Carson Now’s 10 ways to entertain your quarantined kids

Well the kids are home thanks to COVID-19, and after approximately four hours the novelty of not being at school is sure to wear off and they’ll expect you to provide them with entertainment after they've done their online school learning assignments. So before you start tearing your hair out, here are 10 ways to keep your kids entertained during quarantine!

1) Pinecone peanut butter bird seed feeders

This is my go-to for a low cost, high fun craft project in the beginning of Spring. Kids of all ages love it because it allows them to do what they do best: get messy. Simply send those little foragers out to find pine cones, and the other supplies are: string, peanut butter and bird seed.

Take your pine cone and tie a sturdy piece of string to it, which will then be tied to a tree branch of porch rail or wherever else you can think to stick a pine cone. Then, take your peanut butter and smear it all over the pine cone; make sure to get it nice and goopy and sticky! Lastly, take your sticky gooey pine cone and roll it around in bird seed. Voila! You now have a bird seed feeder. Hang from any branch, porch rail, or various structure where the birds are sure to find it.

2) Make a fort.

This is a zero cost way to spend an afternoon that the kids can either do themselves or with your help, depending on your level of interest and how intact your sanity is. All you need are some sheets, pillows, blankets, and all manner of tools to build! Clothespins, string, yarn, hangers, velcro and wooden dowels are all great fort tools. Bonus points to giving up your table to use as the main sector of the fort. Throw a sheet over it. You’ve got yourself a command center.

Do you have multiple children? Build two smaller forts and let them battle it out with toilet paper roll bombs, cotton balls, stuffed animal sentries, or any other soft, definitely non-breakable objects that can be turned into safe weapons.

3) Have them create their own board game and then teach you the rules.

You’d be surprised how creative kids can be if all they have is a piece of card board, some construction paper and markers. This can take up hours depending on how type A your child is. Then they’ll spend the same amount of time it took to build it to explain to you how it works and what the rules are, and suddenly it’s dinner time.

4) Bake cookies!

Children of all ages and genders love a good cookie baking session. You can keep it simple with a regular old sugar cookie, or you can leave it up to them by putting different mix-ins in small bowls and let them go crazy. Make sure it’s from scratch though, because that’s where the creativity happens!

5) Make up-cycled bird houses from plastic gallon jugs.

I remember doing this myself on many a summer afternoon. Simply take an old milk gallon jug, wash it thoroughly with soap and water, dry it completely, then cut out a section of the jug so the birds can go in and out! You can also cut a smaller hole beneath it and push a stick through, giving them a nice perch. Use environment safe paint to decorate it to their heart’s content. I probably made a dozen of these over the years and not once did a bird decide to use it as its home, but I sure did have fun making them.

6) Depending on the age and reading ability of your child, you can turn them into amateur ornithologists with only a bird-watching book, a note book to write their field notes, and a pair of binoculars.

I’m not sure why so many of these are bird-related; probably because bird-activities are easy and cost effective.

7) Take them on a hike!

Just because quarantine is in place does not mean you’re stuck within your walls for weeks. Avoid trafficked public areas, but you can absolutely find a nice trail head or BLM land to explore and let them get their wiggles out. You can even bring some peanut butter pine cones or bird watching books on these endeavors to spend even more time before they get bored.

8) Workbooks.

You definitely don’t want their little brains to flush out every thing they’ve learned so far this year, and workbooks are a great way to keep them in the practice if their schools haven’t assigned anything themselves. You can pick one up from any department store, office store, or online. You can sort by subject, grade level, or even extra curricular they might be interested in! Schedule a time during the day after they’ve started winding down, put on some quiet music and let them educate themselves.

9) Chores.

There’s never a bad time for chores. You can use this opportunity to teach them a new one. Kids as young as preschool can figure out how to load a washer or dryer, wash dishes, mop floors; older children can help out making meals, loading dishwashers. You can even go full Mary Poppins and turn your child into a chimney sweep; their little bodies will probably be best for the practice anyway.

10) When all else fails, put your child outside in a safe, enclosed area and lock the door.

They’ll grow tired of banging helplessly on the windows and sliding glass door at some point and figure out how to entertain themselves. Throw some side walk chalk to them through the dog door or kitchen window. Then make yourself a nice cup of tea or glass of wine, depending on your persuasion. I’m sure they’ll be just fine.

Do you have a favorite family activity? Leave your ideas and suggestions in the comment section below.