Children run wild at home while parents run out of patience faster than the family’s food supply is one of common challenges in many households a couple of weeks into this quarantine.
Instead of telling bored kids to settle down and play with their gadgets, why not encourage them to use this time to channel their energy into something more productive, educational, and enjoyable?
Learn something new online
Check out educational websites that offer online courses for free. Subjects available include history, arts, music, latest gadgets, technology, and more. For instance, MasterCard provides free online STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) lessons to children, as well as parents and teachers.
The Girls4Tech features a suite of online educational resources designed to help parents and teachers engage and inspire kids, aged 8-12. The activities are built on global science and math standards—and incorporate MasterCard’s expertise in payments technology and innovation—to enable children to discover a range of STEM careers such as Fraud Detective, Data Scientist, and Software Engineer.
New activities are posted on a weekly basis at the Girls4Tech Connect website (www.girls4tech.com), Facebook page, and Twitter handle. Lessons are currently available in English.
While kids learn online, adults may check out free online courses offered by Harvard University (www.online-learning.harvard.edu).
Make art
Several do it yourself (DIY) sites and posts available online teach kids and even adults a number of crafts and other projects such as recycling old materials into something useful, or simply allow them to flex their creative muscle.
HP offers Print and Play activities where children aged 2 to 12 can try out hours of craft making, mazes, dot-to-dot drawing, and other puzzles. It aims to help parents bridge the gap between education in school and learning at home by supplementing their child’s learning while making playtime at home more engaging.
Activities are divided into age groups, and come in three levels (easy, medium, difficult). Parents can download activities on www.hp.com and print them using HP printers.
Children are also invited to write letters of encouragement to patients in hospitals. Email them to covidletters@gmail.com and they will be printed and given to patients confined at the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine.
Learn new hobbies
Kids interested to learn how to play the guitar or the piano or the flute or any other musical instruments can take advantage of this time. Some local musicians offer one-on-one classes online. Tutorial videos are also aplenty on YouTube.
Bring out the old board games out of the closet and teach kids how to play chess, charade, Monopoly, Jenga, Snakes and Ladders, Scrabble, and sungka.
Do simple workouts
Parents telling kids to do 20 jumping jacks and 20 sit-ups might not be welcomed with enthusiasm, but it might change if a national athlete joins them.
Milo Champions has launched an IG Live workout featuring Kiefer Ravena (@kieferravena15), Alyssa Valdez (@alyssa_valdez2), Juan (@juangdl9) and Javi (@javigdl22) Gomez De Liaño, Pauline Lopez (@pauweenie), Mary Joy Tabal (@maryjoytabalofficial), and Coach Rio de la Cruz (@coach_rio316).
The workouts happen every Wednesday of April from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. on the athletes’ respective Instagram accounts.
Meanwhile, later in the month Milo will introduce the Milo Sports Clinics-Online—a series of basic instructional modules led by skilled coaches and athletes in basketball (BEST Center), volleyball (BEST Center), gymnastics (Club Gymnastica), taekwondo (Philippine Taekwondo Association), and futsal (Philippine Futsal Academy). The online series is available for free. Go to @milophilippines on Facebook for more information.
Other alternatives are Zumba and yoga, which the family can do together. Or be a little creative and turn one kilo of rice or several cans of milk or fruit juices into weights, or use the sofa as an inclined bench press.
Assign household chores
Teach kids basic household tasks while educating them on how to be responsible and take care of the needs of the family. Parents can start with teaching them how to sweep the floor, cook rice, bake, or even do their own laundry. Make it fun by rewarding them with treats after their tasks are done.