Pandemic fatigue is real, and it can be dangerous. Many are tired of the coronavirus and its strain on everyone’s daily lives amidst the pandemic. However, keeping your guard up and staying at home is the best way to protect yourself from the virus that’s still spreading to this day, leaving families no choice but to remain at home.
Kids have it the hardest since schools were canceled early on the pandemic, forcing them to stay home a year—and it’s still ongoing. Staying indoors can lead to pandemic fatigue, and frankly, kids are getting bored.
Luckily, there are still many fun activities they can participate in and prevent fatigue, and here are some of them.
Have Them Learn Something New
Allowing your kids to learn something new at home is a great way to keep them engaged and active, helping them acquire new knowledge-based perspectives on their surroundings and gain new experiences. Plus, it guides them to tackle different challenges better, keep neural pathways active, ensuring their overall health.
The best part is kids learn faster than adults, thanks to the prefrontal cortex of their brain, where working memory is stored. This capability gives them new motivation to learn something new every day, whether it’s taking drum lessons to embrace their inner musician or painting to discover the artist in them. There’s something for every child.
Play Online Games or Do Virtual Activities Together
Kids don’t need to be gamers to enjoy online games and activities with friends and family. Interactive games can be something as simple as mobile apps like Candy Crush, console games like Super Smash Bros, or you can organize an online game night for your kid and their friends to play games through Zoom.
However, as a parent, remember to monitor what your kids are doing online to guarantee their safety.
Enjoy Real-life but Virtual Activities
When the pandemic began spreading across the world, it seems that everything was getting canceled left and right, sparking creativeness in many individuals. There are now many things that you can do via the internet or virtual world that you used to do in person, including playing trivia nights with the family, taking cooking and art classes, and attending special occasions like weddings and birthday parties.
If your kids weren’t part of any clubs and groups or didn’t participate much in real-world events, now’s the chance to reach out to social media and see what real-life activities you both can do for fun.
Go Outside—in Your Backyard
If you have a backyard, now’s the time to take advantage of the beautiful outdoors without breaking protocols by exploring your outside property. There are many things you can do with your kids outside to help them stay entertained and prevent pandemic fatigue, including gardening, backyard camping, and having picnics. Teach your children how to grow their very own food by building and maintaining a garden outside.
If you have toddlers capable of handling themselves, consider having an overnight stay in your backyard and enjoying the fresh cool air. You can set a tent for younger children and let them feel like they’re camping, even if the end game is them sleeping on their bed. Finally, no kids will be able to resist great food and playing outdoors, and having picnics once in a while is an excellent activity that the whole family can do.
Go on Video Calls
Due to classes, work, and most things in life that have found their way online, one of the many things that people, including kids, learned to do is navigating through more significant video gatherings. However, even shorter calls with one or two friends is a great way to fend pandemic fatigue. Let your child use a phone and talk with their friends and show off their latest school projects to one another or have a playdate virtually.
Remember to be sensitive to what your children need and facilitate video calls with friends if they want it and minimize family video chats if they’re uncomfortable with it.
Have Movie Nights Every Weekend
Earn your best parent title with your children by showing movies every weekend, whether indoors or in the backyard. All you need is a projector and screen, and have everyone list the movies they want to watch for the night, place them in a hat and draw new selections every week. And don’t forget to prepare the snacks! Doing this keeps kids entertained and gives them something to look forward to every week.
Many parents have already exhausted their selection of fun activities throughout the summer due to lockdown protocols and other restrictions caused by the pandemic, and it’s safe to say children are now getting bored. Luckily, there are many things your children can do at home. And those mentioned are just some of the many examples that can keep them entertained and prevent pandemic fatigue.
