How to entertain kids at home?

School is out and many of the children are at home all day with little to do. In this article, we bring several suggestions for activities to keep them busy!

Home cinema - Netflix, HBO, Google Play, Apple TV

Make some popcorn, turn off the lights in the living room and turn up the volume on the television! Staging a cinema session at home is a great way to entertain the youngest(and not only!) for a few hours. If you have a projector, connect it to your computer to watch the film on a wall, in close-up. There are several streaming services available in Portugal with a very varied range of films: Netflix, HBO, Google Play or Apple TV. And there is also a lot to choose from in the box at home.

Online museums

Taking a virtual visit to a museum was already a global trend, as it allowed us to access places we couldn't go to otherwise. With the effects of Covid19 on tourism, many museums reinvented themselves and adopted this online model. This is a different way to entertain children while educating them. 

In Portugal, there are many monuments that adopted this version. Discover some of the things you can visit with your family on your computer, without leaving home:

   - National Coach Museum

   - Tile Museum

   - Belem Tower

   - Mafra National Palace

To go further, know that some of the most renowned international museums also offer virtual visits and now they can even be an alternative to the trip you had planned this summer. Here are some good examples:

   - British Museum, in London

   - Louvre Museum, in Paris

   - TheMetropolitan Museum of Art , andm New York 

   - Smithsonian National Air And Space Museum, Washington D.C.

   - The Acropolis Museum, in Athens

   - Smithsonian national museum of natural history, Washington D.C.

Online classes 

Currently, there is nothing that you cannot learn online, whether through courses, tutorials, open classes , direct... Do you want your child to learn to play an instrument at home? Or a new language? Nothing more practical than taking online classes!

Here are some suggestions:

   - Guitar lessons - https://www.ricardomata.net/ // https://www.superprof.pt/aulas/guitarra/online/

   - English classes - https://www.britishcouncil.pt/ingles/cursos-criancas-jovens%20/verao-online-2020

   - Yoga classes - https://www.sunshineyoga.pt/aulas-yoga

PC and console games

We all know how much kids love video games and how this leaves them hooked on their computer, tablet or console. It's a good way to pass the time and keep them entertained for a few hours. However, don't forget to set up parental controls(if you don't know how, see here ) so that you can have fun, yes, but always be safe while playing online !

Listen to a story

Children love hearing a story. But we can't always stop what we're doing to pick up a book and read it, dedicatedly, to the youngest. The Lisbon municipal library network has a project called “A story a day doesn’t know how much good it would do you” and comes to help parents at story time. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, at 11am, on Facebook at Lisbon Libraries, a new story is out for the children to hear!

https://www.facebook.com/BibliotecasdeLisboa/

Applications

Finally, we suggest some recommended applications, perfect for little ones to have fun on their tablet, cell phone or computer!

   - Coloring games for kids 2-6 -  (iOS, Android and PC)

   - Coloring Online - https://www.colorir-online.com/ (PRAÇA)

   - YouTube Kids - multimedia content aimed at younger people, most of which are very educational and pedagogical (iOS, Android and PC)

   - Recycle BinGo -  the most environmentally friendly application! Games and missions that encourage children to recycle.  (iOS and Android)

   - Panda World - the Canal Panda App with lots of series, games, music, videos and drawings! (iOS, Android)