These ideas don’t take ages to set up, they don’t need lots of expensive equipment and you’ll definitely enjoy them yourself (when the kids have gone to watch Cartoon Network!)
I woke up with Whitesnake’s 1987 hit, ‘Here I Go Again on my Own’ stuck in my head. Following yesterdays anouncement of lockdown 3.0 in the UK, I decided to make a start on some fun home schooling activities for my younger two. My teen is already being inundated with work from her teachers, but we both know she’ll emerge from her tech cave to join in the chalking and science experiments. They always do!
So, here’s 10 ideas I’ve pulled from the likes of Pinterest to help ensure my kids to actually learn something, but also explore activities outside of Purple Mash and TT Rockstars. My younger kids are age 6 and 9, years 2 and 4 at school respectively. I try to find activities they can both do, and leave the targeted English, maths and science to the pack sent home from school. Basically, I’m trying to be the fun substitute teacher who lets them paint their hands with glue and do word searches!
My advice, not that you asked for it, but my advice for homeschooling is don’t sweat it. Yes there will be days when they have square eyes from being on tech, there will be days when you assign Lego building as an educational achievement (well, it is) and some days you’ll get a full set of timestables done with dry pasta shapes before cooking it for tea. It’s all good.
Here’s 10 fun homeschooling activities to check out during lockdown 3.0
1 – Cotton Bud Painting
My little boy hates practising his handwriting. He practically has his own font, but it’s the one thing that gets flagged up at every parents evening. We’ve had a go at cotton bud painting to make it more fun and then made dot art pictures afterwards. All you need is a box of cotton buds, some paint and paper. More here.
2 – Me on the Map
My kids both enjoyed making maps of their local areas at school. I thought we would take on this idea, and see if they could identify where they are in the universe, never mind their own postcode. Paper, sweet wrappers, pens, highlighters, glitter, string, whatever. Make a map of your world together.
3 – Salt Dough Dinos
I LOVE salt dough, but playdough is just as fun to mould. We’re combining history and play here by making some salt dough dino prints. We’ll prob watch Jurassic Park afterwards too. More inspiration for salt dough creations here.
4 – Maths Pegs
Maths is a bit of a chore in our house and so anything that can make numbers more fun is a bonus. If you can get your hands on some wooden pegs, this is a great way to get to grips with times tables without needing the wifi code. Paper, pens and pegs. More info here.
5 – Scavenger Hunt
These scavenger hunt cards are so easy to make and you can choose to stay indoors or even take them out into the garden or the local park. Paper and pens is all you need. Set your kids a challenge to find something rainbow coloured, slimy, fluffy, green, hard, smooth, whatever. More ideas here.
6 – Taste the Rainbow
Did you know there so much more to a bag of Skittles than just eating them?! Science experiments with Skittles are a great crowd pleaser for little ones. It’s as easy as arranging the sweets in a circle on a plate and adding warm water for an instant rainbow. Alternatively, if you have some food colouring at home, check out this rainbow lettuce and celery experiment.
7 – Marble Run Maze
It’s day one and the kids have already eaten me out of house and home, which on the plus side means, I have loads of boxes and tubes to use. Get yourself some selotape, some boxes and scissors and make a marble run. You don’t even need marbles! Toy cars, frozen peas, bouncy balls, all work just as well. I’ve found that taping boxes to the walls often pulls the paint off, so I stick to the doors or fridge works best. More inspiration for your little engineers here.
8 – Historical Pick A Number
Do you remember making these ‘pick a number’ things in school (bottom left hand corner of the pic)? I have no idea when I learned, but I can still make them in my sleep! Why not mix up your kids history projects with a bit or origami? Great for history or English tasks, swap out the ”you’re cute’ messaging for comprehension questions, where did I live? What food did I eat? Name one interesting fact about me, what era did I live in? More on this idea, here.
9 – CHALK!
Chalk is the most versatile teaching aid of all time. You can pick up a pack of chalk for about £2 and teach your kids something from every aspect of the curriculum with it. Draw the solar system on your driveway, draw around each other and sketch in the bones, make an Urban Orienteering playground in your own garden, blend the colours to make art, draw a treasure map, write times tables down path, draw a frame and snap selfies, the possibilities are endless. More ideas here.
To all the parents and care givers taking on lockdown homeschooling, I wish you good luck! Let’s do our best.
Give these ideas a go and drop me a line with how they went, I’d love to hear your feedback. I’m on Twitter @katereillyjames or email me, katereillyjames@gmail.com.
Kate Reilly James 