Bored-at-home

Our world changed from one day to the next. As a mom of a 5 year old, I quickly realized that we needed to get a different schedule up and running to provide a stressless environment for ourselves and for our little girl. (May I add she is a sensory seeker just to keep things interesting). We still wake up every morning and have coffee in bed together with some play time. But we have added the visual calendar where we list the activities of the day by making small drawings so that my little one can refer to this plan during the day and ‘read’ it herself. I refer to this daily plan several times especially when Little Legs get restless and the words ‘I am bored’ want to spill over her lips.

I follow a few golden rules for this daily plan: It has to have at least one activity each of the following categories: 1. Gross motor activity such as dancing, jumping on the trampoline, taking a long walk, practicing riding her bike or any kind of sport. We are lucky that her dance school is posting on-demand online dance tutorials. (I sometimes join in or use this time for my own online fitness class.) 2. A fine motor activity that can include coloring in, crafts, playing with small objects etc. 3. A learning activity where she can explore something new. We have done experiments, read books and watched informative videos. 4. A creative activity of any kind from drawing in sand to decorating our windows with washable crayons. 5. Helping with at least one chore. Our little one loves to bake or just help with preparing some meals. Of course it takes longer than usual, but she is engaged and we both are having fun. I have even gotten her to help with the laundry folding and sorting. She loves the mommy-time and I get my chores done. 6. The most important category is free time for all. Our rule is that everyone can do whatever they want, but this is a time to leave mommy and daddy alone so we get to do the things we need to do.

I am absolutely grateful for all the resources popping up all over the internet. My favorite is to visit live webcams of zoos. We visit our favorite zoo often online. https://kids.sandiegozoo.org/videos where they not only have live webcams, but also great activity ideas and games.

What has been working for you so far and what is your go-to activities or ideas to survive at home? Please add comments and share some helpful ideas. And most importantly…stay healthy my friends!