7 tips on how to keep your children busy in the home office
The Covid-19 virus paralyzes all social life in Germany. Only work remains the same for the time being. Those who can fulfill their professional obligations from their home office are doing well. However, the ideal scenario of children spending eight hours dutifully tucked away in their bedrooms does not correspond to real life. Working from home with a child can be really exhausting - both physically and mentally.
We'll tell you how you can keep your children occupied and still work in the coming weeks.
1. create a schedule, but remain flexible
In exceptional situations like this, it helps to create a regular daily routine and not let yourself down. Create a weekly schedule with tasks that you can do together with your children and that each family member should do. Get up as usual, have breakfast together and discuss the day. Involve the children, e.g. in planning activities and meals.
Decide for yourself when you can work best and when you can give your children attention. Allow plenty of quality time for your children and yourself alongside your work. We give you a few helpful tips on how to stay mentally strong when working from home with children in our article: Home office with children.
2. creative shopping and cooking
To reduce stress, avoid peak times in the supermarkets and try to shop as little as possible - and preferably without children. Now the classic weekly shop can be worthwhile. Write down in advance exactly what your family needs for the week and don't be tempted to buy more. So that cooking doesn't increase the burden on doubly stressed parents, cook the food in advance in the evening for the next day. Let your children help you with the preparations. If some foods are not available, don't be discouraged and get creative by using alternative foods and developing new food creations. Your children are sure to find it exciting.
3. become active
Easter is just around the corner. Now is the perfect time to create Easter crafts from old egg cartons, toilet paper rolls and blown-out eggs. Fun for the children, resilience training for the parents. Reward your children by making the most of your time with them. Build a cave out of blankets, have breakfast on a picnic blanket in the living room or have a movie night with popcorn. Get out in the fresh air as long as you can: go on bike rides, work together in the garden or go to the forest. Your children will love it.
By the way, you can now find great craft and activity tips for the little ones on our Instagram channel and the Familienservice Lernwelten Facebook page.
4. encourage children to occupy themselves
"Mommy, I'm bored!". It's not always easy, but even younger children can keep themselves occupied for a certain amount of time. For example, they can listen to audio books, look at books or play with interactive books, paint and do handicrafts. Lego games, puzzles or wooden train systems have also proven their worth.
5. control media consumption
Even if children should of course not be parked exclusively in front of different media, there is nothing wrong with moderated media consumption if it is fun and encourages learning. There are great apps such as the website "Einfach Vorlesen" from the Reading Aloud Foundation (also available as an app), for different age groups and with lots of stories. The public broadcasters are now broadcasting daily special programs and radio plays for younger and older children, for example the children's program Mikado on NDR Info Spezial, the SWR children's network or "Die Sendung mit der Maus". Ravensburger Verlag has a website with craft tips, stories to read aloud and puzzle apps for time at home.
6. learning at home
For preschoolers and schoolchildren: learning at home instead of at school. Most schoolchildren will have to complete schoolwork in the coming weeks - guided by the school. In addition, there are many other ways for children to learn through play.
Here are our tips for schoolchildren:
Schlaudino.com (learning platform for children from pre-school age)
Grundschulkönig (free worksheets for elementary school. Also suitable for pre-school children)
House of Little Scientists (experiments for children to imitate)
Geolino (Experiments and knowledge)
ARD alpha school television (films on various learning content)
SWR Planet Schule (videos on various topics such as languages, history, culture)
Learnattack.de (free learning videos and interactive exercises)
sofatutor.com (test tutoring with fun for 30 days free of charge)
Bidi.one (One free trial lesson, pme customers also have the opportunity to book a(
voucher code for three free tutoring sessions)
Anton.app/en (All important topics from school free of charge in line with the curriculum)
Old but gold: The renowned video series "Once upon a time" is still exciting for today's kids (e.g. on Amazon Prime).
7. maintain social contacts digitally
Try to keep your children socializing via digital channels. For example, they can Skype with their friends and play games together, such as quizzes, sinking ships or Yahtzee. Perhaps your children's music or sports teachers also offer video workshops or update calls? Then they don't have to miss out on their favorite weekly activity from childcare center or school.
Enable remote care for your children via phone calls, video calls, messenger services or traditional mail. Grandparents or other relatives and friends may have more time at the moment and are happy to be needed. For example, arrange a daily telephone appointment with your favorite grandparent or ask a family friend to help your child with their schoolwork via video chat.
And the situation doesn't stop at babysitters and private caregivers who normally go into households. Many of them currently have free capacity and you can discuss whether care via video chat is possible.
