Are you stuck in lockdown?
A good friend of mine, Jasmin (school teacher) and myself have compiled together a list of ideas for some activities that you could do at home with your children.
Take every opportunity as a learning opportunity but also try and appreciate the situation for what it is.
Just enjoy being with your children. We appreciate that they can ‘drive us crazy’ at times, but we assure you it is generally because they are bored.
We recommend preparing the night before once your children are asleep and having 2-3 activities prepared for the day. You may even be able to extend on the activities the following day so that they last longer.
Please be mindful that this list has not been sorted by age or developmental stage. Please select the ones that you trust are age appropriate for your child and if you need support in modifying them please don’t hesitate to get in contact.
Ideas to keep your children educated from home
Indoor Learning
- life drawings (using items from the home fruit, vegetables, flowers from the garden, leaves from trees) – conversations to add more depth to play – focus on colours, patterns, shapes…
- Science experiments (using household items, water, ice, bicarbonate, oil, vinegar, corn starch, chia seeds, etc)
- Worksheets (twinkl are providing free access as the moment during COVID – can access all different content by searching – easter, autumn, nursery rhyme etc)
- Counting coins (money) – further this to create socio dramatic play area- make labels for items, shopping lists, receipts, posters for shop front, exchange of coins for household items in shop…
- Make edible paint (baby rice cereal, water & food colour)
- Puzzle making – Take a photo, laminate it if you have one if not then just cut it up and create own puzzle (can also just draw with sharpie or text on white paper different pictures cut into strips and then create as a puzzle on table, further activity glue it back together into another piece of paper, 4-6Y can have their name on strips, cvc words to create then glue on big pieces of paper)
- Word & Picture matching – Print individual letters and print some pics and get children to match the letters to the pic eg. Pig starts with what letter? (Lots of this available on twinkl) can also use post it notes and can write beginning letter sounds of things in the room then they have to go and stick it on the item they think starts with that letter (b for book, t for table, etc)
- Play Monopoly
- Use Monopoly money or real money and get the children to set up a shop with their toys and learn about giving change
- At night get a telescope and look at the stars (children could make a pretend one from toilet rolls)
- Go on a holiday….get your children to pack their own bag with what they would need to go camping…let them think about what they would need then pitch a tent in the back yard and let them have a holiday. They need to think about food and other essentials
- Read a book then photo copy some key pages of the book then get the children to learn a sense of order by putting the pages in the right order of the story using their memory (sequencing of stories (lots of this also on twinkl for already made content of access to printer or if need help with creative side/ books like hungry caterpillar or brown bear brown bear
- Letter or word bingo (create a letter or word template and print out individual letters to pull out of a hat)
- Cooking lessons (look at ingredients, where these come from, math with measuring ingredients, science of liquids to solids etc)
- Set up a puppet show – make puppets with household items, paper, boxes, odd socks) can use a book as a provocation- read it together, talk about characters, make the characters, re-tell story, links with story sequencing and oral language skills
- Make simple number cards but cutting up scrap paper, order from smallest to larger (ordering, number lines, number recognition) – add in items above each card (one to one correspondence, counting)
- Put out different fabrics/ scarves/ small sheets for social dramatic play (different colours/ textures)
- Make sensory bottles (oil, detergent, water, glitter, food colouring, rice, seeds, bells, beans)
- Create a play dough table using natural materials
- Indoor scavenger hunt– list items on a piece of paper for them to go find (can be written in picture or words). Additionally you can add a number to the items and once all items are collected you can add the numbers together to get a final number.
- Reinvent play with toys you already have– what can you add to train set? What challenges can you set with LEGO
- Make salt dough ornaments (we made olympic medals)
- Small world play– use different items from around the home with toy animals/ people for small world play
- Make marble run with house hold items
- Make gloop (cornflour & water)
- Set up a story table. Pick a book and make little characters to go with the book out of household items. Children can then retell the story using the characters.(use household items, craft materials, recycled materials to make the puppets)
- Story writing – select 3 random words out of a hat and create a short story using the 3 words.
Outdoor Learning
- Shadow play outside– line up toys and then look at the different shadow’s they make – add paper and pencils to trace the shadows
- Set up small obstacle course outside- something to climb over, things to run around, something to throw, something to go under etc. use positional language like under and over, through and around.
- Water and paint brushes outside on bricks/ pavement (will dry, no clean up required)
- Chalk drawing on pavement or walls
- Use buckets and balls to set up throwing game– add numbers to buckets to make into counting/ addition game
- Outdoor scavenger hunt– list items on a piece of paper for them to go find (can be written in picture or words)
- Outdoor yoga
- Meditation (lay down and blow bubbles over their bodies. allow them to lay still and feel the bubbles drop over their body).
I appreciate that this list may be very overwhelming for some parents, but please don’t let it worry you or make you feel as though you HAVE to do be all of these things with your children. If a day passes where they are simply in front of the TV for most of the day purely to give you a rest, that is okay too. Just try your best not to do that every day 🙂
I am here for you. If you need any ideas, support or advice on educating your children from home, please let me know. I am always happy to help.
Chelsea xoxo