Social Distancing and keeping 'Little Human Beings' engaged, the Ira way

Ira does a newspaper reading activity with Prashant everyday. Thanks to that, she had already been reading coronavirus related news for the past few weeks. Getting her to understand that there is no school, no karate class, no summer camp and no play dates and no meeting lot of friends for sometime this month onwards wasn't that difficult a task.

We are all aiming to bend the curve and Social Distancing is what we are all working towards. Reduce contact. Avoid social gatherings.

It is a  week since school shut for Ira. The initial few days we did some permutation and combination and managed. Post mid week, one of us is definitely home.

While this is a very daunting task in cases where both parents are in regular jobs and their organizations are not providing a wfh option. Also, many day cares have shut down. For us, we are grateful that her Dadu Dida and Mesho Dadu and Mashi Dida step in to help us out during such crisis moments. But now given, that we are trying to stay home as much as possible, the thing that is in everyones mind is how to keep the child occupied.

A 5 year 10 month old can be very active, full of energy, a zillion questions and more. So, here sharing a few things that we are doing and figuring out on the way.

1. Some reading or writing activity that is Montessori alligned everyday. We either read the words from the phonics book or write them or do some activity sheets that we have. Not much. But about 30 mins every day. As we read or write, we discuss about the words or sentences. Eg. While she was doing sentence writing today, we discussed how some sentences can be filled in multiple ways. Eg: I like to eat.... can be chocolates, vegetables or fruits. The picture in the activity sheet was that of chocolate. Also while doing comparatives, to understand the big and long usage and other instances. This is to keep in touch with school alligned activities, considering that this is almost a three month break.


2. Reading the Newspaper
This is a Ira-Papa activity. He marks 5 headlines for her to read. Then she has to select about 10 words from anywhere in that page and read them. We learn new words, we learn what is happening in the world, we learn reading newspaper is a good habit to build.

3. Involve her in all things 'Food'
We discuss what we are eating that day, what veggies are being cooked or what meat or fish is on the menu that day. Like her Mamma Papa, she seems to be a foodie with a keen interest in cooking. She could help clean the curry leaves, sort some veggies or beat the eggs. The nature of the task is simple, the idea is to keep her intrigued. While in this process, we also decided to make a list of veggies and fruits she is eating everyday and a discussion on 'colours on my plate' follows. This chart while a WIP seems like a nice idea in the long run.

4. Play board games or card games
Ira plays scrabble with her own twist and loves to play Uno. We also have puzzles and snake and ladder and Ludo. Lot of choices and lot of fun. Joy visited us yesterday and we played Uno. Ira won 2/3 games, with a little help from Papa :) They were one team, you see.

5. Make this!
We have begun making the randomest of things with what ever she has. Kitchen roll cardboards to make things, a paper doll, four cups, wands using paper straws. This is craft, the Ira way. We use what we have, scrap paper, ribbons etc. This doesn't involve shopping for new items. Our latest is also making posters and talking about it. We made one on coronavirus too!

6. Reading stories
We are currently reading GoodNight Stories for Rebel Girls, Part 2. We try and read a few stories everyday. Sometimes, we pick up other books from her rack. Read what you desire that day.

7. Unstructured Imaginative Play
There are days when Ira can play for hours by herself, making up stories, arranging her soft toys and pretending to be their teacher, her super heroes protecting the world or how you must not get corona virus.

8. Screen-time
Given the long nature of the holidays this year, we have mutually decided on about an hour or two of screen time everyday. This can be doing some activities or games on Khan Academy or watching movies that Papa has collated on Mamma's archaic notebook for her. Considering we have no TV, this indulgence also works for us adults to get our screen time :)

9. Let her be
This option works wonders. There are days we do almost all of the above. And there are days, when we are sapped of energy and just want to be. We then tell her she can do what she wants- play, colour, jump, dance...anything. and she figures out a way. Somedays, the let her be becomes a chipku movement with us and we roll with it.

While we can't wait for this phase to come to a close, we make the most of what we have.
And remember,
Be kind to self and protect self; protect our loved ones and protect the community.


#Ira #Iraisms #IraAtFive #TalesAtFive #Parenting #Gratitude #SocialDistancing #LittleHumanBeings