5 Easy Activities and Games to Do When Kids Are Sick
Did anyone say that the cold would never come? Here it is, and with it also flu, cough, cold and fever!
Unfortunately, “surviving” sick days is never easy, but it is even more so when children are sick.
To the anxiety and worries of us parents for their health, is added the arduous task of spending time in the most serene way possible.
Usually on sick days it is the TV that runs to the rescue, but in order not to abuse it and avoid that the days seem endless, you must always have a plan B that includes fun activities suitable for children with little desire to do.
That’s why I tried to collect some simple but fun games to play to keep sick children busy. They are all to be done with materials that you have at home, require a few minutes of preparation and little energy. They will certainly help you on critical days.
Easy activities and games to do when kids are sick
The catapult
Here is the DIY catapult, a fun game that will gladly entertain children in bed. With a spoon, wooden sticks and elastic bands you will have to build them a small catapult (see the tutorial) that they will have to hold over the belly and maneuver with their hands. Equipped with buttons, paper balls or small objects to throw, invite your child, lying on the sofa or bed, to center the basket (a simple bucket or basin is fine) that you have placed at his feet.
DIY memory
The game of memory in situations of boredom never disappoints. Here is an original idea to make it happen.
Get yourself a muffin tray or an egg container, some paper cups or simple sheets and pairs of small objects (buttons, beads, pasta…) as many as there are compartments you have available. Arrange the objects in each compartment and cover them with paper cups. Take turns lifting two cups trying to remember the position of the discovered objects. The aim of the game is to locate all pairs of hidden objects. Logically, if you have small children, start with a few pairs of objects to find.
The Book of Faces
Here is the Book of Faces , a stimulating activity to do even in bed. To do this you will need strips of paper, a ring binder and colored markers.
To begin, cut many strips of paper of the same size, pierce them at one end and insert them in the ring binder so as to obtain three distinct blocks made up of the same number of sheets. Have the children draw the eyes in the upper strip, the nose in the central one, and a mouth in the last one, until all the sheets are filled with always different drawings.
Once the drawings are finished, the children can have fun leafing through the book obtaining many combinations of different faces, funny, sad or angry.
Cut with scissors
If there’s an activity that children of all ages always like to do, it’s the one that involves the use of scissors. Cutting shapes, shredding paper, cutting with precision along colored lines, as well as relaxing, is used to spend the day in a creative and fun way. To do this activity, all you need is some paper, a pair of scissors with a rounded tip and some colored markers.
Draw or have the children draw zigzagging paths or spirals or the shapes that you like best and invite the children to cut along the lines indicated by the colours. They will be able to create shapes and silhouettes of all kinds.
If you do not want or can not do activities and manual games, you can always read a fairy tale or tell a story, even invented. If you have books that’s fine, but if you find your tablet or smartphone with your hand you can take advantage of it. Search the net for sites with fairy tales and stories for children to read or listen to or go to Google Play and look for apps that are right for you. Meanwhile, I point out:
- mamamo.it, a site where you can find the best digital content for children among apps, e-books and interactive games free and not.
- tiraccontounafiaba.it, a site where author’s fairy tales, multimedia reworkings and original stories sent by readers are collected
- filastrocche.it, website where you can search and find fairy tales, nursery rhymes, poems and many activities to do with children
- Fables and sound fairy tales app to download to listen to beautiful fairy tales told by talented actors. Music and content always beautiful and current.
Other games to play at home
If the children are on the mending and can get out of bed but can’t get out yet, you can also propose to do other fun activities and games that you can find here → Fun activities and games for children to do at home
Kathryn Barlow is an OB/GYN doctor, which is the medical specialty that deals with the care of women's reproductive health, including pregnancy and childbirth.
Obstetricians provide care to women during pregnancy, labor, and delivery, while gynecologists focus on the health of the female reproductive system, including the ovaries, uterus, vagina, and breasts. OB/GYN doctors are trained to provide medical and surgical care for a wide range of conditions related to women's reproductive health.