We are all stuck at home- might as well made something good out of it, right? With co-parenting, I am lucky because I get a break from being a mom 24/7. The truth is what I do is work my ass off non-stop ( about 18 hours a day), so that I could afford to take off of work when my daughter is back with me. Normally, it looks like day on day off, but during the coronavirus shut down things have changed a little bit and we decided that it’s better if we do a week on and a week off, this gives me more time to get stuff done and the ability to actually spend quality time with Lexi doing some mom and daughter activities we don’t normally get to do. Usually, the quality time happens when we travel, which we do a lot of, but since we are stuck home, I want to make sure that we both remember this time as fun and connecting experience.
Table of Contents
Here are some of our favorite mom and daughter activities at home that we have done or are planning to do while we are quarantined due to the pandemic.
1. Exploding Kittens game.
You can get it on your device or order it on Amazon and it’s so much fun especially for a cat obsessed family like ours.
2. Take cats for a walk
Since we are talking about kittens, Lexi absolutely loves putting a harness on two of our cats and taking them outside. Last time they snuck out and she ended up with an empty harness and a cat on the tree. Hopefully next time we will get them fastened a little tighter
3. Cuddle Up and Little Talk Deck
This is one of Lexi’s favorite activities on a normal day but if we cuddle up and make it more of a planned connecting activity for a whole hour that will be very fun and beneficial. For those not familiar with a little talk deck, it’s a conversation deck for parents and kids talk about deep topics and a way to find out their true feelings.
4. Do a Spa day
Teach Lexi how to cut and paint nails, do face masks with the Berry Scrub and hair Masks with THE Oil, exfoliate, dermaplan, take a relaxing bath with salts and bath bombs, listen to music
5. Film a video together
We both love creating content, I have a bit more patience for it than she does at 8 years old. We love doing unboxings, book reviews, challenges, or even might try a few tiktoks.
6. Edit videos
Editing videos is difficult and time consuming. She knows how to do it, but rarely has the patience to sit 2 hours through one video edit. I am hoping that if we do it together working on different videos, she will sit it through, so this activities is on my list to try
7. Bulding and Crafts
I just wrote about some cool crafts from Faber Castell, but you can also Pinterest some crafts you can do with household objects
8. Homeschool experiments
We have an awesome book full of homeschool experiments that can be done with items found at the house. I think COVID-19 is the time to pull it out!
9. Adventure Challenge book
Probably one of my favorite pre-made ideas, Adventure challenge book is a great way to have fun, spend quality time and record it all for posterity. You scratch off an adventure and follow the instructions, then you take a photo with the attached Instant camera to remember the fun forever.
10. Stop Motion Cartoon
Lexi loves creating stop motion cartoons on her Ipad, but she always asks me to do it with her. This isn’t something I ever had time for, but now we are going to create the best cartoon this world has seen. Bwwhahaahahahaha ( evil laugh)
11. Movie Marathon
For us it is Star Wars or Harry Potter Marathons (or in the future case, Mandalorians). That’s right after we finish Stranger Things and watch the last Jumanji! Eeeekkk, so excited!
12. Build an outdoor fort
We always wanted to build a Stranger Things style fort in our backyard woods, but again never got around to it! This is the time! Find some canvas, use robe to tie things around the trees if you don’t want to deal with wood.
13. Backyard Reader’s Camping
Put up a tent in the backyard, bring the kitties inside and read books all day using lanterns at night
14. Themed Day
Pick an educational theme a day and watch Curiosity Stream video on it and then find other related books and activities to do. We are planning on doing Pangea theme, Kitty theme, Ocean animals theme, Quantum Physics theme and maybe more.
15. Skills lesson
Teach her some skills off the age appropriate skill list. She loves it for some reason.
16. Travel planning
Plan our future vacations or replan the 5 vacations that got cancelled due to the virus ( Barcelona, Iceland circumnavigation, Russia, Mongolia, sleep away camp in MN)
17. DrawIt
Play a drawing guessing game together. Found here.
18. Minecraft
A day of Minecraft ( she has been begging me to take a day off and play minecraft with her all day)
19. Virtual Playdate
Put together 2 simultaneous video calls for my friends and their kids. This way I get to talk to the parents, and Lexi gets to talk to the kids!
20. Reading books together
Curl up in our dual hammocks and read The Mysterious Benedict Society
21. Fibbage
Can’t beat the laughter created by Fibbage!!!!
22. Photography contest
She loves doing this for some reason. We go out and take pictures and then compare perspectives and decide whose photo is better.
23. Organizing together
I don’t know how much she loves this one, but I try to make it fun. Silly voices, goofy expressions and story lines help keep her attention on organizing rather than going into lala land.
24. Gardening
I am not very good at it, but I love it! And she enjoys having a little garden as well, or taking care of succulents.
25. Yoga together
Have not done it yet, but so excited to try. Peleton has a free app with yoga classes.
26. Just Dance game
Dancing is always a favorite activity, especially in a game form
27. A day of video games together
No explanation needed. All kinds of games, all we do is game all day!
28. A board game day
We have this one game, called Rise of Tribes, that has very complicated rules and takes two hours to play! We have to make a day of it to actually get to playing it 🙂
29. Write in mom-daughter journal
We have three journals where we periodically write, but it would be fun to make it an activity
30. Practice volleyball
We are both volleyball heads and need to keep our skills sharpened. So we go outside and pepper a little.
31. Play bean bags and other outdoor games
I try and focus on outdoor activities when I can, We have Quidditch from her Harry Potter party, bean bags, Frisbee, Beersbee and capture the flag that we play together.
32. Do a photoshoot
Do a make over, put a pretty dress on and do a photoshoot.
33. Make mushroom soup
She LOVES Russian Mushroom soup, so she’s happy to help me make it! Recipe is simple!
34. PAINT OUR HAIR PINK
We are painting our hair PINK!!!!!! For real! It’s temporary color that lasts about 10-15 washes and we are soooo excited!
35. Play MadLibs
This is a fun short activity and Madlibs can be found online and printed or on Amazon. This is the one we use: Mad Libs Labs
36. Mom and Daughter Fashion show
What could be more than mom and daughter fashion show in your living room! You can walk down the runway, change hair styles and clothing and film the whole thing
37. Make Lotions and lip balms
We love making my own lotions with shea butter and essential oils. Recipe here
Hope you enjoyed it.
Let me know what mom and daughter or mom and son activities you love doing with your kids!
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