FAMILY FUN – VIRTUALLY AND FACE TO FACE! by Amanda Koltz-Slabaugh

Hello Moms, Dads, Guardians, Grandparents, Caretakers, and everyone taking care of kids during this pandemic:

We heard that there may be some, uh, tension, in your home since the little ones are out of school until further notice. So we are here to help! We have gathered up activities you can do online, offline, indoors, outdoors, with littles and teens. We hope these activities can create giggles, release stress, and promote bonding with everyone in your home. At HOPE, we encourage playing and having fun! We wholeheartedly believe that laughing while learning is therapeutic! These activities are not about perfection, but more about having fun with one another and enjoying this time together as a family.

VIRTUAL ACTIVITIES:

Art: 

https://www.mcharpermanor.com/

https://m.youtube.com/c/WildFreeandCrafty

https://www.kennedy-center.org/education/mo-willems/

Field trips: 

https://docs.google.com/…/1SvIdgTx9djKO6Sjy…/mobilebasic

Free subscription services: 

https://kidsactivitiesblog.com/…/list-of-education…/

IN-PERSON ACTIVITIES

DEEP BREATHING

Deep breathing helps slow our body down, which, in turn, calms our body. 

1. Practice deep breathing by blowing bubbles (or balloons!). Take a deep breath in and slowly blow out, trying to see just how big of a bubble you can blow!
2. Use a lightweight item (i.e., cotton ball, a plastic ball you’d find in a ball pit, feather, etc.) and have your child blow this item (with big deep breaths!) from their hands onto your hands. Make it a game on the floor or table by blowing this item to the other person as if you’re playing soccer! 

MOVEMENT

Movement can help get the anxious energies out of our bodies and create more calm.

1. Parents blow bubbles and call out a way that the children will pop those bubbles for that round (i.e., pinkies only, elbows, forehead, clapping them, etc.)
2. Turn this into a category game and have them list things from a category for every bubble they pop (i.e., animals, food, words that start with the letter “A,” etc.)
3. Do these same activities with a balloon but keep it from hitting the ground.

GRATITUDE

Gratitude promotes positive thinking.

1. Have your child create a vision board out of magazines, drawing pictures, writing ideas, or printing things off from the computer and pasting them on cardboard or canvas. This could be goals they have, positive things that make them happy, etc. 
2. Have your child write things they like about themselves (make sure you add your own ideas too!) These can be written on popsicle sticks, pieces of paper, foam hearts, etc. Put these in a jar so your child can refer to them whenever they want. You can also add things your child may need help believing (i.e., “I can do hard things,” “I am strong,” “I can make mistakes,” etc.) If you look up “Positive Affirmations for Kids” on Pinterest, you’ll find lots of ideas!

ART

1. Rip up pieces of construction paper and make a whole new picture with the ripped up pieces. 
2. Make pictures and card to send to local nursing homes
3. Look up “kids origami” on YouTube and create something new
4. Make puppets out of socks or paper bags
5. Try a new medium of art such as using charcoal, watercolor, paper mache, putting paint in water guns, etc. 

GET KIDS MOVING

1. Create a pillow fort
2. Create an obstacle course
3. The floor is lava!
4. Create an escape room
5. Try “minute to win it” games

CHECK ON THEIR FEELINGS

1. Have your child color a heart indicating their feelings. Each color represents a feeling, and they use that color to determine how much they’re feeling. This can help promote discussion on emotions and the world around them and normalize their feelings. 

We genuinely appreciate our communities and hope that these activities will help keep everyone occupied and participate in self-care.