Lockdowns and quarantine are now just another part of life. If you find yourself back behind closed doors or are planning to travel and return this summer, here are some simple games and activities that might make a world of difference and won’t take up too much space in your carry-on.
Water Wow:
These are my go-to travel/confinement activity for kids. Melissa & Doug is an American toy company that manufactures these great coloring board books and flashcard sets with a water-only pen that reveals the colors on the page when the kids use it. The best part? When the boards dry they return to white, so these toys are reusable for hours of mess-free fun. These products are easy to find on either Taobao or Amazon, and come in book and flashcard sets.
Bath Crayons:
Easy to pack and great for a hotel bathroom, bath crayons allow kids to create a mural or practice their shapes, numbers, and letters. The crayons will keep them engaged, are easy to clean up, and will help make good use of limited space. Again, any online ordering service will have them and there are tons of options. It’s hard to go wrong with Crayola, and Honeysticks offers an eco-friendly option that gets good reviews.
DIY Bubbles:
Soap, water, dental floss. Most quarantine hotels will provide all three of these things, so let your kids experiment with making their own bubble solution and then use dental floss or shoelaces to create a bubble loop. Dip it in the solution and gently move the circle through the air to create bubbles. Try adding dye from found objects like colored paper or leftover juice to create crazy colors.
Work Out:
Tik Tok dance challenge anyone? Or maybe a family dance party! Or try using that old deck of cards you’ve got to play a workout game where each suit is a different exercise (hearts are jumping jacks and spades are push-ups, for example). Flip the first card and do the exercise the number of times specified by the number of the card. So, for example, the ten of hearts could mean doing ten jumping jacks. However you get your blood pumping the endorphins are sure to help with cabin fever and might just keep the family on a normal sleep cycle.
Card Games:
A deck of cards offers endless opportunities for fun. Go Fish, War, Snap, Slapjack, Dòu Dìzhǔ … The amount of games is infinite and kids will play for hours. You can even play a version of Memory by matching the color and numbers but not the suits. Start a family tournament and keep a tally of who wins the most games. If you get bored with the games a quick internet search will give you endless lists of new games to try.
Make a Movie:
Sick of watching movies? Make one! There are tons of cool, easy movie apps now, from Canva to Video Leap, and most of them have a free basic version. Have the kids write their own movie script and then film and edit it. If they don’t want to act in it themselves have them make puppets out of socks or coloring books. It’s a way to work on writing, sequencing, creative problem solving, and to learn some technical skills on the computer as well. Plus, you might discover the next Scorsese …
Family Book Club:
One of my favorite things as a kid was reading a book as a family and then discussing it. Come on, you all knew I was a nerd. During a lockdown, you can even include extended family members via video Zoom call. Let the kids pick the book and then commit to reading it as a family. Scholastic’s website is a great resource for helping to choose age-appropriate books and to find book club guides for the discussion portion of your meeting.
Family Reading Challenge:
If a book club feels a little too structured, you can always just decide to issue a reading challenge. Make a chart and have each family record the number of pages they read each day. The person who reads the most pages gets to choose the family’s first post lockdown meal or activity!
This article appeared in the jingkids 2022 Graduation issue
