9 Activities To Keep Your Housebound Kids Entertained

CALIFORNIA — As the state swirls with coronavirus-related, shelter-in-place orders, shuttered libraries and bars, social-distancing, restricted restaurant hours, canceled community events and university studies going online, parents now also must deal with school closings.

To aid with this at-home adjustment, because, as we all know, cooped-up kids soon climb the walls, we have nine ways to help parents navigate these trying times.

Hang in there, Mom and Dad!

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1. DIY, AT-HOME SCIENCE FUN

Science Experiments for Kids: The CuriOdyssey Science Playground & Zoo in San Mateo, while currently closed due to coronavirus concerns, offers a website with a wealth of fun and crafty science projects for all ages. Required items vary by experiment and are fairly common in households: ice; aluminum foil; shoeboxes; raw eggs; and food coloring; plus such easy, outdoor finds as sticks and leaves. Keep the little ones busy, and check out this great resource here.

2. ZOO & AQUARIUM LIVE CAMS

San Diego Zoo & Safari Park Live Cams: Warning on this one: These are very, very mesmerizing, entertaining, compelling and hard to stop watching. The zoo in San Diego and safari park in Escondido are closed at least through the end of March, in keeping with COVID-19 advisories. But such critters as the baboons, penguins, polar bears, apes and elephants still are romping and on display, thanks to video. Follow this link to watch live cams, and this link for mini- lessons on the animals.

Monterey Bay Aquarium Live Web Cams: Ten cameras track sea and aviary life at this iconic institution in Monterey. So your youngsters can tune in daily and choose from the latest goings-on with sea otters, sharks, jellies, penguins, birds and more. Here is the link for options and viewing. Educational descriptions of all also provided.

Aquarium of the Pacific: Keep 'em busy and learning with the Long Beach aquarium's online videos and activities. Check out: webcams with live feeds from exhibits; lectures with scientists, artists, journalists and aquarium staff; the YouTube channel with videos from forums and sessions of Aquatic Academy, Hugh’s Views (a volunteer’s view of the Aquarium and its animals), Pacific Pals and more; the Whales: Voices in the Sea online exhibit; and the aquarium’s Online Learning Center. See the full list here.

3. GARDENING: DIG IN THE DIRT

This may be the ideal time to tap your children's natural curiosity and introduce them to the wonder and joy of a growing garden — even if just a window-box version. For this one, we turned to Master Gardner Louisa R. Cardenas from the Los Angeles-area University of California Cooperative Extension for advice.

"There are numerous free sites with kids' gardening and environmental activities," said, Cardenas, who chairs the Los Angeles County Master Gardener Program School Garden Network. "While most resources focus on school-yard gardening, many activities may easily be applicable to home gardens or apartment living."

Before you start on seeds and such, Cardenas added that this "Know & Show Sombrero" hat craft, from the Junior Master Gardener Program, Texas A&M, could be fun. Details here.

Among websites for beginning gardeners, she recommends:

• Green Schoolyards America
• Junior Master Gardener Program
• Kids Gardening
• Life Lab
• National Wildlife Federation
• Project Learning Tree
• School Garden Weekly
• U.S. Fish & Wildlife Services
• World Wildlife Federation

Veronica Yoo of the San Francisco Bay Area's Sustainable Contra Costa, an organization devoted to building ecologically sustainable communities, also weighed in with such child-friendly recommendations as gardening with food scraps, propagating succulents, making pots out of toys or everyday items like old rain boots and painting terracotta/clay pots. For other ideas on gardening projects, Yoo suggested an HGTV website.

4. ART & WRITING CONTESTS:

Have a budding Van Gogh or Hemingway under your roof?

• Enter a Doodle to Google: There is a looming deadline on this one: March 20 by 8 p.m. And this covers youngsters by category from kindergarten to grade 12. This year's theme is kindness, and submissions will be judged, in part, on "Creativity: Representation of the contest theme, use of the letters in the Google logo, and the unique approach to the doodle." Get your kid doodling: The prizes are significant! See all the info here.

• Scholastic Art & Writing Awards: An organization, that has promoted youth creativity since 1923, is taking submissions through Sept. 1, 2020 for its 2021 awards. Contestants must be 13 and up/grades 7-12, with art and writing submissions under such categories as poetry, short story, photography, drawing and illustration. Find details here.

