Babies are still being born and parents are still being made. First steps are happening and teeth are becoming wobbly. Hugs and cuddles are becoming more frequent and your family time together is looking different from the ‘kitchen calendar’ schedule written a month ago.
With dance classes, soccer practices, parent meetings, hair appointments, and catch-ups with the M.O.P.S (mothers of preschoolers), currently all on pause, the circulating question within every home is WHAT IS THERE TO DO AT HOME?
Write a mail letter to someone you love, like grandma and grandpa, or a family member who lives far away. Describe the current events, what you had for breakfast that day, and maybe cut out a newspaper article and stick it in. How about writing a letter to your future self to open in 6-months time!
As a fun educational component, have children write up a story on a topic of their choice! Keep it fun - if multiple children at home, have each child write a portion of the story! Decorate the title page together, be as crafty as you wish, or type it up and “publish” this story. Either way, this is one to have on the bookshelf!
Can’t travel to England but you can bring the United Kingdom's afternoon tea experience to your home. Bake cakes and prepare sandwiches together (cut them in fun shapes), take the time to decorate the house (British flags, backyard flowers, table coverings, etc.) and lastly, dress up together. Queen Victoria would love to be a guest of honor in your home!
Do you have old unmatched socks lying around? Make puppet friends! No spare socks? Use paper, and pencil around your child's hand or foot, and cut around the tracing. Draw in googly eyes, color the lips with lipstick and glue on pasta hair.. enjoy a yummy popsicle stick or two, and then stick it on the end to hold. That is an hour of creativity, plus an hour of puppet show entertainment
Explore the whole world from above with satellite imagery. Download the free Google Earth and Google Maps application on your phone. Connect to your smart tv and pitch up a tent in the living room, roast s'mores and visit world-wide national parks (home edition)
Is it already a zoo in your home? Why not draw/print out and allocate different rooms of your house to different zoo animals. Challenge your child to find out what zebras and elephants love to eat and the environments they live in. Ask your child to be the tour guide of the zoo and learn more about God's creation together. Finish with a bible story of Daniel in the lion's den, Noah’s ark, or Jonah and the whale.
Meet a life-sized animal up close: Google search an animal (such as a lion) on your smartphone and scroll down and click on the option ‘View in 3D’ and follow directions given. Search animals such as a shark, octopus, and horse. Snap some memorable shots with a 3D shark in your very own living room.
Melted crayon art is as easy as counting to three. First, line a pack of crayons at the top of a canvas and hot glue each crayon onto the canvas. Secondly, tilt the canvas upright, put a plastic bag underneath to catch any wax. Thirdly, use your blow dryer and point towards the crayons. Attach a stempsil for the wax to outline. Don’t forget to signature the bottom!
Knitting is not just for grandma's. Make the most of this precious time and learn/teach your family to knit. YouTube is a great resource for how-to-knit steps. Why not knit a couple of newborn hats to donate to your local hospital? Or, a scarf, teddy-bear, teapot warmer? If you become a highly-skilled knitter then a blanket for the whole family.
Is your family becoming bored of the toys they’ve used a million times? List the fun items and hide them in the unusual places of the house. For example, place an action figure (Ex. Marshall, Paw Patrol) in the washing machine. Give clues, but don’t make it too easy! Involve your partner and have some serious fun.
Facetime your child's best friend and create lava lamps at the same time! Read Matthew 5:14-16 and set the lamp high for all to see. Check out this link on how-to-make a lava lamp.
Create a paper chain to count off the days until quarantine is over! Color and paint each strip day-by-day to help the entire family keep track of these gifted days.
Take advantage of these ideas for meaningful family time together, these little hands and feet are only this small once! Create a fun environment with Seeds scripture songs playing in the background. Break up the day and dance along to the scripture-based music videos too! Before you know it your family will have memorized 167 Bible verses!
Seeds Worship is an offers great ideas for meaningful family time, and they are available from every platform - YouTube, Apple Music, Spotify, and our website: www.seedsfamilyworship.com.
All resources and family discipleship tools are available for purchase too! If your family is financially overwhelmed during this time then head over to our Free Resources Page.
Have a blast at home!
Bethany Nicol.
