Activities

How to keep young children happy during lockdown

With the third lockdown in the midst of winter, we know that many parents will be feeling the pressure. Keeping young children entertained all day is not easy, especially when you are juggling responsibilities, so we are here to offer our expert advice.

 

Supporting parents during the pandemic

At Jiggy Wrigglers, we support parents during lockdowns with small, interactive classes. Our leaders understand how to engage young children, both face to face and online. We offer weekly themes where we will ‘make’ and ‘explore’ to keep children’s interest and make the sessions fun and interactive. For parents and carers, we ensure that they also have the opportunity to virtually meet others to share similar experiences.

 

How to choose an online class for young children

The truth is that although there may be many online classes, you need to ensure that they are being delivered by skilful professionals. Engaging children online comes with its challenges, but as a network, Jiggy Wrigglers has years of experience. This is just some of what you can expect:

• Themes – dinosaurs, pirates, transport, space, Easter, farms and circus are just some of the magical worlds that we explore.
• Education – we get children thinking by creating scavenger hunts and other fun activities to inspire young minds.
• Creative – want to know how to make ice cube rainbows or coloured rice, our leaders have fun and easy ways your children can create at home.
• Play – play is so important for young children and although they may have missed out on toddler groups, we ensure that we can help you create a wonderful sensory play experience for them.

 

Cooking with toddlers

Having confidence in the kitchen can start early on in your child’s life. Lockdown is a good time to introduce young children to simple recipes and encourage them to take an interest in food. It will certainly help fussy eaters and may give them invaluable skills for life.

• Encourage – measuring and stirring will build confidence and encourage participation.
• Prep – do the boring work like getting all the ingredients together before you start cooking with your young child. You don’t want the tedious prep to put them off before they have even begun.
• Relax – every child has a different attention span. Some will happily spend an hour with you while others will get bored after five minutes. Follow their lead and relax into their pace.
• Expectations – it’s highly unlikely that you are going to produce a work of art when cooking with a toddler. Your cake may not be Bake Off ready but your kid will love to get stuck into the decorations.
• Get messy – be prepared for the mess, it’s part of the fun for the child.
• Results – pick a recipe that you can complete quickly such as a smoothie so they can sample what they have created immediately.

 

Indoor adventures

Many people have said that this third lockdown has been the hardest yet. Cold, wet days have meant that even getting out for a stroll can be challenging. If you are all going stir crazy, tackle an indoor adventure or challenge just once a week and see if that can break the monotony.

• Yoga – relaxation and mindfulness can start very young but expect to keep it very short.
• Soft play – turn your living room into a soft play adventure for the day with mattresses, chairs, tables and whatever you can get your hands on to get them moving.
• Lego or building challenge – even very young children can build and create and for adults it can be quite a therapeutic process.
• Bird feeder – if you have a garden or outdoor space, head to the National Trust website for nature inspired ideas including how to make a bird feeder. Young children will be fascinated watching the birds gather.
• Science – build an insect hotel or a baking soda volcano to get them interested in science. For some easy experiments to do with little ones, check out We Are Teachers website.
• Scrapbooks – whether you have loved or loathed the lockdowns, making a scrapbook with your child to remember this time will be fascinating for them to keep and look back on as adults.