10 Socially Distant “Playdate” Ideas for Young Kids
By: Jennifer Butterfoss
Tags: Motherhood, Play, Coronavirus, Children, Parenting Advice

10 Socially Distant “Playdate” Ideas for Young Kids

Credit: Odua Images

If you are the parent of tiny little social butterflies like I am, then shelter-in-place orders and a ban on play dates in general have been incredibly rough on your children. As human beings, we are just social creatures plain and simple. Keeping a young person away from friends has been tortuous. And as much as video conferencing systems like Zoom! and FaceTime are stepping in to help fill some of our social contact voids, my own two young children have had a hard time engaging with these platforms in a way that’s developmentally meaningful and fulfilling for them.

Below are 10 ideas to try with your kids to make the most of these crazy new circumstances, bring a little magic and silliness to the doom and gloom and connect with the other important little people in their lives.

Window or Facebook Show and Tell

Got some little neighbors in your area? Got some cool toys at home? Have your child pick their favorite toy, or at least one that they can say a few things about and walk them over to the window of another little friend. Have the friend stay indoors but bring their own toy to the window to share as well. Have a little chat about the toys and what’s cool about them. Help your child ask some questions. Maybe the two toys can “talk” through the windows too! Show and Tell has worked great on our Preschool Facebook page as well. We are just uploading videos of our kids talking to the camera about their favorite toy. Encourage parents to type their own kid’s questions or comments about each other’s show and tell in the comments part.

Marco Polo “Once Upon a Time”

It’s like a “video walkie talkie” for kids!

Download the app Marco Polo on your phone and invite some parents of your child’s friends to join. It allows your child to send a recorded message to their friend and they can watch it on their own time and respond. It’s a lovely, easy and intuitive interface for young kids and helps with a real back and forth “conversation.” To play “Once upon time…” simply start a story on Marco Polo with “Once upon a time there was a….” Continue the story a bit and then cut off for the other person to continue. The other person then continues the story a bit and sends it back to you. On and on it goes, back and forth.

Arts and Craft Gallery

Is your shelter-in-place inspiring lots of art projects? Hang them in the window for all to see. Encourage your neighbors to do the same. Then you can go on “gallery walks” of one another’s homes and get ideas for your next project!

These were the first great works of art we spotted from some of our little neighbor friends!

“A My Name Is”

I found Zoom! to be a challenging way for my kids to keep in touch with their cousins until we introduced them to the game “A My Name is….” Decide who is going 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc. (maybe youngest to oldest) and the first person starts with the letter A. They say “A my name is _____. My partner’s name is _______. We live in ________. And we like ________.” All their answers have to start with the letter A. Its a great way to exercise the brain and also review some of the 50 states or other important cities or places you’ve visited and talking about the letters of the alphabet. Playing as a family over dinner helps keep restless bodies seated while eating and also helps them “practice” for their next Zoom! playdate.

Quarantine Sing Along

There’s a Facebook Page called Quarantine Sing Along that has captured the attention of song enthusiasts around the world. Inspired by some footage of Italians showing people singing from their balconies together, every day there’s a poll to determine the next group song for the same evening:

Each day there’s a poll and the song is chosen by 3PM PST. Sing-a-long starts at 7:01PM.

People are hanging from their windows, stepping out onto their doorstep and literally singing from their rooftops at the same time each evening. Some folks are even doing a FaceTime live for their own friends and families to tune into. The song is decided by 3PM PST giving you plenty of time to find a YouTube video with the lyrics. It starts each evening at exactly 7:01PM.

Doorstep Fairies

Our little crew of neighborhood kids started a regular back and forth of leaving little “presents” on one another’s doorsteps. We wipe everything down with Clorox wipes first and use tissues to carry them to the doors. We also wipe down everything we receive before bringing into the house too. So far our own two kids have received little Easter eggs with toys, a gingerbread house and fresh flowers. We dropped off gummy snacks and little jars filled with strips of paper that have ideas for fun silly activities to do as a family, called “Joy Jars.”

Window Pane Block Party

Start a “Window Pane Block Party” and actually get to know the names of your neighbors!

Have you always wanted to throw a block party? You know, the kind you see in the movies or that everyone else seems to have going on but you? Now you can! Simply come up with a question your child wants to know about the rest of the neighbors on your block and post it in your window. Encourage neighbors to play along and post their answers. You can even give points and keep score on your window and promise a fun prize once COVID-19 is over to the house that answers the most questions.

Christmas Lights

There’s a movement to put Christmas lights up again this time of year to make your evening walks magical. Why not? Nothing fills the air with more magic and hope than beautiful sets of lights.

Costumed Essential Errands

Need to bring out the trash, pick up some more milk or grab your medications? Why not wear a costume? Brighten up another kids’ day and have them wave and say hi from a distance. Bonus if your costume includes a mask. We were thinking of being Spiderman. Inspiration came from this video in Italy.

Image credit: Twitter

Neighborhood Scavenger Hunts

We’re going on a bear hunt. We’re gonna catch a big one. What a beautiful day!

San Francisco went under stricter “shelter in place” orders right around Saint Patrick’s Day so different neighborhood groups organized “shamrock hunts” for the kids. Neighbors were called to tape green shamrocks in their windows for kids to “find.” Now there are calls to do flowers, teddy bears etc. Let your imagination run wild and start emailing your neighborhood groups.

The entire world is coming up with all kinds of creative ways for human beings to connect while not actually being able to physically connect. Brightening up a child’s day by getting silly in the windows or over virtual platforms will brighten your day up as well. Who knows? Maybe coronavirus will leave your child with some lifelong neighborhood friends who bonded over fairy presents and scavenger hunts that he might not have made before this pandemic erupted.