Switch the AC on, hand me a fan! The weather in the UAE has already reached the mid-forties and we may be spending more time indoors with the children to avoid the heat this May. Due to COVID, travel plans are on hold for so many of us, so we wanted to create a set of themes and activities together that you could try at home to keep the little ones entertained. Each week we will have competitions and give-aways to encourage you to try our easy to create at home activities.

Getting stuck into a craft project often means a typhoon of glue, paint, glitter, toilet roll tubes and wild imagination, which of course, makes it all worthwhile. However, while your kitchen table turns into a crafting creation, your children are learning some very important skills and life lessons.

As an educator of many years, I am utterly convinced that crafting helps children to communicate their feelings. They also enjoy seeing how they have improved and how they have been able to follow the instructions. I believe children like to be involved in an idea and see it flourish; and our activities will result in something they can play with afterwards. The simple activity of sticking, colouring, glueing, cutting and keeping within lines or patterns, can assist fine motor skill development, and improve hand-eye co-ordination in children. In fact, even simple tasks such as separating squares of tissue paper, cutting cardboard and scrunching them up into the right shape are great for developing their skills.

A craft activity can be a way to bring the family together on a craft project, working as a team and building connections. It doesn’t have to be perfect; it might fail, it might not look the same as the picture; but you did it together. With the weather warming up so quickly this year, it helps reduce screen time when you are indoors. We are here to help with 4 weeks of fun.

I will make a Principal’s Promise to you that our activities will be easy peasey lemon squeezy, however, here are my top tips for getting children engaged in an activity at home.

Avoid being too keen, start the activity quietly on your own and allow your child to come over to you naturally- no pressure…
Try not to announce in your best teacher voice “it’s activity time”- just be yourself Mama
Keep your expectations appropriate to their age and stage – toddlers may only engage for 30 seconds.
Try not to clear it away too soon- allow your toddler the chance to return to it and move between options.
Add multiple textures when painting such as cornflakes, leaves, pasta – it doesn’t have to be paper…
Remember we are looking for an experience, a chance to be creative, it doesn’t have to be perfect…
Over the month of May, we will also be providing you with a chance to reflect as we consider mindfulness for children and creating a sustainable future with our forest and nature education week. Expect a great line up of live interviews, easy to follow tasks, some wobbel board yoga and weekly prizes.

Join Katy (the Mama and owner of Eco Souk) and I for our “indoorsy” Survive The Heat Campaign for May.

We look forward to all the fun!

Best Wishes for now,

Principal Lisa, The Potty Queen