Positive Activities for Rough Days

As we anticipate the next lockdown announcement, I’ve decided to try to post new content and ideas for keeping kids engaged over the coming days and weeks.

Our first lockdown games went off pretty smoothly on Sunday, and I’m now spending my time organising a schedule for the rest of the week.

Many of our kids are spending a lot of time on screens already, so I am going to be especially keen to find tasks that the kids can do offline. If you’ve got any tutorials, links, or ideas, please send them in so I can share with other families. I think we were all getting used to life in NZ being back to normal, and covid lockdowns were a thing of the past. So this latest lockdown might be affecting us differently than last time. Sometimes social engagement means using a screen, and we all have to choose our battles!

For today, I have two ideas. The first is a website, perfect for loves of board games. Check out www.boardgamearena.com. The monthly subscription is well worth the cost during lockdown – I’m a subscriber, and it means I can host premium games for my friends. We’ve already had our first afternoon GCL game of pandemic, with more planned. My username is “discoknitter” – send me a friend request and I can ass you to the GCL Gamers Group.

The second idea is for our Saturday Evening Lockdown Games. Since we have had a lot of interest, we will run two sessions this week (and will continue to do so while my capacity holds!). Session 1 will be 4-5:30pm, session 2 will be 6:30-8. Please drop us an email to register an expression of interest, we will be limiting each session to 6 families so everyone gets a chance to play. First come first served! Zoom link will be sent via email. Unfortunately since the Hub AGM is going to be held online this Saturday, I won’t be able to run games this Saturday night, so the first family games night will be this THURSDAY night, 26/8/21. Register your attendance by emailing admin@gamechangersleague.co.nz. There is no charge for these sessions, but a koha is appreciated if you are able to contribute.

Extra credit for keen kiddos! I’m going to be posting a scavenger hunt. Ask your kids to suggest an item that most people will be able to find in or around their homes. It needs to be small enough to grab, not too precious, and as creative as you can get. A list of items will be posted at the beginning of the zoom call, and your family will have until the end of the zoom to be able to gather all the items!

Finally, we have had interest from families not currently enrolled to run some special lockdown games in addition to our regular Sunday games. If you would like the opportunity for your kid to join in an extra game during the week (currently proposed times are Thursday afternoon and Saturday afternoon), let us know, as preference will be given to currently enrolled kids.

Stay safe team! We can do this!