Keeping Kids Busy: Inside Edition
Ohhhhhhh ya’ll, as we go into another week of our new normal I have got to say that I’m going a little stir crazy and so are my kids. In an effort to help all of our mental health, I am doing my best to stay busy. That also means keeping my kids busy. I’m not saying that our entire day is mapped out and calculated (we have a loose schedule) but we fill our time with fun things that allow imaginations to run wild and also make us laugh. From card games to forts, we are rotating all the things and loving the outcome. Yes, our “normal” has changed drastically but filling our time with family activities and finding the positive really has changed our mental and we are growing as a unit.
One of our favorite new finds is the AirFort! If you have never heard of them, they are AMAZING and I swear the kids have been playing with this every single day since we opened the box! As you can see in the photos, we chose the digital camo pattern and we had so much fun putting it together! The setup takes literally 30 seconds once it’s out of the box. All you have to do is plug it into a power supply and less than 30 seconds later it’s fully inflated and ready to play. Before this, my kids would tear up the couch and arrange chairs everywhere to build their own forts. Which is all fine and dandy until you need a place to sit and all the cushions are being used!
I like the AirFort because it’s quick, easy, and for under $50 I have found something to entertain my 3 older kids all day long! I love hearing them use their imaginations instead of playing with their electronics and they have been getting along so well while playing in their fort! I am open to any and all suggestions for screen time alternatives at this point! When it’s time to take it down, you simply unplug the fort and it rolls up into its carrying case for easy storage!
Besides the AirFort, we have been keeping busy by playing lots of card games (UNO is probably all of our favorites!!) and having movie nights. We like to go all out and pick a movie to watch together (I love that you can rent everything that’s in theaters now online!) and make popcorn. Sometimes if the kids have behaved really well, I’ll pick up some of our favorite candy in my grocery order to surprise them. We love sitting down together and just spending time together.
Although there is NO shortage of family time right now, Derrek and I try to be intentional and do fun little things to create memories for them! Even though they are really young, we hope that they look back on this “weird” time in history and remember the good parts and the little things we tried to do to make it special!
