Kids Activities
Things to make and do
| Things to cook
| Nursery rhymes
| Art gallery
Things To Make And Do
Art Gallery
Print out a picture of Itchy Izzy from our art gallery, get your
child to colour it in and send it to us at the address below with
your child’s name and age. Alternatively, get your child to do a
drawing of what it feels like to have chickenpox. All pictures
received will be posted on the gallery. Pictures should be on an A4
piece of paper.
Send your pictures to:
Care
ViraSoothe Art Gallery
Thornton & Ross, Linthwaite, Huddersfield, HD7 5QH
Fun In The Sink
Young children will love this. Half fill the kitchen or bathroom
sink with water. Then give your child plastic cups, spoons and jugs
to play with. You’ll need a sturdy stool or chair for them to stand
on. Be warned, it’s messy but great fun.
Walnut Boats
Buy some walnuts. You can eat the nuts but keep the shells. Put
a small amount of Blutac ® or modelling clay in the
bottom of half a shell. Make a small, square-shaped sail out of
paper and attach it to a toothpick. Stick the toothpick into the
clay and let your child sail the boat in the kitchen or bathroom
sink.
Statues
All you need is some music and a hula hoop. Children can dance
inside and outside the hoop and must freeze like a statue if they
are inside the hoop when the music stops.
Printing With Fruit And Vegetables
First of all, you should cut the fruit/vegetable into different
shapes. Potatoes are good and corn on the cob makes an interesting
pattern when rolled. Peppers cut in half make unusual designs
without any carving. Dip the fruit or vegetables in ink or paint
and press onto paper. Your child can experiment with what different
effects, different colours and amounts of paint will make. It’s a
good idea to keep a bowl of water handy to wash the fruit and
vegetables before using a different colour.
Printing With Doilies
Get your child to brush some paint over a doily that you have
placed on a piece of paper. Carefully lift up the doily and there
you will have a doily print. Get your child to reposition the doily
and use different colours to make a pattern.
Balloon Tennis
Tape small paper plates to the ends of wooden sticks (rulers
will do) to create your tennis racquets and use a blown-up balloon
for the ball. Use a dressing gown cord or a skipping rope to divide
the ‘court’. Try getting your child to hit the ‘ball’ back and
forth across the line with you without letting the balloon hit the
ground.
Mirror Drawing
Fold an A4 piece of paper in half and draw half of a picture on
one side of it. Then get your child to draw the other half. This
can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be.
Masks From Paper Plates
Cut holes for nose and eyes in a paper plate and get your child
to create a mask using markers, paint, glitter, etc. Then use
string to secure the mask to your child’s head. It’s an activity
that uses their imagination and promotes hand/eye coordination as
well as being great fun.
Collage
You’ll need lots of old magazines and catalogues. Help your
child to decide on a subject (cars, plants, seaside, animals, etc)
and look for pictures connected to that theme. Get your child to
cut out (using children’s scissors) related pictures and sort them
into groups before gluing them onto a large sheet of paper. This
will make a great poster for your child’s room.
Coin Rubbing
Get your child to put a coin under a piece of paper and then rub
a crayon over the coin so that the image on the coin appears on the
paper. Encourage them to try to think of other things with rough
surfaces that might work. Leaves are a good one to try.
Decorating Pebbles
You’ll need some nice smooth, flat pebbles that are clean and
dry. Let your child draw whatever they like on the pebbles. They
can colour in with felt tips or paint. When it is dry, just varnish
over it and leave to dry again.
Magnetic Fish
Make different sizes and shapes of fish from a piece of
cardboard (use children’s scissors if your child is helping) and
put a paper clip at the head end of each. Tie a piece of string to
a small magnet and attach the other end of the string to a ruler.
Put the fish into a plastic bucket and see how many fish your child
can catch.
Blowing Bubbles
Put some washing up liquid and water into a plastic cup. Washing
up liquids vary so the proportions of the mixture may need to be
adjusted. Start with one quarter washing up liquid and three
quarters water. Twist some thin wire into a circle and make sure
the other (sharp) end is covered. If your child dips the round end
in the solution and blows gently you should get bubbles.
Make a little obstacle course in the garden. Let your child
run around and get some fresh air. Remember that chickenpox is
highly contagious so keep your child in your own garden away from
others who have not yet had chickenpox.
Sitting back to back with your child you should each draw a
picture. Take it in turns to describe what you have drawn (vary the
difficulty level to your child’s ability). The one listening to
the instructions must try to draw the same picture. This is a
good game of communication and very entertaining.
Decorate an empty kitchen roll and then seal one end. Fill with
rice or cut up spaghetti lengths. Seal the other end to make a
shaker - great for sing song and dancing fun with your child!
Make a den with two chairs and a large heet. Instead of lunch at
the table have a picnic in the den with their teddies and toys!