Kid-Rona Stay Home Day #1

With everything closing for the Corona Virus prevention, many families are trying to figure out how they will keep their kids occupied. I have been told that my brain works differently than others, so I decided to share my ideas with the world in order to help other households with their extra time together.

I am a bit of a Disney fanatic, so I am picking a movie each day to serve as the basis for the days activities, crafts, and snacks. Today on Day #1 we are starting with Peter Pan!

What to Watch

My boys are not morning people, so we usually start our mornings with "Couch Cuddles" while we watch a show or movie. This morning we cued up our Disney+ account and put on Peter Pan, and then Return to Never-land. We had a very late night on Friday, so we required a little extra time to get our happy faces working again. For our rest time later (after lunch) we put on Hook because every child needs to learn about the Bangarang!

What to Play

After our movie time, we turned the kids loft bed into a pirate ship. I think these 2 kiddos are hilarious to hear how literal they are when they play. B was "Captain Hook" and so would not allow C as a "Lost Boy onto his ship, so obviously the Lost Boy spent the rest of play time trying to board the ship. I found the little's a crocodile (dinosaur filled with a sleeping bag) that I tried to throw on board the ship. This choice was swiftly corrected by B as he threw the crocodile into the water, which we quickly had to replace with their Nemo comforter for realism. We got a good hour of AM play before they wanted to know what crafts I had to offer them. They returned to their ship for the afternoon after "rest time" because it becomes extra interesting in comparison to nap time.

Now, I think that any folding table or kitchen table would serve just as much magic to kids once you put a sheet over it. It is really about doing something out of the ordinary that makes the experience so memorable. Just use whatever you have and your kids will be super thrilled.

What to Do

Peter Pan Hats

We started off with making Peter Pan hats for the kids to wear. I had to freshen up all my High school note folding skills and a YouTube tutorial, but I quickly recalled the simple folds needed to complete these fun hats. While I did most of the folding, the little's got free reign to decorate however they wanted. And since I rarely let them have markers, they were thrilled to decorate for a bit. B is my color kid and tries to use as many as possible, while C is fascinated with the alphabet right now and loved getting to talk about the letters he added and what each letter stands for. Sometimes extra learning opportunities like that will pop up and reveal what your kids are most interested in academically, and you can pursue organically.

Pirate Hooks

After our hats were done, B remembered the Pinterest links i was finding on how to make a Pirate's hook. He kept asking for his own hook so that he could be the real Captain Hook inside of his pirate ship. We rolled up a square piece of Aluminum foil before squeezing it, and shaping it into a Question Mark shape. I cut holes in the tops of each boys cup for them, and helped them them shove the end of the Aluminum Foil into, giving the kids something to hold onto. The little's were so incredibly proud of themselves and this project. They asked if they could go and add them to their dress-up chest to keep forever. I swear these two make my heart explode with appreciation on a regular basis.

What to Eat

Now I wanted to make something special and fun for the kiddos lunch, but with tons of stores not having any food left on the shelves, I had to make sure and use what I have. I had seen some fun pirate ship ideas on Pinterest this a.m., but didn't have any of the food items that were required for them. So I got crafty and played a shape searching game to find foods that would make a pirate ship shape. B and C don't like bread with anything on it, but will eat bread plain all day...I know, why are kids like this? So, we do a lot of "roll-ups" to make sure that the kids are getting enough protein.

To make our Pirate Ships, I folded up a piece of provolone cheese and filled it with lunch meat (Sliced Chicken if you care) and then held it together with a toothpick. Then I doubled up pepperonis and speared them into sails for our ship. I am embarrassed to say I spend like a minute making sure that it stood up "just right".

Then I just drew a map scene onto the string cheese to make it more festive. I looked for goldfish, but apparently finally used up the last of those snacks the day before. I figured "chips" would just have to stand in for Fish & Chips...just without the fish. I mean I just fed my kids chips if we are being honest. They don't get them a ton so it was a win. Then they drank "sea water" in their Disney World refillable mugs, because I am pretty sure they would drink anything I put in there (Disney Magic).

Pixie Dust Project

Now to round out the kids magic tonight, I created a special night light. I made a special Tinkerbell silhouette lantern for my kiddos, which went through a few variations. I meant to draw and then cut out the inside of the image...but started cutting out the outside in the midst of kiddo chaos. So, then we switched lanes and cut out Tinkerbell hoping to add her to the outside of a glass jar. All of the glass jars were too small (whomp whomp). So then I found some wax paper, which i taped together before adding Tink to the outside. Tink kept falling over, so I eventually found a flower vase and placed her around it with one of the kiddos flashlights for inside. I can't wait to see how this pixie dust moment goes over tonight!

So here is our first day of activities. A little planned time made our first day in isolation not so rough, and the kids are seemingly excited for the next day.

B picked out our theme for tomorrow...can you guess what it might be?