Five on Friday – Five Things Keeping Our Kids Busy During Quarantine

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Week two of homeschooling is in the books (thank goodness!!) and we’re really looking forward to spring break next week.  It’ll be different since we can’t actually go anywhere, and it’ll be bittersweet since we were supposed to be leaving for Disney World tomorrow, but at least it will be a break.  Even though we can’t do anything super fun like we had originally planned, I do still have a few ideas up my sleeve (all things we can do at home, of course), and I’m praying that we can make the most of it. 

Homeschool has been taking around 3-4 hours each day, so we’re usually done around lunchtime.  This means that we have the entire afternoon to fill, and that is a lot of hours when you can’t ever leave the house.  We have been splitting this time among outdoor/active time, arts/crafts time, and screen time, and today I’m sharing the five main activities that our kids have been loving the most during this weird-ass quarantined time. 

O N E – Mystery Mosaic Coloring Books

I mentioned these coloring books in my Easter basket stuffers post earlier this week because they are just that good!!  Jacob has literally spent 10+ hours on these this week alone.  He’s completely addicted.  They’re basically color by number but in mosaic form which adds another layer of fun to it.  When you first start, all you see is a black and white grid, and once you get it all colored in, the picture is revealed. 

If you do purchase these for your child, just make sure they have a good set of colored pencils… the squares are fairly small and I don’t think crayons would work as well as colored pencils.  Also, many of the illustrations require multiple shades of one color (like grass green, lime green, hunter green) so you’ll want a decent sized box that offers a lot of shades.  Our kids have these boxes and they've been okay, but I'm about to get Jacob this box of 120 (!!) to put in his Easter basket since there have been times where he's needed more shades.  He's gonna flip!

  

T W O – Disney +

No shame in our game, screen time limits have pretty much gone out the window during quarantine and Disney + is the kids’ favorite.  Of course, we’re monitoring everything they’re doing and we’re not letting them get too crazy, but they are definitely watching at least one movie every single day.  On the weekend when they don’t have schoolwork, we’ve even gone so far as to watch two movies in one day.  I’m sure eventually there will be a rainy day where we may end up having an entire movie marathon, and you know what?  Who cares?!  It is what it is during these crazy times, y’all. 

The sheer volume of goodness on Disney + is endless… all of the animated favorites like Frozen, Aladdin, Lion King, and Little Mermaid are on there, as well as a bunch of other stuff that you probably didn’t realize – Mighty Ducks, Richie Rich, Home Alone, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, 10 Things I Hate About You, The Princess Diaries, The Sandlot, and all of the Marvel and Star Wars stuff.  If you don’t already have Disney +, just go ahead and get it done.  It’ll be a good investment for your sanity, and you’ll thank me later. 

Sometimes Rakuten has Disney+ offers so you can get a really good deal.  If you’re not a Rakuten member, you can sign up here for free, and by using our referral link you’ll get $10!  That’ll pay for your first two months of Disney+!

T H R E E – Stomp Rocket

We’ve had this Stomp Rocket for at least four years now and it’s still going strong.  The kids will play with this outside for hours and I love that it makes them move around and get some exercise.  They love to run up to it and stomp it to see how far they can make it go, and by the time they’re done, they’ve always gotten a great workout in… it’s even fun for adults!  ;o)

F O U R – Sidewalk Chalk

Since the weather has been nice, we’ve also spent lots of time out in the driveway doing sidewalk chalk.  We’ve seen lots of people doing the “chalk your walk” challenge where people are drawing beautiful designs in their driveways to make people’s walks around the neighborhood more enjoyable. 

Believe it or not, sidewalk chalk is pretty hard to come by online right now as everyone is buying it up since we’re all stuck at home.  Amazon doesn’t have many choices right now, but Target does still have the Crayola 24 pack available for shipping and it’s just $2.99!!  I was able to order the 48 pack a couple of days ago for just $4.99 but it has since sold out.  If you want some, better get some soon!  

F I V E – Yoga for Kids on YouTube

In case you don’t already know, there are loads of yoga videos for kids on YouTube, a lot of which are fantastic.  Our kids are especially loving anything by Cosmic Kids… they have tons of different themed yoga sessions including Frozen, Moana, Spiderman, Minecraft, Pokemon, Trolls, and so many others.  The yoga instructor always dresses up, has a cute themed background, and does all of the yoga poses while telling the story for that particular theme.  This allows the kids to get in a good workout, and they can do it anytime, even if it’s raining out. 

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On the Blog This Week

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Easter Basket Stuffers Delivered to Your Door

Our Week – The One with Quarantine, Week 1

Happy quarantining, y’all!