March 17, 2020
Kids Home From School? Five Learning Tools and Endless Activities to Take Advantage of Now
Our team gets it. Even though we have always been a remote organization, there is definitely a wrench thrown in the works when schools close nationwide and we now need to navigate childcare along with business as usual. We sense that you might be in the same boat so we wanted to share some great educational tools (and our own tips!) that we are using to keep our kids engaged, learning and, let’s face it, quiet so we can get some work done.
Daily at 1pm EST
Mo Willems invites you into his studio every day for his lunch doodle. Learners worldwide can draw, doodle and explore new ways of writing by visiting Mo’s studio virtually once a day for the next few weeks. Grab some paper and pencils, pens, or crayons and join Mo to explore ways of writing and making together.
Virtual Tours of 12 Famous Museums and you don’t even have to deal with airport lines!
On Facebook Live at 3 pm daily and on added to their Youtube channel. Join to see the zoo highlight one of their amazing animals and include an activity you can do from home.
Morning program – (9am) a Science Education program on a variety of topics in physics, chemistry and biology featuring our Science Theater and Do Lab. These programs will be followed by an activity or experiment that can be done at home to build upon the topic.
Afternoon program – (2pm) a virtual museum experience will highlight a behind the scene location, an animal ambassador from the zoo, or special rarely seen item from our collection vault.
Closing program – (6pm) an astronomy experience, from current topics, to notable items in the night sky. Special opportunities for a “chat with an expert” will be made available as well!
KiwiCo provides crates for children ages 0-14+ that include fun activities and projects. Every month (with a subscription), they deliver tools for creative learning.
Want to do some free DIY projects? Kiwico offers those too.
Limiting screen time? Here’s some additional ideas our team will be implementing with their little ones:
Craft ideas:
- Write to a “pen pal” (a friend from school) and snail mail it
- Slime Bar
- Use all those toilet paper rolls you have lying around to make crafts
- Homemade bird feeders
- Use all those wine corks to make some boats and have a regatta (fun outside if it’s raining)
- Trash-to-treasure Crafts
- Virus fighting superpowered soap
- DIY friendship bracelets
Things to Do Inside:
- Dance party/ dance-offs
- Have siblings read their books to each other
- Make cookies/brownies/try out new recipes
- Puzzles
- Board games
- Practice writing skills: have them write out their birthday and Christmas lists early
- Story time! Start a google doc and have one child start a story. Send it to a friend and have them add a paragraph to it. Keep sending until you have a whole story written
- Chores! But make it fun
- Practice an instrument
- Good classic movies
- Make a fort
- Can’t visit grandparents? Interview them over the phone instead! Have your kids ask them questions about their lives and write down their answers. Here are some good ones to get started.
Things to Do Outside:
- Sidewalk chalk – create hopscotch, tic-tac-toe…the possibilities are endless
- Nature treasure hunt/ scavenger hunt
- Wash the cars or dogs together
- Family walks to stay connected
We hope you all stay safe and if there is anything you want to chat about, let us know.