Kids Activities for being in COVID-19 self-isolation or quarantine

03/30/2020

So we know these are hard times with this whole Covid-19 situation.  Keeping the kids busy and finding activities for them during the day is already challenging and will continue to be as long as we are stuck in our homes.

I thought I would compile a few ideas for those who may be looking for some creative ways to entertain your kids in these coming days and weeks with a few that we’ve tried at home and I will add more activities as we try them.

 

Baking Soda Art

Prep time: 5 minutes

What you need:

Pie Plates or cookie sheets
Baking Soda
Vinegar
Food colouring (multiple colours if you have them)
Ice cube tray or spray bottles
Baby spoons, Measuring spoons, droppers or other utensils for scooping.

Instructions:

1. Put baking soda in pie plates till about 1/2 inch thick of baking soda covering the bottom of the pan/plate
2. Pour vinegar into multiple spray bottles or an ice cube tray.
3. Drop food colouring (colours of your choice) into the bottles or the ice cube tray.  Experiment with making different colour combinations in each bottle or ice cube tray pocket depending on how many colours you have.   You can make several combinations.  Darker or Lighter depending on how many drops of each.
4. Use a medicine dropper, turkey baster or measuring spoon to scoop up the coloured vinegar in the ice cube trays and pour into the baking soda – Or spray the vinegar from the bottles into the baking sodaRemember: yellow and blue = green,  red and yellow = orange, blue and red = purple.

Voila – your kid’s reactions will be priceless and it makes for some awesome fun!

Tip: You can use more than one pie plate at a time to give them more room to create their masterpiece and be sure to take a photo of it when it’s done.

 

Making Crayon Shapes

Prep time: 1 hour

What you need:

Broken or old crayons (Crayola works best)
Bowl
Silicon cookie molds/sheets – we used shapes like stars, hearts, crosses but any shapes are fine.
Parchment paper
Aluminum Cookie Sheet
Scissors or knife
Cutting Board

 

 

 

             

Instructions:

1. Bring out all your old broken crayons and start peeling off the paper.  Soaking them in water helps to loosen the paper and save your fingernails or you can cut down the length of the paper with an exacto knife. (Not recommended with children around)
2. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F
3. Once paper is all peeled off, use a cutting board and knife or scissors to cut the crayons into small 1/4 inch pieces and put into separate bowl.
4. When all crayons are cut into pieces, start putting them in the silicon molds and fill 3/4 of molds.  Using complementary or similar colours works nicely.  ie.. different types of blues in one (light/dark) or bold contrasts like red/blue but you can put in whatever colours you wish to combine.
5. Once all molds are filled, put silicone molds onto a parchment lined cookie sheet and put into oven for 15 minutes.  TIP: Take out when wax has just melted but don’t leave in oven too long as the consistency of the wax changes if it’s in the oven for longer than needed.
6. Let the wax in the molds cool completely.  Can put them in the fridge or freezer but leaving on the counter to cool is also ok.
7. Once the wax is hardened, pop the crayon shapes out of the molds and see your beautiful creations!

 

 

Rock and Canvas painting

Prep time: 5 minutes

What you need:

Tempera paints (Crayola is best but any kind if you can’t find Crayola – just make sure they are non-toxic and washable.
Paintbrushes
Paper or Plastic disposable plates
Canvas boards (from dollar store) ( any size) or Rocks from garden
Paint tape
Cups for water
Newspaper to protect table surface

   

Instructions:

Prepare paint surface (table or counter) with newspaper, tarp or old towels

Pour paint of choice onto paper or plastic plates (just 2 or 3 colours per plate is fine).  Be sure to rinse your paintbrush or use separate brushes for each colour so colours don’t get mixed.

For Rock painting: find a great rock in the garden or on a walk and let your child paint the rock.  Let it dry and paint more layers of paint if required.

Use as a doorstopper, paperweight, napkin weight, garden decoration or another fun way!

For Canvas painting: take the paint tape and stick to the canvas in any pattern you wish.  Triangles, stripes, mosaic/random pattern.   Push the tape down firmly along the edges so it sticks to the canvas well.

Prepare your paint plates with colours you wish to use and paint in between the tape lines on the canvas surface.

You may need to apply a few coats depending on the paint you have.

Once paint dries, peel off the tape and you should have clean white lines where the tape was.

And just like that! A gorgeous piece of artwork to hang or put on a shelf to enjoy.

   

 

Watercolour window art 

Prep time: 5 minutes

What you Need:

Paper coffee filters/liners
Bingo dabbers/Dot markers
Spray bottle/medicine dropper or turkey baster
Scissors
Pencil
Water

   

Instructions:

1) Put 3 or 4 paper coffee filters together and flatten them out
2) Draw a large shape on the top filter in the pile with a pencil – such as easter egg, heart, star, etc.
3) Cut along the pencil lines and cut out the shape keeping the coffee filters layered together (so you only have to cut the shape out once) Parents might need to do this part!
4) Keep the coffee filter shapes piled together.
5) Use the bingo dabbers/dot markers to make a pattern on the top coffee filter shape.
6) Use the medicine dropper/turkey baster or spray bottle – drop or spray water onto the coffee filter shape (still in pile together) and let the colours run together.  TIP: Don’t soak the filters with water or the filter(s) will rip but just enough water for the colours to run.
7) Peel the filters apart slowly and gently.  Let dry.
8) Stick to windows – makes beautiful spring themed window art!

 

 

Scavenger Hunt or Geocaching activities

My kids love scavenger hunts so we have tried out a few around our neighbourhood.  If you google scavenger hunt images, you’ll find a bunch of useful ones you can use, but Pinterest also has a ton.  Just pick one and do a different one each day if you need variety!  Here are a couple we like!  We often do art projects with the things we find on our hunt, such as pinecones, feathers, leaves, sticks and rocks so that’s fun to collect along the way as well.

                     

Also we have downloaded the Geocaching app from the Google Play Store and realized there were a few hidden items in our general area to find.  My kids are now old enough to appreciate this so we will be checking this out in the coming weeks! Will post more about this soon!  But here is the link to download the app if interested and you want to get a head start!  https://www.geocaching.com/play/mobile

 

 

We’ll be posting more ideas in the coming weeks but if you have some ideas of your own, don’t hesitate to share them with us!