Resources and links for dads to do things together with their kids.
As we finish up the first week of no school and social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic, many dads are in the middle of dealing with bored kids who want to do things. This post provides some resources for dads who are looking to do something together with their kids.
Take a Virtual Vacation
When my kids were little (they’re both married now, and it’s our two grandkids who are the little ones), we used to play a game we called “taking a vacation”: we would close our eyes, someone would mention a favorite vacation spot from our past and I’d lead them through a story about visiting that place, including sights, sounds and smells we may have had. We didn’t have the internet then, but if we had I probably would go to one of the following sites to take a virtual tour:
- Museum Tours – Google has an Arts and Cultures project that features some cool museums: go to the British Museum in London and see Dead Sea Scroll fragments, or the Australian Surfing Museum and check out the cool surfboards – you can even fly around in the International Space Station!
- National Park Service – Google also hosts this site, where you can take guided a walk through Alaska’s Kenai Fjords National Park or Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park or other parks.
- New England Aquarium offers Virtual Visit videos – watch how they feed and sort the penguins!
- Go to the Zoo – This article has links to many zoo live cameras, where you can watch the pandas at DC’s National Zoo or the otters at Monterey Bay Aquarium (both are excellent places to visit in real life, by the way… maybe after all this virus stuff is over).
Get Active
Kids can only watch so many cartoon videos or movies on Disney Plus, and let’s face it, their tolerance for these is way higher than yours, right dads? Kids who are cooped up need to get all that energy out, so get active and try the following:
- Cosmic Kids Yoga – Yoga instructor Jaime Amor leads kids through yoga routines that tell familiar stories, like Frozen, The Wizard of Oz, and even Star Wars. My daughter tells me that both my five-year-old and three-year-old grandsons love to move around doing yoga to their favorite stories.
- Work out together – Instructor Rio Saken offers some kid-friendly workout videos. Rio is one of the few men on YouTube offering videos, so it may be easier to convince your boys to watch and work out to these.
- Read a Story – if you run out of books, and the libraries are closed (many are right now), try streaming a celebrity reading a book. The videos at Storyline feature pictures from the books and are very entertaining.
- Draw a Character – Children’s book author Mo Willems offers his “Lunch Doodle” lessons every day at 1pm EST. Your kids will love drawing along with him and may even end up making up their own stories to publish on your refrigerator.
Keep Your Sanity
You may be working from home for the first time and find that it’s, well, challenging with all of the little distractions that you don’t normally have – the little ones you call your children. If you’re starting to get cabin fever like I am, and you need a little time away from the kids, it may be challenging since it’s difficult to get out and most businesses are closed. Maybe try the following:
- Watch a Baseball Game – The MLB offers classic games to stream. If you didn’t see the game live, it’s new to you. Grab your favorite beverage, maybe heat up a hot dog or better yet grill up some burgers, and watch a game.
- Catch an Online Concert – musicians and other artists are stuck at home too, and you know what they do when they can’t perform live? They perform online. Search for your favorite artist and chances are you’ll see them offering a concert just for you.
- Laugh a Little – comedians and talk show hosts are also stuck at home. But they have connections with a lot of funny people like Jimmy Fallon does. He’s keeping the Tonight Show going using his family as producers and sometimes guests for his “At Home Edition”, and video conferencing with celebrities like Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jennifer Garner.
- Get Inspired – Keep up with kingdom news from Disciples Today. Hear about how disciples around the world are finding ways to spread the gospel during the current worldwide crisis.
On that note, it should go without saying that you need to stay close to God during this time. Check out our other blog articles, or study along with our series on Parenting or Resolving Conflict – both are areas where you’ll get lots of practice while we wait out the virus together in our homes! Get in touch if you have other ideas or things you’d like to see us post.