It has been almost two weeks that some of us have been navigating the "shelter in place" situation. It has been a "masala" of emotions over at my house. I started out full of optimism and a color coded schedule that my 8 year old helped make. And now 15+ days in, I have convinced myself that Nintendo Dance 2020 should count as P.E. time. 🤷🏾♀️ With 3 kids and 2 working parents and anxiety at an all time high, the balance of WFWK is REAL. Through trial and error, I started a simple list on our bulletin board of quick activities that at least one or more of my kids can do when I need join a meeting. I found it helpful to break it down even further to activities to do when I am actually leading a Zoom meeting versus when I just need to listen in and can mute the call. I split it up into recommended ages based on my kids ages (2, 5, & 8) and how long they actually played with these so you can choose a few depending on if your call is 30 minutes or 1 hour. Hopefully this will help some of you who are WFWK. (BTW-hover over the title and I link to the stuff I recommend from Amazon. I do not have time to get affiliated links for these recommendations, so buy or don't buy, ain't no thing to me!)
ZOOM meeting/conference call - that you need to concentrate on or need little distraction (i.e. need to actually LEAD the meeting): Play doh (works for all 3 kids, ages 2, 5 and 8) - (estimated attention span about 20-30 minutes) an oldie but a goodie, play doh has saved me this week. For the 2 year old, I put out cookie cutters and play doh tools for her to mess around with. I give her a big tray (baking sheet will work) and put her on the kitchen floor, open up the containers and let her go to town. For my 5 year old, he's really enjoying the play doh kits (ice cream, hamburgers etc). I give them separate trays to avoid any sharing battles. My 8 year old even got into the zone and created these amazing mini food displays.
Magic Matter Sand (2, 5 and 8 year old) (estimated attention span about 20-30 minutes) same idea as play do and actually you can use the same play doh tools and cookies cutters. I like this better than the kinetic sand as it sticks together better and is an even easier clean up.
Scrubbies (2 and 5 year old really enjoy this) (estimated attention span about 20 minutes) She loves this. Washing these animals in a mini tub, what's not to like. Just set them up over a big beach towel ideally on the kitchen floor. Warning, water tends to run out quick if it is just the 2 year old so you may want to include a little bowl for them to refill if you cannot be interrupted.
Stamps (2 and 5 year old) (estimated attention span 20-30 minutes) I recommend getting just plain white paper and a whole lotta stamps and stamp pads. Throw in some colored pencils for the 5 year old and they are quietly entertained for awhile.
Aqua Mat (2, 5 and 8 year old) (estimated 15-20 minutes) Another water activity that keeps their attention pretty well and they can practice writing their names and letters! My older two even did math problems on it with the water pen.
Paint sticks (2, 5 and 8 year old) (estimated 15-20 minutes) Another easy thing to give them with white paper or coloring books. It changes it up a bit from regular markers and not as messy as paint.
Zoom meeting/conference call that you can mute (i.e. these are a little more involved activities for the kiddos) 🙉 In case you are on a call that you can mute and just listen in these activities also work well but they may require your help. Puzzles Wood puzzles for the 2 year old work well! These are the ones we like for our 2 year old. My older kiddos have a bunch that we can choose from too.
Rainbow Scratch paper (2, 5 and 8 year old) (estimated 15-20 minutes) All 3 of my kids really enjoy these and they are great to grab in a pinch.
Duplos/Legos (2, 5 and 8 year old) (estimated 15-20 minutes) All of my kids love playing with legos. I pull out the duplos for my 2 year old and my older 2 sometimes play along with her or have their lego sets to work with.
Magnetiles (2, 5 and 8 year old) (estimated 15-20 minutes)
Make a Face Sticker Pad (2, 5 and 8 year old) (estimated 15-20 minutes) These are fun for them to do together and my 2 year old often needs a little help with these
These are some activities that my 8 year old has been enjoying and good incentives to get through actual school work. Age range 7+, estimated attention span think is very child specific for these particular activities but my daughter can spend sometimes an hour working on these. Scroll over the title and I have linked similar items on Amazon.
Harry Potter lego sets are pricey but so worth it!
Fairies Coloring Book or Mandala Art Coloring Books - Mostly she loves the huge set of fine tipped markers
Graphic Nonfiction Novels that she is enjoying are about the Titanic and Christopher Columbus. We count reading this as part of her school work.
Emoji face Uno (our 5 year old is into this too!)
Scratch Art - large pack of rainbow scratch art that my 2 and 5 year old enjoy too
Plain white papered sketch book that she draws in after snapping photos when we go on nature walks
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