“Muma I’m bored” is my most dreaded line.
I know there are studies that show that a child’s boredom is good, but i think those people who wrote those studies don’t have a bored kid constantly at wits end needing something to fill that time.
Earlier last year to spice things up in my marriage I had downloaded a ‘Passport to Love’
We did it as an experiment an began with Egypt but Egypt is in such an economic crisis that we felt discouraged and stoped the activity because it made us sad. Either way, the initial phase was exciting and when my daughter felt left out I thought of adding her into the fun and making it a family activity.
So when we got an activity packet from Flintobox which had a passport activity which was superb. We chose one country and I brought out my lonely planet (since I had visited that place) and she went through the maps. Interestingly I introduced her to maps as this is the paper form of google maps (technology these days).
We saw an array of 4K time lapses of the place we visited. Learnt a few phrases and all in all it because a fun activity time. She will always remember this as an experience she won’t forget.
Since then I went online and began to discover different avenues of creating activities and fun ways to engage her. More than being ‘bored’ its to help me process experiences in a more interesting and creative way.
The Dating Divas I have found give many free printable and plans (as well as some which cost a little) to help parents, and couples make life a little more fun. And no they haven’t paid me to promote them but I really feel since I started this blog, there are so many fun ways to share information today things that our parents never got the privilege. From pretend play worksheets, family time ideas (I love the movie night one).
My daughter still says ‘mama I’m bored’ but I feel more in control now and equipped to have things ready for her.
I also feel like scheduling things helped. When the year began I was all over the place. I’m a mom who works from home so it means countless hours at the studio or at shoots. But having a schedule helped my husband fill in the void when I wasn’t around.
You are more than welcome take all this advice your own, I suggest work out what works for you and you’ll realise you have so much spare time in the day. I used to feel why there were only 24 hours in a day and now I have time to finish my work and tuck my kiddo into bed, or read with her or do Tangram for maths day. I put my kid to bed by 7:30-8:00pm because I made a calculation of the average time she needed to sleep and 8:00pm to 7:00am is a good time to get her sleep. Also studies have shown that sleep is actually where the child grows and learns and processes the information they have learnt.
So here’s a tentative schedule I’d like to share with you which works for me. I do these activities after school for 2 hours and in the evening after dinner.
Monday: Music Day where I allow my child to choose the instruments we have in the house to understand music. She can play the keyboard, the recorder, the ukulele, the drums or the harmonica. I haven’t started the violin yet because being a violinist I feel the scratchy sound shouldn’t discourage her. But the day she wants to play with the violin she will be allowed to do so. I do a little theory about music (understand notes, what is a treble clef etc) because I would like her to learn how to read music eventually (just a desire, not compulsory).
Tuesday: Art Day isn’t just about drawing and painting with different mediums. My daughter likes to doodle so that’s allowed. In this day if she feels like being artistic and make beads or jewellery she can. This includes play dough play as well.
Wednesday: Maths day I thought would not be a fun day for me since I’m not a fan of maths, but thanks to Flintobox I got a few regular things I do with Maths. Tangram is one of them. So making Tangram animals with the shapes is one activity. The other is a game where there’s money and buying and selling involved (not monopoly yet) but something like that. So she begins to realise calculations are a part of Maths. Khan Academy is my other go to. They have primary math activities which seem like a game but its Maths (which I love). Also affiliated with them are apps I’ve downloaded on my iPad which she gets to play, Apps like Mouse Maths (on iPad or iPhone) I’ve pretty sure there are other apps on Android too. I wanted to make the process of Math’s fun mostly because I wasn’t a fan.
Thursday: Science Day isn’t just chemistry and chemicals. There was one activity where mixing colours and learning what new colours are created was done in a test tube. Science is Physics, Biology and Chemistry so on this day we learn about animals, travel, health, how things work. One of the activities I’m going to be doing is Play time: being a Vet, Being a Doctor, I love the X-ray activity
Friday: Earlier we had Friday post school as a fun day of watching TV. But I wanted to introduce Reading as fun so my daughter plays with her Dr Suess book app (also in Dr Suess in Android) This is a paid app which we subscribed for last year and its letting her read and hear the words. After the app I take a Book Book (a real book which she can hold). I ask her to read a small paragraph and circle the words she doesn’t know (this helps a lot with sigh reading) and after a paragraph we read the circle words together. My kid is at a phase of not wanting to read and wanting things read to her so I don’t know when this will change. But till then we’re enjoying this phase.
Saturday: Usually this is the day we chill and go out for a drive but if we’re at home, this is TV day. We try our best to give her Youtube Educational Videos (so she gets her TV too) this is where I love channels like Story Bots come in. But she also binge watches her own animation versions on Netflix which we’re fine with.
Sunday: Post church and lunch, this is the day, we take out all the Toys she has forgotten who are feeling unloved and that’s the day my daughter needs to give them some love or they will be donated! (So far we haven’t had the chance to donate her toys, she’s still playing with most of them but soon).