We are living in strange, scary, and uncertain times. With COVID-19 school closures, I’m feeling a little overwhelmed with life being turned upside down – two kids at home, daycare closed, and no plans to do much other than stay home and go on nature walks. Home schooling is not in my wheelhouse!
I’ve already started a loose schedule for us to maintain a certain semblance of sanity over the next 3+ weeks:
- Get ready for the day (bathroom, get dressed, and breakfast)
- General play time, because that’s when they’re happiest and least prone to fighting. 😉
- This is when I get what I need done around the house because they’re happily occupied with each other!
- Morning snack around 9:45am
- Go on a walk to a local nature park (not a playground) to get out of the house and off our yard a bit.
- Lunch
- Nap time for our little guy while the bigger kids (4 & 7) do quiet activities like reading, puzzles, or arts/crafts.
- Snack after nap
- More play time – hopefully more outdoors as the weather gets nicer!
This schedule is still a work in progress, and may change many times over as this goes on, but it’s what I’m starting with at least.
I’m not going to press too hard into hard-core ‘school learning’ yet – I see this as a chance to slow down a bit and enjoy our time together, play outside more, and work together in the garden. But I’m sure we’ll need more ‘school learning’ activities as the days wear on, especially if this social distancing continues long past the current plan of April 5 as I’m assuming it will.
I’ve been seeing so many people sharing links to kids activities and educational videos on my social media feed lately, but I wanted one central place to find them all for later on when I need them. Many of those links are for online activities, but I’m really excited about the ones with printable resources so my kids don’t get used to being in front of the screen constantly.
I decided to make a list for myself, and figured others might appreciate it, too! Feel free to share this list with anyone who might also like it. And feel free to send me links to other resources for parents looking for things to do with our kids, and I’ll add them to the list!
Happy Social Distancing! (Stay healthy and sane!)
Sandra
*Disclaimer: I have not used most of these yet, so make sure to do your own research before clicking a link and plopping your kid in front of the computer. 😉
- A neat YouTube channel that teaches kids to draw different pictures. My seven and four year olds love it, and my friend Emily Schaming who teaches Kindergarten has also recommended it!
- Another video recommendation from my Kindergarten teacher friend Emily. “Gotta dance? Gotta move? Gotta relax? www.gonoodle.com is a classroom go-to. My students especially like Fresh Start, KooKoo Kangaroo, Flow, and Brainercise with Mr Catman.”
- Another from my friend Emily – they have high quality printable resources.
- Hands on project learning recommended by Emily again: “I honestly find my students are most calm and focused when they are working on a project, like building something with a purpose. We recently built mazes and it was a huge hit.” This looks like it fits that goal perfectly, and the rolling vehicle project I just looked at would use up some of the mountains of toilet paper rolls we’ll all have after all the TP hoarding! 😉
- Requires a QR code reader (an easy free app download) – the projects look awesome based on my quick look!
“Giant List of Ideas for Being Home with Kids”
- Exactly what it says. 😉
Florida Center for Reading Research
- Great literacy resources. Printable games instead of online content!
Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden
- 3 pm Daily Facebook Live videos highlighting their animals. Also includes an activity you can do from home. Resources to the home safari and activities here.
Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems!
- 1 pm Daily video (also available on YouTube)
- Doodling together with Mo Willems – author of Snuffle Bunny and Elephant & Piggie books
Ashley.Potts (Instagram account)
- Story time with Mrs. Potts (and her dog Ellie!) It feels a bit like having your favourite teacher read you a story. Mainly because I think that’s what she is to her actual students!
Learning A-Z Raz-Kids – Free subscription – valid through the end of the school year.
- A digital resource that provides a library of differentiated books students can use to practice reading wherever they are (Internet connection required)
Learning A-Z Headsprout – Free subscription – valid through the end of the school year.
- An online K-5 reading program that adapts to the needs of the individual student. Self-paced, which makes it ideal for at-home practice.
- “Provides your children with 20* days of exciting articles and stories, videos and fun learning challenges.”
Education Companies offering free subscriptions due to school closings
- A huge list of free educational resources
The ‘Mother List’, compiled by Joy Novack Rosson
- My descriptor, not hers. 😉 This list is MASSIVE (There’s 15 pages of resources!!)
Essex County Library (or your own local library!)
- Utilize their digital resources!
And another fantastic tip and list from from Emily:
“Don’t just print worksheets for your kids, or spend all day online. I spend about 10 minutes of a school day doing pencil-and-paper work with my students.
Here are a few of the hands-on activities we have done this year….
- Design and build a library out of building materials (blocks, Lego, magnatiles, straws & connectors).
- Design and build a sled (popsicle sticks, tape, cardboard, pipecleaners).
- Explore surface tension using food colouring, milk and dish soap.
- Put something in a jar and watch it rot.
- Build a bear den or other animal shelter
- Paint a colourwash, then add a sharpie picture on top to learn about silhouettes
- Observe nature, draw from real life or a photograph
- Build a bridge that can hold weight and spans a certain area (we used tape and q-tips)
- Make slime.
- Practice spelling using clay or playdough
- Learn to finger knit
- String 100 pony beads to make your own number line (each colour is a group of 10)
- Re-create a favourite community location (we had McDonald’s, a sushi restaurant, the library, a coffee shop, a community garden) and build things for it.
- Build something out of recyclables to solve a problem (in this case, other people not being quiet while you’re trying to work)
- Build a Rube Goldberg/Cause-and-Effect machine
- Build your own maze (a cereal box and some tape is all you need!)
Bon Courage, Friends!”
