Nurturing budding film buffs
My children have both been really creative. My eldest (13) made a bookshelf, submitted a film to a festival and wrote a film script. He also cooked a number of meals. Our youngest (11) has made earrings for grandmas, a couple of animation films, cooked meals and biscuits and cakes. They have both been doing fitness exercises between learning and walk/runs. They have been thriving at home. The youngest misses his friends. The oldest loves his extra time to do his projects and not have as much interaction with peers. – raddemocrat
Privatising public transport
Our four-year-old, Pat, loves Melbourne’s train and Myki [ticketing] system. We’d usually go on regular train trips but we haven’t been lately.
Pat is missing the trains and he asked us to help him make a Myki and touch on/off machines.
The next thing he wants to make is ticket barriers. Fun! – Susannah
With cardboard comes creativity
I made a cubby house for our two daughters from the box our first dishwasher came in. It lasted longer than the dishwasher. – alanmarg
I made my son a huge spaceship out of cardboard boxes. He loved the thing to pieces – literally. We put it out on hard rubbish night but it was gone within an hour. That is recycling! – robinatcrafters
My son asked me to host a crafternoon for my two granddaughters on Skype. They’re not at school yet and they’re 11,000 miles away anyway. Huge fun – made a rocket out of a cardboard tube and baking foil. And coloured in some planets after. I was frankly amazed at the older one’s (nearly five) grasp of the solar system. – arigatogozaimasu
Going rogue with crumpets and dragons
My 10-year-old son, Ewan, wrote a story for English and we decided to go rogue with lessons and build a “dragon habitat” for dragon eggs based on his story. His teacher was chuffed that he’d run with the idea. Took all afternoon!
As a family we’ve been writing stories on butcher’s paper where we conceal our contributions from each other. One of us comes up with a title, we write as much or as little as we like, and fold the paper revealing only the last line for the next writer.
Movie-making has been pretty popular around here with both my kids, Nate (13) and Ewan, who spend hours setting up shots and sourcing soundtracks for short films. Our dog, Millie, has enjoyed a few cameos, while I’ve only managed to take on wardrobe/catering/set cleanup. It’s been glamorous.
It’s been a pretty precious time. I’ll miss the kids when they go back to school next week. - Amy McDonald
It’s not always fun and games
I’m currently just trying to get through the day; tag-teaming childcare and team meetings with the husband, making sure everyone has washed in the last week and making ALL the food. They never seem to stop eating. In between work deadlines, homeschooling and cleaning I’m not coming up with anything to keep them entertained. I’m too busy trying to stay sane. – ForfrocksakesGibbons
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