Dad discovers genius hack to keep his sons entertained during lockdown

We entered into the coronavirus lockdown on 23 March and parents have been looking for new and inventive ways to entertain their children ever since.

As we approach the three-week mark, some people are struggling to come up with new ideas, but one dad might have you covered.

Duncan Gillespie, 38, put his sons toys in the freezer overnight.

In the morning, it was his sons’ job to try to unfreeze them, using their creative minds to try to think of ways to get the toys out of the ice quickly.

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Jem, five, and Bram, three, spent an hour freeing their favourite toys from the ice.

“I was quite chuffed with myself because I set them up in the garden, came back inside, made myself a bacon sandwich and sat down.” Gillespie admitted.

The toys of choice included a triceratops, a shark bath toy, a tiny T-rex, a dolphin, and a small plastic lizard and Gillespie said he was able to do some work while watching the boys freeing their toys.

If you want to try this at home, fill a Tupperware box with water and put the toys in it and then freeze them overnight.

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“They loved it. It was quite fun to watch them come up with strategies.

“As I was out there I could see them saying ‘what happens if we push it down the slide’, ‘what happens if we drop it’. They were trying all sorts of things.

“They’re both very creative boys so it was just kind of fuel for their creativity. I think that’s why they played with it for so long.” Gillespie said.

When it began to rain and the boys went inside, they quickly realised that their dad’s boots offered up a great way to hack the toys from the ice.

“I had given them spoons because I just thought - what’s the hardest thing to give them to string it out for as long as possible.

“I reckon it took them about 90 minutes to complete the full rescue.

“They were happy, that’s the main thing. They were really engaged so it was a win-win for everybody.”

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He has been working from home since the coronavirus lockdown while his wife, Bex, continues running a zero waste food business in Sheffield, where the family lives.

He originally saw the idea on a Facebook group where other parents suggest ideas to help each other in lockdown.

When he posted his new-found trick on Twitter, he received more than 5,000 likes.

“Getting out in the garden is our respite because to be honest they have been watching a bit too much TV.

“School and nursery have been very good and giving us lots of suggestions and we’ve been doing PE with Joe Wicks as well.

“You’ve just got to get by and try not to put too much pressure on them.” Gillespie concluded.

If you’re thinking of giving this a go everyday, he said his sons were wise to his tricks, so it’s worth using this hack wisely because you might not be able to try it again.