Fun activities for kids at home, part 2.

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A few days ago we celebrated our 75th day at home. I say celebrated because if I take away our work and our obligations to keep a household running — the time together with our children is truly something special. However, because our day often feels a bit shuffled and work-focused we started implementing a 2 thing question back in the beginning of April; I ask Javi what are two things you want to do today?

For us, two things are manageable — and his list is sometimes so simple “I want to go outside and eat ice cream”; sometimes a little more intensive “I want to make cookies and paint”. But no matter what he says we make those two things our priorities for the day. So, here are some of the activities he’s chosen… along with some other hits.

(If you want to read part 1: go here).

Food Prep:

I love quick food prep ideas that are easy but fun. Chocolate dipped strawberries are a favorite around here along with anything we can make from a box — brownies, cake, muffins! I like to have the kids use a whisk rather than our mixer because they love it and it’s great for motor skills.

Sean’s amazing with making anything not from a box! So when the kids want to make bread or pasta — they go to him 🙂 Food prep is messy but so worth it.

Outdoor Practical Life:

When we realized we were at-home for the long haul we did what every anxious parent with a yard did — bought a swing set! Then we put the kids to work by helping to build it! I can’t tell you how many times Javi and Lola beg to go out and play on this; even in the rain.

Handprint crafts:

I’m such a sucker for handprint crafts. I love to look at how much they’ve grown and kids love to cut with scissors. Get yourself kid scissors and give it a try. Construction paper is a must have.

Letter matching:

Plastic eggs are for more than just easter egg hunts! Javi loved this game of matching lowercase and uppercase letters. I just used painters tape and a sharpie.

Painting with a fork:

Painting with paintbrushes is fun but painting with other things is great, too! Here, he used a fork to add a feathery texture on a chick. Self adhesive googly eyes are a must have for craft time with kids!

Rainbow glasses:

An extension to color mixing! We started with primary colors and then experimented with making orange, green and purple!

Moon dough:

This was so messy but fun! 2 cups of cornstarch and 1 cup of inexpensive conditioner mixed together plus some drops of food coloring, Great for strengthening those fingers! — and they played for days.

KiwiCo:

You all know how great I think KiwiCo is. We get monthly subscriptions for both Javi and Lola and they’re obsessed. The Koala box is what Lola gets and Javi gets the Kiwi box!

Bottle flowers:

We don’t get rid of our recyclables right away… ever! There’s always a craft idea on my mind. Here we used the bottom of the seltzer water bottle to make flowers! Project paint is a must have.

Yoga:

Cosmic Kids yoga on YouTube is the place to be every day around 4:30 at our house. 4:30 is when everyone pretty much stops listening (ha…).

Terrarium:

This terrarium kit for kids is so easy and fun. Since I’m usually holding a baby — I do love activities that don’t require much from me. Then he had the task of watering it every day!

Coffee filter art:

This was another late afternoon activity! All you need: markers, coffee filters and a spray bottle of water. Decorate and spray with water and see what happens! Keeping everything on a tray is best for clean-up!

Planting:

Planting is truly the gift that keeps on giving! We’ve started a bunch of veggies and herbs (in egg cartons — see, save those recyclables!). We also planted outside in our garden beds and pots. The kids love to dig in the dirt!

Stamping a caterpillar:

We used a Pringles container but you could use anything with a circle face! Stamping caterpillars was so fun — and adding legs and antennae with puffy pant was their favorite part!

Birdhouses:

Another fun project was having the kids paint their own birdhouses. Full disclosure: since they’ll be going in the front yard — we helped Lola a good amount! 🙂 — just to make it look even-toned!

Decorating flour sacks:

Fabric markers on anything is fun! We chose flour sack dish towels. But you could decorate bags or clothing or hats!

Egg Cartons:

Egg cartons are so versatile. Among many things you can use them to hold paint (makes for easy clean-up) AND you can also paint a 2×2 egg carton like a flower — and attach a fun straw for a stem!

Cut paper:

Here all I did was cut paper into pieces of a flower and Lola glued them together. But if you need an even simpler quick craft — just have your child rip paper and glue the little pieces onto a larger sheet. Pretty much anything they can rip and glue is perfect.

Rescue:

This is a great fine motor activity! We used easter eggs because we had them handy but you could use pompoms or small balls or marbles. We have this kitchen tool set that came with a perfect child-size ladle for this activity!

Hope this sparks some inspiration!