Nothing drives sanity into the ground faster than kids nagging at you repeatedly for something new to do or telling you on a loop that they’re bored.
It’s happened before and it will happen again (and again and again) before, and after, this pandemic is behind us.
How to keep kids busy, and yourself sane.
After so many weeks at home, the kids (and you) are probably getting sick of trotting out the same activities.
We can’t control how long playgrounds will be closed, but we can give our kids ideas that will amuse them long enough to at least get a load of washing hung on the line or finish a cup of coffee.
So in between letting them be bored from time to time and free play (especially if they have siblings to play with) often, your best bet is to consult the following resources for endless easy, educational and entertaining activities that can be done in your own home.
Inspirational At-Home Activities
Mums of the Shire – Online Meet-ups and Activities. Yes, if you missed the announcement, we converted our Mums Meet-ups Facebook Group to a group that allows mums to connect online (via regular group or privately scheduled zoom meetings) with other local mums. In addition to that, it will act as a hub for sharing all the best ideas for entertaining kids in isolation. Consider it your go-to resource to check of an evening to make note of any new ideas for tomorrow.
The Creativity Club has a fabulous monthly, themed kit detailing a whole range of fuss-free activities you can do with kids under 5.
Other groups and pages worth checking out include:
School at home: tips and resources
Busy Babies
Babies (0-12 months) can be especially hard to entertain for any length of time. Baby Sensory has you covered with easy online classes for our littlest kids! Messy Play with Charlie is also another great page full of simple ideas for engaging under 2s.
Physical Fun
Get the kids burning off some energy with Kanga Training, who’ve got classes for parents and their kids as well as young kids. Or try Ready steady go kids who are posting daily videos of things you can do with your kids to keep them active.
If your kids have more musical leanings, why not enrol them in an online /dancing class with KRS Dance, En Pointe Dance and Sydney Dance Company.
Singing is a great way for kids to actively express themselves too and we recommend checking out Let’s Get Loud, Music for Wellbeing or Kindermusik with Shirley for fun sing-a-longs and singing lessons.
No-fuss Fun
For some ready-to-go fun arts and crafts activities that are easy and inspire creativity, check out The Village Kids Store Gymea and Funky Planet. There are also plenty of educational games, activities and art supplies for kids on the HolaNanu website.
Special Occasion Entertainment
Looking for something a little bit extra to help celebrate your a family birthday or brighten up an especially grey day? Let’s Get Loud and Dream and Believe Entertainment are offering video sessions and live-stream entertainment from your kid’s favourite characters including Emma Wiggle, Princesses Elsa and Anna, Ariel and many more.
For the budding bakers, you can also host an online cupcake party, which comes with all ingredients supplied, from Cake it Up Creative.
These resources will prove to be helpful even when people are saying Corona-what? So bookmark this page so you can quickly find it whenever you’re low on creative inspo.
Don’t forget you can always refer back to our archive of Busy Kids articles for a whole lot more easy, educational inspiration.
We hope taking the search out of finding fun ideas helps make your day that little bit easier 🙂