3 Family Activities With A Covid Twist

One thing is for sure - pretty much everyone in the world has been affected by the covid-19 pandemic, with sheltering-in-place becoming the new normal. While the lockdown is changing basically everything about our daily lives, as well as how we interact and communicate, one of the biggest changes is how we spend time with our families. So given it’s the weekend, we thought we’d quiz a few moms on how three common #quaranteam activities are going for their families.

TV Time

‘Screen time is an essential right now, at least up to a certain point,’ says Jessica, mom of three. ‘It’s saved our family from countless squabbles and restlessness, and it’s allowed my husband and I to actually get some work done during the day. But it can also definitely be a crutch. It’s super easy to just let the TV take over for parenting if you’re not careful - so we limit it to 4 hours a day, which is 2 hours more than we allowed in our regular schedule, pre-pandemic.’

Tips:

• Make TV time a little more constructive include picking educational shows on YouTube or nature shows on The Discovery Channel

• Go for more interactive type shows, such as gameshows or contests, and encourage the family to talk about what you are watching together as opposed to passively sitting in front of the box.

Board Games

Perhaps it’s that same air of nostalgia that got everyone baking bread that has us pulling out the board games more and more. Whatever the reason, it’s hands down a wonderful way to spend some quality time with the people close to you.

‘We pulled out all the old board games we used to use for drinking games with friends before the kids came! We hadn’t used them since we had kids and we are now just realizing what an awesome activity they are to truly interact and connect with your littles,’ says Molly, mom of two. ‘We’ll be keeping this tradition up long after the pandemic is over.’

Board games have a great way of bringing everyone closer together, while also promoting a healthy kind of competition between all of the players, making for excellent lockdown activity.

Tips:

Feeling board (pun intended) of the games you already have? Grab some Target coupons and buy some new games online.

Turn board games into an event the whole family looks forward to. Set up a weekly board game session where you vote for which game to play.

Gardening

In a lockdown, a garden is EVERYTHING. It’s a great opportunity to get outside and offers a wonderful opportunity for you to spend time together.

‘Besides going for a walk every day, there isn’t too much you can do outside right now, which is super hard on our son,’ says Megha, mom of 1. ‘Gardening was the perfect solution. It allows us an opportunity to teach him something new, and it lets him get plenty of sunshine. But the best part is when he wakes up every morning and wants to rush outside to see how his plants are doing. That is absolutely priceless. And giving him something to look forward to every day in a time like this is the greatest joy to us as parents.’

Tips:

• Gardening is also something that happens to be particularly good for keeping you fit and healthy. Bonus if you want to grow some fruit and veg. Plus if anything, this pandemic picked the season for planting like a boss - so the conditions are perfect!

• Try planting a few smaller plants from seed and some from sprout so that your little ones will get to see multiple stages at once. This will not only help them keep interest, but will also help them understand the process.