Covid 19 coronavirus: Rotorua dad gets creative with lockdown boredom busters

Kiwis are well known for their ingenuity - and a Rotorua dad has plenty of it.

Now, with New Zealand at alert level four and in a nationwide Covid-19 lockdown, parents have been forced to think well outside the square to keep their children entertained.

Rotorua dad, Philip Macfarlane, has taken that to the next level with a real demonstration of Kiwi ingenuity.

Most weekends, Macfarlane, his wife Jae-Marie and their children Tane, 11, Rena, 8, and Arie, 5, can be found on a lake, whizzing around on wake boards.

While that isn't an option for them at present, it hasn't stopped this thrill-seeking family finding a solution.

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Macfarlane moved his digger on to the front lawn and attached one of the wakeboarding ropes and handles to it. To the delight of the children they are able to hold on as he spins the digger and slide in circles around the lawn.

"It sort of rocked their world, it's something different," he said.

"They've actually done a lot of the planning themselves, they came up with the idea. We put a bit of water down because it wouldn't slide very well at first and away we went. They originally talked about going down the road behind a vehicle but that wasn't going to happen. They got their mum out there as well, she had a go," Macfarlane said.

"Arie couldn't do the wakeboarding so she unclipped a swing from out back. The boys attached that to the digger bucket for her and we swung her round on that. She wanted to be involved so she got creative herself."

He has also set up a half-pipe attached to a trailer for the kids to ride up on and jump with their scooters. He said thinking outside the square to keep them busy was crucial during the lockdown and having something to look forward to keep them motivated during their at-home learning time in the morning.

"It's super important and a lot of these activities they're brainstorming and keeping active - they drew this one up before we did it so we got them planning and designing. I did bring a digger home initially to build some BMX jumps so they've been designing that as well.

"My wife, their mum, is a school teacher and she has them doing work in the morning. It's pretty well structured, their day is planned out and they do have the free time like you would at school. Part of that schoolwork is planning an activity for that day."

Macfarlane said his children were an active bunch and it was lucky they got along well during isolation.

"They know they can't go out and play or go to their mate's house - we think it's fairly important for them to have something to look forward to. They do get along well, they're three good mates which helps - they have their moments but they're really good, it's awesome.

"The BMX jumps is the next job and there's talk of them starting on the woodshed roof, coming off that on to a dirt jump and a series of dirt jumps after that. It's a possibility, we've got four weeks."

His oldest son Tane said he felt lucky to be able to do the activities his dad was providing.

"It's very fun, it's pretty sad that you can't leave the house but we can have the privileges of wakeboarding round with the digger and making jumps with the trailer."

He said he and his siblings loved being active.

"We're still thinking of other stuff we can do. I like stuff like that cause it's good fitness but you don't have to go for a walk or anything, it's fun."

• Covid19.govt.nz: The Government's official Covid-19 advisory website