10 Creative Ways To Stay Connected With Family Virtually
Families aren't able to always spend time together in the same location. Some family members live in the same home or on the same street, and others live in far-removed states or even countries. For some families, staying socially distant during certain times is the safest option. No matter the reason for being apart from your family, your little ones can still stay connected through creative virtual activities.
Kinoo understands how vital it is for kids to stay connected with their families. Kinoo was developed by experts in technology, education, and child development to provide a tool for little ones to build meaningful and lasting bonds with the adult loved ones in their lives. Not only does Kinoo offer a video chat solution, but there are also tons of interactive activities for kids and adults to enjoy.
Here are ten fun ways kids can stay connected with their family over Kinoo. These activities and games will help keep your little one engaged in the virtual call and help build family bonds that last a lifetime.
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Celebrate Birthdays and Holidays
Distance shouldn’t mean you miss out on life’s celebrations. Whether your kiddo has a birthday coming up or it's time to come together for a holiday, set up a call to celebrate.
Spending time celebrating as a family is a fantastic way to build strong connections and share family traditions and stories. Most kids love their birthdays, and when the grown-ups in their life take time to celebrate them, they’ll feel extra special.
Along with an adult family member, your young one can create an epic birthday party with the Birthday activity on Kinoo. Together, they can take turns placing interactive stickers on the screen to design the perfect party. When they're finished with the party planning, they can head over to Cake Decorator, where they can decorate a showstopper birthday cake.
Nothing makes holidays more special than spending time with the ones you love. We know how difficult it can be to get everyone together, especially over the last few years. With Kinoo, you can plan an awesome holiday-themed party. Play games, sing songs, and decorate your side of the screen to make the holiday party come alive.
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Paint Together
Spending time painting and drawing together can have more outcomes than a beautiful picture — although that’s a pretty great outcome too. Art can help kids express emotions, experiment with cause and effect, explore creativity, and communicate different ideas.
To enhance your connection with your little artist, create a conversation around the art you're making together. Ask questions, make descriptive, positive comments about the end creation, and engage in the creative process.
With the Painting activity in Activity Explorer, you can create art together no matter how far apart you are. Start with a blank page or use one of our templates to get those creative juices flowing. You can even try learning how to draw something new together with our how to draw tutorials.
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Enjoy Game Night (or Afternoon)
Everyone loves a game night, but with little kiddos, you may need to move the games to the afternoon. Playing games with kids is an awesome way to help them stay engaged over a video call. Without entertainment, it’s easy for kids to become distracted as that suspicious mud puddle outdoors beckons.
There are many classic games in the Activity Explorer on Kinoo. Growing gamers can challenge a family member to a game of Memory. As they flip the cards over and find matches, they hear interactive sounds. With three different difficulty levels, this is a perfect game for any age.
Callers can also play Four in a Row. As both players take turns dropping red or yellow game pieces down the board, the goal is to make a line of four in a row of your color. Don't forget to be strategic and block the other player from completing their four.
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Go Fishing
Who says you can’t go on a family-friendly fishing adventure from the comfort of your own home? Fishing Fun brings the joy of fishing families all over the world. With the Kinoo Connect app, your little buddy can feel like they're really reeling in a fish.
While fishing, your kiddo may reel in yucky trash as well. This is a fantastic time for the grown-up to share how important it is to take care of our planet. Fostering a love for nature is one way to help kids gain a feeling of responsibility to Earth.
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Throw a Pizza Party
Sharing a meal together in person has been a way for families to connect with each other for a very long time. Enjoying a meal as a family can boost both physical and emotional health.
Family meals are a time to come together and create memories over food. You can share stories from your day, practice social skills, and learn about the importance of feeding your body. It’s also a time for families to check in on each other.
If you live far from your family, you can still enjoy these benefits virtually. Kinoo Pizza Party is an awesome way to connect through food. Your little chef and a loved one can create the most craveable (or bizarre) pizza together. Take your pizza party one step further by planning to eat homemade or delivered pizza during the video call!
