Looking for fun ways to keep your children occupied indoors during this crisis? Check out our list of engaging and entertaining Easter activities for children, to keep their creativity flowing.
Do-It-Yourself Easter decorations
Utilise everything from pipe cleaners, coloured card, pom-poms and tissue paper to create some colourful decorations. Ideas include: Papier-mâché Easter Baskets, Bunny Bookmarks or Bunny Bunting, an Easter Egg Gardland and more.
Cook Up Some Easter Treats
Add an Easter twist to your breakfast with Chocolatey-Cereal Nests or Mini Egg Muffins. Have a biscuit bonanza with Chick or Easter Egg-shaped biscuit treats.
Follow Lakeland’s blog for great recipes, top tips and lots of Easter baking inspiration.
Easter Games
Get the whole family involved in an Easter Egg hunt around the house and think of some creative hiding spots. You can place them on leaves, in cupboards or under the bed…. but remember – you’ll still find those little eggs months after, cropping up in places you forgot you had put them! Many supermarkets have smaller eggs available that are perfect for hunting! But, if you don’t have eggs, then opt instead for a hidden post-it note clues with some home made treats for the winner.
Remember to join Merton Council’s massive Merton Easter Egg Hunt, by helping to create a trail of colourful eggs in the windows of homes across the borough. Show off your designs by posting on social media with the following hashtags – #MertonTogether #EggsInWindows, and tag in @Merton_Council so they can share your creations!
Hold Your Own Storytime
Encourage reading by holding your very own storytime! Or prefer to leave it in the hands of the professionals? Then visit Polka Theatre or Gymboree (virtually) for virtual storytimes, downloadable activity packs, play-and-learn classes and lots more!
Feeling safe is essential in the effective management of anxiety. The current, everchanging global health situation can therefore contribute to increasing anxiety symptoms in all of the family. The teen years in particular, need special focus since adolescence can be a time when emotions are experienced intensely.
Explain the nature of anxiety to your teen. Anxiety is an essential emotion we all feel in response to threat. It will bring about a response which affects all parts of our body, our thinking and our behaviour. When anxiety is managed it can be helpful – allowing us to harness it’s protective nature to spur us into positive health management.
Help them to develop positive self-care behaviours to maintain health and hygiene. This will build their confidence in their ability to protect themselves and learn to take responsible action.
Help them to challenge negative thoughts that may make them overestimate dangers, leading to difficulties such as over thinking and over worrying. This means providing them with facts to minimise fear. Make sure these facts are from a trusted, scientific source.
Help them regulate the amount of information they have access to through the news, social media and online. Misinformation spreads fast and an ‘infodemic’ is as unhealthy to the mind as a pandemic may be to a nation.
Practicing social distancing does not come easily to teenagers. Risking becoming what may be perceived as an ‘outcast’ is probably one of the biggest punishments a teen may feel. Provide a benefit to social distancing such as, for example, being able to do a task they highly value. This will provide an incentive to follow through with distancing rather than make it a punishment to try and avoid.
Social media can provide a safe alternative to keeping up with friends, despite it not always helping a young person’s mental health. Help your child or young person to place boundaries on their use and keep communication open as to what discussions might be happening on line.
Shift the focus to helping others. Providing social support not only increases empathy and helps avoid negative or stereotypic attributions but also helps build confidence in their ability to face difficulties.
Challenge compulsive behaviour. Constant checking, contrary to belief, does not help reduce anxiety, instead it fans it. Suggest they scale back on checking phones and the internet for information updates since they can become digital intrusions. Suggest instead that they limit screen time, trusting the adults in their lives to share significant information instead.
Encourage searching for positive bits of news and provide feedback on what’s going right rather than fixating on what may be wrong. Enhance the development of a balanced perspective.
A frightened captain will make a frightened crew so anxious adults should take steps to manage their own tense thoughts and behaviours and counterbalance negative ideas and actions with positive, uplifting ones.
https://lovewimbledon.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Stem4-tips-for-parents-2.jpg400600/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/LW-RGB-Web-1-300x212.gif2020-04-07 14:17:212020-04-07 14:25:42Tips To Manage Your Teenagers Mental Health
Given the current circumstances surrounding Covid-19, we would like to shine a light on some positive news and stories in these times.
Businesses Transform
Many Wimbledon businesses have shown their resilience by developing rapid and unique ways to adapt their services/products, e.g. offering delivery of their products, shifting their services to online platforms and providing contact-free takeaway of items.
You can take part in The Alexandra’s pub quiz, test your limits in Fitness Space’s various workout classes, or cook up a tasty treat with a live daily cooking demonstration from Carole’s Creperie – all virtually and from the comfort of your own home. Find out more here.
Another bright example of this comes from Leon Wimbledon who have transformed their restaurant into a mini-supermarket, stocking basic essentials such as freshly baked bread, rice, teabags and toilet paper (it’s true!).
At a time where all businesses are struggling, please try your best to support these changes and keep our local business community alive.
Showing The Community Some Support
Let’s not forget the amazing community spirit being shown by local businesses and organisations. Many have given to the vulnerable, less-mobile, key workers and more, of which we should all be proud.
Centre Court Shopping Centre have launched ‘The Little Community That Could‘ campaign, offering food parcels every morning to those that are most in need, thanks to volunteers from the Centre, The Dons Local Action Group, Elys and other local businesses, as well as produce provided by Solstice Food. Centre Court Shopping Centre have also donated items to Ricard’s Lodge High School for NHS staff at St George’s Trust.
Elys have also launched an initiative to deliver sweet Easter treats to hospitals, schools, key workers, and those in the local community who really need and deserve it right now.
The Dons Local Action Group, formed of fans of AFC Wimbledon, have set up daily collection points of food and essential items outside Wimbledon Morrisons, to deliver to those in need in the local community. As well as this, they are volunteering to help walk people’s dogs, pick up medication, and are offering their time to help in any other ways.
Most local supermarkets including Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Marks & Spencers, Waitrose and more, have also gone the extra mile to donate items to the community, whilst also dealing with the increase in demand in their stores.
Please show your support to these businesses and your local community. Even if this is virtual – a like, share, repost or a donation, are all ways that you can help spread this positive news.
Wimbledon-based Corporates Pitch In
Domestic & General have partnered with Salute the NHS, a group of leading businesses including Tesco, Yodel, Absolute Taste, Leeways and British Army, Team Rubicon UK, to serve 1 million nutritious meals to key frontline NHS workers over the next three months.
Coty Inc have announced that they have started producing hydro-alcoholic gel, which is used as hand sanitizer, to help combat the COVID-19 virus. Production and donations are expected to reach tens of thousands of units per week. The products are free of charge and are being distributed to medical and emergency services staff who are facing shortages due to the fast-spreading COVID-19 virus. Products will also be provided to Coty employees working in the plants producing sanitizers, as well as pharmacy staff at some retail customers.
A Big Thank You
Lastly, as we all continue to adjust to these unprecedented times, we must to show our appreciation to the front line staff who continue to provide us with essential services. From those risking their lives through their daily work for the NHS, to the pharmacists providing medicine to help us stay well, the staff stacking shelves in our supermarkets or cleaning essential premises, and those working in banks/post offices to keep services running – a big thank you from us all.
Please show your respect to these staff and thank them for the work they are doing.
Remember if you do visit your local town centre, keep your distance (2 metres) and adhere to the one-in-one-out policy, where possible.
Together we can make it through these difficult times and look forward to a brighter, better Wimbledon.
#LondonTogether
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