Explaining coronavirus to my kids

[Kitten0puppy]

I have a 6 and 8 year old and found this video helpful to explain what’s been happening with the coronavirus outbreak

What have other people used to help explain what’s happening in a non-scary way??

I've talked about it in fairly simple terms with my 7yo, then tried to answer any questions she had. Managed to avoid the death bit.

Ie, there's a virus all over the world just now. People who are young and healthy don't usually get very ill from it - and children are hardly ill at all - but people who are older or already unwell can get very poorly. So we're all helping to keep each other safe by staying away from each other, and washing our hands lots. If we do that we can stop the virus spreading. Scientists are working really hard to find a vaccination but it takes time. Until they do, we all have to do our bit to keep everyone safe.

Mind you, it's led to some interesting questions... Felt just about equipped to answer how viruses work, and how they can spread from humans to animals (which she had heard at school).

However I completely failed to answer her question on how scientists go about finding a vaccination! Mainly because I don't actually know Any suggestions for books to explain more about medical science in an age appropriate way would be welcome!

A friend sent us this, which I thought was really good.

dotcomdigital.co.uk/child-friendly-explanation-of-the-coronavirus

(click on it to see the full pdf)

dotcomdigital.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Child-Friendly-Explanation-of-Coronavirus.pdf

Sorry, full link. I'm rubbish tonight!

DD is 4, so I've told her that because there is a thing called a virus which is making some people feel very poorly, Boris has told everyone including the queen that we've got to stay at home as much as we can.

She knows that we've got to wash our hands really well, and that we have to wait for a little while until Boris says we're allowed to go and play with our friends. He knows that its a bit boring, but it's what everyone (including the queen...) has to do.

Its sunk in...we weren't allowed in her bedroom until we'd used "The Special Stuff" (handcream), and apparently the virus is pink, and looks like a puffer fish.

That’s a fantastic explanation about the coronavirus thanks lachy! Totally stealing it. Yeah I’m finding it hard to balance between being as honest as possible and not scaring them.

There is a lovely playmobil one which you can find on you tube.

I’ve got a dd almost 3, and I’ve told her there’s a very bad cough going around that is making lots of people poorly, so everything is closed and we have to stay at home to stop everyone getting the poorly cough.

She was asking more questions today so I was telling her how doctors and nurses can help people, but there would be too many people to help if we all got the cough at once, so by staying in we are helping the doctors and nurses to help the people who really need it. She seemed satisfied with that but I agree it is tricky to bring home the seriousness of it to young kids without terrifying them!

Storybots episode on how people catch colds and viruses is great - predates Coronavirus but all the principles are the same including a song about hand washing. It then also goes into detail on how bodies and white blood cells.etc fight viruses so it's quite reassuring.