How To Have Digital Playdates When You’re Kids Are Stuck Inside
Gotta love the coronavirus. It has cancelled — well, life as we know it.
This can be REALLY stressful for kids. They can feel their parents’ unease, and they totally don’t understand what is going on.
For the kids, it is important to keep life going on as normal as possible, and keep them connected with their friends and family.
It can be pretty easy, in this day and time, to have “VIRTUAL” playdates, and here’s how.
Facetime Talk – It is so easy to stick the kids on Facetime, and just let them see each other, talk, and have some giggles.
Facebook Live – You can have your child jump on Facebook Live to do silly thing like put on makeup, put Lego bricks together, or even just play with dolls in from of the camera. They can interact with people via the comments. YOU WILL NEED TO MONITOR the conversations, as people CAN be — well, people. You might want to set this as a private event, and just invite friends and family.
Facetime Game – One person can have a board game all set up, be the one to roll the dice, and move the characters. The person on the other end of the screen can be there to virtually play the game.
Skype Story Time – A grownup, a teenager, or even a young one can read a picture book over skype, and the other kids can hang out to hear it and comment.
GamePigeon App – Use iMessage to play multiplayer games with friends! You may need to monitor this, to make sure the games are age appropriate.
Messenger Kids – Messenger Kids lets you see EVERYTHING your kid is doing on the app. They can play games with friends, message friends, send friends videos, and more. My kids LOVE Messenger Kids!
Make YouTube Videos – Okay. This isn’t exactly communicating directly with people, but it gives them a chance to be kids, and feel like they are communicating with more than just themselves. They can do anything from gymnastics, a craft, cooking, building something, teaching the world something, reading a story — the ideas are ENDLESS! They can even just film themselves just going about their regular day — think Ryan’s World.
What other ideas can y’all think of? List them in the comments, so EVERYONE can take advantage of the fun!