Keeping kids entertained while social distancing is tough. Thankfully, there are a ton of simple, free activities and resources you can take advantage of to stave off boredom and encourage learning. Bitesize Pediatric Dentistry is here to help! We’re sharing some of our favorite fun activities to do with kids at home:
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1. Do an Arts and Crafts Project With Household Items
There are a lot of arts and crafts projects for kids that you can do with household items you probably already have on hand. Here are a few fun ones:
- Check out Parents to learn how to make a sailboat with an empty quart-sized milk carton and various odds and ends.
- Toca Boca has a tutorial for making adorable animals out of toilet paper rolls, paint, markers, thick paper and glue.
- Craftaholics Anonymous shares how to turn an old pair of gloves into a glove monster with felt, glue and items like buttons.
2. Enjoy Virtual Programming at the Brooklyn Public Library
The Brooklyn Public Library is offering virtual programming while its branches are closed. There are concerts, storytimes, crafts, meditation and more on the schedule. While they have plenty of fun activities to do with kids at home, they also have programming for teens and adults so the whole family can find something to do.
3. Have Virtual Playdates
Set up a virtual playdate with friends via FaceTime, Skype or Zoom. Decide on an activity everyone can do together ahead of time like one of the simple crafts we shared above. Or, take advantage of apps made just for this purpose where you can play games or read books together like Caribu.
4. Get a Dose of Culture From Home
A number of New York City cultural institutions are offering free virtual tours. Google Arts & Culture has tours of museums across the world, including NYC’s the Met, the Museum of Modern Art, the Cooper Hewitt and the Brooklyn Museum. Others, such as the Whitney Museum, have tours and exhibits on their website. The Whitney even has a special area for children with kid-friendly audio tours and activity guides for families. Curbed recently shared a whole slew of other free virtual tours.
5. Make an Indoor Obstacle Course
An indoor obstacle course is one of those things to do with kids at home that has the dual purpose of being fun and helping them burn off some excess energy. For just one child or kids of different ages, you can time them and have them beat their own times or for some friendly competition, do a family Olympics. Mommy Poppins has instructions for creating a safe course that kids of all ages can complete.
6. Bake a Treat Together
Bake something together! Kids love to help and the bonus is you get to eat something delicious when you’re done. For very young kids, just letting them stir or add sprinkles after can be enough. With older children and teens, you could have them choose the recipe and you serve as sous chef. Here are 20 easy baking recipes for kids via Taste of Home.
7. Sweat to a Kid-Friendly Workout
Online workouts are good activities for kids to do at home because they encourage them to stay active and healthy while fighting boredom. Cosmic Kids has free kids yoga classes on YouTube or you can take advantage of two weeks free on the app. Joe Wicks is offering P.E. With Joe, a series of free physical education classes on YouTube. Teens might like Crunch Live, which has free 45-day trials and a variety of different classes inspired by customer favorites at Crunch Gym.
We hope these fun activities to do with kids at home help! We also hope everyone is staying safe and hanging in there. We’ll see you soon! In the meantime, if your child has a dental emergency, you can schedule a virtual visit at Bitesize Pediatric Dentistry by sending us an email at williamsburg@wearebitesize.com or parkslope@wearebitesize.com or by giving us a call at 718-899-4500 (Williamsburg) or 917-397-1341 (Park Slope).
