10 Great ways to keep kids busy
| Date | 10 January 2021 |
| Published date | 10 January 2021 |
| Publication title | Sunday Sun |
This time around, however, venues are all geared up on how to best deliver online activities after the months of pandemic closures that have forced them to find inventive ways to connect with their usual visitors.
Here are just some of the ideas out there to fill a few hours of lockdown leisure time for families from this weekend onwards.
Keep fit the fun way With its services closed because of the lockdown, sports and leisure company Fusion Lifestyle is offering people virtual ways to boost their health and wellbeing.
It is running Fusion at Home - a timetable of live classes - on its You- Tube channel that are open to all.
There are Family Funtime sessions for early risers on Sundays, with a half-hour Kids Dance class set to start at 9am, with Kids Yoga at 9.45am.
Escape to fairyland Seven Stories, the national centre for children's books, in Newcastle, is inviting families to escape lockdown through online interactive sessions that will take them on a flight of fancy.
Coming up on its virtual programme is live creative writing workshop Fairytale Factory, at 11am on January 16, which is aimed at seven to 11-year-olds.
In the company of two writers - Stephanie and Lauren from the children's literature unit at Newcastle University - those who sign up to the Zoom workshop will be encouraged to forget what they know about wellknown fairytales and create new stories inspired by them.
The pair will examine such ideas as what Cinderella might use a smartphone for; how the Princess and the Pea could sound as a poem and what might happen if Snow White were to actually meet the Big Bad Wolf. They will help families create characters, structure storylines and then put pen to paper, with plenty of opportunities to chat, ask questions and share creations as part of the workshop.
The cost is £10 per household and those interested will have to download the Zoom app and create an account first.
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