Coronavirus: What you can do

I am sure every child has realised that there is a mystery illness that’s going around called Coronavirus. As children what you need to know is you can play an active part in defeating this virus.
How? – Well your weapon to defeat this invisible arch villain is Hygiene… Your super power is Hygiene.


What you need to do are primarily 3 things:

Wash your hands –

The most important thing you need to do not only during this period but at all times is to practice good hygiene by washing your hands thoroughly before & after your meals, after using the washroom, after playing with your toys & some of you might have hobbies like cooking so learn to keep your hands clean with a good wash with soap for a minimum of 20 seconds. Remember the hand wash should be thorough including cleaning your palms, nails, back of your hands between the fingers and your wrists.. this is the first step to defeat the virus and many others infections.

Cover your mouth when you sneeze or cough –

When you cough & sneeze it helps germs to spread and settle onto surfaces around you. As a superhero to prevent germs from spreading cover your cough & sneeze with a tissue or cough or sneeze into your elbow. Discard the tissue in the garbage bin & wash your hands thoroughly. This helps to prevent germs from spreading.

Support your elders –

Other than the above there is one more very important thing to do during this time and that is to be supportive of your parents or elders.  If you have been advised to stay at home, do so & help in whatever way your elders ask you to. Be it your studies, helping by doing chores assigned to you or reading to your sibling or any other support asked of you. If you miss your friends, relatives or grandparents make it a point to make calls to stay in touch, with the permission of your parents.
As you do all of the above remember a superhero needs to always be strong & healthy so you need to also ensure you exercise which can be simply in the form of walks inside your home. You also need to have a nutritious diet so ask your parents for advice on how you can exercise & what food is good to boost your immunity.


Activities for Children:

 
1. Learn a new language Duolingo –  www.duolingo.com

 

2. Audible, which has the world’s largest collection of audio books, is offering free stories — in six different languages —  for kids as long as schools are closed – https://stories.audible.com/start-listen

 

3. Chrome Music Lab lets kids learn music through a hands-on website – musiclab.chromeexperiments.com

 

4. Pictoword is a famous game that gives pictures to the player for them to make a word out of it. The game works in a more fill-in-the-blanks where the user has to select from a choice of letters to come up with a word – https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kooapps.pictowordandroid&hl=en_IN

 

5. Learn to make a stop motion animation video, it’s fun and encourages the creative juices to flow. https://tinkerlab.com/easy-stop-motion-animation-kids/

 

6. Make a family Tree. This is a fun activity where the child could also learn about extended family and can connect to relatives on audio or video calls.