stuck at home series Archives - Life With My Littles

Stuck at Home: 5 Things to Do to Make Your Day Go Well

Chelsea Johnson — Mon, 27 Apr 2020 10:00:00 +0000

Regardless of if you feel like you’re trying to survive one day at a time, or if you’re just looking for a way to make things feel more normal, here are five simple things to do to make your day go well while you’re stuck at home.

When you’ve got kids, being stuck at home is hard. Emotions run high, you can burn out easily, and it’s easy to let yourself hide in the bathroom and eat OREOs.

We’re over a month into being stuck at home (six weeks, actually) and we’ve definitely had our ups and downs. And regardless of if you’ve got young kids who need constant attention or older kids in school who are now going to school online, life is hard for everyone right now.

We’re still trying to solidify a daily schedule that works for us, but over the last few weeks, I’ve noticed a few things that really make a difference in how our day goes. These five simple things have a big impact on the overall mood of the day, and when we do them, I feel a lot more calm, in control, and like we’re actually accomplishing things each day.

Regardless of if you feel like you’re trying to survive one day at a time, or if you’re just looking for a way to make things feel more normal, here are five things to do to make your day go well while you’re stuck at home.

5 Simple Things to Do to Make Your Day Go Well

Get dressed

Even if you’re just switching from sleeping leggings to around-the-house leggings, get dressed. Put on something different that’s at least a little more put together. It can still be comfortable, but just get dressed. And make your kids all get dressed, too. The first two weeks of social distancing my kids wore their pajamas all day and it made life feel more chaotic and crazy.

Make beds

Make your bed and have your kids make their beds (or help them make it). Your house will feel more put together, and getting it done in the morning really helps your day get off on the right foot. Plus it won’t be an eyesore every time you walk past a bedroom! And who doesn’t love getting into a made bed every night?

Make a list of three things to do that day

I’ve tried doing longer lists, or just making lists for the week, but I get overwhelmed and burn out quickly and then nothing gets done, or everything gets done in one day and everyone’s grumpy. So pick three things that you either have to do that day, or that you just want to do, and write them down somewhere so you can see them and then cross them off when they’re done. You’ll have a loose plan for the day and you’ll feel accomplished at night when you know you got things done that day!

Go outside

Unless it’s raining or snowing or it’s freezing outside (it snowed in Minnesota last week!), get yourself outside! Go for a walk or a bike ride in the park or around your neighborhood. You can even just play in the backyard, draw on the driveway with chalk, or let your kids ride their bikes around in front of your house while you sit and do nothing. Going outside is a great way to break up the day and get some fresh air, and it has improved our days every time we’ve gone outside!

Have alone time or quiet time

This is important when life is normal, and it’s imperative when life is crazy, like right now! I love my kids and it’s nice to spend so much time with them right now, but if I don’t get a break in the middle of the day, I lose my mind. So let them watch TV for an hour, make them read books or play in their rooms, or take advantage of nap time if your kids still nap. Just make sure you are getting some time to yourself every single day. Waking up before your kids doesn’t count, and neither does time between their bedtime and yours.

I wish we knew when this was all going to end, but since there’s really no way to tell right now, we just have to make the best of it. This pandemic is crazy and social distancing is hard, but it won’t last forever and life will eventually go back to normal.

In the meantime, hopefully these five simple things to do to make your day go better will in fact, help make your days go better! Good luck, mamas!

Check out the other posts in my Stuck at Home series here:

The post Stuck at Home: 5 Things to Do to Make Your Day Go Well appeared first on Life With My Littles.

Stuck at Home: 7 Ways to Stay Connected With Friends and Family

Chelsea Johnson — Mon, 20 Apr 2020 10:00:00 +0000

Here are seven ways to stay connected with friends and family if you’re one of the many feeling isolated while stuck at home.

It wasn’t until the last few years that I’ve realized how much I enjoy connection with other people.

I used to think of myself as very introverted, and I am, but I’ve discovered that talking to friends frequently and feeling the bonds of sisterhood really bring me joy (as cheesy as that sounds).

Of course right after I’ve embraced this about myself, this whole pandemic happens and hanging out with friends becomes forbidden.

