With Coronavirus having now caused the schools across Scotland, England and Wales to shut, so many of us across the UK will now be wondering what on earth they are going to do to balance working AND entertaining the kids for the days, weeks and possibly (but hopefully not) months ahead. 

And while this may have little to do with kitchen worktops, as your kitchen is the busiest room in the home, it is about to get a whole lot busier so we thought we would put together a list of as many fun activities that you can do with the kids (mostly in the kitchen) to keep them entertained during Coronavirus Self Isolation.

Portrait of family keeping their hands one another at home

1 – Make a Play Doh Castle

2 – Make Macaroni Pictures

3 – Mark out a race track on the kitchen floor (make sure you don’t damage the floor).

4 – Organise the cook books in the kitchen

5 – Let the kids pick recipes from the cook book to plan out the meals ahead (this might even help them eat something healthy)

6 – Create a den under the kitchen table

7 – Do some leaf rubbings

8 – Thread pasta into jewellery

9 – Make paper aeroplanes

10 – Play a board game at the kitchen table

11 – Create a paper chain to hang in the kitchen

12 – Play Simon Says

13 – Create musical instruments using rice and an empty jar

14 – Learn how to bake bread

15 – Keep a baloon in the air as long as possible

16 – Do a mini gym workout

17 – Create movie posters based on the kids favourite movies

18 – Listen to an audio book

19 – Have a kids ‘afternoon tea’ with cake

20 – Take apart an old appliance so that they can see how it works

21 – Potato Paintings

22 – Create a family tree

23 – Do a fake news story and interview the family like they were ‘witnesses’.

24 – Paint the kids nails

25 – Make decorative bookmarks

26 – Use Video chat with the Grandparents/Family Friends at the kitchen table

27 – Homework (just because school is shut doesn’t mean they should stop learning)

28 – Create a new game from scratch (let the kids imagination run wild)

29 – Make a box fort using any boxes you may have in the home

30 – Write letters to loved ones (a bit like when you send family postcards on holiday)

31 – Do some science experiments

32 – Bake a cake

33 – Play shopkeeper

34 – Clear out the cupboards as if this was a Spring Clean

35 – Do a ‘fashion walk’ using grown-up clothes (it will be hilarious)

36 – If you have any air dry clay, make a sculpture

37 – Plant some indoor plants

38 – Learn and make origami animals

39 – Start a ‘tuck shop’

40 – Make a paper snowflake

41 – Put on a sock puppet show

42 – Create a sensory shaker using a cleaned out bottle, glitter and water

43 – Build a block tower using Jenga pieces

44 – Press flowers with a heavy book

45 – Create a ‘magic’ potion

46 – Measure each others height, arm length etc

47 – Take ‘artistic photos’ with your smart phone

48 – Make a time capsule

49 – Create a Marble Drop Tower

50 – Set up a line of dominos and know them over

And there we go – 50 suggestions (some good and some bad) that you can do in your kitchen during the Coronavirus Self Isolation time.

With Coronavirus Covid-19 having taken over our daily lives in the UK, so many of us are now working from home. And that means that all of a sudden, our kitchen has gone from the place that we cook and eat to the place that we cook, eat and work in. And before you get too down beat about that, at least you don’t have to sleep there as well.

So, going on the basis that you will be working in your kitchen, we thought we would put together some info and top tips on working from home and what you can do to keep a balance between personal and work life in the busiest room of your home.  After all, we do sell kitchen worktops.  This is kind of related.

1 – Maintain Regular Working Hours

It can be easy to loose yourself in the hours of the day and not be able to properly shut off from work in the evening hours. At the end of the 9-5 day, put your working material, laptop/paperwork etc away and out of sight.

2 – Create a routine that matches your existing work routine

You don’t stop working at 9:45 to hang up laundry at work do you? Well if you don’t do that in the office then why should you do it while working from home? Try to keep a regimented timeline.

3 – Create a specific working space

If you keep moving around the home doing wrk then you never truly create a work environment and others in the house will not respect your work space. If you have a designated working space then the kids will know to leave that area alone (famous last words) and others will be quiet when passing that area on their way to the bathroom etc.

4 – Just because you are working from home doesn’t mean you have to compromise on equipment

If you are going to be spending the day typing etc, should you not have a proper keyboard and mouse to use? Having to survive with the keyboard and cursor built into a laptop may send you crazy faster than you realise.

5 – All of a sudden your personal mobile number is going to get a lot of use.

People won’t be dialing the office number to get hold of you anymore and while you might be okay with that for a day or two, you should consider getting a work specific sim card/phone number. It is a lot cheaper than you think and a lot of modern mobile phones have dual sim capability.

6 – Socialise with your co-workers

Loneliness and isolation can have a profound effect on someone not used to working from home. If you no longer have the ‘water cooler gossip’ to feed on, what new things can you talk about with your family that evening. Try to keep communication going with your co-workers as best you can.

7 -Lost in (email) communication

When you start working from home and begin to rely on email messages where previously it was verbal communication in the meeting room, you run the risk of loosing important information in translation. Make sure your emails make sense and remember how hard it is to convey tone in a message.

8 – Take advantage of working from home

Now you work from home, your commute to work has been cut down dramatically. So that ‘slow roasted’ meal that you never have time for….now you do. As long as it doesn’t conflict with tip number 2.

9 – Finish your 9-5 day with a routine

While self isolation may get in the way of some things, you could go for a short stroll, take the dog for a walk etc. Something that acts as a marker that your working day is complete.

10 – Don’t be afraid to change things

If working in the kitchen is not doing it for you then move. While there is no guarantee for how long things will go on for, if the ticking of the clock in the kitchen is getting on your nerves, take the battery out. If the sunlight os blocking your view on the computer screen for two hours of the day then don’t just endure it. Do something about it.

11 – Wear clothes

It might sound strange but the general assumption is that people who work from home stay in their pyjamas all day. Dressing up for work (even if you are working from home) can help you get into the mental thinking of being at work.

Working from home can have many upsides but if you have spent your whole working life in an office then it may be a difficult adjustment to make. Get dressed, start the day well in a dedicated space that you feel comfortable in. Keep the communication going with the outside world and remember to turn off at the end of the working day.

Do these things and you will be fine.