Being a stay at home mom or work at home mom or general caregiver to your kids whether they are sick and need to stay home from daycare or school can be exhausting, especially if they are high energy or needy (wondering what my schedule with kids at home looks like? Check it out here). But I find being prepared with fun activities for 4-6 year olds at home can lessen the in-the-moment stress when your child comes to you whining that they are “bored”.
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I know this too well from having a 6 year old, 4 year old, 2 year old and 7 month old at home on sick days or Spring break or Summer vacation!
I also know the pressure of feeling not prepared on how to entertain your own kids when school is not an option for when you are at work – the weight of financial strain and entertaining your kids can be overwhelming. And then on top of it you factor into world events of Coronavirus or Covid-19. If you need to unplug as an adult and take care of your mental health, do it! Make sure you are getting your information from reliable sources, and make the best decisions for your family.
A lot of people have been asking me my opinion of current events, I don’t have a lot to say – I have been slowly watching the news of the new Coronavirus from December to now from Twitter (don’t go on Twitter if you need a mental break from the media). But never in my wildest dreams did I think it would make it to Canada, alas here we are taking precautious measures to give our healthcare system a leg up.
So I pulled our eldest from school and excused her from the last week of school before Spring break – some provinces are extending Spring break another 2 weeks afterwards. If that happens in Alberta it can be up to 4 weeks that kids can end up being home if parents decide to pull their children a week prior to Spring break.
I know a lot of parents may be pulling their hair out by the end of the first week so I want to share my favourite indoor activities for kids with you!
Here are 6 fun activities for 4-6 year old kids at home:
- Rainbow Rice Sensory Box – It takes an hour to let the dye settle and dry, and then countless hours of quiet play and measuring! Click the link for a full tutorial on this awesome activity!
- Popsicle Bath – it is literally what it sounds like! Give your kids a popsicle and let them take a bath – this usually can guarantee me 20-30 minutes. And if you have multiple children I like to let them have individual baths so they can have some quiet time to themselves. It can be overwhelming to be with your siblings 24/7 for 4 weeks straight.
- Counting Snacks – It can be big numbers or little numbers, with any kind of dry snack. My kids adore counting Cheerios or raisins. This one takes a tiny bit of preparing for big kids, but I have a downloadable printables here to make your lives easier (Page 1, Page 2, Page 3). Count by 5’s, 10’s, or 20’s! Math can be delicious!
- Cup Stacking – Remember gym in junior high? At least I do! One of the best games we ended up playing was cup stacking, and it’s relatively cheap! All you need are a bunch of red solo cups from Amazon or you can make a quick run to the dollar store. Older kids enjoy timing themselves and improving their speed, younger kids enjoy making a tower and punching or kicking it down. It’s a win win for 4-6 year olds!
- Popsicle Stick Sorting – While you’re making an Amazon order or making a list for your dollar store run, make sure you add coloured popsicle sticks to your list and I’ll tell you why! My kids are pretty good at independent play, they truly only come to me if they’re ready for a mentally stimulating activity. And sorting by colours is a great math activity that appears easy! Again this one takes some preparation but it’s 2 minutes of colouring, you could even draw the outline and then let your kids fill in the colour. Essentially you are going to create this image on a piece of paper – for older kids you can encourage their reading skills by switching the colours and the words for their brains (similar to this image or this image). Once the activity is ready, they simple organize a bag of coloured popsicle sticks (again the dollar store has these!), then they count how many sticks are in each colour and write it down. It’s simple but can provide a little break from the usual Disney+ or Netflix binge.
- Plant And Grow An Indoor Herb Garden – Plants are science, right? Right! Teaching your kids the responsibility and patience of gardening is a great skill to develop. And if they are at home for long periods of time during Spring break or Summer vacation they will truly be able to watch their plants progress!
If you are feeling the solidarity of home life with your kids or are self isolating or quarantining yourself, come check out what I’m up to on Instagram Stories!
I hope you find some comfort in the fact that we are all in this together – we are are trying to do the best for our kids and keep them mildly entertained over the next few weeks.
What are your fun activities for 4-6 year old at home? Tell me in a comment below!
If you like this post, check out my 10 Best Gift Ideas For 3 Year Olds post before you go!
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