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Keeping Our Kids Engaged
Whether you are spending more time at home because it is summer, you are trying to save money, there’s a pandemic (ugh!), or you are just happiest at home, we all need some ideas to engage our kids and turn off the screens.
There are so many ways to engage a kid but letting them get hands on is by far the best way to keep their attention.
Here are some ideas to get hands on.
Get Hands On
- Cook
- Make cookies, brownies, cake, ice cream — it doesn’t really matter if sweets are involved your kid is likely 100% invested.
- Bake bread or muffins that can be a part of dinner or breakfast. They will feel proud of their contribution to the meal.
- Research new recipes that they find interesting and shop together for the ingredients and then make it together!
- Build
- Construct buildings with blocks
- Build with clay
- Build with marshmallows and toothpicks!
- Just let them express their creative side by building something
- Create
- Give them paint and paintbrushes
- Playdough
- Beads and string
- Or just have them draw you some pictures
Special tip: Lay down a mat if you hate messes and let them create something beautiful!
- Games
- Games are so hands-on. They have to move the pieces or hold cards or throw dice to play, so they are automatically more engaged. Check out this post for some of our favorite family games!
Exercise
You can’t not be engaged when you are exercising! There is no such thing as passive exercise, so get your kids involved in some family exercise. Teach them to juggle, jump rope, ride a bike, swim, climb, hike, play tag, or navigate an obstacle course.
Find even more family exercise ideas here.
Read
Hit the library (or your own book collection if you have one) and dive into a fictional world with your child. Not only is reading fun and engaging, it will also help them be more successful in school.
Fiction not your thing? Find some amazing non-fiction books that are rich with photographs and information that your kid is interested in.
Create
Challenge your child to create a new song, play, skit, game, or story. Then have them perform it, play the game, or read the story to the family. Allow them to showcase their interests and talents.
How do you engage your child at home? Share your ideas with us! Don’t forget to follow our blog for more content and like us on social media.
Cooking with Kids
We've put together some recipes that our kids enjoyed being a part of.
Happy Time
We're doing what we can to keep our family happy, so we're sharing some simple ways to make sure that happens.
Art with the Kids
Sometimes, the best things we do are when we sit down with the kids for some art.
A Week in our World
When we tracked a week of our activities, it involved many things and almost always included silly dancing or stuffed animals.
