To ask for some calm activities which don't involve screens?

[Alwaysyoudoyou]

We're a 'low screen time' household. Not because I want to be a martar or make anyone else feel bad about their own choices for their families (you do you!). It's because it seems to leave my kids more wired than relaxed, so we avoid it as much as possible.

This week both my kids have slight fevers and coughs. Trying to keep them calm /encourage them to do more sedentary activities feels like trying to hold water in a sieve. We've done all the puzzles, read books, coloured, been out for a quick walk to try and stave off the cabin fever etc. We've had a bit of TV but once it goes off they're bouncing around and climbing the walls even more than before it went on. Which then exasperates the coughs and temperatures again!!

Any suggestions for how to keep them calmer until they recover? Or should I just follow their lead and trust that if they were that ill then they'd not have the energy that they seem to have!?

You'd think, but I don't generally entertain them. We're either out and about or they find things to do. But these things are usually pretty high energy and we're exasperating the coughs and temperatures so I wanted to try and encourage some calmer activities. Trouble was we ran out of activities that we already had quite quickly (puzzles for example didn't hold their attention for long as they're still quite small) and I can only read so many books! So thought I'd ask for some inspiration :) Mumsnet came up trumps. They're much improved today.