KEEPING THE KIDS AMUSED

With schools shut and most of us working from home, the next few months are going to be an interesting time for parents. There are only so many hours that kids can play video games or watch movies, and with recommended screen time limited to one to two hours per day, parents are going to have to come up with more creative ways to entertain their little ones.

Luckily here at Aspire we’ve been brainstorming, and have come up with some fantastic ways to entertain your brood during the months ahead. From magical games to green-fingered gardening, here are our top activities for keeping little ones busy, giving you that much-needed me time. You can thank us later.

PAC K T H E M O F F T O HOGWARTS If your kids are fans of the Harry Potter books (and what child isn’t?!), this game is an easy one to set up. Copy the acceptance letter from the first Harry Potter book, inserting your child’s name, then hand over to your kids along with a wand (we recommend a chopstick), cauldron (large mixing bowl) and broomstick (an old broom or mop is great for this). Your kids can while away the hours mixing potions and playing Quidditch in the garden. To prolong the fun, create potion ingredients from unused cupboard items (tip: pesto and water makes for great pond algae). GREEN-FINGERED FUN The requirements of gardening are in almost direct opposition to those of watching TV. Kids are outdoors, moving around, using their initiative and interacting with wildlife - so what could be a better activity for kids in these long months ahead? Start your children off with some bright, easy-to grow flowers, such as poppies or sunflowers, letting them plant and water all the seeds themselves. Research shows that children involved in gardening are more likely to eat healthily, so create an allotment space for your children and encourage them to plant quick-growing vegetables like radishes or green beans. They’ll be able to see the results in weeks.

PUT ON A SHOW Let your child explore his/her inner starlet with this theatre-inspired game. Instruct children to write a 10 page script, with each of them taking on two characters. Then let your little ones browse amazon.co.uk for a costume (most fall under a tenner), or prompt them to make their own from old t-shirts and leggings. This game can extend over several days (with writing, creating costumes and rehearsals) and will boost a child’s creativity and sense of personal achievement. To extend this activity further, film their performance and encourage kids to edit together the footage, using child-friendly software like iMovie or Filmora9. GET CRAFTING Crafting is a great way to entertain kids, as it’s cost effective and requires little input from parents. There are thousands of fantastic ideas online, but our favourites include toilet-roll Koinobori (paint a toilet roll, then stick strips of tissue paper around the base), jam-jar lanterns (glue coloured tissue around a jam-jar and pop a tea-light inside) and paper-mache animals (stick strips of gluey paper to a balloon, allow to dry, then paint). Let your kids order their materials online to give them more ownership over the project.