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| Help Your Child Beat the Blues When She's Sick |
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- Every child needs the basics when she's sick — a warm bed, medicine and Mom. But that's not all. She'll need something to do while her cold and sniffles get better. Use our mom's bedside activity guide to keep her occupied and happy until she's back on her feet.
Make a Bedside Entertainment Kit
In a lightweight bag, store crossword-puzzle and word-search books, stickers and sticker books, pencils, crayons, markers, coloring books, modeling clay, pipe cleaners — and any other things she can choose from to keep herself quietly busy. She can work with her modeling clay on a plastic tray to keep her bedding clean.
Make a Collage
Make use of those old magazines and create a fun collage. Have your child cut out pictures she likes, according to a theme or to tell a story, and have her glue them to construction paper. She can make one for herself and one for a friend, a grandparent or her teacher.
Write a Book
Children love stories, and often love to create their own. Using either a blank-paged journal or a stapled, homemade booklet, help her get her own story on paper. She'll get to be the author and the illustrator! Note: Don't limit her to just crayons or markers — she can also use stickers to tell her story.
Make Tissue Paper Flowers
Not much is cheerier than huge, brightly colored tissue paper flowers, and they're easy to make!
Here's what you'll need:
 | Colored tissue paper | |
| Chenille stems (or pipe cleaners) | |
| Scissors | |
| Ruler |
Here's what to do:
| Cut tissue paper into 5-by-7-inch sheets. | |
| Stack six or seven sheets of paper. | |
| Working from the 7-inch side, accordion-pleat the paper. | |
| Wrap chenille stem around center. | |
| Gently draw the "petals" of tissue paper forward to form a flower. |
Make several in her favorite colors, and she can use them to decorate her room.
Have Bathtime Fun
Adults sometimes forget the pleasure of playing in the bathtub. Just add bath bubbles and toys, and she'll have an hour of good, clean fun. And don't forget the bathtub crayons! She can create works of art and write messages on the tile, and simply rinse them away.
Don't Forget Her Schoolwork
She'll be much happier when she does return to school if she's kept up with her classroom assignments. You'll both be more likely to remember if you set aside a regular time each day for her to complete her homework, so she doesn't fall behind the class. Note: Check with her teacher to see if there are any projects she can do at home for extra credit, or reading she can do to get ahead. It may not seem fun at the time, but she'll thank you for it later!
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