OUR FAVORITE ACTIVITIES TO DO AT HOME WITH CHILDREN

© Photo by: Chrissy Tiegen ( @chrissyteigen )

The school year is over, and as many activities are canceled due to the current health situation, it is time to get creative to look for healthy and fun ways to entertain the little ones at home. Here we propose some ideas that will get your children exercising, thinking, and creating wonderful projects, all while having fun! Don't let these holidays in confinement be boring for your children, play inside the home and ensure fun for the whole family.

#NickyTip : “I always recommend planning the week's activities in advance. This way, we don't waste time thinking about what to do every day and it helps us establish a routine, which is super important for young children.” -NR

ENERGY-SPENDING ACTIVITIES:

It is clear that we all love to play and spend time with our children, but we also LOVE it when we get them to go to bed at eight at night. Here are a couple of activities you can do during the day to help your children burn off energy and fall asleep early:

Pool Day: It wouldn't be summer without some water fun. Get out an inflatable pool, fill it with toys, and share an afternoon of laughter and joy while splashing around in the water.

#NickyTip: “Make it a spa day too! Add a natural liquid soap (I use this one from Babyganics) and essential oils to the water to create a foam bath that softens and moisturizes your skin.”- NR

Dance Party: Free up space in the living room and get your kids jumping and dancing to upbeat music! Dancing is not only fun, but it's also great for building muscle strength and improving cardiovascular fitness. You can add more excitement to the activity by incorporating dynamic games like musical chairs.

CREATIVE EXHAUSTS

Making time and space for your children to express their artistic abilities is very important. This has been shown to not only strengthen your motor skills, but also increase your self-confidence levels. We suggest these two DIY projects:

Tie-Dye: This is a fun and easy project to do with kids. Help them customize white t-shirts with colorful patterns and see how happy they will be with the results and their new clothes.

Homemade Slime: Kids love slime, and luckily for you, it doesn't have to be as messy as you imagine. Take a look at this quick, borax-free recipe from WhatsUpMoms. Doing so will only take a few minutes and will keep your kids entertained for hours.

COGNITIVE DRIVERS

These activities are like lifting weights but for your children's brains:

Puzzle Scavenger Hunt: Have your kids follow the clues and run around the house looking for hidden puzzle pieces. Once you find them all, work together to put it together and get the “treasure.” This innovative game helps reinforce basic skills such as problem solving, patience, goal setting and teamwork.

Meditation: Meditation increases attention span, resistance to distraction, and helps relieve worrying thoughts or anxiety in children. Not to mention it improves sleep quality, academic performance, and creativity. Experts maintain that meditation is one of the healthiest activities that a parent can practice with their child and highlight that the best time to do it is when they are just awake or before going to sleep.

#NickyTip: “ To meditate with my daughters, I use the CALM digital application , I highly recommend it. At night I play one of the children's stories that the app has, and that way they fall asleep peacefully and at the same time I even meditate.” -NR