Mum makes scenes from lego to teach children about social distancing
Many parents will agree that teaching their children about social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic has been a tricky one.
Children, who are naturally used to playing together and hugging their friends and families are now being asked to keep two metres away from each other while out and about and at school.
One mum found a unique way to teach her two children about social distancing because of COVID-19 and it involves lego.
Cat Cook, 42, started by re-creating film scenes with lego during their period in lockdown.
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Since the easing of lockdown restrictions in the UK, Cook has been teaching her seven-year-old son and four-year-old daughter the importance of social distancing.
This is even more important for her son, who has suffered from severe respiratory problems in the past.
“They’ve been living a very sheltered life in our safe little bubble these past few months, without a care in the world,” Cook shared with the PA news agency.
“But if and when we start going out again, it’s important that they understand the importance of social distancing as my son is high risk.”
Cook created a range of lego set-ups to showcase how social distancing will work now that restrictions are easing. One showed two people sitting in different benches, another used pencils to highlight how close we’re allowed to get to one another.
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“Each picture we created was inspired by my discussions with the children about social distancing and things they’d experienced or seen on the TV, like the spaced-out queues outside supermarkets,
“Creating these pictures together and talking it through in a gentle way has definitely helped to give them a better understanding of what the world outside is like nowadays to start to prepare them for what the new norm looks like, for now at least,” she explained.
They family decided to take extra precautions due to their son’s medical history and went into lockdown one week before it was officially announced on 23 March.
“My husband’s job enables him to work remotely from home and I’m a stay-at-home mum at the moment, so we’ve been able to completely isolate in our little bubble.
“Before the lockdown, I was terrified of the virus because of my son’s medical history and was just incredibly relieved to be able to have my husband and kids safe at home with me.”
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The lego social distancing photos have received a lot of attention online, particularly the poignant image of the boy in the jar, which some people described as “heartbreaking” but Cook admitted she didn’t see it that way.
“This scene was actually inspired by real-life events when the kids’ grandparents popped over to collect some groceries we’d ordered for them.
“We left the groceries out on the doorstep for them and were then able to talk and wave at them through the closed windows. This was a really memorable moment for the children as they were just happy to be able to see their grandparents after weeks in lockdown, albeit through a pane of glass.
“It was the first example they thought of when we started talking about social distancing.”