• Congressional Art Competition: Deadlines fall in April from many California representatives for the annual, decades-long tradition in Congress, so there still may be time to submit. The competition typically is geared toward high-schoolers, who give entries to their representative’s office, with selected winners being honored at an awards ceremony in Washington, DC. and winning works displayed for a year at the U.S. Capitol. Find your rep's website here, and check deadlines and details. Contest details here.

• Artists Magazine Annual Art Competition. An early-bird deadline is April 2 for the publication's annual contest that offers cash prizes for winning submissions in a variety of categories, with mediums including oils, pastels, charcoal, graphite, ink, colored pencil and watercolor. Entrants must be at least 16 years old, but there is no maximum age requirement — so hey, Mom and Dad, jump in! Details here.

5. HERD YOUNGSTERS TO KITCHEN

You're never too old to brush up or learn culinary skills, and now could be the time to help your little ones with make-it-fun, meal making, particularly as Golden State restaurants, bars and wineries are advised to scale back hours or close altogether.

But ease into it, said Carey Angerer, who runs Little Monsters Culinary, a children's cooking school in Healdsburg. Parents' well-meaning intentions to teach their children dinner-prep during dinner time may end in frustration as conditions could be too rushed and stressful. Instead, she advised, set aside time with youngsters and pace out such cooking lessons.

Kitchen activities that appeal to kids, according to Angerer, include making smoothies or anything in a blender, preparing wraps and putting food on skewers. Youngsters, depending on their age, also can be brought in to grate cheese or chop such soft vegetables as zucchini.

Go online if you need resources, and order some cookbooks geared to all ages. Then help guide your kiddos through a dish or two.

• For the 15 Best Cookbooks For Kids Who Like To Cook, follow this link.
• "7 Cookbooks That Will Inspire Your Kids to Start Cooking" link is here.
• And also for your budding junior chefs: The 10 Best Cookbooks for Children.

6. CARD GAMES

Have a deck of cards? You're in luck as we have a website that offers 15 — yes, 15! —various games for children, some even geared for 3-year-olds. (That's at least 15 days of entertainment, right?) "Playing cards can help children learn strategy, arithmetic, shape recognition and social skills," according to wehavekids.com. There are lessons for Rummy, Crazy Eights, War, Cheat and even a version of Old Maid, that can be played with a traditional deck. Check out the list here.

7. ONLINE LIBRARY SERVICES

As libraries statewide temporarily are shutting down, most still offer online services that can be accessed by patrons from home. Orange County Public Libraries, for one, feature digital services giving library card holders 24/7, free access to ebooks, audiobooks, magazines, movies, resources and more. Santa Clara County Library District has online storytimes, study resources for students studying from home and online homework help.

Check with your local library for its options; signing up for a library card likely will be required. Branches offering online homework help could be boon during these upcoming days. Go online and view details at your library, as options vary by district.

8. PUZZLES

Keep your child’s mind and cognitive development going with puzzles, the piece-by-piece games that boost hand-eye coordination, motor skills, problem-solving, memory and goal-setting, according to one education expert's post. If your "rainy-day, kids' activity closet" is low on puzzles, here are some shops from which you can order online.

• See 30 jigsaw options for all ages at littleonemag.com.
• "The Best Brain-Building Puzzles For Babies and Toddlers"here from fatherly.com.
• And if you really want to challenge your offspring (and yourself): Difficult Puzzles from seriouspuzzles.com.

9. STAMP COLLECTING & PUTTING PEN TO PAPER

Recall the days of stamp collecting, diaries and letter-writing? Revive the tradition and bring back those memories for your children, as ample online resources now provide kits to stamp collecting, journal writing is free and easy, and letter-sending is just a stamp away. If you have a child that fancies starting "a collection" of some sort, stamps could be it.

"As one of the world's most popular hobbies, philately, also known as stamp collecting, has been around almost since the issuance of the first postage stamp: the Penny Black (U.K.) in 1840," according to Apfelbaum, Inc. The United States Postal Service offers tips on getting started if you're raising a philatelist-in-the-making.

Or maybe just encourage your offspring to start a journal or pen a "snail-mail" letter to grandma or grandpa. If nothing else, your children may learn the fading skill of how to address and stamp an envelope!

Again, hang in there, Mom and Dad!