National AIA - Ideas for Kids at Home in the Coronavirus Time
How to Make the Time Interesting and Productive When Children are Socially Isolated
At this time when we are all locked in the house, and isolated with children at home, how can we make their stay at home interesting?
Children are full of energy, if we do not get them involved in activities, they will play games on the cell phone or computer or will sit and watch TV.
We should have a plan.
Here are a few suggestions...
1. Try to maintain the scheduler of getting up in the morning, taking shower, get the children involved in making breakfast and washing dishes.
2. Stay connected, call your friends, gossip & laugh.
3. Talk about the virus especially CoronaVirus, how it spreads, how they can protect themselves and others especially when they cough or sneeze. Tell them the importance of washing hands. How they can increase their immunity. Make stories and tell them about the virus in the form of a story. Tell them the importance of keeping the distance and not to hug the Grandparents at this time.Explain to them about the less immunity in elderly people.
4. Get them involved in cleaning and organizing their room. Show them how to fold the clothes and do them.
5. Get them involved in baking the food like cake or cookies, enjoy it and appreciate their work to encourage them.
6. Discuss with them about good nutrition and encourage the use of Vitamins, fruits, vegetables and green salad in the diet eat together.
7. In the morning or any convenient time do a small Havan, with a little camphor and havan samagri. Tell them the importance of it and purification of the air in the house. Recite mantra – Om Bhoor bhuvah swah ---, and Triambcom yajamahe---. The meaning of these mantras. Tell them in old times our Rishi- Muni used to do to purify the atmosphere. This way you not only teaching them our heritage but bringing the family together.
8. Tell the stories of Lord Rama and Krishna. These days it is Navratri, Tell your children about Ma Durga and How she killed the Devils. They may ask you, what is a Devil. Prepare yourself to answer their questions, because children are curious and intelligent. This way, you will also increase your knowledge.
9. Encourage them to write Story and Poems. Help them and appreciate them.
10. Download the APP and make them learn a foreign language like Spanish and Hindi.
11. Teach them about Yoga especially Pranayama and aerobics.
12. Watch nice movies with them.
Urmilesh Arya MD
President National AIA
Followings are the links for some suggested books.
Educational resources
Khan Academy – great, free resource for instructional videos and assessments on many topics including math and ELA, from pre-K to college and beyond. www.khanacademy.org
Mystery Science – offering free science lessons from kindergarten to 5th grade. They have videos and hands-on activities.
https://mysteryscience.com/school-closure-planning
TED-Ed has hundred of TED-Ed animations and TED Talks designed to spark our children’s curiosity. There are also many video-based lessons organized by age-level and subject. https://ed.ted.com/parent
BrainPop – provides animated interactive lessons, quizzes, and games for core subjects and a variety of electives. It is offering free access during school closures. https://www.brainpop.com/
NASA Kids – The NASA website’s section includes a great free catalog of articles, activities, videos, and games for children in grades K-12 on topics related to STEM, aeronautics, and space exploration. https://www.nasa.gov/stem
Duolingo – a free language app available for iPhone, Android, and on the web. It offers fun and engaging lessons for a number of languages, including Spanish, French, German, and Italian. https://www.duolingo.com/
Reading
Storytime from Space – this is a project of the Global Space Education Foundation, a nonprofit education foundation. They send children’s books to the International Space Station. While in space, astronauts videotape themselves reading books to the children of Earth. https://storytimefromspace.com/
“Pete the Cat” fun
Pete the Cat Songs & Videos – http://www.petethecatbooks.com/songs/
Draw Pete the Cat – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTLg2H40hu