We are heading into month 4 of quarantine here in Nicaragua. We are not able to go out and have experiences like we normally would. Before COVID, we would find activities or playgroups for the kids. We would travel to other cities, go out to restaurants, and take tours. Now that COVID is here, we stay at home and the days can feel extra long.
Despite the restrictions that we have, boredom does not have to dominate the day. We have found several activities to keep us entertained while we hunker down. We also do not have a lot of resources. We have two suitcases and four backpacks. We do not want to accumulate stuff, so we choose activities that do not require many materials.
Some of our activities involve technology. It is inevitable, but it is important to us that we have several activities that get us off of technology. Technology has been great, but too much is not good for our family. It is not healthy for us to be on our phones all-day reading the news, watching shows, playing games, or scrolling through social media apps. We all have bad mood swings if they have been on technology too long.
Here are 10 of the activities that we incorporate into our days:
1. Playing Cards
A deck of cards is an easy thing to carry with us around the world. It is versatile because there are so many card games. We love to play spades, hearts, poker, speed, golf, kings in the corner, and most recently, canasta. Judy likes to play solitaire when she needs some time away from the boys. Card games are great for teaching the boys math, strategy, and patience. Henry has some difficulty with patience, but he is getting better every day.
2. Reading/Listening to Books
For us, this involves technology because we have Kindles and read on our phones, but it is not the same as mindlessly watching YouTube or scrolling through Facebook. We all read on our own. Michael likes listening to books. We often find Henry still up at 10:00 at night reading in bed.
Judy reads to the boys. She has read all of the Harry Potter books to the boys and is now finishing reading Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Other books that they have read together include James and the Giant Peach, The Chronicles of Narnia, Hatchet.
Lucas and Henry have almost finished the Wierd School series of books by Dan Gutman. Lucas has read many of the Magic Tree House books. We love that they are enjoying reading.
If anyone has any recommendations for books to read to the kids, books for the kids to read on their own or books for adults, please let us know.
3. Playing Brain Games
Brain game activities sometimes involve technology, but they do not have to. These activities include puzzles and logic games. We all play Words with Friends with each other and family members. Michael finds IQ tests online that we all do together. Michael practices memorization strategies with Lucas and Henry. For example, one day had had the boys try to memorize a 15-digit number in 1 minute. Judy does the New York Times Crossword Puzzle, and sometimes she has zoom calls with her dad and sister and they all do it together.
4. Swimming
We are lucky enough to be able to go swimming. Our community has a lap pool and two other pools. There have only been a handful of times when there were one or two other people at the pool. Social distancing is not a problem. We go almost every day and it is a great way to decompress and get some fresh air. The boys prefer to play games and wrestle and we like to swim laps or float on a pool noodle (we did break down and buy two pool noodles despite trying not to collect stuff).
5. Coloring/Drawing
Judy and the boys like to spend time drawing and coloring. Occasionally they go online and do a drawing tutorial on YouTube. Sometimes Judy draws pictures for the boys to color. We also scored some great coloring books on one of our shopping trips. Lucas likes coloring more than drawing. Henry is a perfectionist and gets frustrated when his drawings are not perfect. Recently we have been coloring paper airplanes and having flying competitions. This is a great outlet for creativity and it gets us off of our devices for a while.
6. Cooking
We have lots of time at home now and we have to eat, so we have been doing more cooking. Some things are hard to get here (berries, spinach, green beans, fresh mushrooms) but for the most part, we can cook our favorite dishes. Some of the dishes that are on repeat are eggplant parmesan, tuna noodle casserole, chicken tacos/burritos/nachos, and eggplant stew.
Lucas has impressed us with his interest in cooking. The other day he asked us where we keep the vodka. He is a good kid, so we knew there had to be an explanation. He went on YouTube and found a recipe for Penne Alla Vodka. He made the entire dish by himself. He ended up having to tweak the recipe because we did not have all of the ingredients. He used coconut cream and yogurt as a substitute for the heavy whipping cream and it was phenomenal. He is making a stuffed mozzarella chicken dish for us next. We cannot wait to eat it.
7. Exercising
It is tempting to sit in the house all day. That was especially so during the dry season when the heat was stifling. Now that we are in the rainy season, the temperatures are more bearable and it is breezier. We go on hikes to the beach. The beaches here are not crowded. We often do not see anyone when we go. We climb the 300+ stairs in our community. The boys go up to a field and play soccer, frisbee or catch. Lucas and Henry sometimes choose to do workout videos on YouTube. We all swim laps in the pool. Exercise is great medicine for the body and the mind.
8. Movie Watching
Not all technology is bad. There are a lot of hours in the day and sometimes we just want to veg out. We decided to get a Disney + subscription and we have been enjoying it. We also watch Netflix and YouTube. Some streaming services like Hulu and Amazon have not worked for us because we are in Nicaragua. We have a VPN, but those sites detect it. We rewatched all of the Star Wars movies. There are several interesting National Geographic shows on Disney +. We have been introducing the boys to some classic movies and movies that we loved as kids. One of their favorites is The Sound of Music. We also look for documentaries on topics that interest the boys or topics that tie into what they are learning about.
9. Naps
We do not take naps every day, but it is a great way to pass the time. Judy and Lucas are the biggest nappers. Henry hardly ever naps unless we are driving in the car. Michael likes to nap in the hammock. We try to keep the naps under 30 minutes so we can still sleep at night.
10. Storytelling
One of our favorite things to do is tell stories. We do this in a few ways. One that makes us laugh a lot is one-word stories. We each say only one word and go around in a circle telling a story. We also play a similar game where one person writes a sentence on a piece of paper and hands it to the second person. The second person reads the sentence and writes a new sentence on another piece of paper to continue the story. The third person reads the second person’s sentence and writes a sentence. Each person only sees the sentence of the person before them. In the end, you read all of the sentences. Here is one of the stories we made up:
1. My favorite popsicle is a cherry popsicle (Judy)
2. I could eat a cherry popsicle. (Henry)
3. Cherry popsicles are red and juicy. (Lucas)
4. I love popsicles, but I want to eat cotton candy and ice cream right now. (Michael).
5. Unfortunately, my dentist told me not to eat cotton candy and ice cream because they will give me cavities. (Judy)
6. So I snuck a cookie. (Henry)
7. But then I got in trouble. (Lucas)
8. I hate getting in trouble. Wait, what’s that? Did Henry just fart? Let’s get out of here!
It looks like we will be here for at least the next couple of months, so if anyone has any other fun family activities, we would love to hear from you.
