Step away from the screens kids
Imaginative activities give isolated children a welcome break
1. Create cardboard costumes
You’ll need: cardboard, scissors, ruler, pencil, PVA glue, pegs, paints. Cut construction strips from your cardboard, which should be the width of a ruler. These can be the basis of any costume. For example, a strip around the head with two more strips attached makes the perfect foundation for any headpiece. Two strips made into loops and attached to a cardboard section as wide as your back makes armholes so you can put on a back-mounted costume like fairy wings. When attaching strips, you need to use a thin layer of PVA glue. You have to give this a few minutes to work, so hold the cardboard together with clothes pegs until it’s well stuck. For added colour, paint your costume when finished.
2. Make a tape town
You’ll need: masking tape, toy cars, cardboard boxes.
You don’t need diggers and bulldozers, just a roll of masking tape so you can lay out your town any way you wish, and just as easily change your mind.
A road system is a good starting point. You could make single lanes with thick masking tape or use two lines to create dual lanes. In the spaces in between, you can include buildings made from cardboard boxes: houses, , shops,even... schools.
3. Make your own facepaints
You’ll need: a bowl, teaspoon, cornflour, face or body lotion, plain flour, water, vegetable oil, small pots, food colouring, brushes, mirror.
Mix four teaspoons of cornflour, four teaspoons of lotion, two teaspoons of flour, two teaspoons of water and two teaspoons of oil into a smooth paste and divide this between several small lidded pots. Add a few drops of different food colouring to each until you have the range of paints you need. Then paint your face. It takes about half an hour to dry so don’t smudge it while you wait. Also, don’t get it on your clothes as food colouring can stain.
CONFINED within four walls for the foreseeable future, many children are becoming hooked on screens to stave off lockdown boredom.
And while many parents will welcome the social interaction and entertainment their children get from computer games and the internet during this time of social distancing and isolation, few will want their children to spend all day staring at a screen.
But how to prise them away from their beloved tablets and phones?
Dawn Isaac has written a book, 101 Things for Kids to do Screen-Free, which offers ways keep kids entertained.
She said: “We’re living through some really strange times right now. Our kids are having to go online to complete schoolwork or do lessons, so it’s more important than ever to give them a bit of screen-free time.”
She suggested two to three hours a day screen-free on a regular basis so it doesn’t become a daily argument. Dawn added: “If you’re juggling work and kids, it’s good to give them some activities they can really get stuck into and will keep them going for not just a quick five minutes, but a good couple of hours.
“The real surprise is how much children enjoy doing screen-free activities, especially when they feel in control.”
To get you started here are three of the ideas in the book to get children aged between eight and 12 off screens.