One of the challenging things about this whole experience has been that usually on the weekends, we have a lot of fun things to do. There are play-places, the Children’s Museum, the zoo, playdates, Xander’s dance class and so many other things we like to do. And they are all closed. Even the playground is supposedly off limits because the virus can live on surfaces.
In the early years of camp, our budget was limited to basically zero, so creating programming out of nothing is something I have a lot of experience doing. Although the boys have been going to school these last few weeks, I have been preparing for having them home. I have long lists of activities, divided into different categories. I have been shopping for basic supplies. I re-configured their room, clearing out their closet to create a “cozy corner” and organized all the art supplies into one area. I sorted books into categories so that I can change the display books to match the theme of our week. And I’ve been mentally preparing to try to work full time and keep them on a good schedule.
We tried on lots of different costumes, but ultimately went with Buzz and Woody. On Saturday, we had a zoom call with the pre-K kids. All of the kids came in costume and got to show off their look. Afterwards, Nate and I stationed ourselves at the front and back doors and the boys got to go back and forth to trick or treat.
https://www.kare11.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/day-one-of-mns-stay-at-home-order/89-d74da012-4dc3-491f-988d-19f8311b3009?fbclid=IwAR1X7DBxnAR4mP6W5Jwx0WZt95QEleHn–74HvyYwyR5KWwkVpmuffsLy6A
Halloween fun ended after lunch and then we switched to non-theme activities. We baked banana bread.
And then we did a scavenger hunt that I found online. I hid the clues all over the house and the boys were pretty good at figuring them out. The prize at the end was 2 little painting kits, so that was our next activity.
We played outside. We played in the basement. We read some books.
By the end of the day, I think I was more exhausted than either of the boys. I have a lot of free play time built into the regular schedule- I am not going to camp-direct all day every day. They play pretty nicely on their own, so hopefully we’ll find a good balance that works for everyone.