Luckily, there are still ways to stay connected with friends and family when you’re stuck at home. If you’re struggling to feel connection with other adults like I have been the last month, here are some ideas to help:

Ways to Stay Connected When You’re Stuck at Home

One-on-One Video Chat

FaceTime, Google Duo, or Skype are all great ways to video chat with friends when you can’t see them in person. I’ve called a few friends on FaceTime and it’s been great to see their faces and check in on them!

Phone Games

I don’t usually play games on my phone, but I do like ones where you can play with people you actually know. My sister and I play the game called Draw Something, kind of like pictionary, and it helps us feel connected even though we’re far away.

Netflix Party

Have you heard of the Netflix Party? You can watch synchronized Netflix shows and movies with people in your own homes! There’s a group chat so you can talk about what you’re watching, host long-distance movie nights, and binge shows together! If you normally get together regularly and watching things, this is a way you sort of still can!

Marco Polo

Marco Polo is an app that my family tried to get me to download for a few years, but I didn’t until we got stuck at home last month. Basically you send short videos back and forth, you can watch them in real time, and you can add filters or change your voice. It’s kind of like a video chat but you can watch the videos at your leisure so you can have conversations all day long and actually see your friends’ faces!

Google Hangout or Zoom Meetings

If you want to talk to multiple people at once (like your family or a group of friends), try using Google Hangouts or Zoom meetings! You can even use a virtual background if you have a plain background or a green screen behind you. I’ve done this a few times with friends from church, and even though we were having meetings, it was still so good to chat with each other!

Drive By and Say Hi in the Car

Just because you can’t get closer than six feet doesn’t mean you can’t still see each other in person! So hop in your car and drive to their house or to a park or something and just chat in your cars! You can even have a car picnic and eat lunch in your own car while talking!

Mail Letters

I know this takes a little longer, but getting handwritten letters is so fun! Decide to become temporary pen pals with someone and send letters back and forth! It’ll brighten your day when you get their responses and help you feel connected!

There are lots of ways to stay connected with friends and family, even if you can’t be closer than 6 feet away! It’s a bummer and it’s definitely weird to not be able to get closer than that, but it’s not going to be forever!

If you’ve been feeling isolated and lonely, try one or two of these ways to stay connected and reach out to your friends. I bet they’re feeling the same way!

Check out the other posts in my Stuck at Home series here:

The post Stuck at Home: 7 Ways to Stay Connected With Friends and Family appeared first on Life With My Littles.

Stuck at Home: 10 Things to Watch with Kids

Chelsea Johnson — Wed, 15 Apr 2020 10:00:51 +0000

These 10 things to watch with kids are such a great alternative to regular TV you might be burned out on! Check out this great resource while you’re stuck at home and find something besides the same old TV shows and movies!

This whole distance learning combined with social distancing and staying home thing has been kicking my butt.

I meant to get a bunch of posts up in this “Stuck at Home” series before we moved, but like I said, things have been complicated lately.

But today I’m finally posting another resource (better late than never!) full of fun things to watch at home with your kids while you’re stuck there. Sometimes it can get repetitive watching the same TV shows or movies over and over, and these videos are a great way to mix things up while we’re all confined to our houses!

Live Videos

The author of Pete the Cat, James Dean, does Instagram Live videos every weekday, and they are so fun! He teaches kids to draw characters from his books, talks about art, and reads one of his books. He’s affectionately nicknamed his following the “Pete the Cat Club” and we love it!

The Cincinnati Zoo hosts home safaris on their Facebook Lives every day at 3pm EDT. They highlight one of their animals in the videos, and then suggest a fun activity for you to do at home!

Ocean’s Initiative has been hosting a Virtual Marine Biology Camp on Facebook Live twice a week, on Mondays and Thursdays at 2pm EDT. They’ve done episodes about seals, dolphins, whales, and even sounds in the ocean! If your child is interested in marine life, it’s a great educational resource!

YouTube Videos

National Geographic Kids has an awesome channel with a few different video series. They have series like “Weird, but True,” “Explorer Academy,” “Destination World,” “Best Job Ever,” and “Are We There Yet.” If you are in the mood to learn something new, check out NatGeo Kids!

Dude Perfect isn’t an educational channel, but my kids LOVE their videos! They’re a bunch of guys who started off doing crazy trick shots and now they have all kinds of fun videos, including funny stereotypes (that are always spot on), battles, and a show called “Overtime.”

