As you will have seen the latest guidelines is to self-isolate for 14days if anyone in the house has a new cough or temperature. Being home with the children can sometimes be challenging but being isolated for 14days may bring lots of challenges. Here are some ideas that we have put together for those who are self-isolating to help keep children occupied at home. We also think it’s a good idea to try and keep to some kind of routine (for everyones sanity). Feel free to send photos to our facebook page (blank children’s faces out if you wish) to see what you are up to.

 

Playdough or salt dough – depending on your cupboard stock dough can be made as simply as flour and water or try lookin online for different recipes

Role play cafes – can your child think of their menus, could you make some treats to sell and eat, you could use playdough or salt dough from above to make foods.

Obstacle course indoors or outdoors – be creative, use what ever you have

Racing games – jumping, hopping, backwards, balancing items on heads

Put on some of your favourite music (from whatever era!) and dance

Observational drawing - chose some favourite objects or each other at home and draw them

Hide and seek – even if it’s just for 5 minutes peace!

Washing dolls and doll clothes

Water play – use different size scoops and jugs to pour – use language like full, empty, heavy, light and take it in turns to guess how many scoops to fulla  bigger container. This could  be playing in the bath or on a smaller scale in the sink or bowl

Using pots and pans to make music

Baking or helping make meals – spreading butter on bread, chopping vegetables such as mushrooms or mixing cake ingredients are all great for fine motor skills

Junk modelling with all the recycling

Practice using scissors – try different things like paper, tissues etc

Challenges with bricks or lego – can you make a tower higher than … a chair, door handle, teddy etc

Loose parts – anything you can collect can be played with – boxes, corks, lids, bottles, tubes, cake boxes, cake foils, pegs, stones, fir cones, pasta. Anything and everything can be used by an imaginative 2,3,&4year old (grown ups too!)

Painting – using paint or mud if outside. Painting different surfaces – foil, cling film, models made with old boxes

Painting using different media – such as cotton buds, sticks, leaves, fingers. What animals can you make using hand and foot prints

Reading stories and making up stories – using characters from small world, teddies, drawing pictures of characters, sharing a story under a blanket with a torch.

Memory games – put any objects on a tray and cover – take one away – what’s missing

Board games or basic games such as noughts and crosses

Treasure hunt indoors or outdoors – you could look for all things green or anything that’s a square

Dressing up in different fabrics – mums clothes, dads clothes etc

Make a den – chairs and blankets make a perfect place to play

Potion making in the garden – use whats available – leave pots out to collect rain water

Gardening and tidying up, planting seeds and watching new flowers grow

Bug hunting – digging for worms and hunting for different bugs – you could make a chart to say how many of each type you have found

Jigsaws – if you haven’t any make your own using pictures from broken books, photos, menus, magazines – stick onto card and cut up.

Share a yoga move that the children have learnt at preschool

Have a number hunt around the house. Can they sort out the numbers, put them in order, do they recognise any

Find big and small items around the house

Jump in muddy puddles or plan in the rain – chalking on pavements after it has rained is very effective

Shadow drawing outside on sunny days

Can you make a nature collage – use glue to stick on natural things found in the garden or stick 1 piece of double sided tape across the middle of the paper to stick things to

Use kitchen weighing scales to explore weight

Write a letter to a friend or elderly relative or email preschool with your news

Helping families with everyday jobs – sorting socks, sweeping, dusting etc

Relax and watch a movie together with hot chocolate and pop corn

Put on a show – using songs from your favourite movie

 

There are lots of educational game apps and lots of groups giving advice and support locally and nationally. There are lots of home school type activities and groups on the internet and facebook especially.