Cocooning With Kids: Schools Closed, What Now?

If school is closed and you and the family are social distancing by staying home, what can you do?

Being cocooned at home is a golden opportunity for learning some new skills like cooking or baking or creative arts. And, if you are work-oriented, you have time to clean closets and organize shelves. School-age children will have homework to do and setting up expectations for when work will be done may be good.

But be sure to take advantage of the moment. First, sprinkle homework with play. Full-body, self-directed play helps concentration, attention, and learning.

School systems around the world in the know let children play every hour during the school day. Finland schools, the most successful in the world, schedule 15 minutes of play every hour. In the U.S., the LiNK program suggests multiple recesses.

Playing is what children evolved to expect to do to learn life skills. So, for a family with young children, the lockdown is a great opportunity to encourage children to do what helps them grow best.

Playing is what is recommended for growing socioemotional intelligence, including social flexibility and cooperation skills (Sahlberg & Doyle, 2019).

Here are some easy things you can do together.

• Dancing burns a lot of energy, works muscles, and is fun. You can do it together or alone.
• Children learn self-control with freeze dancing (dance while the music is playing, freeze in position when it stops).
• Reading books aloud and acting them out.
• Play chase with rules that work for indoors.
• Play charades geared for the age levels of participants (e.g., for young children, act out animals).
• Create something in the kitchen, in the “drawing” room, etc.
• Set up a scavenger hunt with in-home artifacts.

If you are not used to indoor play, there are lots of resources online that provide suggestions.

• Here are 50 ideas.
• Here are 87 more.
• This is a list of 25 play activities for young children.
• And here is a giant list divided by age and type of activity.
• The World Health Organization (WHO) also has a list.

Here are some of their links:

• CreateCATT: Create, Play, Move and LEARN: A resource to help you “stay at home, play at home.”
• Recycle and play: Various play ideas made from recycled items.
• Sesame Street: Toolkits: Have you ever wished that your child came with an instruction manual? Sesame Street Tool Kits are the next best thing. They provide opportunities to build closeness and confidence, making learning fun, and keep your child's world safe and secure.
• Vroom: Play-based activities for children 0-36 months: Everyone has what it takes to help nurture their child's mind. Vroom has 1,000-plus tips to turn everyday moments with your child into brain-building moments.
• Zero to Three: Play activities for 12-24 months.
• NASA: NASA Kids’ Club Activities for Children.

There are multiple advantages to playing with children, including pulling you out of your worries and into the present moment, and actually growing your socio-emotional intelligence, too.