Activities for when Mum’s feel ill

Mums are not immortal, we get ill and it’s not always possible to take ourselves to bed which is often what we really need to do especially when our extended family work, live far away or are just not there for whatever reason on those days we need activities for the children that can occupy them whilst enabling us to rest and recuperate getting better quicker. I’ve just spent a few weeks like that managing the essentials and nothing much more during the day as I have felt less than normal.

Now don’t get me wrong it’s great to sit and snuggle on the sofa but if like J and T your children will only do that for a short amount of time here’s 30 activities that children can do with little or no input from you once you have everything set up perfect for those days where you are feeling under the weather.

 Playdough

A go to activity in our house in playdough – I keep a selection of playdough either homemade or store brought and can quickly set up some activities for the children with that that they can spend almost an hour playing with. Here are some suggestions for quick and easy activities to set up for the kids with activities

• Aliens
• Homemade playdough for babies
• Night Sky playdough
• Dinosaur Digs
• Animal Prints in Playdough – from Simple Fun for Kids
• 10 Natural Playdough recipes – from The Imagination Tree – this is my favourite basic playdough recipe for home and The Imagination Tree has so many great varieties to share check out this post with some variations.
• Playdough Birds – from Craftulate
• Playdough Invitations to Play – from Little Bins for Little Hands

Creative

There are some things that I just won’t get out when I’m feeling ill – paint, white glue and anything that could make a huge mess are out of the question however there are possibilities that children can do that don’t make too much of a mess (nothing worse than clearing up a mess when you feel ill) and are quick and easy to set up.

• Cuckoo by Lois Ehlert inspired shapes
• No Mess Colour mixing
• Contact Paper Butterfly Art
• Paper Weaving – from Kids Activities Blog
• Simple Shape Collages – from Home Grown Friends
• Leaf Sticky Window Art – from A Life Sustained

Activities to promote peace and quiet

When you feel ill you often need peace and quiet and there are some activities that are almost guaranteed to promote this with kids – check out these great ideas

• Our ideas for Quiet Times Activities for Kids – perfect for independent activities that keep kids occupied and relaxed especially for when you feel ill.
• 3 ideas for independent toddler play – from How Wee Learn
• Cookie Counting Game for Toddlers – LalyMom Kids
• Play ideas for promoting Calm – from Creative Playhouse
• Quiet Book Ideas – from and next comes L
• After school activities – from The Boy and Me – it’s not just during the day that we sometimes need help – once the kids come home from school can be even more difficult these are great for school age kids.