Kids home from child care? Try these easy ways to keep them entertained

Dec. 22, 2020

This paid piece is sponsored by Truks-N-Trykes. 

There’s a long holiday weekend ahead, and for many, that means extra time at home with kids who otherwise would have been in child care.

So what better method of finding new ways of entertaining them than to ask those who do it every day?

We asked the expert team at Truks-N-Trykes NurseryCare, and they, of course, had no trouble figuring out ways to keep the little ones busy without ever leaving home.

Piece it together

One of the easiest activities you can do is create holiday puzzles. You simply take a piece of paper and draw holiday items, or you can print them out, and you cut them.

The older the child, the more pieces you can cut the puzzle into.

Boxes to blocks

Blocks are a great way for children to explore building. This holiday season is most likely filled with boxes, so an easy way to utilize them and give the kids a new activity is to wrap the boxes  and let the kids play. Depending on the age of your child, you can have them wrap the boxes, and then they can play away.

You also can do the opposite activity and have kids unwrap extra boxes around the house. It gives them the opportunity to use their pincer grasp to pull away the paper, tuning their fine motor skills.

Down the tube

If you have empty paper towel or toilet paper rolls, you can tape them to the wall or fridge at different angles, offering the children the opportunity to have a great at-home STEM activity. They can plop cotton balls, small toys or anything else they can find down the tubes.

Walk it off

For your overly active child, we suggest Christmas tree walking. Simply lay tape on the floor in the shape of a tree. Have the child walk on the tape like it is a balance beam.

“For older kids, you can add in circles that are numbered and have them walk on the numbers in order, or they can pick the odd numbers or just the green bulbs,” said Bri McCarty, co-owner of Truks-N-Trykes NurseryCare. “This activity gives you so many options.”

Sensory bags

For the sensory-craving child, we have quite a few suggestions.

“Sensory bags are always a hit with the kids in the center. This year, we made a couple designs,” McCarty said.

“Our littlest kiddos enjoyed their Christmas tree bags. We simply took a gallon Ziploc bag, drew a Christmas tree with a permanent marker, filled it with hair gel and glitter, and they were ready to squish away!”

The older kids can work on their fine motor skills by squishing the Grinch’s heart into place. The smaller, more precise movements are perfect for your preschooler.

‘Decorating’ cookies

For our kids that are craving a little bit more of a mess, we suggest busting out the paint. You can take construction paper and cut the silhouette of a gingerbread cookie. Let the kids “decorate” their cookies with crayons, markers or paint.

You can do a similar activity with old cardboard. Simply take the cardboard, cut it into triangles and have them decorate their very own Christmas tree.

DIY photo shoot

Our final activity might be the cutest of them all — the Christmas photo shoot! Grab a string of lights, some Christmas decor, and put your phone in portrait mode. Let your kiddo play with the lights, and you have a great setup for the perfect Christmas card.

If you have a child who seems to be too quick for the camera, you can take a video and simply screenshot the still image to capture his or her personality perfectly!

And when you’re ready to send the kids back to child care? Truks-N-Trykes NurseryCare can help there too.

Want to learn more? Email [email protected].

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Kids home from child care? Try these easy ways to keep them entertained

There’s a long holiday weekend ahead, and for many, that means extra time at home with kids who otherwise would have been in child care. So what better way to find new ways of entertaining them than to ask those who do it every day?

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