Being stuck at home with nowhere to go can be boring (at best) and isolating (at worst). If you’re quarantining with young kids, you may find yourself shouldering their burden of boredom and isolation, as well. Fortunately, we live in a time when we have easy access to many resources that can make our lives easier. And best of all, you don’t have to leave your home to access them.
Here’s a list of some of our favorite stress-busters:
Online Learning Resources
Life Essentials At-Home Activities Our team of early childhood curriculum experts thoughtfully curated a list of activities and resources to help your family Learn On at home. Whether it’s during mealtime, playtime, clean up time, bath time or bedtime – our at-home curriculum is built so you can easily integrate learning opportunities in seamless, easy and fun ways.
Available for free, PBS KIDS has an extensive library of activities for kids ages 2 to 8, advice for parents to navigate these difficult times and access to episodes of their TV shows for kids. PBS KIDS also has a free newsletter that parents can sign up for to receive educational activities for their kids every weekday.
Kindermusik Sign up for Kindermusik’s weekly at-home activities, craft ideas, songs and parenting tips.
Things You Can Have Delivered
Yumble is a meal delivery service that’s just for kids. They create over 20 different kids’ meals weekly and ship them fresh and ready to eat with organic ingredients to customers all over the country! It’s a great way to take the burden of dinners or lunches off your plate (pun intended) for one day or six days a week.
Groceries If you’re not getting groceries delivered, it is life-changing. Availability is different across the country, but some services include Instacart and Shipt (you can choose from several different stores to shop from). Some stores also have their own delivery or curbside pickup. Another favorite is Misfit Market, which ships “ugly” produce that regular grocery stores turned away, for a slightly lower price.
Food Delivery Once you get tired of cooking and eating at home All. The. Time., you can support your favorite restaurants by ordering takeout. Regional availability differs, but our favorite delivery apps are Postmates, GrubHub, Uber Eats and Door Dash.
Books With local libraries closed across the country, you might be approaching your max capacity of reads of The Pout Pout Fish very shortly. Blub, blub, bluuuuuubbbbbbb. To start growing your home library, try Literati. They send curated boxes of kids books to you monthly. You can read them all, keep what you want and send back what you’re done with. If you decide to keep, their book prices are comparable with Amazon’s.
STEM Kits Using services like KiwiCo, you can have STEM kits mailed right to your home so you and your child can engage in some learning together. These kits are a ton of fun – not to mention, kids love getting their own mail!
Favorite TV Shows/Apps
Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum takes a fresh and accessible approach to introducing kids ages 4-7 to inspiring historical figures and the character virtues that helped them succeed. It explores social emotional concepts, making for an ideal tie-in with our Character EssentialsSM curriculum.
Pinkalicious & Peterrific encourages creativity and celebrates the arts across all disciplines — dance, theater, music and the visual arts.
Dinosaur Train teaches kids about natural sciences and paleontology with a cast of fun and diverse dinosaurs.
Curious George This fun animated series, based on the timeless set of books, still remains a childhood favorite.
Peloton Family Brain Break Not only is Peloton offering a free 90-day trial of their app (no equipment needed for many workouts), they also have 5-minute family workouts available.
eBooks Be sure to check out your local library’s online resources (many provide free access to all kinds of ebooks and audiobooks for library card holders). For more ebooks, emagazines and audiobooks, check out Scribd. They’ve got a great selection of kids’ books and they’re offering a free 30-day trial.
Sanity-Savers for Adults
Virtual Meditation & Yoga Classes You don’t need to look very far on the internet to find virtual meditation and/or yoga classes to help keep calm amongst the stress.
Peloton We are big fans of Peloton’s app, which gives you access to thousands of workout classes. You don’t need a bike or treadmill, either. Many classes have limited or zero equipment. You can search for workouts based on equipment, length, body part and more. Plus, Peloton is offering free access to their app for 90 days.
Finders Seekers Mystery Box For a fun date night at home, have a Finders Seekers box delivered. You can complete the “escape-room-style” mystery completely from home.
Fave Products
Tent Don’t underestimate how much fun your kids will have if you set up a tent in the living room.
Marble Run This STEM-themed game keeps kids 4 and up busy for hours, as they build, test and re-build structures that guide a marble from top to bottom, through twists, turns, spins and more.
BeanBoozled From the makers of Jelly Belly gourmet jellybeans, this hilarious game is sure to be a hit with your kids. It’s like a game of jelly bean roulette. One by one, players take turns sampling jellybeans. But will it taste like ripe pear… or dish soap? Only one way to find out!
K-Café or Other At-Home Espresso Drink Maker If you can’t go out for a skinny vanilla latte, at least make your own at home. It feels like a special treat.
Robot Vacuum With the whole family at home day-in and day-out, no doubt the floors are getting dirtier faster than normal. Ease the stress of having to sweep and vacuum more by getting a robot vacuum. Plus robot vacuums are an excellent source of entertainment for families.
Classic Board Games Because every kid should know how to play Candy Land, Sorry, Uno and Guess Who.
Fancy Kitchen Gadgets Remember the ice cream machine you got for your wedding and used once? Break it out and make a ridiculously fancy flavor, like lavender lemon, or just plain old vanilla. Same goes for the pressure cooker, slow cooker, bread machine and whatever other gadget you’ve been storing to use on a rainy day.
Other Activities
Dance Parties Set aside 5 or 10 minutes every day to have a dance party with your kids. Turn off the lights, get out some glow sticks and shake it off. Let your kids help curate the day’s playlist.
Lunchtime Virtual Fun Meetings Schedule 10-minute video conferences with coworkers and plan out talent shows, short plays/skits, home tours or whatever else you, your coworkers and your families are up for!
Easter Egg Hunts Every Day Why wait until next spring to host your next egg hunt? Fill plastic eggs with candy, coins – or absolutely nothing (sometimes the thrill of the hunt is all the reward kids need) and hide them around inside or outside your house and let your kids find them.
Inclusion in this post or on this site does not constitute Kiddie Academy’s endorsement, express or implied warranty, or recommendation of the referenced products, services or organizations. The products and services are presented for informational purposes, and readers utilize them at their own discretion and risk.
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