Paint by Numbers from @Catepaperco
I've always been more of a creative person and love doing arts and crafts with the kids. I genuinely enjoy coloring or painting Paw Patrol & Disney Princesses with them. 🤣 So, I thought of looking into coloring books for adults. I always heard it can be calming so I figured why not! I came across an ad for “Paint by Numbers” and that was just what I was looking for.
Read MoreIt’s been a little over a week since our school district made the difficult decision to close all schools, and four days since Governor Newsom ordered a shelter-in-place for all of California. During this time, I’ve honestly been scrambling trying to get my work in order while letting my two little ones kind of have a free for all —whoops!
I’ve seen several people post that we should just take this time to spend as a family and forgo a schedule, but as much as I would love to just have one-on-one time with my babies, I was still required to work from home, and I just have an innate need to reach out to my students (who were also blindsided by school closures).
The first week, I let my little ones watch movie after movie, run a muck in our front yard, and just have unstructured play until they were tired. I even let them stay up until 11pm when their usual bedtime is 7:30pm! As the spread of the COVID-19 virus worsens, and the possibility of school being closed for the rest of the school year though, I’m seeing that we really need to have a more structured system in place.
The teacher in me decided to create a visual schedule for my kids to follow (of course it’s laminated). I’ve gone over the pictures with them and now they know when to expect to do schoolwork, circle time/reading time, snack time, playtime, lunchtime, and nap time. Putting a limit on snack time has been the BIGGEST game changer. It’s only been a day, but they refer to their boards to see if they can get a snack.
Playtime!
I’ve also brought out the kids’ Ok to Wake Alarm clock to help them keep track of time. My son is currently learning how to tell time, while my daughter is starting to recognize numbers so she can match the numbers on the board to the one on the clock. It’s a win-win for everyone!
If you’re interested in the icons I used for this visual schedule, I made a PDF so you can download them here ! Want the character to look a little more like your littles? Shoot me a comment and I’d be more than happy to change that for you :) .
I’m curious to know what your household has been doing at home. Please share below!
I’m adding a gallery of things we’ve done the past couple of days when I finally got my sh*t together! ;) We did a few of my favorite things, such as arts/crafts and gardening, and then I made them do things like read and chores! Check out our Instagram for more Indoor Activity ideas on our Kids’ activities highlight reel!