DoleTube is one of my new favorites because we’ve been able to learn about some of our favorite fruits, how they grow, and how they make it to our stores! I wouldn’t recommend all the videos, but the ones about bananas are so cool!

Exercise Videos

You may be living under a rock if you’ve never heard of Cosmic Kids Yoga. The videos feature yoga, mindfulness, and guided relaxation, and are designed specially for kids aged 3 and up. My kids’ favorite is the Frozen yoga video. She goes through the story and they do yoga moves along with her! A lot better than sitting on the couch!

Disney Family has a series of exercise videos on YouTube called “Get Moving with Disney Family” where, similar to Cosmic Kids yoga videos, you do exercises that go along with different Disney movies. There’s Peter Pan, Moana, The Jungle Book, The Incredibles, The Lion King, and Mulan.

Little Sports is another channel that has a bunch of exercise videos for kids. They’re animated, and not all of them are great, but they have them for all body types and they can keep your kiddos active while at home!

Okay, so KidzBop isn’t necessarily “exercise” but their channel has tons of dance-along videos for kids to watch and dance along to! They also have “Daily Dance Breaks” every day at 3pm EDT.

Books Being Read by Authors and Celebrities

Storylineonline.net is a website with a bunch of videos of celebrities reading books out loud. There are TONS of books to listen to, and even one with the child actors from This Is Us! Adorable!

The Instagram account @savewithstories has more videos of celebrities reading books. The best part is that there’s a great mission behind the account, too! In partnership with Save the Children and No Kid Hungry, they offering stories to provide fun and education to kids and parents stuck at home during the coronavirus outbreak. It’s free, but you can also donate to help make sure schools and community programs have the support they need to keep brains and bellies full. You’re also supporting our important work to meet the health, education and nutrition needs of kids in other countries impacted by coronavirus. How cool is that?!

The hashtag #operationstorytime also has lots of videos on Instagram of authors and other celebrities reading books. Maybe you can find your child’s favorite book!

Cooking Shows

There are lots of great shows about cooking, both that you can just watch and enjoy, and that you can cook along with at home. My kids love Kids’ Baking Championship, Cupcake Wars, and Girl Scout Cookie Championship. Taste Buds Kitchen started a free at-home cooking club you can sign up for that features videos of easy recipes with simple ingredients you probably already have, every Tuesday and Thursday at 2pm EST. And for every sign up, they donate $1 to No Kid Hungry!

GoNoodle

GoNoodle is an app, a website, and a YouTube channel, but I’m giving it its own category because it offers so many different things. Your child likely has had experience with GoNoodle in their classroom, so they can probably tell you about it! They have lots of different options for active screen time, from dance parties, yoga sessions, mindfulness activities, and game sessions. We have the app on our Roku and the kids love doing the videos!

Competition Shows

I know I already had two competition shows listed in my cooking show section, but I have more to tell you about! LEGO Masters is one my first-grader especially loves, and of course American Ninja Warrior is always fun to watch!

Your Favorite Movies and TV Shows From When You Were a Kid

Now I can’t promise they’ll all be as good as you remember, or that they’ll all be as innocent as you remember, and there’s a chance your kids won’t like every movie or TV show you show them, but now’s the time to watch those classics you’ve always wanted to show your kids! If you don’t have a subscription to a streaming service that features a lot of old movies and shows (like Disney+ or Amazon Prime), you can usually rent movies and TV shows online for a few dollars!

Drawing Videos

Mo Willems, author of the Elephant and Piggie series, is the Education Artist-in-Residence at the Kennedy Center, and for three weeks he hosted “Lunch Doodles” where he showed kids how to draw! There are 15 episodes and you can watch them all on the Kennedy Center website.

Joe Wos is a cartoonist who has a YouTube channel called “How To Toon” where he shares all kinds of video tutorials to teach kids how to draw cartoons! He’s been doing daily live streams that you can check out on his channel. If your kid likes to draw, they might enjoy his videos!

My kids also love Art for Kids Hub on YouTube. They have hundreds of drawing videos, from preschool-level to advanced.

Animal Shows

Disneynature has some great animal movies. We just watched Dolphin Reef, and are in the middle of Diving with Dolphins. There’s also Elephants, Penguins, Bears, Chimpanzee, African Cats, and several others. They are fun to watch because the footage is incredible and you get to learn about animals!

