Indoor Activities for Preschoolers
My little one is feeling better after I did nothing when she was sick. She's still coughing and once in a while lets out a sneeze, but the fever is gone. She is up and about with a lot of energy. I have to keep her from jumping off the furniture.When I was growing up in the Philippines, my mom used to caution me about expending so much energy too soon after recovering from illness. "Binat" or a relapse hits worse than before, if one doesn't take it easy until fully recovered.
"But I'm so bored!" my 5-year-old complained, just one day after she spent three days sleeping, waking long enough to eat, drink, go to the bathroom and cry about her symptoms.
Television makes for easy entertainment for a bored child confined indoors, but staring at a monitor is not the best thing for a recovering preschooler. I had to come up with something more interactive, real life and low impact.
Here are a few things we did:
1. Board Games. Candyland
is an all-time favorite. We've been playing this game since since my daughter was 3. Back then she already knew her colors, and put her piece on the same color as each card she drew, but she didn't yet understand we were supposed to follow the road to the finish. This time around, she gets it and is quite competitive. We also played Chutes and Ladders
, which gets a little difficult because at this time she can only count to 20. When the blocks go up higher than that, she forgets which direction her piece is going. Despite that, she still won. Twice!2. Colorforms. I love Miss Weather
colorforms. My little girl sets up the weather outside the window and dresses Miss Weather appropriately. Then I throw a monkey wrench and dress up the teddy bear and cat for comedy relief. We also have a vintage Miss Piggy that we got on ebay. Fab outfits for mixing and matching, accessories and jewels to finish the look. Who doesn't love Miss Piggy?3. Storybooks. Well, in our case, just one big storybook. "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
," by Frank Baum. We've read it once through before. It took us a week of reading 2 to 3 chapters a night. At the very end, though, that familiar word every parent hears, "Again!" So we've started over, this time reading a chapter a night. Today, we read a chapter in the daytime and another at bedtime. Classics never get old.4. Piano Lesson. We played the piano freestyle, making up songs, then a short lesson
. Later on, my daughter gave her Daddy a lesson.We have a few more days of taking it easy coming up. Do you know of any more low impact indoor activities for preschoolers? I would certainly appreciate fresh ideas.