Two years into the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, many parents are still spending lots of time at home with their young children, either because they or their children must quarantine, or because they want to be extra cautious to keep vulnerable family members safe and healthy. On top of that, many parents are continuing to work from home with little ones underfoot or they’ve gone back to the office but they need to find activities for their children to do at home with a caregiver.

The activities below can help you or your caregiver keep your child engaged and give them a small taste of the Primrose Balanced Learning^® curriculum at home.

Online with OG

From our classrooms to your living room: Og® the bookworm represents caring and literacy and is the perfect Primrose Friend to bring the Primrose experience to your home through Online with Og. There you’ll find plenty of specially designed interactive activities for children and parents or caregivers.

Reading

Go online for storytime: Og’s Storytime Playlist features children’s book authors and others reading some of Og’s favorite books aloud.

Movement

Dance parties: It’s a favorite activity of teachers because it helps kids get the wiggles out on days when recess is indoors. Clear a space for dancing, stream some tunes from Primrose’s Harmony & Heart™ music collections, and let your little one show off their creative dance moves.

Exercises for little ones: Exercise is a great way to get the energy out when children are spending a lot of time inside. Try these simple — and tiring! — activities for infants, toddlers, pre-kindergartners and kindergartners.

Household chores help: Share the load when it comes to chores — and develop a sense of pride in the process. Small children can help sort or fold the laundry, feed pets and put away toys.

Plan a scavenger hunt: As the days get warmer, it’s the perfect time to encourage outdoor exploration with these fun scavenger hunt ideas.

Crafts and Creativity

Encourage craft time: Keep a cabinet filled with arts and crafts supplies within reach. Stock it with simple and inexpensive items such as construction paper, empty cardboard tubes, yarn, nontoxic glue, tape, safety scissors, markers, air-dry clay and pompoms. The possibilities are endless.

Fort building: Challenge your child to build an indoor fort with chairs, bedsheets and pillows. You or your caregiver can join in for snuggling with a favorite storybook and a flashlight once it’s built.

Tasty and fun snacks: Stocked up on food and ingredients? Choose from a variety of nutritionist-created “snacktivities,” such as Measure-It-Yourself Trail Mix and Healthy S’mores (a great backyard activity).

STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) Activities

Play and explore with water: Fill up a shallow container and give your child measuring cups, plastic containers and funnels, then ask them how much water will fill a container or which container is the largest and why. These activities help your child explore concepts such as sinking, floating, capacity and weight. Here are some more ways to encourage STEAM learning experiences at home.

Memory game: Children can keep exercising their brains with a memory game the Primrose Friends.

Imaginative play: Make-believe activities using puppets, costumes and household objects help young children to think like inventors and engineers. Open-ended props like cardboard boxes, paper and art supplies can also unlock a world of creativity.

Problem-solving games: Children develop the executive functioning abilities of their brains with simple activities such as working on puzzles and building with blocks.

Finally, remember that you and your children are both doing your best to get through this stressful time. Hang in there — you’ve got this!