A couple of days ago, as I was working on getting weeks worth of laundry put away, out tumbled some cute little “soxies” (as my husband likes to call them). I picked up one of these pairs of socks that belong to my 4 yr old daughter and thought ‘Well, wouldn’t it be nice if I had some of these right now‘. They had patterns of girly-colored hearts, shapes and stripes had the days of the week on them.
You see, I was vacationing away in Mexico when all of sudden the U.S. closed on us. So if everyone else was not prepared for such massive wave of impact, imagine us upon returning 2 weeks after “all this” started. Now, 20 days later I am starting to want to be able to feel when it’s the weekend!
I’ve been taking some new activities of ours as well as ideas I hadn’t thought of and compiled them to create a new routine that will help me look forward to particular days of the week!😍 Sounds so fun to me, honestly. So I have decided to share these realistic ideas with you because I KNOW how hard it is and how helpless you feel when you seem stuck and your children can’t understand what is going on in the world as it is.
OH!👇
At Home Family Activities
If you want quality moments that, in the process, bring value to you and the people you love, this post is a must read! In fact, the ultimate take away (besides my “what-day-is-it-today” hacks at the end of this post) will be a printable you can keep on hand to get ideas from right off the bat of things that can keep you and your kiddos busy! Here are 25 At Home Family Activities you will love way past quarantine (because we will get past this)!
Want to be able to get back to this later? Save to your favorite family life board on Pinterest!👇
Make a bird feeder. You’re probably investing more time in your backyard as it is and the baby birds have finally hatched so how about amusing your little ones (and yoursevles, why not) whike you are it!
Start a garden. Now is the ideal time for the kiddos to have this learning experience (I definately am) and have enjoy some fun in the process. If it weren’t weren’t for “all this that’s going on”, I don’t think I would have ever started my flower garden I’d been wanting so long!
Race with cardboard boxes. I have a 1 yr old still in daipers so when our evening playtime approaches, it’s time to take out the Pampers daiper boxes and run across the hall with the babies in ’em. (I hear cute baby giggles)🤗
Have a car wash! Where I am, it is already warm enough outside and it’s one of those tasks the man of the house can invest quite some time on (and feel good about) while the kiddos ‘help’ and spend time together.
Try rock painting! To me, this was one of those “eh, nay sounds boring” kinda of activity, that once I end up doing it, I get so caught up on my own creativity haha.
Build a large fort in your living room. If your family isn’t huge, you can make a fort big enough to fit everyone in for a movie night, story telling, board game, you name it!
Musical chairs is one of our favorite family night games. It’s an activity we were already used to playing since long before being “stuck at home”, and it never gets old!
Set up a fancy picnic table outback! One morning, while watching Saturday morning tv, a scene came on with children setting up a brightly decorated table outside with some playfood. “Mommy I wanna do that”, said my 4 yr old. On that sunny day, in that very moment I went ahead and assured her I would plan a fabulous outdoor lunch with a nice homemade drink and all!!
Play some Shadows In The Night. I found this idea on another site and instantly got excited to try it! It consists of using a decent flashlight in a dark room to shine under a colander for a “stargazing” effect or with toy animals or hand shapes to enjoy the shadows.
Have a camping night in the back yard. The fun in this idea is knowing that a night like this consist more of just some blankets in a tent. It’s yummy foods, fun foods, story telling, singing, you name it!
Watch old home videos and go through old photos. Not only is this a fun and special thing to do, but it is an activity that will ensue quality story telling, sharing and discussing; it will be heart to heart.
Charades is one i recently tried with my toddlers not knowing if they were too little to “get it” or find it fun and they loved it so quick, they only let me do like two before proceeding to fight for their turn🤣
Play hide and seek. This is yet another non quarantine related favorite in our family, that is since my toddlers were old enough. This has always been my favorite game since as far back to my childhood as I can remember, so i have no trouble being a kid again when it comes to hide n’ seek!
Snuggle on the couch and read lots of books! Ideally, this is a very calming, cozy and peaceful way to conclude your day with your children. It triggers senses of joy, love and harmony. What an amazing feeling to tuck them in bed with for the night.
PILLOW FIGHT!!! When your kiddos are in the mood for wild play and they’re not approaching it in the best or safest ways, pillow fights are my go to! You can play in their room with their or run around the living room with the throw pillows!
Have a karaoke night. This one is a blast for us since we have a disco ball and large sound system and mikes, but you absolutely do NOT need to get fancy for it to be fun!
Visit an online market place or apps to find cheap sales of things like outdoor games, play structures, trampolines, etc. For example we just got us a free Spalding Basketball Hoop and is one our ultime outdoor time consumer!!🏀
Work out as a family even (and especially) if that means getting some fresh air on a bike ride or some roller skates.
Take a good look at your particular gifts or talent and nurture them! My husband and I, for example, have our own band and we have taken this time to grow our music and expand the areas that can use more creativity as well as learn new songs.
Get back in touch with genuine friends you have lost touch with over them. Check on them, do face time video chats, catch up and make new connections as well!
Have take-out night! This is one of those things you can do to look forward to if you do it…every Friday, for example! Be it pizza, be it chinese or burgers, have a nice family time restaurant meal.
Watch Monterey Bay Aquarium LIVE Cams of their animals and eachs’ activities during any given time of the day!
Watch LIVE African Wildlife!
Try window painting! If you have a large window somewhere in your home easily and safely at your children’s reach, paint something creative on it with your kiddos!
Pray! Pray as a family and carry out daily devotionals. If this was not already a part of your family life, now is the ideal time to approacha new beginning on a spiritual level and practice it long term, even after “all this is over”!
Final Thoughts
Ok. So!👏 Here’s are some ideas I’ve decided to try, in order to look forward to and enjoy certain week days (as I always try to on a daily basis, but want to even more). I already have plenty ideas on keeping busy, now I just pick certain days for certain tasks.
Mondays can be deep cleaning days, Fridays can be take-out night, Saturdays can be for running errands, Sundays can be picnic lunch outback or cook out night, etc. You get the idea.
Apart from this, you can pick certain activity types for certain weekdays. Here’s an example, On a Monday, I won’t have alot of time or inspiration to make up my mind and prep and activity, so our special play time/activity of the day will look something like something like sensory play (aka playdough, slime,etc) Or lets take Wednesday for example. One thing I’ve done since before was kind of “celebrate” the middle of the week as a fun way to get out of the weekly routine funk and be like ‘we’re half way through, let’s do a little something out of the ordinary!’
The situation we are in is cleary out of the ordinar and I whole heartedly hope this post expanded your ideas and motivate you to come up with how you will make the best of what’s left of this time!
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