Working from home when the kids are running around can be tough. But there are a couple things you can do to keep their boredom at ease and your productivity high. From taking a quick nature walk to providing them with projects or educational games, keeping your kids busy and purposeful will make working from home with children a breeze.

1. Go for a Nature Walk

Taking regular breaks during your workday is not only good for productivity, but it will give you an opportunity to spend some quality time with your children. Take this opportunity to get outside and go for a quick walk. Make it fun by playing a game like Nature Walk Bingo and have your kids look out for songbirds, maple trees, road signs, streams, and more.

Bike riding can also be a fun activity for the whole family. Try biking on natural trails, find natural obstacles for a challenge, set up some races, or play follow the leader.

Whatever you decide, getting outside will help keep you and your children active and offers a change of scenery in an otherwise mundane day.

2. Give Them Craft Projects

Tap into your kids’ creative side with craft projects. Have them make works of art with sponge painting or finger painting, popsicle stick creations, colouring sheets, and more. This will let them focus on a task while you are completing your most important tasks for the day.

Set-up a craft area in your home, fitted with old newspapers or tablecloths, so your kids have a place for some fun art activities.

Here are a few more crafty ideas for your kids:

• Sun catchers
• Colouring printouts
• Paper pinwheel
• Paper plate hats
• Bow-tie pasta butterflies
• Sock puppets

3. Play Educational Games

While the kids are off school educational play is a fun way to get some learning into the day. There are plenty of board and card games that will help your children with their math, reading, and writing skills. But you can also get creative with the board games you have around the house.

Common games like Scattegories, Scrabble, and Upwords are great for reading and writing, while Monopoly and UNO are great for practicing math skills.

If you want to get really creative, set some time aside to create a board game with your kids. Look up some online resources for printouts of board game maps and game pieces.

4. Create in the Kitchen

Roll up your sleeves and prepare a delicious, and nutritious, lunch for you and your kids. Have the kids help with the preparation by giving them small tasks like mixing the vinaigrette, placing the ingredients in their sandwiches, or making their own dipping sauce for chicken fingers.

Or you can bake some sweet treats, like chocolate chip cookies, cinnamon rolls, or cupcakes with your kids during your break. Your kids can get creative with decorating or adding some additional ingredients like M&M’s, sprinkles, and pretzels.

5. Get Active

Working from home can lead to a lot of inactivity, especially since you’ll have to stay indoors most of the day. Help boost the physical activity with the help of some fun games.

A couple rounds of freeze dance or Just Dance can have the kids up and dancing to their favourite songs for hours on end. Create a mini-obstacle course or have them play the floor is lava. (Maybe have them play the last one when you have no meetings).

You can also include them in your daily at home workouts. Have them follow along as you practice yoga or Pilates. Or even get them to do some basic strength training moves like squats or push-ups.

6. Get Creative Outdoors

If they’re getting a little antsy being inside, there are some fun activities they can do in the backyard, driveway, or balcony.

Weather and space permitting, bring your laptop outside while your kids have fun kicking a ball around or playing tag in the comfort of your backyard.

If you have limited space there are other activities, like bubble making, chalk art, and skipping. Get creative with bubbles by dying the solution their favourite colours. Or use chalk to draw hopscotch on the driveway.

7. Get Building

Building has been a favourite pastime for many generations. From Lego to Kinnex, every child has their go-to-building material. Challenge your kids with having them create their dream home, a scene from their favourite television show or movie, or their favourite car.

They can also get creative with some household items by building pillow or blanket forts. If you have some empty boxes around the house, they can create their very own castle in the living room. Have them decorate boxes with markers, paint, or crayons.