Are you a mother of a toddler? Is your toddler home bound since March? Have you reached your saturation point on being calm with your toddler? Are you scratching your head to find new ways of keeping your young ones occupied?
I am sure all the mothers either working or not are facing this challenge post Covid outbreak and struggling to help their children adapt to the new normal. Their patience level has gone down and temper levels have increased. It is a task keeping kids engaged in a fruitful activity for a longer period of time. As most of the stocked up toys and books have been opened and nothing new is left with the parents, now is the time to think out of the box and bring the creativity to the table.
In one of my previous articles (https://www.mysecondinnings.in/2020/03/activities-to-do-with-toddlers-during.html), I had mentioned some unique activities to do with your kids. Now I would like to share few more ideas which I have done with my 4 year old daughter. Well this does not mean she doesn't have her share of screen time but yes its in a controlled manner.
Few activities which have worked for me:
Do It Yourself (DIY) Activities
You should invest some part of the day to do some quick and easy set up DIY’s as per the age of the kid. The basic sensory DIY’s activity can be started as early as when the kids starts sitting on their own. There are many resources and ideas available online for making DIY’a at home with stuff which is readily available. If a kids looses interest in his toys then re-create it or make some new. You can choose for DIY’s from vast topics like including gross motor skills development activities, fine motor play, sensory bags, art and craft. These activities can keep your kid occupied for a good number of hours. Let them explore and discover new ways of doing things. This will help them in building perception.
In the below example, I have created a grid and placed few things on different grid points. I created another grid but left it empty and the task for my daughter was to replicate the things as per first grid.
Learn a new Skill
This activity can be done by both the parents and kids. You can think of reviving your long lost hobby or interests. Pick up a new hobby like cooking, painting, writing etc and spend few hours doing it every day. You can opt for gardening, painting, making different products from waste material with your. This will help your kid in gaining confidence on trying new things. Let them explore different options by
leaving them alone with some stuff and see how they play with them.
Inculcate Reading Habit
If you want your kid to develop the habit of reading then you need to read with your kid too. Also, inmany instances kids might want you to read one particular story many number of times but that is absolutely fine and you should be patient and keep reading. For toddlers, one can use large hardbooks with loads of colorful images. This will help the kid to relate to the story well and it will enhance his imagination and creativity.
Focus on Fitness
Due to lockdown, parents are avoiding taking their kids to the parks and this is advisable too in the current situation. Kids are home bound and the level of physical fitness has been overlooked. Parents should let their kids run, jump around a bit in the house. There are many free online exercise sessions for kids and even the government has taken an initiative towards it. Recreation is necessary for the brain development in the child. Let her have some outdoor activities like you can arrange a small obstacle race (in case you have space in your house), set up a treasure hunt game, etc. Try doing yoga, dance and aerobics with the kid. This way the kid will enjoy and you will also get time to release your stress levels.
- Teaching Life Skills - The early you start teaching your kids the basic skills a better decision maker she becomes in future. Making them aware of the daily and basic chores like folding clothes, winding up their toys after they finish playing, laying table, etc can help them in setting their routines and developing a sense of discipline in them.
Role Play or Free Play
Give your kid time to have his/her own free play time. They will talk to themselves or imaginative people and all this will help in language development, imagination power and building thinking process. Let them play the role of the community helpers around them. This will help them understanding the roles of the helpers and building a sense of empathy. Children will formulate their problems and solutions too.
In the below picture my daughter is playing the role of a cashier at a supermarket and selling different products to us.
