Since the quantity of time at home has increased recently with no clear end in sight, parents may be feeling burnt out for new and creative ideas about spending quality time with their children. Here are a few ways to switch it up a bit.
- Grow your plant family and craft arsenal.
Keeping plants inside the house or tending to a small garden outside is a great way to pass down a green thumb to your children. Cultivate your children’s minds and curiosity as you teach them lessons about the proper care for their plants, such as the difference between direct and indirect sunlight, reversing root rot and brown spots, and providing fresh soil full of nutrients to help their houseplant grow big and strong just like them.
Teaching your kids how to care for a finicky plant may also be a fantastic lesson in responsibility before they take on caring for a family pet. A fiddle leaf fig may be the perfect picky plant for you and your kids before they earn that family puppy. Fiddle leaf figs are gorgeous, vibrant plants with large leaves. After caring for your new plants together with your children, it is inevitable that you will see new growth not only in what you are growing in the pot, but also in your children’s growing minds, interests, and curiosities, too.
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- Make a DIY board game together.
Have fun creating an interactive game together with your children. Let them practice taking turns as they each come up with a new idea to add to their collective project and practice sharing as they use their arts and crafts supplies to build to their game board.
Try adding an interactive element to the game where players must perform a task or action in order to complete their turn. You could also ask your children to solve a math problem, spell a word from their last homework assignment, or repeat a silly dance move.
RELATED: How Playing Games Can Help With Learning
- Skip the raincheck.
Spend a rainy day outdoors (within reason, of course) with the whole family for some fresh air and quality puddle splashing time. Consider purchasing a weather shield for your baby’s stroller so the entire family can take an afternoon walk in the park or around the neighborhood.
A Stroller Buzz Universal Rain Cover & Weather Shield is the best stroller rain cover to keep moisture away from your baby while still having fun together as a family. Did you know that babies may even sleep better and longer with cooler fresh air? Bundle baby up, tell your kids to grab their rain boots, and skip the raincheck to get in some prime puddle jumping time together. Rest assured, this stroller weather shield will wick excess water away even in the most humid environment.
- Have them help out with chores.
Are your house chores piling up while your children simultaneously grow more bored with each passing day inside? Let them help you out with some easy tasks around the house and make memories together as you teach them the importance of hygiene, responsibility, and other life lessons and values you would like to share with them. You might even end up with a diligent toilet scrubber by the end of it, or a happy vacuuming helper.
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- Go on a scavenger hunt
Scavenger hunts are a quick, easy, and fun way to shake things up around the house, and they are great for many reasons:
- you can do them inside or outside, and limit boundaries easily
- kids exercise creativity and their “pretending” muscle
- your children can be involved in creating the game, too
RELATED: Free Printable Scavenger Hunts
Children are also likely to create their own scavenger hunts after you show them how. If you need ideas to get you started, here’s a link to free printable scavenger hunts. If you have older children, you can even consider incorporating technology such as cellphones and texting, mapping, or even video games to make it a little more challenging.
