140: Creative Ideas to Help Kids With Social Distancing

The Remarried Life

Summary Brian Mayer continues to discuss this prolonged period of what is called social distancing during the current pandemic we are all facing. Kids have an especially difficult time with this mostly because it is hard for the younger ones to understand and the older ones are just really so used to be so social. Today we will talk about some creative ideas for kids to be able connect while being physically distant. We hope you enjoy today’s message. For more information and additional resources please visit our website at http://www.theremarriedlife.com

Today's Goodies

• The need to be socially distant from others during the current pandemic is tough enough for adults, but what about the kids. Kids can have such a difficult time because (unless they are homeschooled) are used to being around lots of other kids and people.
• This difficulty in our kids having trouble with social distancing can be very burdensome on us as adults especially in a blended family. Because relationships are often strained in a blended family and now we are spending lots more time together that it can cause an even greater strain.
• However, I have heard lots of stories to the contrary where families are coming closer together by doing some really creative things at this time.
• We are going to talk about some creative ideas that your kids can do during this time to help them with the whole social distancing issue. Some ideas they can mostly do on their own and others could be done together.
• • For the younger kids, a website called Go Noodle has all sorts of videos to help with movement and mindfulness. This could be a good site to start the day where kids get off to a fresh start by moving and or doing some meditation.
  • Use Zoom which is a videoconferencing website where kids can connect with other kids. This might be a good opportunity for teens to stay connected with each other. Of course you may need to set up some ground rules for communication and whether or not you want to be able to see and hear what is going on in real time. There is also a record feature that you could let your child know could be used to go back and look through the video if need be. Working with the other parents on how best to approach this would also be a good idea.
  • Sidewalk Chalk Obstacle Course. I actually saw this one day while I was on a run. The neat thing is that the kids wrote in chalk that this could be used by anyone who wanted to have fun. Obviously this one might be a bit difficult to maintain distance if lots of kids want to do this at once.
  • Use Recycled Items to Create Something Fun. This one might best for the younger kids, but teens could enjoy it as well. For the young ones, creating a robot out of used milk jugs or maybe teens can create some kind of electronic device from old electronic parts and wires you might have around.
  • Cook Together Especially To Help Someone Else. Getting the kids more involved in cooking can always be fun. What would make it even more fun and important would be to cook for a neighbor or a friend in need. I have seen lots of people doing this for other and leaving the food in the garage or on the porch.
  • Neighborhood Scavenger Hunt. You could make a game out of finding things in the neighborhood. For example, the kids might have to collect 3 different types of leaves, or find a white wild flower (teach them the difference between wild flowers and those that people have planted before they go pulling!)

• Make a Movie. Have the kids develop a plot, write a script, choose the actors, and film using a smart phone. There is lots of great movie editing software to choose from to help put it all together.

• • Online Books Including Audio. A great website called Get Epic has lots of great kids books to choose from whether they read or listen to the audio. There is a free trial available and then after that there is a cost. The one comes highly recommended from my wife, the teacher!
• We hope that this episode has your creative juices flowing to help come up with some not so common ideas to the potential boredom that is possibly setting in for your blended family.

Resources:

• Go Noodle
• Zoom
• Get Epic

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As always remember that marriage is not something you have, it is something you do. Talk to you next week unless you are binge listening in the future in which case I will talk to you in about a minute! Take care.