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Okay, at age 5 no –one likes having to stay indoors. Young children aren’t particularly interested in sitting idle while the rain falls outside. Even when sick they have a hard time being cooped up indoors. But there are some really great projects and games you can make and play together to make the hours pass quickly and quietly.
Make puppets.
Everyone loves puppets, boys, girls and adults! Here is a list of things you’ll need to get the project started.
*Lunch or grocery bags
*Paints or markers
*Strips of felt or old socks, cotton materials
*Construction paper
*Glue
*Yarn, string or ribbon
*Scissors
*Other decorations; buttons, ice-cream sticks, beads.
Some fun and easy ideas for puppets are: a frog that opens its mouth to catch flies. A singer who carries a microphone or a snake with a forked tongue (its really your finger with a paper V taped on the tip). Use a cardboard box, or a shoebox to create a stage and let the show begin!
Make a map.
How big is your child’s world? It can be a map of his room, your house, the neighborhood, or country.
You may find that younger children need a little guidance, try asking them to pretend they are a bird flying over head in their room, school, or neighborhood. Ask them what they would see. For example “What’s at the edge of the room? OR the middle?”
Here is a list of things you can use to create a map.
*Paper and crayons
*Large sheets of paper
*Cutouts from magazines; buildings or people
*Real photos of family and/or friends
You know best your child’s level of interest; give them tools that make them comfortable such as fat markers for small hands etc.
Build a fort.
Something about forts is very attractive to children of all ages. Maybe it’s the squeezing into a place that quiet and away from others. A place all their own, yet in the comfort of familiar surroundings as well. No matter how they are made or used, kids love forts! It’s their space, their magical world.
Building basics; a fort can be made of most anything around your house, using pillows, blankets, sheets, tables, or chairs. Help your child learn the simple concept of creating a covered structure, with an entrance and possibly an exit. You can use cardboard boxes, too. Tape together a few large ones, and create separate rooms in the fort so that your child can move around the structure. Give your child some markers or crayons and allow them to draw in the interior of their special place. Maybe some flowers on the outside or a cityscape. Soon your child’s imagination will soar!
Try a large sheet over a child’s bed of a simple fort, or the dinning room table. Small furniture can make it cozy, or pretend it is a camping situation and bring along a sleeping bag, marshmallows and a boxed lunch, too.
The next time you are housebound with a child remember the fun is only limited by imagination.
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