Guest Blog Post - Iona Hickman, Founder of Eyeowna Design
/Tips for life at home with a toddler during Covid-19
Well what a time we are living in.
From explaining these strange times to a toddler, to keeping them entertained and trying not to turn them into human fearing germaphobes, us parents have a lot on our plates. Throw in a healthy dose of work from home, financial challenges, or for some working on the front line and still trying to parent around everything and it’s a wonder we aren’t all insane by now, well maybe some of us are!
So here are some tips that are keeping things sane in my household:
Routine
I write a rough daily plan every evening, I don’t do a weekly plan as we all feel differently at the end of the day now so I adjust accordingly. Hubby and I take it in turns to have days/times on or off childcare duty too depending when we are each working. There are always some constants (except on weekends then anything goes) though:
7:00am Mila wakes and watches YouTube on my phone, Kikki or the likes, we snooze a little longer before heading down to the lounge!
9:00am The Body Coach, PE with Joe
12:00pm Lunch
5:00pm Dinner
6:00pm Skype with grandma/grampa
6:30pm Bath
7:00pm Bed
The Body Coach, PE with Joe
This daily live workout has won me over, I hated it in week one and could barely walk after (I do not usually do squats) but now I look forward to it every morning! It kick starts my day, fits in well as Mila eats breakfast or half joins in whilst it’s on, and makes me feel less guilty about my evening Netflix and snacks binge!
Virtual babysitting
This is the best, we skype grandma/grampa every evening at 6pm. It was originally for story time but it’s evolved to be story or play. Often my mum dials in and Mila says, ‘right grandma your Holly and I’m Ben’ and then the virtual play evolves. This gives me time to run the bath, prep for bedtime and have a breather. I set the iPad up one end of the lounge so it’s all in view and Mila roams freely back and forth as mum chats to her!
Easy baking
I hate cooking and baking, but it appears since lockdown I am becoming a domestic goddess of sorts, especially since finding flour in more recent times! So, my three go to baking activities are:
Shortbread stars
Mega easy to do and if you don’t have measuring equip (like me) just convert the amounts to tablespoons or cups online and your away! Here is the recipe we follow, oh and we don’t pipe icing we sprinkle icing sugar over ours at the end instead! Shortbread recipe
Cheese scones
These are delicious and mega easy! We made them in giant heart shapes as Mila loved using cutters. She was also fab at glazing with milk and sprinkling cheese at the end, gave me a good 5 mins to clear up the mess whilst she did this part! Cheese scones recipe
Gingerbread men/biscuit decorating
Ok so this isn’t baking, but I simply set up a tiny bit of icing sugar, 5 gingerbread men or 5 biscuits, some raisins, some sprinkles and some writing icing and leave her to it. She loooves this. Of course, I have strict no eating rules, which she half adheres to.
Cosmic Kids Yoga
For us we have found we are lucky enough to get half an hour of freedom during this. I put a round mat on the floor, put it on the iPad, let her choose the theme and away she goes. The Frozen one is brilliant!
Daniella Ballerina
Just like Cosmic Kids Yoga, Daniella does ballet to themes and stories, Mila dresses in a little tutu skirt and loves it. I feel less bad about the screen time as she’s active too.
Ipad toddler games for learning
Screens are not the enemy, there are some good games out there that help aid learning, not going to specifically recommend one here as there are many and its personal taste. Mila loves farm themed ones, or more recently baking ones too! Just search the app store. I’ve invested the £3.99 on a couple to avoid the constant ‘pay for add on’ appearing.
Classes she attended before
She used to go to a toddler group, Lucy’s Little Movers, which now streams on Facebook and she enjoys. There was also a science club (paid) that she did before on a Thursday which we now ‘zoom’ into, there is a bit more pre-prep for the parents but she loves that too. I’m sure if you contact classes your little one attended before they may be doing some alternative online now that you can attend.
Crafts
Ok so yeah this involves you, but I’ve been trying to do a craft a day or every other day and she loves it. I keep them simple from stickers, to painting, home-made masks from paper plates, toilet roll bunnies, you name it! Pinterest is a great resource for easy toddler crafts and personally being creative I love getting involved in these.
Freeplay/toy rotation
At the end of each week I rotate her toys and set up new things to play with, honestly for the first two days as least we get lots of time as she happily explores and plays alone for a bit. I set up all her Peppa Pig toys one eve and made a ‘Peppa world’ if you like, the next morning was a dream, I even had a hot cuppa in peace!
Outdoor fun
Thankfully we have a garden, but if you don’t then it’s worth using that one activity a day to get your little one out into the fresh air, take their scooter or balance bike too. In the garden, I’ve found chalks on the patio or sand and water play have been her faves.
Paint and clean
This was a genius idea, she did painting indoors using a painting accessories set I found on amazon. After the mess was horrific, so I filled the paddling pool in the garden with water and fairy liquid, shoved everything in, gave her gloves and a cloth and laid a towel on the grass. She spent aaaaages cleaning them all and laying them to dry! Result!! Mum win right there!
Lying down game
You are exhausted, you want to lie down, but your toddler want to play…
I get Mila to be the doctor and I’m the patient, it’s perfect, she goes back and forth and I just lie down and rest! Or another one I discovered recently, I put music on and she dances and I’m the ‘judge’ on the sofa, basically I just commentate on how wonderful her dancing is.
So, there you have it, our survival guide for life with a toddler during lock down. Every child is different and what works for some won’t for another, but hopefully some of these things will be useful with your toddler and help with your sanity.
We got this mamas (and papas), stay home, stay safe!
You can see more of Iona over at:
