With the covid-19 situation and DORSON code orange, some after-school activities are cut in school, forcing kids to stay home more. If you as parents are running out of ideas for activities to keep children occupied, read on!
Most parents may take the short cut by letting their children by letting them watch the iPads, tablets and mobile phones. Of course as a parent, I am concerned over the amount of screen time to give my child. It can be a tough balancing act since kids are likely to scream “boring” if you don’t have anything for them to do. Studying everyday is not a solution too.
To help battle the boredom blues, here are five ideas on how to keep kids entertained at home during this coronavirus time.
How to Keep Kids Entertained at Home
1. Make Magic!
Children love magic so it is a great time for them to master a new skill: performing magic. Our Mr Bottle’s magic set programme has a DVD (in Chinese, a great way for kids to learn Chinese too!) which they can learn on their own. How it is different is that children are encouraged to come up with their own presentation and even create new magic with the set. You can learn about how we teach values with our magic lessons and spend some time to run through this with the kids.
If you need help or have any questions Mr Bottle, is a message away.
Set a goal for your children to perform a show when you return home from work. During the weekend, you can ask them to perform for grandparents or friends visiting. Post the videos on your social media or on Mr Bottle, empower children with magic Facebook page.
2. Play board games or complete a jigsaw puzzle
Before the times of smart technology, we have physical board games. Yes, your kids may not know about it. I managed to dig out from my parents’ home some old board games and jigsaw puzzles. What is old is, of course, new to the children. These doesn’t require a lot of organisation and will keep children occupied for a minimum of 30min to a few hours.
You probably had some kiddy or baby puzzles jigsaw. Look for your 500, 1000 and 5000-pieces jigsaw puzzles, especially if your children are primary school going kids! It’s time they graduate to something more difficult. Jigsaws are mind stimulating yet fun.
3. Dig Treasure / Fossils
Yes, we received a lot of rave reviews from parents on this activity. You can do it on your own by burying items in plaster of paris and let your children dig using hammer and chisel. Bury the remote control /smartphone in a ziplock bag so they have to slowly chip away the plaster to watch TV or use their phone! (Ok, don’t tell them Mr Bottle suggested this.)
We do have some ready made ones fossils available in case you are too busy to make them yourselves.
dinosaur egg digging set 
Dig it Twice Dinosaur Fossil Educational set 
dinosaur skeletons educational toys 
Is your company a oil company? How about a fossil digging activity for the children? 
Dinosaur Fossil Decor with Banner
Dinosaur Egg – $7.90
Dig It Twice (3D) – $26
Dinosaur Series: Fossil Digging (Large, 2D) – $39.90
Dinosaur Series: Fossil Digging (Large 3D) – $49.90
Dino Skeleton Digging (Small) Set of 5 Party Pack (3D, with no packaging) $59.90
Train your kids to be patient and persevere because it does take time for them to complete the digging
4. Do some science experiments
Look up some simple science experiments online. Prepare the material and ask the kids to try and show you the results at the end of the day. (As long as it doesn’t involve explosions!)
One of the trending experiment is the Balloon challenge in which you can ‘line up’ the molecules of water so the flow looks like glass. This is called laminar flow. You just need balloons and tape. Watch the tiktok video for more details.
5. Do some art & craft
Art & craft is a great way to stimulate the imagination because children can express their creativity in so many ways. Why not make a foo ball table (you can find the instructions here.)? After making it, children can play with it. This will occupy them for hours!
DIY foos ball table 
Soccer Themed Art & craft Workshop for children 
how to make foos ball table game
There you have it! Covid-19 or no covid-19, lives go on. We firmly believe that children shouldn’t have too much screen time no matter what. What do you do to occupy kids? Let us know!
