Noopur Shrivastav gives us tips and ideas for creative play and activities that can keep our kids engaged while in quarantine. She shares her picks for indoor games and suggestions to make quarantine less stressful and more fun!
Beginning this October, there has been a spike in kids’ Covid-19 positivity rates. This time, kids from 4-16 years have been especially vulnerable. Unlike before, when kids hardly got affected by the virus and the infection rates were very low. Temperature drop and closed environments have made our kids vulnerable to virus attacks.
In Switzerland, the infection rate among kids was less than 5% until the second wave.
Since the onset of the fifth wave, kids in primary schools and Kindergarten have been catching infections and they need to be in isolation. As of now, only children above 12 years of age are being vaccinated in Switzerland, hence most pupils in primary schools are unvaccinated. Hence infection is quite high among kids under 12 years.
Keeping kids in quarantine is not an easy task. As most kids have mild symptoms, they feel excited and energetic for most of the day. Keeping them busy is a challenge that every family that goes into quarantine has been facing these days.
Many websites such as this one have tips as to how you can better manage work with kids around you. How talking within the family as individuals helps in managing the situation better as individuals’ perspectives are heard and understood.
However, there are some fun ways kids can be kept engaged and they have fun playing these games. You will need a buy a few additional things if you don’t have them already.
Swing Ball
This is a great way to spend your time indoors. Swing balls come with stands that you can use indoors or outdoors. These are great for hand and eye coordination and keep kids active for hours. They can practice tennis solo or with a partner with this set.
You can order these sets from various websites such as Amazon, Decathlon, etc, to name a few.
Ping Pong
My 10 and 12 years old had to quarantine twice in November and December. We extended our dining table and got ping pong rackets and balls. our family took turns while playing this game. Kids usually love playing table tennis with their parents. This helps us do some workouts and you don’t feel the boredom of isolation.
Indoor Trampoline
This is absolutely fun and kids love jumping on trampolines. Fix the trampoline on the carpet or floor and kids will sweat buckets if they jump on it for some time. If you chose to buy an adult trampoline, maybe adults and kids both can have jumping fun together. This way your quarantine could translate into a bonding time, a better fitness level will be the bonus.
Just Dance
‘Just Dance’ is a dance game that is fun for boys and girls of different age groups. Who does not like to shake her legs and see how he/she fared on the dance number? ‘Just Dance’ is fun- both alone or in pairs and groups. So, just play the song or music you like to dance on and sweat the quarantine out.
Floor is Lava
You can create your version of the game “Floor is Lava”. You can arrange mats, cartons, mattresses and set up imaginary zones of lava. Kids have to jump from one safe spot to another, saving themselves from falling into the lava. You can choose to set a time to complete the obstacle course or combine it with the game of tag and there could be a possibility to win the game and rewards.
Puzzles
Puzzles can never be outdone. They are so versatile. There are jig saw puzzles of different difficulty levels that challenge kids of all ages. These games help kids with their concentration as it demands their focus on one task and they feel immense pride and satisfaction after joining the pieces together to get the big picture.
There are also many interesting 3D puzzles. You can make anything from a simple pencil stand to a complicated Eiffel tower to penguins to leaning tower of Pisa. Kids will be delighted to create something concrete out of the heap of pieces.
For bigger kids, mathematical puzzles, ‘Modellbausatz’ and ‘Modellbogen’ are also very interesting for grown-up kids. They need to focus, read instructions carefully, and put pieces in the right place to complete the model properly. In the process, they are seamlessly working on their fine motor skills, following instructions, and using their analytical skills.
Establishing routines with age-appropriate tasks and activities
Quarantine is also a good time to engage kids in tidying up. Kids can take responsibility for cleaning their room, rearranging their cupboards and shelves. This will help them keep their things organized and they can continue working on these skills as they grow older.
You can never get bored if books are your friends! Pick from a selection of interesting children’s books, comics, and magazines that children enjoy while reading alone or out loud to parents or older siblings. Dogman, Peppa pig, Geronimo Stilton, Captain Underpants series of books are some that kids will just read and laugh at.
If your kids attend music lessons, quarantine can be utilized to learn new notes, new songs, and that extra practice to master certain chords.
For children who will be appearing for their Gymnasium in March, this is a good time to utilize isolation periods to work on different areas and brush up on their time management and accuracy. December break and February Sportsferien are the best times for students to prepare for their exam.
If you are looking for more ideas to spend time together in quarantine, you can check out ‘Elternsinfo’, for unique and interesting ideas. This website was developed by the German Society for Systemic Therapy, counselling, and Family Therapy (DGSF) to help families during the pandemic and many ideas can be adapted from here.
Stay safe and have fun sailing through the challenging times together. This too shall pass!
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