Newton Upper Falls neighbors and kids are having fun while staying safe by having a scavenger hunt where kids find objects but don’t touch them. The neighbors are hanging things from trees, “hiding” them among bushes , making silly things to put in their yards. There are pictures in the Tab but I couldn’t find the story on-line. Some items include a stuffed Bambi, a star shaped piñata, a large shield of the Greek Goddess Athena, dangling Mardi Gras beads, a G.I. Joe doll leaning out of a bird feeder, tennis balls nestled in branches and a bear holding an American flag.
“Summer Zeh who started the simple, safe and fun game and maintains a google list of the objects and their locations that residents can access through the Lower Falls list serv says:”
Even though we are staying physically apart, this activity keeps us connected. This helps ground kids in an uncertain time.
Of course families with younger kids are having an easier time finding fun things to do than families who are dealing with adolescents stuck at home without their friends, which grows exponentially by the number stuck together,
Please share what you and your family are doing to stay sane while staying safe and staying home.
The BPL is having CREATIVE KIDS CHALLENGES like this one:
CREATIVE KIDS CHALLENGE #2: Build Your Own Blanket Fort–We’ll feature them on Facebook!
Kids, grab some old blankets (or pillows or sheets or towels) and build your own blanket fort! How wide can you make it? How tall? How stable? Can you add signs or decorations?
Caregivers, take a few photos and e-mail them to Children’s Librarian Rebecca Fox ([email protected]). We’ll feature the forts on this Facebook page. It’s a great way to keep your kids actively connected to the library community at this unusual time.
https://www.facebook.com/BPLchildren/posts/2840517632663627
Well, I’ll start. I have been inside, except for walks, since we were first told that people my age or otherwise immunocompromised, should stay inside. That’s a long time.
I have been talking with friends and family trying to stay connected.
I have watched documentaries I had always wanted to see plus some new ones – like the crazy, off kilter Tiger King about people who buy tigers and other exotic animals on the black market and use them for profit. It’s also a story about a woman’s murder and as each episode unfolds some new thing is exposed about this cultish existence.
Mostly I have been reading. Luckily I have always loved to read – most everything. I have read some great books about what how people, young and old, both survived and helped others during World War 11.
Just about all of Ken Follet’s books – all of the ones in the Cathedral Series from around the 1500’s to close to the present, which is fascinating, well researched, historical fiction.
I have Stephen King, Tim Tigner, William Kent Kruger, Matthew Fitzgibbons, Kristin Hannah, A. G. Riddle, Harlan Coben, Robert Dugoni, William Goldman, Alice Hoffman’s witch series, Anne Tyler, Judith Picot, Malcolm Gladwell, Tana French and a bunch of others mixed in – all covered.
My son is a busy microbiology Medical Lab Tech. I worry about him everyday.
When he’s off he’s sleeping, reading about updates on COVID 19, watching the news, watching Tic Toc for laughs, watching shows that are streaming remotely, watching documentaries with me or FaceTiming friends and family.
My daughter is continuing to work remotely from CT for AMerican Cancer Society national in Atlanta and looking for ways to cut 15% of non employee expenses, along with brainstorming about ways to keep workers, volunteers and patients taken care of.
She is home with her husband and 3 teen boys.
My SIL, great guy that he is, is having a really hard time staying at home and trying to work in absolute chaos. Which is the description all of them are using now for being stuck home together. Two working parents, 2 6’ tall teens and one 13 year old can be a drag on any family.
Sometimes it works well and sometimes it doesn’t – particularly after the date was reached for school to be closed and extended for another month.
The senior in high school is trying to finish his schoolwork, playing whatever computer game is popular now with his friends and complaining about not being able to see his girlfriend . The college he is attending couldn’t hold the acceptance tour so for now virtual touring is all he has seen.
After both families were in for two weeks, he found back up from reliable sources that he presented to his parents saying that now the chances were slim to none that he and his girlfriend were either carriers or had the virus so they should be able to see each other outside. So they saw each other for one afternoon.
The freshman needs to be moving so he has been outside either bike riding or skateboarding around the neighborhood every day. He’s missing his friends and says that FaceTiming or whatever they’re using sucks. Unfortunately some of his friends are getting together somewhere outside and while he understands that he can’t go, he’s miserable – his school play had to be cancelled too so there’s that. He has taken up playing X-Box even though he isn’t into video games because he can play with his friends.
That leaves us with the 13 yo who has been the one playing X-Box so now they are fighting. My daughter couldn’t take it anymore so she bought the 15 yo an X-Box to use in his room. He actually loves school and enjoys his school on line and is keeping up with his work. He had his birthday yesterday and we sang happy birthday remotely – it wasn’t the same but he was ok with it. He’s also been FaceTiming with friends and going outside.
Chime in with how you’re spending your time coupled up at home.