The series Planet Earth is great for learning about animals, too! If you don’t have a copy, you can watch it on Discovery!

Our Planet is a show similar to Planet Earth that’s available on Netflix and is narrated by the same person as Planet Earth. It’s like, the streamable version of Planet Earth!

If you’re burned out from watching too many episodes of My Little Pony or Mickey and the Roadster Racers, hopefully you can turn to one of these fun things to watch with kids while you’re stuck at home!

Remember, this social distancing madness won’t last forever, and things will go back to normal. If you’re spending a lot of time in front of the TV, don’t feel too guilty about it. We’re all just in survival mode right now, and doing what we have to to make it through the day! You’ve got this, mama!

Check out the other posts in my Stuck at Home series here:

The post Stuck at Home: 10 Things to Watch with Kids appeared first on Life With My Littles.

Stuck at Home: 35 Things to Cook with Kids

Chelsea Johnson — Thu, 02 Apr 2020 21:13:54 +0000

Stuck at home with nothing to do? Try baking or cooking with your kids! Here are 35 things to cook with kids, featuring recipes with five or less ingredients and no-bake recipes!

Has anyone else been stress-baking recently? We have made so many different baked goods since being stuck at home that I’ve lost track of everything we’ve made! I can tell you that it’s all been delicious and every time we make something it’s eaten within 48 hours.

Hopefully I’m not the only one baking and cooking up a storm over here. Baking and cooking with kids can be a lot of work, but it can also be really fun if you pick the right recipes!

Since everyone is stuck at home right now with their kiddos home, I thought it’d be helpful to put together a list of easy recipes that your kids can help you bake or cook! Often times recipes are so complicated or have so many ingredients that you have to do most of the work, but with these, your kids can really take the lead!

I’ve split all these things to cook with kids into two sections. First, recipes with five ingredients or less. Most of them have three ingredients, but some of them have four or five. Second, recipes that are no-bake! Kids + the oven just doesn’t sound like a good idea to me, so I wanted to find some good recipes that didn’t require any time in the oven.

Things to Cook with Kids That Have 5 Ingredients or Less

Photo Credit: Joy Food Sunshine

Puppy Chow

Photo Credit: www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com

Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries

Photo Credit: Frugal Fanatic

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

Photo Credit: Momadvice

Watermelon Granita

Photo Credit: The Space Between

Hummus

Photo Credit: Tasty

Mac & Cheese

Photo Credit: Tasty

Banana Oat Smoothie

Photo Credit: Tasty

Teriyaki Chicken

Photo Credit: Cafe Delites

Breakfast Cookies

Photo Credit: Spend With Pennies

Pigs in a Blanket

Photo Credit: Cafe Delites

Pancakes

Photo Credit: Persnickety Plates

Pita Bread

Photo Credit: Love Foodies

Mini Meringue Cookies

Chocolate Banana Smoothie

Photo Credit: Kleinworth & Co.

Chocolate Nut Clusters

Photo Credit: Mama Loves Food

Shortbread Cookies

Photo Credit: Mama Loves Food

Chocolate Mousse

And now, on to the no-bake recipes!

No-Bake Recipes to Make With Kids

Photo Credit: Live Well Bake Often

Easy No-Bake Fudge

Photo Credit: Like Mother Like Daughter

No-Bake Monster Cookie Granola Bites

Photo Credit: Two Sisters Crafting

Best Ever Rice Krispie Treat Recipe

Photo Credit: Live Well Bake Often

Peanut Butter No-Bake Cookies

Photo Credit: Two Peas and Their Pod

Oreo Balls Recipe

Photo Credit: Cookies and Cups

No-Bake Cheesecake Recipe

Photo Credit: The Healthy Maven

Healthy Trail Mix

Photo Credit: Shari Barnes

Oreo Dirt Cups

Photo Credit: Delish

Banana Split Pops

Photo Credit: Like Mother Like Daughter

Apple Nachos

Photo Credit: Life Currents

No-Bake Chocolate Candy Cookies

Photo Credit: Sugar and Soul

Golden Grahams S’mores Bars

Photo Credit: Sugar and Soul

No-Bake Chocolate Tart

Photo Credit: Persnickety Plates

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cornflake Cookies

Photo Credit: The Typical Mom

No-Bake Scotcheroos

No-Churn Graham Cracker Ice Cream

Photo Credit: Kleinworth & Co.

