One thing I found challenging during the lockdown is to find outdoor activities for kids, i.e. my 3-year-old. We live in an apartment, so don’t have access to a garden. I believe by now, even families who do have gardens are a bit sick of them and can be struggling with ways to keep active and entertained, while not really socialising with other families. Tough times, this COVID 19 crisis, but we are all doing amazing in keeping safe, aren’t we?
After we exhausted all the usual activities such as biking, taking the scooter out, feeding the ducks, chasing each other, I started dreading to go out. I had no more ideas or tools to implement them. Then I dove into my own childhood and rediscovered several things that are new to my little daughter, and these three had most success:
Flying the kite
I have incredibly happy memories with this activity from my own childhood. I remember the hours devoted to producing a handmade kite. In my time, we did not have access to ready made ones, so the game was more about who succeeds at making them, rather then who flies them. In fact, I only remember succeeding once in flying it and it felt so good. As I can remember, we were running like crazy trying to lift the colourful displays of our artistic skills. It was usually not so windy where I was as a child.
Imagine how thrilled I was when I realised, the lovely moderate wind on a sunny May afternoon in Ireland had made my daughters new kite fly so high. She did not even need to move. She is only 3 and in no time, she was able to fly her bumble bee kite all by herself and was ecstatic. The day was incredible, in fairness my husband and I both wanted to have the kite for us, but seeing her so happy with it, was more than enough to make the day perfect.
I highly recommend this fun outdoor activity for kids and the whole family. You will all bond over it.
Now, I’ll tell you a secret, after about 15 minutes of a successful play, you can actually sit down and enjoy your coffee (we always bring our coffee, a bit of a ritual). Your little one will be busy for a while, which is an amazing accomplishment.
We found our kite in Call of the Wild SLIGO shop. They have a FACEBOOK PAGE and answer to WhatsApp as well, to arrange deliveries. The customer service was amazing. They even sent several pictures of options and explained which kite would be the most suitable for my daughter’s age. We were happy with the price and the kite performs perfectly, easy to set up and lovely to look at.
Activities with chalk
When I was a child, the only chalk we could get our hands on, was the plain white school chalk. Nowadays, you can buy multicolour box of chalks for a small price, virtually everywhere (even the supermarkets usually have them). It’s easy to bring in a backpack and all you need is a surface to draw on, which is virtually any bit of concrete in a safe environment. And don’t worry, you are not vandalising, the first rain will wash it off.
Besides, it’s adorable to see little hearts, suns, flowers scribbled by a child.
We played the good old hopscotch and I felt young again, proud that I can already show this to my child. Years fly, but we do get a chance to relive our childhoods. This used to be one of the favorite outdoor activities for kids, not that long ago.
Outdoors at it’s best – flowers
All we took with us was a bucket, it could fit in the backpack. We picked lovely flowers, placing them in the bucket. The meadows were full of them. We were having the most valuable little conversation on how important it is to leave plenty for the bees and take just a little bit for ourselves.
Once we had enough, we made the classic crowns/chains and styled ourselves the best we could. We were so proud, looking good. These are now lovely memories fortified by gorgeous pictures and we took our work home to press them with books. A week later we opened the book and saw our beautiful chains, preserved. Unforgettable day indeed.
Another game we played on a different day was making magic potions with flowers. All we needed was some flowers, sticks and stones and some imagination. Turns out it’s not that hard to find outdoor activities for kids, after all.
It’s so easy today to start believing you have to buy the big things to make memories, to make the kids happy: bike, trampoline, tickets to big experiences. But all I know is there’s only one childhood for each child and I don’t want her to grow up never flying the kite with us.
About the Author
Sanja Ivandic is one of the Co-Founders of Outside Multicultural Magazine. Sanja relocated to Ireland from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Inspired by the Sligo Intercultural Project she managed for a while, as well as her work in various NGOs such as LEDA and World Vision, this Magazine was born.
Sanja wrote for several magazines, enjoys every form of writing, be it poems, case studies or prose. Her special skills lie in marketing. Currently she is an Employment Advisor. You can get in touch with Sanja by emailing her on: [email protected]
Sanja’s words on multiculturalism: “Multiculturalism for me is a synonym for humanity. Being diverse and similar at the same time is who we are and we must never forget it. Remembering this evokes respect, love, and peace, so we must keep reminding ourselves about the word multicultural”.
