Not so fun fact of life: video games can be addictive. It would be real sad to have a kid at home who goes from enjoying simple online games to getting addicted to them. Such things are insidious and need to be caught on time. While parents are feeling happy that the kids are enjoying educational content, it might just be yet another step to addiction.
A simple way to avoid walking down such paths is to create a balance. A good balance between video games and other activities. Though video games are all about immersive experiences, there is nothing more immersive than real life. Kids need to be alive to things in real life. One of the best ways to do this is via play and activities. Outdoors play is very important for kids, but sometimes kids need to enjoy some indoor activities. With Easter Sunday around the corner, here are 3 activities involving eggs and just playing together:
1. Rubberize an Egg
This is by far one of the coolest experiments I have ever seen. All you need is a real egg, half a glass of vinegar and some food coloring(optional). Put the egg in half a glass of vinegar. Leave it untouched for three days, and voilà you have yourself a rubberized egg!
Handle it gently, even if it feels nice and rubbery, for inside the skin, the rubberized egg is still and egg!
2. How many eggs can you carry?
This one definitely needs wooden or plastic eggs. They need to be unbreakable. For every person playing you need about 6 eggs. Sit around in a circle. Take turns to tuck an egg into the crook of your elbow or under your armpit to start with. None in your pockets or palms. As the game continues from player to player, keep increasing the number of eggs you can tuck into various spots on your body. The winner is one who can tuck away the maximum number of eggs!
3. Egg-spotting
You just need and egg and a limited space, as in a smallish room. Players take time to hide the egg and the rest of the players have to spot it. The player who has hidden it, needs to call out how close or far the rest are from the egg. As they get closer, the player needs to say they are getting warm. When they are real far away, it's cold or ice-cold. If players are just a whisker away from the egg, well, they are red -hot. This involves lots of shouting and fun - enjoy!
4. Make Bath Bombs
This is one of my favorite activities. Simple and fun to make it, but even more fun to see them when popped into water. All you need is 2 measures of bicarbonate of soda, 1 measure of citric acid, 10 drops of food coloring and a teaspoon full of olive oil for binding. Mix it all in thoroughly and fill the egg molds. You could leave it out for 24 hrs or pop them into the freezer until they are frozen. Get them out and pop them into a bowl of water to see the bomb's effect.
Well, Easter's around the corner. Enjoy the activities and have a Happy Easter!
