10 Unique Ways To Keep Kids Entertained During Quarantine In Hong Kong

It might be over two years since you've seen your friends and family in Hong Kong. Traveling at the moment has at least some perks, with fewer queues in the airport and more seats on the planes, but quarantine is still a daunting process.

For more information about returning to Hong Kong from overseas, check out The Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’s Quarantine for Inbound Travellers – Frequently Asked Questions.

Before you leave the airport, you'll have to undergo some rigorous testing, so it's essential that you bring all of the necessary paperwork, including the online health and quarantine information declaration, records, and medications, in sufficient quantities that you or your children require. As soon as you arrive at the airport, you must go to the Temporary Specimen Collection Centre for COVID-19 testing. Once this is complete, you can collect your checked-in baggage. Overall, you can expect to allow up to eight hours from disembarking from the plane to walking into your quarantine hotel.

Dad Lab - Fun Ideas!

Now you are checked in to your hotel; what will you do with the kids for your quarantine period? This is probably going to feel like an insurmountable task ahead of you. But with some preparation, pre-planning, and lots of imagination, you should be able to stave off any boredom. First, you can start by establishing a fun learning environment and creating some positive memories for you and your family to cherish. There are all sorts of websites and Instagram profiles that you can explore. Little Steps loves Sergei Urban from TheDadLab, a dad who loves sharing his fatherhood journey, science experiments, and craft ideas. Check out keep.kids.busy, a community of parents, caretakers, and educators providing activities for kids.

Arts And Crafts

You’ll have to be organized and start to have crafting goodies shipped to your quarantine hotel. All sorts of online stores can deliver, including educational providers like Tree Children, art suppliers such as International Art Supplies, and family favorites Toys R Us, IKEA, and Amazon. Another fun way of providing arts and crafts but with a spot of mystery is to order a subscription from companies such as Activity Box; each month, their box content changes, so it's pot luck if you receive a superhero, dinosaur, or kitten activity. The box includes four activities with easy-to-follow instructions and all the materials you need to complete each one. You can also check out some great kids' activities mommy blogs for seemingly endless inspiration; the mom will have you making everything from exploding volcanoes to paper snakes using empty toilet rolls.

Treasure Hunts, Hide And Seek, And Naughty Elves

You are well and truly stuck where you are, so you can set up a treasure hunt for the kids when they are asleep. You'll create the first clue, which contains hints on how to get to the first treasure location. The clues will lead them around the room, hunting high and low for new age-appropriate clues and ultimately the treasure, which could be a fun game to occupy them for another couple of hours. The Spruce, Hey, Let’s Make Stuff, and Hands-on as we Grow, have some awesome ready-made treasure hunt-inspired games. Little Steps knows that Elf on the Shelf is a Christmassy craze, so why not create a naughty bear, quarantine rabbit, or another cheeky toy that can get into elf-like mischief. You can find some inspiration on their official site.

Keep Fit

Your kids need to burn off some of that pent-up energy, so get them dancing, jumping on the bed, or practicing downward dog; there are a plethora of different activities online to get them moving! Little Steps loves Just Dance Game,  Beachbody Kids Workouts, Cosmic Kids Yoga, Go Noodle, and Sworkit Youth Workouts. These are entertaining activities to do together as a family during quarantine and afterward.

Virtual Fieldtrips

Get your kids traveling, learning, and experiencing the virtual great outdoors. Google Arts & Culture has teamed up with over 2500 museums and galleries worldwide to bring you virtual tours and online exhibits of some of the most famous museums, including the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and the Guggenheim in New York City. If your kids love history, perhaps the Great Wall of China might pique their interest, or explore the world and learn about various exciting cultures, discussions, and experiences, or even take a trip to Mars.

Science Experiments

Delve deep into the magical world of science and ask Dr. Universe anything you like; he's got the answer to most things, including what butterfly's wings are made from and why you get the hiccups. Wonderville is a digital ecosystem that makes learning science fun. Brain Pop is a site full of learning games, activities, and animated movies, or you can join NASA, the mysterious National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Have a look at the Masters in Data Science website for some cool ideas about  Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math.

Tongue Twisters

Tongue twisters are designed to be really challenging to say and are lots of fun. Encourage the kids to repeat each saying as many times and as quickly as possible without making a mistake. You’ll giggle at the slip-ups!

Try some of these;

• Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers
• Red leather, yellow leather
• Purple Paper People, Purple Paper People, Purple Paper People
• Red bulb blue bulb, red bulb blue bulb
• How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
• I can think of six thin things and of six thick things too
• Freshly-fried flying fish
• Six slippery snails slid slowly seaward
• Sam’s shop stocks short spotted socks
• Selfish shellfish
• I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream
• Susie works in a shoeshine shop. Where she shines she sits, and where she sits she shines
• Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear. Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair. Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn’t fuzzy, was he?
• Shredded Swiss cheese
• How can a clam cram in a clean cream can?
• Which wristwatches are Swiss wristwatches?
• She sells seashells on the seashore
• Fat frogs flying past fast

Magic Lessons

Kids love to perform magic. There is an array of brilliant sites that offer kids free lessons. Learn Magic Tricks is a great website with lots of free downloads and daily videos to help your kids learn magic tricks. Magic Tricks for Kids is another friendly online information platform for children between 6 and 14 who want to learn to do magic tricks for their parents and friends. Kid Zone has clear instructions so kids can learn an assortment of easy magic tricks with cards, coins, rope, and even sugar cubes.

Boredom Busters

There are so many creative activities that kids can get involved in; these are the Little Steps Top Ten!

1. Stage a fashion show
2. Finger painting
3. Send a postcard or letter to family or friends
4. Make a necklace out of beads or pasta
5. Make and wear a paper hat
6. Host a pajama party
7. Have your own talent show
8. Create a den
9. Write a story and illustrate it
10. Make shadow puppets

Origami

Origami Way is a smashing website that helps your kids learn about the thousand-year-old Japanese craft origami and step-by-step paper folding techniques. Follow the instructions, and you and the kids will learn how to make birds, flowers, butterflies, planes, rockets, and animals. You can buy thin sheets of origami paper or use what you can find in your hotel room. There are instructions on how to make a perfect square too!

Play What Am I

This is a fun and sometimes frustrating game for all the family. After you’ve pre-written some ‘things’ on a post-it note, one person chooses the piece of paper and sticks it on their forehead without looking at it. They have to ask a yes or no question to try and establish what they are; whoever is asking the questions can continue until they receive a ‘no’! Questions could be ‘do I have four legs?’, ‘am I red?’, or ‘am I a fruit?'. They have to ask yes or no questions and try to find out what they are.

Routine

It's important to make a routine while you are all in quarantine. Kids are resilient, but isolation and boredom can take a toll on them, so it's essential to make them feel secure and have a daily schedule. Little Steps hopes that using some of their favorite activities gives your kids a bit of structure and fun.