Fun play activities at home for kids and the whole family

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Courtesy NET25 Kids

 

By Sally Lopez
NET25 Kids Supervising Producer

Do you feel bored? Are your eyes always tired because of watching too much videos? Are you already having a headache because of too much video games?

Well, why not, have some physical play instead? Did you know that physical play has a lot of benefits for everyone?

Physical play can help us in many ways. It helps us have a healthy body because it helps us move around. It can keep our mind active as well because we think and plan about the steps that we are going to do especially if we create our own games.

(File photo) This photo taken on June 29, 2014 shows children playing table football at a mall in Taipei. AFP PHOTO / Mandy CHENG (Photo by Mandy Cheng / AFP)

Playing doesn’t require expensive equipment and big spaces. You don’t need expensive toys as well. All you need is some resourcefulness, creativity and lots of imagination!

Playing helps us fight boredom while on enhanced community quarantine. It can keep us from feeling extremely worried and can help us make our day productive. It can also help us practice kindness, sharing, turn taking, and patience. And of course, play is fun to do not just for you, kids, but for everyone in the family!

So, here are some fun play activities you can do at home while helping your parents with household chores and bonding with family members! These tips are brought to you by NET 25 KIDS! Have fun!

(File photo) MARCH 26: Max Major, 5, plays with toys on March 26, 2020 in Mount Vernon, New York. Both of his parents lost their jobs when businesses and schools closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The family left their apartment in New Rochelle, NY, hard hit by COVID-19, to live temporarily at his grandparents’ house in nearby Mount Vernon. John Moore/Getty Images/AFP

1. Make organizing your toys fun! Find toys that you haven’t seen for a long time. Sort them, clean them up, and put them in containers available in your house! You can ask a brother or sister to play a “FAST SORTING GAME” while you are cleaning up. Count from 1-10 and whoever cleans up the most toys wins!

2. Reuse, reduce, and recycle! Find different recyclables (like plastic, paper, and used bottles) at home and think about what projects you can do. You can make a kitchen sink out of carton boxes or toy cars out of cans. There’s a lot of ideas in the internet, just make sure to ask permission before using the internet and be resourceful as you might not have all the materials you need at home.

(File photo) Brazilian fashion photographer Marcio Rodrigues wears a mask made with recyclable bottles, cans and boxes after over 20 days in which these garbage items were not collected because of the quarantine imposed to control the spread of the new coronavirus (COVID-19), in Belo Horizonte, Brazil on April 11, 2020. – Marcio Rodrigues will make a suit with recyclable garbage if the quarantine continues. (Photo by DOUGLAS MAGNO / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE – MANDATORY MENTION OF THE ARTIST UPON PUBLICATION – TO ILLUSTRATE THE EVENT AS SPECIFIED IN THE CAPTION

3. Be the chef for the day! Ask Nanay or Tatay if you can choose what to cook and help her or him cook the meal for the family. If you’re too young, help in setting the table. You can also play pretend restaurant by making a menu before meal time (even if you only have one “ulam”). Be the “waiter” for the family members. Take their orders before serving them food.

(File photo) Kids preparing food at the Food Network & Cooking Channel New York City Wine & Food Festival Presented By Coca-Cola – Alfa Romeo presents Italian Harvest Party sponsored by illy caffe and Barilla hosted by Giada De Laurentiis at Industria on October 14, 2017 in New York City. Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images for NYCWFF/AFP

4. Set-up your own mini-library and read! There might be books that are already dusting at home. Or you can re-read books that you have read a loooonng time ago! You can also be the librarian and make library cards so that other members of the family can also be motivated to read. You can also read with your siblings! Remember, reading is fun and it will help you explore different worlds.

 

LOS ANGELES, CA – AUGUST 01: Guided reading at Kinder Ready Summer Camp on August 1, 2018 in Brentwood, California. Tasia Wells/Getty Images for Kinder Ready /AFP

5. Have your own Arts and Crafts area or pretend it’s an art studio! You don’t have to have a big area. You can just have a small area (or corner) where you can organize your art supplies. This can be an area where you can be messy. You can ask Nanay or Tatay to sit on a chair as your models while you draw their portraits. Don’t forget to clean up though after doing your projects.

6. Play pretend store! Nanay or Tatay might need help finding out what supplies your family still have. You can help them by making an inventory – count the items you still have at home and make a list. Make paper money and ask your brothers or sisters at home to pay for items they need using your play money. You can review your Math skills here, too, by adding the total and subtracting the change!

7. Make household chores fun! Give your parents a break from household chores by helping them do tasks that you can do. Learn to fold clothes and organize them accordingly. Pretend that you are in a clothes store as you hanger the clothes and sort according to color or type! 🙂
(Also check out the NET25 Kids Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/NET25Kids/)

About the author:

(Sally Lopez is a special education teacher and supervising producer for NET25 Kids’ shows at Eagle Broadcasting Corporation. She has been teaching students with special needs for more than 20 years.  She is currently a special education teacher and college professor at the New Era University. She was recently appointed by President Rodrigo Duterte as a Council Member for the National Council for Children’s Television representing Broadcast Media.)