How To Keep Your Kids Entertained During An Emergency?
Anyone who has spent any amount of time with children knows that it can be extremely challenging to keep them entertained, especially in times of stress.
One great way to prepare for an emergency with children is to practice. Practice entertaining them without the power on, with few or little toys, and with disrupted schedules. Although this may create temporary stress, it can lead to greater flexibility and creativity for times that it matters most.
If in an emergency situation with little or no toys, use your environment. Play the “I Spy” game with things around you, or count how many leaves on a tree, or say the colors of the cars that go by. Teaching kids to be aware and entertained by their surroundings is a form of entertainment that is not specific to any schedule or location.
Another way to keep kids entertained with no toys is to play pretend. This can be easily tailored to the specific ages of your children and can entertain for hours on end.
In cases when you would need your children to be quiet, practice playing “quiet games.” This could include challenging children to stay in the same pose for as long as possible or making no noise for as long as possible.
What Are Some Fun Outdoor Survival Games For Kids?
There are literally hundreds of games that you could play outside with your kids, either in times of emergency or calm. The list of a few favorites below should get you started. Consider printing out this list to work through with your children, and then help them play more and more independently from adults depending on their age and development.
- Mother, May I: In this game, an adult or older child with their back turned grants or denies requests of the younger children in a line to move forward. In turn, the children ask one by one if they can move forward with the questions “Mother, May I _____.” The winner of the game is the one who reaches the “mother” first.
- Sidewalk Chalk Art
- Digging for bones: Buy fake bones at the dollar store, bury them, and let your children dig them out.
- Bubbles
- Simon says: In this classic game, one picked as Simon commands all the other children to do things. If “Simon” starts the phrase with “Simon says ___” everyone must do it and will be disqualified if not. If “Simon” does not start the phrase with “Simon says ____” but instead commands something directly, any children who do this task will be disqualified. The winner is the last one who has perfectly obeyed the respective commands.
- Bocce Ball: One small ball is thrown as the goal or marker. The other children have two similarly colored balls to throw as close to the “marker” ball as possible. Whoever gets the closest wins the round.
- Capture the Flag: A large group of children divide into two teams and try to capture the other’s flag without being caught. Read more on the official rules here.
- Hide and Seek
- Races, relays, and obstacle courses
- Tug of War: For this classic game of strength, divide the children into two teams and have each team hold on to one side of a long rope. Both teams pull the rope as hard as they can to pull the other team over a line drawn between them.
- Kick Ball: Set up three bases and a home plate in the shape of a large diamond. Divide children into two teams. Follow similar rules as baseball, except allow the pitcher to roll the ball to the “kicker” at home plate. The kicker at home plate will kick the ball and try to run the bases strategically. If the ball is caught straight from the air, this counts as one “out.” Three outs mean the defensive team changes to the offense and visa versa.
- Soccer: All you need is a few sticks or rocks to outline a goal and a soccer ball of any kind!
- Tennis
- Four Square: Divide a massive large square into four medium-sized smaller squares. Find the rules on specifically how to play here.
- Jumping rope
- Climbing Trees
- Limbo: You (or an older child) will hold a stick at a chest level, and all the children will walk under it. Every round, you lower the stick an inch or two until the children have to bend backward (without losing balance or using their hands) to walk under the limbo stick. The one who walks under the limbo stick when it is the lowest is the winner.
- Water Fight
- Kick the Can: This game can literally last for hours. The person who is IT tries to guard a can while those hiding throughout the yard try to race to kick the can. If the one who is IT sees any of the hiding children or beats those trying to kick the can to the can first, he/she says “Over the can on _____(the child’s name)!” and the child goes to “jail.” Read up on the official rules here.
- Cloud Watching
This is a good list to start with, but the trick to entertaining kids during any disaster scenario is to help them stay positive and use their imagination.
