3 Activities that I found are great for children! ( In my years of childcare)
Oct 16 by Karishma Chera
One thing I'm very passionate about is children. I've been a caregiver for 5 years now and its my way of giving back! A big part of my job is to play! Here are some activities me and the kids just love.
Drawing/Colouring:
This is a great activity because it promotes self expression.Say I have a child that is very angry or sad. I would often sit them down and get them to draw a picture of how they are feeling. I usually place a basket of art supplies in front of the child, so they can choose what colors and art forms they want to use. I like to do this activity in a more quiet environment, where the child can really draw to express how they feel.
After he/she is done, i would cuddle with them and tell them to explain the picture to me. I ask them things like, why they choose to draw the bird upside down or why they decided to color half the page red. Sometimes you can get very interesting and funny answers that allow you to understand what is going on in the child's mind! Most of the time the child is able to explain what they were upset/sad/happy etc... about.
I also noticed that when the child is upset they put a lot of pressure on the page with there crayon. This leads me to believe they were getting their agitation out in some way. ( This activity can work with any emotion/scenario. )
Play-doh:
Ive always loved Play-doh!
First off, you can very simply make it at home. I personally make big batches of it and store it in the fridge for the kids and even for myself as a stress ball. The Play doh helps relieve my stress and anxiety and I've noticed it does the exact same thing for children too! if a child is feeling anxious or is frightened hand them a ball of dough!
Play -doh is amazing for fine motor skills. Over the years Ive noticed how much it helps a child's dexterity. The more they use Play-doh the easier it is for them to grip pencils, markers, scissors, glue sticks and many other things! Add glitter, beads or gems for an extra sensory touch!
Board Games
There are a lot of benefits to playing board games with kids. In my experience its gotten messy a few times when the winner wins and the loser loses! But it teaches children to learn how to be a good sport, fail, make mistakes, lose and win gracefully. They also learn to have patience which is taught through taking turns!
Give them a try!
By: Karishma Chera