6 Ways to Stay Positive During COVID-19
- Learning Resources Posted On Feb 1, 2020
During these difficult times, it helps to know that you aren’t alone in feeling overwhelmed and uncertain. The way we’re living is unprecedented. People are sick, we’re isolated from our friends and family, children are learning at home again, and our lives have been upended for months. Many people are looking for ways to keep a healthy mind and make life feel more normal.
Below you’ll find 6 ways to stay positive during COVID-19 lockdown while dealing with this challenging experience. We hope these small tips will go a long way to help you and your family cope. Let us know how you’re staying upbeat. Find us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter and share your tips and ways to keep your mind healthy during COVID-19.
6 Ways to Stay Positive During COVID-19
Stick to a Schedule
Even when you’re working and learning from home, maintaining a regular schedule will be a sanity-saver for everyone. That means waking up and going to bed at your regular times, getting dressed in normal clothes, and starting and finishing work and home school at the regular times.
Remember to honour break and mealtimes as well. Predictability helps this unfamiliar situation feel a little less disorienting and will help you and your children maintain the good behaviours you’ve developed at work and school. Here is an example of how you could frame your child’s school day amid COVID-19 to keep that sense of normality.
Image: eclipse_images/Getty Images
Plan & Celebrate Special Occasions
Keep celebrating special occasions, and make up new ones. It’ll be something extra to look forward to. It could be a highlight as simple as your favourite home-cooked meal or family games night (here are some fun educational games ideas). Or you could make up a special day to celebrate (National Pizza and Pyjama Day sounds good to us!). Whatever you decide, these small treats will help you and your family during this difficult time. Looking for ideas? Head over to Awareness Days or read more on fun free ways to keep your family entertained at home.
Image: Wundervisuals/Getty Images
Start a Family Project
With everyone home for an extended period, families have a unique opportunity to turn this downtime into something memorable. Maybe everyone gets hands-on with a scrapbook, photo album, journal, or art project.
Over the last year, it’s become apparent that connecting with nature and our outdoor spaces is more important than ever. This is great opportunity for that new veggie garden you’ve always wanted to start. Maybe it’s something as simple as quick daily vlogs that capture your lives in the moment. Whatever the case, these family-level projects give you the chance to build new skills, engage with your children, and create something you can look back on in the years to come.
Make Time for Me Time
Even for the happiest of families, togetherness can be stressful under normal circumstances. With everyone under the same roof for an extended period, it’s even more important to carve out some alone time for every member of the family.
That can take many different forms: maybe you can designate a room in your house that family members reserve for solo activities. If that isn’t doable, designate a quiet hour every day where everyone works on their own independent projects. Whatever form your me time takes it’ll help you stay refreshed and maintain your sense of self and independence while everyone’s together.
Get Outside
Spring is coming, which means that nature is getting ready to put on a green, flower-filled show. That’s why it’s so vital to remember your outdoor options as you pass your time at home. As the weeks go by, your outdoor space will likely become a wonderland of birds, bugs and new plant life that’s worth exploring (or just viewing with a cup of coffee).
Don’t have a back garden? Take a walk through your neighbourhood. As long as you follow government guidelines, these little trips outside your home will enourage a healthy mind, reconnect you all with the world and help you take in some bright springtime life all at the same time.
Get everyone motivated to go outside! Download our free outdoor activity sheets for great ideas on ways to engage with nature, and keep everyone learning and busy. Try 50 Things To Find on a Nature Walk.
Celebrate the end of term!
What a year this has been! While this end of term may be different, teachers, parents, and children have accomplished many milestones along the way and there’s so much to celebrate!
Whether it’s a special dinner or a mini ceremony, we encourage you to find a way to celebrate the end of term and your family's home learning success. To inspire you, we've created photo signs, certificates and easy graduation activities to set up your own ceremony. Why not print out the certificates and hang them on your child’s bedroom door, the fridge, or any other highly visible place. PS. Parents, you've earned one, too! Congratulations on the end of term.
Share your home learning story with us! Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter and tag us in your end of term celebration posts. Don't forget to share these printables with friends and family to join in the fun.
Photo prop cut-outs
End-of-term certificates
Graduation hat craft
PS. Looking for fun ways to enjoy the summer holidays at home? Our Home Learning Summer Camp is launching soon!
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Coronavirus Time Capsule Activity
Our Coronavirus Time Capsule Activity is a stay-at-home project for families to keep children busy and help them make sense of this historic event. The coronavirus lockdown has been a tough time for everyone and almost overnight our lives changed dramatically. It’s been a big deal for our children, and they’ve had to adjust to learning at home, being isolated from friends and family, and not able to do normal kids’ stuff.
We created this Time Capsule Activity to help families and we'd love to see what your children put in their time capsules! Leave a comment at the end of this post and tell us more, and follow us on Facebook and Instagram for more fun home learning ideas.
How to make your Coronavirus time capsule
To get your children thinking about their time capsules, download our Coronavirus Time Capsule Activity Book. With spaces to write information such as “My height is…”, “My favourite book is…” and “When I grow up, I’d like to be a…” it’s a bit of maths, a bit of writing, and lots of fun. Imagine the memories when they read it in a few years’ time!
Time capsule ideas for kids
Now for more fun! Gather up some items to include in a real time capsule. Whether you choose to make a joint family one or each child makes their own, you’ll need a container for storage. We used jars and shoe boxes but anything you can seal and store safely for a long time will do. You’ll need a durable and weatherproof container if you’re planning to bury your time capsule outside.
Next, collect pieces of memorabilia. What about:
- Letters from grandparents.
- A newspaper with a coronavirus headline.
- Small art projects. Have them trace everyone’s handprints and cut them out. Paint a smooth pebble and include the year.
- Photos of the family doing crazy, funny things during the lockdown.
- Their favourite lockdown recipe.
- An item of clothing such as a sock so they can see the size.
- Small collectables like a toy, coins or postage stamps.
- (Clean) wrapper from a favourite chocolate bar.
- Packets of seeds.
- A mask or sealed wipe to remind them of this time.
Place everything including your activity book in your family’s coronavirus time capsules. It’s a good chance to engage your children and talk about the objects as you’re all packing them. Then seal everything up securely, wrap it snugly in a durable plastic bag, and store it somewhere safe. Oh, and then wait 10 years. Or maybe just a year. Who knows what life will be like then?
At Learning Resources, we’re here to help you make the best of this challenging time. Why not read our tips on how to stay positive during the coronavirus lockdown?
Have you made a time capsule using our activity book? Tag us in a photo or comment below and tell us what was in yours. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for other ideas.
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