As we enter another weekend of lockdown, many families may worry about how to keep in touch with grandparents and other close relatives over an extended period of time. This isn’t something new for our family since the Mini-Mumblers Auntie is living it up in Australia!
Over the years, we’ve tried different methods, including Skype calls, and Facetime. But I’ve always found video calls awkward when children take part. They don’t have the attention span of adults and get bored easily. I’ve experienced my sisters’ disappointment when my kids decide they’ve had enough after 2 minutes of talking and walk away. It’s heartbreaking.
Our friends at Poole Mumbler have come up with some brilliant ideas on staying in touch with family and friends that will keep the kids engaged throughout.
- Quiz night: This is how we’ve played it. We had 4 questions on a topic that the kids have to research. We’ve had a geographical topic, cars and ancestors which was my fave! Then you can encourage some conversation. For example: ‘Your great-grandpa was born on April 23rd 1923. What age would he have been this year? (Maths). Look carefully at the photo of him, do you think he was in the navy, army or RAF?. We even ended up making a family tree!’
- Scavenger hunt: This activity was AWESOME. It was fun enough for the kids to stay tuned but quirky enough for the adults to enjoy. Each team had to bring 5 challenges for everyone to find and we took it in turns to keep the pace. Tasks ranged from: find a cheque book (!?), a rolling pin, put on a tie, make a crown, stack 3 objects, all get in the bath and take a pic. Great for all ages.
- Postcards: We’ve done a couple of postcards but would like to do more. Either photo upload ones via touch note or hand-drawn ones. They love to receive them and it’s a good focused art/writing project!
- Bedtime stories: We do a bedtime story with different members of the family. Not only to break our routine and give us a break but also for the kids to have different genres/voices and no pictures. Similar to audiobooks!
- Learn something new: Grandparents can always teach us something new. In my case, I’ve always wanted to learn my mum’s lentils recipe but, although I always say I’ll watch her next time she’s cooking, I never do. This is a great opportunity to schedule a virtual class.
Here are a few more ideas;
- Special occasion coming up? Maybe a birthday, or Father’s Day? Paint a huge banner and hold it outside their window. You are likely to melt their hearts.
- Invent a secret code and write them a letter using it. Let’s see if they can decipher it.
- Make handprint art into a bunch of flowers for them to display.
Would you add anything? Have you tried something fantastic with your family? Please get in touch here and we’ll add it to this blog.