9 Activities to Keep Your Kids Occupied While Everyone’s at Home

The new coronavirus doesn’t seem to affect kids in a severe way. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t consequences for kids—closed schools, canceled spring break plans, caregiver disruptions. For parents, many of whom have to work from home at the very moment when their childrens’ schedules have been upended and grandma has been advised to stay away, it’s an especially tricky time.

One of the central recommendations experts make in order to maintain some sense of security for your kids is to create a schedule. I can attest to the value in this advice. Day 1 of WFH + no school, we played it by ear. By 2 p.m. my 6-year-old was rolling around at my ankles with the morose look of a Renaissance heroine who’d been cooped up in the castle for a dozen years, while my 4-year-old did sprints back and forth along the hallway with a golf club in his hand. (Where was the 2-year-old? I shudder to think.)

That evening, I sat down and made a schedule. We might not rise at army hours, but we would channel their regimented discipline. I made “periods” for reading (my “lunch break” would be spent with Lyle the Crocodile), writing practice (a mom can hope), and “science” in the kitchen (cooking simple things). There was lots of time for free play, but also a sense that we had a plan to get us through the day and however many days of this would follow.

Many schools are currently experimenting with remote learning, but if your kids are a little too young to stick in front of a screen, here are some recommendations for activities you can easily order to keep your little ones occupied.