I experienced hotel quarantine in the UK in 2021. I was alone with my little girl and we had access to an outdoor courtyard area which was fully tarmac. The UK also allowed deliveries and I took advantage of this, getting two supermarket deliveries during our stay.
I should start by saying by far the most useful thing I had with me was a tablet filled with children’s TV, games and books. We watched a lot of TV. You have to, but hopefully this post will give you a few more ideas as well!
Top Tip!
Save everything the hotel gives you, or that you get delivered. Empty plastic bottles/ containers can be used for stacking or bowling. Plastic cutlery can be turned into home made catapults. Spare toiletries can be spread on the shower door or mirrors doors for sensory play. Empty food boxes, and toilet roll tubes can be turned into rockets and other items. Colour them in and use a bit of glue or tape. Food packaging can also be really great for little car tunnels, ramps or carparks and buildings, let you imagination – or your kids at least – lead you!
Small items I took from home
- Scissors
- Sellotape
- A few rubber bands
- A few popsicle sticks
- Cheap ball of wool
- Glue stick
- Balloons
- Water Colour paints + brush
- Colouring supplies
- Water beads
- A few q-tips
- Face Paints
- A few pegs
- Small Plastic Easter Eggs
- A mini tub of play dough
- cheap measuring spoons for sensory play
- Dice (I sourced some large foam dice)
- Post It/Sticky notes
Larger items I took from home
- Paper – A3 can be good as it can be taped together to do large paintings/drawings
- Two new action toys
- Two new mini legos (if you can’t afford new hide away some items you already have for 1 month before travelling)
- A pool noodle (this can be used as a bed bumper and will fold into a large suitcase)
- Mini tennis rackets and foam ball from the £1 store
- A few small books
- Essential snacks
Tarmac Play (if you have outdoor access)
- Chalk
- Skipping Road
- Ball
- Bubbles
- Frisbee (I went with a foam one since preschoolers aren’t known for their good aim)
- I also took a superhero cape, that got used a lot!
Items I ordered from the supermarket on arrival
- More Chalk
- Skipping rope
- Shaving foam
- Bubbles
- Wine!!
- More snacks…..
- Jelly cubes for sensory play (if you have a kettle and fridge)
- Kids national geographic magazine
- Cheap food colouring
- Many supermarkets will also have a selection of toys
Activities/games
What to do with all this stuff!
- Bouncing on the bed to music
- Ballet/Yoga on YouTube
- The Floor is Lava and other action songs
- Make a fort, can you use a suitcase or blanket (maybe use the pegs)?
- Can your suitcase become a boat/house/bed for other action games
- Volleyball with a ball or balloon
- Set some small plastic toys in jelly for sensory play
- Room on the Broom, act out the story using the pool noodle, or just pretend. Use toys/teddies to play the part of the animals. If you don’t know the story you will find it on YouTube.
- Draw out a snakes and ladders game on paper, add actions to each square – e.g hop 5 times, gallop like a horse, etc
- Create a ninja course or spider web using the wool tied to points around the room
- Plastic bottle/tub bowling/stacking
- Water beads can become a cooking/potion game or sort them by colour or pre-soak and set them in the jelly
- Shaving foam on the shower door, write in it with a q-tip, or just make a mess
- The rain experiment – a clear container of water with shaving foam on top. Add the food colouring in drops until the shaving foam cloud is so full that it ‘rains’. We then poured the mixture into a bigger container and added some of the water beads we’d played with a few days earlier
- Play with and dilute or mix food colouring to see what happens
- Paint a huge hungry caterpillar, cut him out a mouth and feed him!
- Post It/Sticky notes with letters/numbers can be hidden round the room. Match them to the same symbol stuck to the wall. Great for spelling out names or practicing number sequencing
- An egg hunt with the plastic eggs, add saved bottle tops or sticky notes with letter/number written on inside
- Home made catapults with plastic cutlery and popsicle sticks
- Demonstrate static electricity using balloons. Empty any unused salt and pepper sachets onto a plate, rub a balloon and dip into the plate. My daughter also loved washing the pepper off the balloon in the bathroom sink.
- Body Parts – I came across this Twinkle resource last year and printed and laminated the sheets, so I took them with me in the suitcase. I trace round my daughter (again having taped a few A3 sheets together) and we lay the parts in the correct place. We then moved on to laying the parts on her which she loves. https://www.twinkl.co.uk/resource/t2-s-055-human-body-organs-display-posters
- Also check out this amazing website for her ideas: https://fiveminutemum.com/
Summary
Mostly I should say good luck. You motivation will likely peak and wane, be prepared to find moments hard, but be prepared with ideas, you got this!
SCOT Exploring 