Was anyone else’s week a little like mine?  My youngest dumped pee from her little potty all over our carpet; my oldest told me she didn’t want to do online school anymore and instead it was my job to teach her everything; and, meds that I chose to have shipped from a local pharmacy ended up in Sioux Falls.  Yahoo!

But, during all of this adventure, I tried to get creative (not easy for a non-creative, right brain creature like me) and come up with some fun games to keep us all busy.  Also, we tried to do a “no technology Saturday” as recommended by her school.  We made it half a day, but during that half day we had so much fun – played with toys we hadn’t played with in a long time, did a ton of arts and crafts and got outside.

Here are some of the games we played that everyone seemed to enjoy:

• Indoor scavenger hunt – for my oldest I drew out a map of where she could find hidden items in the basement.  After that, both girls got little buckets and I told them things like “find something red,” and “find something small and soft,” etc.   It was very interesting to see what things each of them picked out, and it got them using their creative minds a bit
• Keepy Uppy – my oldest learned this at a summer camp last year.  Pretty simple – blow up a balloon and hit it around and don’t let it touch the floor.  Sounds basic, but it provides a ton of entertainment for longer than you think
• Page Printouts – there are a lot of free coloring pages, mazes, connect the dots, etc. online.  I printed out at least half a dozen for each child
• “Cooking” – if you don’t mind parting with a few pieces of produce, this seems to get younger kids really excited.  Each child gets a banana / apple / stalk of celery, etc. and an age appropriate tool to cut it up.  That in itself is fun for them.  Then, they can choose what to make with it.  My oldest decided to make a salad by cutting up lettuce leaves, cabbage, green onions and celery and putting it in a ziplock for me to eat later.  My youngest just cut up a banana with a spoon and ate it.

And believe it or not, both kids sat still yesterday for a half hour of story time.  I read a chapter book to both kids outside on our swingset.  They brought their water bottles and a snack.

Hope everyone is finding fun and creative things to do with your kids during these times.  I’d love to year what your ideas are!

The Almost Green Mom