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Travel to the Moon
One magical benefit of connecting virtually with family is you can travel to places you’ve only dreamed of going, like to the moon. Your mini space explorer can jump in a spacesuit and take a rocket through outer space with their favorite co-pilot: you!
On the way to the moon, keep your eyes out. You may see some silly things flying past your window!
Once you land on the moon, have fun selecting silly moves for your avatar. While you're dancing on the moon, the grown-up can foster a loving connection with the little one by asking meaningful questions. Ask specific questions about their day — what did you learn, what was the best part, and did you do something nice today?
You can also ask questions about activities you're doing, like rocketing to the moon. Does your dreamer look up at the stars at night? What would aliens look like if they came to Earth?
Adult family members can share memories of the Apollo 11 moon landing or when the rovers landed on Mars. Part of building that connection is also allowing the child to get to know the adult; even with generational gaps, relationships still need to function as (mostly) two-way streets.
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Solve Puzzles
Jigsaw puzzles have an amazing way of bringing all ages together. They can be a relaxing way for families to spend time together talking and getting to know one another. Puzzles are also an entertaining way to help kids develop spatial skills, which are essential for STEM-related learning.
On Kinoo, your little puzzle solver can enjoy puzzles with their grown-up family with Jigsaw Puzzle in the Activity Explorer. Before you start, select the appropriate difficulty level for the youngest player. We don’t want beginners feeling discouraged because the puzzle is too hard or bored because it's too easy. Once you solve the puzzle together, watch as your puzzle comes to life.
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Help With School Work
Is your tiny scholar practicing a certain skill or subject in school? Perhaps they're learning new letter sounds, practicing their sight words, or working on addition. One way to make learning even more fun is by involving treasured family members.
On your child's next Kinoo call with family, they can use this time to practice what they're learning in school. Pull up Painting in Activity Explorer. Here, they can get creative with art, or they can use the Painting activity to study with loved ones.
If your little learner is excited to work on school work with long-distance relatives, help out the learning by giving the adult a heads up on what your student is studying. You can share a vocabulary list, recommend letters that need to be reviewed, or share math skills that could use a boost.
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Act It Out With Charades
Does your family love to get up and get silly? Charades is a super enjoyable game that’s awesome for any age. Charades is a game that’s played by trying to have your partner guess your work by miming. The goal is not to talk or make sounds (you can let this rule go for the younger contestants).
In Activity Explorer, tap on Charades for our Kinoo version. Here, each player will take turns guessing and acting out the word. When it's your turn to act, your word will pop up on your screen. Don't worry: The other player won’t see your secret word.
Enjoy the giggles as both players try to act out the word. Make sure you have an area where you can both get up and move around; you may need some space to act out certain words.
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Have a Dance Party
While you have all that space open for your game of charades, turn on some tunes and have a dance party! Dance parties are a delightful way to help kids get up and active. Dancing can help kids express emotions, learn about different cultures, and improve balance and coordination.
Is your video call partner in need of some dancing inspiration? Before your dance party, play Monster Match. Children can help grown-ups match up with the sad monsters to help make these sweet beasts happy again. Once they're all matched, the monsters thank you with an epic dance party. You can try out some of these silly moves at your dance party too!
Connect With a Purpose
Enjoying quality family time doesn't always have to be in the same room. Your little one can gain amazing connections to their loved ones virtually, too. With creative activities that allow family members to be a part of your child’s active life, your child can feel connected to loved ones.
Kinoo was developed to connect families no matter how far apart they live. With our ever-growing app, your little ones can have engaging conversations with long-distance loved ones while they play and interact together.
Sources:
Painting with young children: There's more to the picture — Better Kid Care | Penn State Extension
Stand Up for Mother Earth! | Harvard Graduate School of Education
7 Tips for Raising Caring Kids — Making Caring Common | Harvard
Puzzle play helps boost learning of important math-related skills | University of Chicago
The Importance of Music and Movement | NIU - Child Development and Family Center