Last week we talked about adjusting to our “new normal,” which seems to be changing moment to moment. As we spend more time at home with our families than ever before, we find ourselves navigating moments of anxiety, boredom, frustration, and confusion - from the children and adults in our household.
So, this week, we rounded up some of our favorite, simple games and activities to enjoy together. Each of these activities is a simple way to connect with each other and add a bit of creativity and fun to your day. They don’t require going online. And we are hoping they will give you just enough of a spark to kick the boredom, relieve the anxiety, and calm the nerves, if only for a moment.
Table Time Games
This Conversation Starter game is a favorite of ours during holiday time, when your family sometimes needs a boost starting a conversation that allows everyone to participate comfortably and creatively.
Now that we have the time to have more dinners around the table, and linger awhile as we do, try these Conversation Starters. This is also a great way to avoid too much talk of the news.
Yes, we (and our children) need to understand and process what is going on around us. But we also need to take a break. Pausing for a moment to be with each other, to talk, and to laugh, is not denying the seriousness of our circumstances. It is a beautiful, simple way to honor each other and to find joy in this unexpected time together.
Interviewer
We talked about this game that we invented back in the summer, as a fun thing to do on vacation (especially inter-generational vacations). Now that we are moving much of our family communication online, it’s a fun way to connect with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.
The game works like this
Choose a family member (or family members) and have your child ask them some interview questions about what life was like for them when they were your child’s age. This is a perfect activity for Zoom, FaceTime, or Skype calls with the grandparents, when it can be difficult for kids to know what to say or how to maintain a natural, comfortable flow of conversation.
Try questions like these - and add some of your own
When you were my age, what was your favorite song?
What was your favorite thing to do when you were my age?
When you were my age, what did you do on summer vacation?
If you could choose to be a kid now or when you were growing up, what would you choose? Why?
Document the Stories
Encourage your kids to record the answers. Write them down or record the audio on the call like a “real” interviewer.
Now that we’re all homeschoolers, consider turning the interview into a project. Invite your kids to write up an article, prepare a presentation, or come up with other creative ways to document the stories family members share with them.
Clouds + Sprouts
We introduced this game in a post about simple springtime outdoor activities. Now is the perfect time to give it a try. Go on a walk, if you are able, or look out your window. Have your children find shapes in the clouds and make up stories about them. Play together, and add your own characters from the clouds. Make up different voices and wild personalities.
Then, write or act out your stories and share them with other members of your family. Since we have so many days at home ahead of us, play this game “soap opera style.” Pick up your story each day from where you left off the day before. Remember to document your stories - you and your children will love looking back on your cloud stories years from now!
Sprouts gives the nature lovers and “budding” scientists something to get excited about. Despite all of our troubles, nature is moving right along, doing everything she is supposed to do. That means this is the perfect time to go on a walk, if you are able, or to look out your window and observe and track the daily changes to the trees and flowers you can see.
Have your kids count the sprouts as they pop up, record the changes each day, or come up with other creative observations. Or, you can take it more slowly. Simply look around, talk about, and enjoy what you see. The beauty and the resilience of nature has never felt quite so meaningful. Take that in. Enjoy it. And share it.
Elizabeth Eames, March 26, 2020