What I Resort To When My Kids Are Sick

My sick buddies for the day. Lunch was scrambled eggs and broccoli. Sick day means no cook day for me- I'm too preoccupied with trying to think up activities to cook!

Sick day! I used to love sick day: it meant Mad! Magazine, jello water and lots of room service by mom.  Now, that I’m the mom, it means videos, coloring, reading books aloud and lots of room service. Sick day calls on every ounce of creative thinking I have. Today, was that day. (I swear I don’t use this much media on a normal day!)

Here is what I use for long, sick days to keep boredom and whining away:

Leapfrog Leapster Explorer
We got a Leapster Explorer at Toy Fair about 2 years ago but I was so afraid to actually use it that I just opened the box last month! I had this fear that my son would become addicted to it and I would have to set down all kinds of rules about its use. It turns out that I like it, actually, and I haven’t had to create any rules around it.  His favorite game at 5 years old?  I SPY Super Challenger (ages 5-9 years) which is a highly addictive game based on the photographic books you know so well. Here is why I don’t mind him playing this game in particular (and, actually like him to): he is learning new words, discerning shapes and objects, matching, memorizing and learning about riddles. His 3 year old sister’s favorite game? Disney Tangled . It’s not as intellectual even though there is some matching and math. It’s fun and narrative but honestly, I get tired of the whole princess thing so it’s not in heavy rotation.

Here is another activity you can do from Richard Scarry's book. From ©Kiboomu

Richard Scarry’s Best Rainy Day Book Ever
This activity book by favorite author Richard Scarry has been on our bookshelf for 2 years- and we use it for sick days and rainy days. It truly is the “Best Rainy Day Book Ever” and gives us focused and short projects to do. Because we are close to Halloween, I thought we would do some of the Halloween activities in the book today. We were out of luck- apparently we did those last year. So, we happily resorted to coloring country flags and making books out of them. With the random color assignments on each flag by my kids, it’s been a bit difficult to gather which flag is which, but nonetheless, it was a great sick day activity with some real learning involved.

Bathtime
Despite major pushback from my 3 year old, I ran a lukewarm bath for her today. I figured that I could kill three birds with one stone: get her clean, eat up some time and bring down her fever.  I enticed her by showing her that I had some new bubble bath to try. We have been frustrated that we can’t find an organic bubble bath that foams well, so this weekend I bought Dolphin Organics bubble bath to try. I was assured that it had good “bubbling qualities”.  The result was pretty good. There were definitely more bubbles than any of the other organics I have tried and I loved the fresh smell of the Yucca? Calendula? Lavandula? I don’t know, but my daughter’s and I’s consensus was that this was the best priced and best organic bubbling bath soap we have tried so far.

Photo courtesy and ©Blosem Kids.

My (and their) favorite DVDs
We watched (ahem) two movies today. Yes, I was lazy and tired and bored- and so were they- so we broke out some videos. After all, we had only killed half the day with the aforementioned activities plus meals by 2 pm! The videos I feel the least guilty for letting them watch (and actually love) is Wee See. This DVD series is the coolest kids’ DVD: it’s part art installation and part educational DVD. It is the quintessential “sick day” movie: it’s  visually stimulating but also calming.  It’s like having a mind massage.  With black and white shapes oscillating and morphing onscreen, your mind sees shapes in innovative ways. My 5 year old likes it just as much as my 3 year old and me (the art grad that I am).

For some good laughs, we watched the Charlie and Lola DVDs. This British brother and sister duo are hilarious, quirky and adoring of each other. If you don’t know this video series, get on it! We splurged and bought Charlie and Lola, Vol. 1-8 last year- and, it was totally worth it. It’s pretty hard to find a funny cartoon for both kids and adults. (Well, Phineas and Ferb is a close second).

I should also mention that I make a trip to the grocery store for sick day essentials (Gatorade, pretzels, Chestal and ice cream) if no one is that sick. Today, we ventured out to Costco and picked up a movie for next weekend. Guess what is was? Phineas and Ferb The Movie. I’m expecting some great laughs on family movie night- and hoping for no more sick days.