and a paintbrush are the best things to keep kids busy.
3. DEDICATED NAP TIME
Getting an ample amount of sleep is essential for growing children. Usually, young kids get really fidgety and restless during the afternoon and require a nap to recharge themselves. Therefore, this small window of a few hours during their naptime can be utilized efficiently to get work done around the house. But make sure you do not schedule professional commitments during this time, the last thing you need is your crying kid to intrude in the middle of an important online meeting.
4. EDUCATIONAL GAMES
In today’s tech-centric society, it is difficult to keep the younger generations away from their phones and tablets. Most parents, therefore, find it difficult to regulate the use of technology within their households.
Excessive and unhealthy use of technology within the younger demographic of our society has been a downside of the accelerated technological advancements in the last few decades. But technology can also be used as an efficient and engaging tool to educate children while at home.
Using a computer or tablet at home, you can let the kids play educational games while you look after your work responsibilities. Most educational games are designed to impart learning in an interactive way, also encouraging children to think and analyze.
But it is important to ensure that you set time restrictions on the games as they can be addictive and excessive screen time due to these games can be harmful to children.
It might seem like an easier and hassle-free option to leave the kids in front of the screen while you enjoy some quiet time but prolonged periods of screen exposure to young kids can be detrimental to their health, it would also be a counter-productive exercise in your attempt to keep the kids productively occupied.
5. PUZZLES
Jigsaw puzzles are one of the best things to keep kids busy. Puzzle-making can be employed as an independent activity for the children, or it can also be used as an interactive family-bonding exercise.
How to keep a single child busy? A jigsaw puzzle can be a child’s best friend when no one else is around to play with.
6. PLAYDATES
If your child is of school-going age, you can invite one of their friends over for a playdate. This can be an excellent opportunity for the children to have fun within the vicinity of your home.
7. TOYS
Every child loves toys, be it stuffed animals or superhero action figures. Kids love to spend hours and hours playing with their pretend friends and creating imaginary scenarios in their heads.
8. BOARD GAMES
Board games like Scrabble, Monopoly, and Dabble are fun and engaging pastime activities for children. It can also help them hone their thinking skills and creative abilities.
9. OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES
To ensure that the kids remain both physically and mentally active during their time off from school, parents need to set up a daily timeslot for the children to go outside and have fun. Make sure that the children are effectively supervised while playing outdoors.
If possible, accompany them to the nearby park, you can carry your work laptop along with you to catch up on some work-related tasks while the kids enjoy their day out at the park.
10. HOUSEHOLD CHORES
A lot of parents keep asking, “How do I keep my kids busy indoors?” Although there is no straightforward answer to this question, encouraging your children to participate in running household errands is an excellent way to keep them productively occupied and also conditioning them to become independent by teaching them essential life skills.
While it can sometimes be overwhelming to manage your professional life along with taking care of young children. It is undoubtedly one of the most memorable phases of a parent’s life.