Homemade Crunch Bars

Photo Credit: Princess Pinky Girl

Funfetti Dip

Have you found at least five or more recipes to make with your kids? I hope you have, because just putting this together has made me crave something sweet!

Cooking with kids can be really rewarding, and there’s no better time to teach them than now! Have fun!

Check out the other posts in my Stuck at Home series here:

The post Stuck at Home: 35 Things to Cook with Kids appeared first on Life With My Littles.

Stuck at Home: 36 Things to Do with Kids

Chelsea Johnson — Wed, 01 Apr 2020 18:38:24 +0000

Running out of things to do with kids while you’re stuck at home? Kids telling you they’re bored and they don’t want to play with their toys anymore? No problem! Here are 36 fun and creative things to do with kids that you can do from home with minimal supplies!

This post contains affiliate links

We’ve been stuck at home for almost three weeks now, and things are getting kind of boring. Sure, we’re also in the middle of moving and we’re trying to learn how to do distance learning, but when we aren’t busy with that, I often hear “I’m bored!”

I’m going to guess that you’re in a similar boat. Let’s name the boat USS Social Distancing Survival. Because for reals, we’re all just on survival mode right now!

And since everything I do with Life With My Littles is to help other moms not only survive motherhood, but enjoy it, I really wanted to put together a few posts to help out! That’s how this “Stuck at Home” series was born!

I’ve got a few posts coming your way (hopefully soon, but again, we move in two days!) that will give you lots of ideas of things to do, cook, watch, and learn with your kids. I tried to keep them simple and make pick things that I’d actually want to do, too, so I’m hoping that all you mama friends out there will want to do them, too!

Let’s jump right in (because I know the real reason you’re here) and kick off this series!

36 Things to do with Kids at Home

Scavenger hunts
Puzzles
Read aloud or audio books
LEGO challenges (build the tallest tower, the fastest car, etc.)
Bake or cook with your kids
Play card games or board games
Make cards for people in nursing homes
Go through toys and clothes and pick things to donate
Build a fort
Karaoke
Camp indoors (set up your tent, toast marshmallows over the stove)
Let your kids do YOUR hair and makeup
Sensory bin
Paper airplane contest
Paint pet rocks
Obstacle course
Draw portraits of each other
Perler beads
Let your kids have a fashion show with your clothes
Make sock puppets or paper bag puppets and put on a puppet show
Tape up a big piece of butcher paper (or the back of wrapping paper) and let your kids create a mural
DIY laser maze
Create a masking tape car track on the carpet or sofa
Write inspirational messages on sidewalks, trails, or driveways
Watch family videos or a photo slideshow
Indoor fishing
Make something out of a cardboard box
Play with water beads
Melt down broken crayons to make new ones using silicone molds
Dress up fancy and have a photoshoot
Make an indoor volcano
Try to learn a magic trick
Stack cups
Make a toy car wash
Make a DIY no-sew crash mat
Homemade playdough

There are so many things you can do at home, but it can be hard to come up with ideas when you’re burned out because you’ve already been stuck at home for weeks. I hope this list of things to do with kids while you’re stuck at home will help you out! We’re all in this together, mama!

Check out the other posts in my Stuck at Home series:

The post Stuck at Home: 36 Things to Do with Kids appeared first on Life With My Littles.

Working From Home with Kids

Chelsea Johnson — Wed, 18 Mar 2020 20:11:31 +0000

Working from home with kids is a challenge many moms are suddenly facing right now. It’s hard, but it’s definitely doable! Here are eleven tips for working from home with kids to help you figure out how to manage motherhood and work, written by a mama who’s worked from home for almost seven years.

I’ve been working from home with kids around ever since I started my blog almost seven years ago. I started when I had a five-month-old baby, worked through having another baby (18-months apart from my first), and then worked through having a third baby two-and-a-half years later.

It’s hard finding time to sit down at my computer and work when I’ve got three young kids who need a lot of attention and care. But it’s something I’ve had to figure out in order to help support our family.

With schools closing for who knows how long, I know a lot of working moms are suddenly finding themselves having to manage working from home while taking care of their kids. No matter how old your kids are, this can be a struggle.

