Quarantine Fun - Children’s Mental & Physical Health Wellness

The global pandemic has been going on since the beginning of 2020 and has changed our “normal” routine in multiple ways. Most parents are working from home and children are attending virtual school. In order to limit public exposure to this virus, the world has flipped its normal routine. Now our main issues are not getting to work or school on time; or what the weather is for possible travels; but instead how parents will look after their kids 24/7. How will parents juggle their work, their family’s safety, household chores, and continuously look after their children all the time?

Not only are parents stressed about their never-ending responsibilities, but young ones themselves are frustrated about their situation. They aren’t able to express themselves to anyone since their parents are busy with their work and children aren’t in contact with their friends. Online school learning does continue a school routine, however, students don’t get to interact with their peers in the same way that they would in school. With this limitation in front of them, they have become socially inactive and quiet. This could cause children to become introverts, inattentive, and uncommunicative. Currently, they try to find something innovative to work with, but they don’t have a platform or alternative ways to communicate with their friends and stay in touch.

To address this concern Pari Agarwal, a junior at John P. Stevens High School, initiated a Girl Scout project that is providing much-needed attention to kids. The project Quarantine Fun addresses the issues of children’s mental and physical wellness. This program is focused on elementary school students and creates a virtual environment that gradually introduces them to interact with peers and creatively use their time. Kids will not only participate in activities that will develop their personalities but also make educational discoveries and learn to explore!

Quarantine Fun conducts weekly sessions to release the stress and loneliness with fun activities including dance, arts and crafts, science experiments, educational and holiday based sessions, games, storytelling, jokes, COVID awareness, as well as no-heat cooking. The most popular events include the costume party, in which children virtually celebrated Halloween, and Zumba, where they got to physically dance their hearts out. On game days there are scavenger hunts that allow the kids to get up and move, trivia games, puzzles, riddles, and more. Children also develop their character through events such as talent shows, another popular option. They can perform their special skills which can include singing, dancing, telling jokes, solving puzzles, etc. A no-heat cooking event is a thrilling event for kids in which they creatively make something out of given ingredients. The week before Halloween, children learned how to make a witches broomstick with cheese and breadsticks. They also learned how to make monster teeth using apples, Nutella, and marshmallows. There are also monthly Coronavirus sessions that inform children about this pandemic, ways to prevent it, and the current status of this virus in the United States. Children can participate in all of these virtual sessions with materials that are around the house, so there is no need to step out to gather supplies.

All sessions are virtual, conducted on Zoom every Sunday between 2:30 PM to 3:30 PM ET/11:30 AM to 12:30 PM PST. The response has been amazing and very much appreciated by the parents. They comment that their child has opened up to them once again and started becoming more interactive. Parents also commend Quarantine Fun and how it always shows how to creatively use time. All communication happens through the WhatsApp group which has grown from 5 members to 100+ now. It’s easy to join the group, by texting @ +1-732-491-1348. Please visit https://quarantinefunonline.wixsite.com/homepage for more information.