So many of us wish we could spend more time at home with our children.  Well, under the difficult circumstances we all experience, our wish can come true.

We discover our own “Life Steps” in order to create a pleasant and creative atmosphere for our children at home. With optimism and patience, based on our wish to provide continuous support to our Brave Kids and their families, we give you some ideas which will help you occupy our little fighters creatively!

Fairy tales- Theatre Games

Fairy tales play an important role in the life of pre-school age children. They learn in a pleasant and creative way. Fairy tales excite their imagination, help develop their creativity and their potential.

• Read with your children. Tell them one of their favourite stories and then decide who will play which role so that you can play your own theatre game.
• Ask the children to create their own special fairy tale. They can draw it. Give them a pad and ask them to chose their favourite theme or hero to be the subject of their own story. Every page will become a picture with a story to tell.
• Pretend you are little animals: make frog leaps, walk like a penguin, crawl like snakes.

Music

• At the tune of their favorite nursery song, move together following the lyrics.
• Hold the edges of a piece of cloth (for example a sheet) and place a ball at the center. Try to make everyone dance and sing while the ball must remain on the cloth.
• You can draw a piece of music you have both listened to with the child. Children can express their feelings and the images they love.

Make Musical Toys

Cultivate the children’s imagination and creativity while making musical toys.

• Make a rain instrument: use the center carton of a paper roll, place a few beans in it and close the two sides with aluminum foil or cling film.
• Make a rattle using a water bottle: fill no more than half the bottle with any kind of beans and close it.

Arts and crafts

Pre-schoolers love arts and crafts. Use any material available at home (pieces of cloth, buttons, cardboard, ribbons, beans, glue).

• Flowers: use spaghetti, beans, bottle caps, buttons, straws, plates, cardboard and make your own original flowers with the child
• Collage: we create an abstract collage using pieces of paper packaging, newspapers, magazines etc.
• Jewellery: make a necklace with a piece of string and pasta pieces
• Butterflies: use markers to draw on coffee filters. When the drawing is finished, dab it with a barely damp sponge. Cut and spread the filter and let it dry. You can put a peg in the middle of the butterfly and use straws for antennas.
• Explorer’s binoculars: We all have paper rolls at home. Take 2 and let the children cover them with drawings. Glue them together side by side. Tie a simple string at the two sides so the children can hang the binoculars around their neck. Ready to explore!
• Play with building blocks
• Build a fortress using pillows and sheets. Children love the feeling of having their own private space where they can set their own rules and make up their own stories.
• Pick leaves of different shapes and sizes from trees or flowers and cover them with tempera paint. Place them on white paper to create prints.

 

Play with water

Children love playing with water…

Let them wash their hands or help you wash unbreakable kitchenware. Their favorite game? Give them a doll or a toy baby and a sponge and let them give them a bath in a tub.

Create a car-wash in a big pan. The easiest way to keep them busy.

Games

It’s playtime!!!

• We play bowling: use empty water bottles or simple plastic cups to set-up an improvised bowling alley. The child can aim at the skittles-bottles with a ball from a distance and achieve perfect motor coordination.
• Play with balloons: we blow-up a balloon and start throwing it to each other. The aim is not to let it touch the ground.
• Treasure hunt: beans, rice or pasta create a fantastic opportunity for sensory play activities. Fill up a tub with any of these and hide some small toys inside. Ask the children to find them with their hands or with a tool.
• We roll small toys in aluminum foil and ask the child to unfold the roll.

 

Jigsaw puzzles

Jigsaw puzzles are an ideal activity for every child. They help improve the memory, to develop critical thought and they strengthen the child’s self-esteem and patience. Sit next to your child and together start joining the pieces. You can also cut a picture in 2-9 pieces, depending on the child’s age, mix them and then reconstruct the picture together.

Play with words

• Show the children images and ask them to tell you the name of the animal or the object shown. Then ask them to tell you 3-4 words starting from the same letter.
• Cover a surface with flour or shaving cream and write letters or words with the fingers.
• Fill the bag: Play by asking the child to tell you words starting with for example the letter “p”. Put a piece of candy or a sticker in the bag for every word starting with ‘p’ that the chid will tell you.

Play with numbers

• Count the fingers of both hands with the child
• Count the objects in a picture
• Ask the child to give you 5 building blocks
• Cut numbers off magazines and place them in the correct order
• Draw ice-creams. Draw one scoop in the first one, two scoops in the second, three in the third etc.

Memory Games

Play memory boosting games with your children. Adjust the game to the child’s age and preferences.

• Animal cards: place 3-4 cards in front of the child. Name the animal on each one. Allow the child to look at the order of the cards, then turn them upside down. Ask the child to remember which animal is on every card.
• Visit to the greengrocer’s: imagine that we’re going to the greengrocer’s to fill up our cart with fruit and vegetables. The objective is to buy the things we need but also to remember what the other players added to the cart. The first may say bananas for example, the second should repeat the bananas and add something else. The third one repeats the 2 previous ones and adds something new.

 

Cook

Have fun with your children while you cook. Prepare a colourful fruit salad and let them peel the banana. Bake a pizza all together by giving them some dough to knead. Prepare the recipe for their favourite cookies and shape them into the letters of the alphabet. Its fun and its educational. You can do the same with numbers.

Make your own sand

You need 8 cups of flour and 1 cup of maize or almond oil. Mix the ingredients and start playing. The texture of the sand is great. You can use it to make shapes and it helps exercise the fine motor skills.

Make your own plasticine

You need 4 cups of flour, 1,5 cup of salt. Mix. In 4 different bowls we pour 1 cup hot water and 1 food colour in each. Stir. Pour 2 tablespoons of seed oil in each bowl and stir. Evenly divide the flour and salt mix in the 4 bowls. Mix well until it becomes homogeneous and knead.

Gardening

Plant seeds or flowers in pots with your children to decorate the balcony. Explain to the children how we care for the plants.

May you enjoy many creative moments with your children.