I wanted to share some of my tips for working from home with kids for all those mamas who are feeling overwhelmed with everything that’s going on right now. Hopefully some of what I’ve learned can help ease this weird, difficult situation we’re all in right now!

Tips for Working from Home with Kids

Accept that you’re going to be busy

The life of a work-at-home mom is a busy one. You have to be efficient about your time if you’re going to get everything done. Downtime you usually use for watching TV might need to be used for work, and that’s okay. This is a weird, new thing we’re trying to figure out, and routines are going to be interrupted for a while.

Sit at the table and work while your kids color or do school work

Depending on your workload and profession, you may have to fit in work whenever you can. Sometimes that means working with your kids around you while they do something quiet, and the dining table is a great place to gather and work together!

Schedule when you’re going to work

If you have a set time scheduled to work, it’s easier to follow through and enjoy the rest of your day. Schedule a few hours after lunch to get work in, or a few hours in the morning while kids play. Scheduling the time you’re going to work helps you feel more committed and makes it easier to actually work when the time comes.

Work when your kids are sleeping

If you’re a morning person, get some work done before the kids are up. If you’re more of a night owl, stay up after the kids are in bed and work. And if your kids still nap, work during nap time! I don’t wake up early or stay up late unless I have a lot of work to catch up on, and I usually only stay up at night because I am not a morning person, but if this will work for you, take advantage of it!

Set up a work space

If you don’t have a home office, set up a designated space for work. A space where you don’t have to clean up all you’re working on every time you take a break, where you can have some privacy and focus on your work instead of what the kids are watching on TV. We’ve used one of our bedrooms as an office for the last few years and it’s made a big difference in my productivity.

Remember this won’t be forever

This is just a temporary situation. No one can say how long it will last, but it’s going to get better one day. Kids will go back to school, parents will go back to work. Do what you have to to make it work.

Remember you aren’t alone

Nothing like this has ever happened in our lifetimes, so we’re all feeling the same way. We’re all just trying to do our best to make things as normal as possible for our kids while keeping them and us safe and still doing our jobs, whether that be full-time mommin’ or working from home for the first time. It sucks a little bit, but we’re all going through this together, and there are lots of other mamas you can reach out to who can relate.

Utilize quiet time

Quiet time is still a struggle for me with my oldest, but we’re working on it! Set a timer for quiet time when you work so kids can see how much time they have left, and then check in on them a few times. Quiet time doesn’t have to be super elaborate or full of pre-planned, themed activities. It can be as simple as doing some mazes, word searches, or color-by-numbers, playing a puzzle game, doing an actual puzzle, reading, or building a town with LEGOs. If you have younger ones, I’ve also put together some great ideas for quiet time with toddlers.

Give yourself grace

It’s okay if your kids watch a lot of TV so you can get your work done and support your family. It’s okay if everyone stays in their pajamas all day and you have cereal for dinner. You’re doing what you have to right now, and nobody can tell you the right way or the wrong way to get through this. Be patient with yourself, and if you have a rough day, the good news is that you can try again tomorrow! You’ve got this!

Set up a rewards system

When your kids are good at playing on their own (especially during quiet time), reward them. It can be something as simple as an extra snack or an extra episode of their favorite TV show. You can come up with a different rewards system for each kid, or stick with the same thing. I’m all about bribes and sometimes there’s no way I can have time to work without them.

Put on a movie and lock the door when you have calls to make

Remember that video that circulated a while ago of the guy on TV who was working from home and his kids burst in during an interview? Don’t be that guy! If you have conference calls or video calls or team calls, put a movie on for your kids and then make sure there’s a locked door in between you and your kids. That way you won’t have any interruptions.

This last week has been the weirdest week of my life. Regular things are so completely different, and it’s been hard for me to adjust. Fortunately, my kids are adjusting to being home just fine! They’re so resilient!

If you’re among the many moms who are now working from home instead of in an office, I hope these tips will be helpful. Working from home with kids can be a challenge, but it’s one that you can absolutely overcome. Figure out what works for you and cling to that. Stay positive, look for the good, and don’t falter. You’re awesome, amazing, and you’re going to get through this!

Check out the other posts in my Stuck at Home series here:

The post Working From Home with Kids appeared first on Life With My Littles.