With most schools around the United Stated closed I wanted to share a list of educational activities and resources to help ease the transition to learning from home while incorporating play, fun, and everyday life skills.
This list is best for elementary school-aged children, however some activities and resources are fun for all ages!
Art
- Pinterest is your best friend for fun arts & craft activities, there is seriously so many wonderful ideas for all levels and ages.
- Harptoons Publishing is offering free drawing classes live on Facebook with Steve Harper at 2 PM EST daily. You can also scroll through their videos for previously recorded classes.
- Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems. Mo invites you into his studio at home and guides you through drawing activities. #MoLunchDoodles
- Studio E. Art Classes, a local art studio, is offering live art classes on their Facebook , give them a follow to see their schedule. You can also scroll through to see previous classes.
- Make it With Michaels. Michaels craft stores have “Make it With Michaels” Facebook live quick crafting tutorials. We followed along with this weeks craft (see bunny below) and then Landon decided to change his up and make a dragon, following the same steps with a different template. We used our Cricut to cut out his template, however, construction paper taped tightly down would work as well. Click here for the video tutorial. #MakeitWithMichaels
- The Rainbow Movement. Many neighborhoods are placing rainbows (a sign of brighter tomorrows) outside their homes to show a sense of community and creating a “Rainbow Hunt” for children (see more in Physical Education.) Create your rainbow and place it either on your door or window to participate. Panera Bread is also joining the movement virtually to spread the rainbow and bring joy to our online community . To participate share your children’s artwork on social media, tag them, and use the #spreadtherainbow. See our rainbow below!
Bible Study
I chose to incorporate bible study into our academic schedule.
- Landon is following Know God: A 28 Day Devotional Experience for Kids, you can find it here.
- Our church, True North Community Church, is also offering both regular services and kid’s ministry services online. Follow them on Instagram (@truenorthcc) and click the link in their bio to watch along!
- www.adventurebible.com is another great resource with fun games, activities, and worksheets.
- VeggieTales! Through hilarious storytelling, silly songs, and lovable characters, VeggieTales presents faith-based messages. You can watch free full episodes on their YouTube channel.
ELA + Library
- Suffolk County, NY residents can use their library card* through Livebrary to rent eBooks and audio-books. *If you don’t have a library card you can pre-register here online for one to gain immediate access to online services for 90 days. If you are not a Suffolk County resident, check your local libraries website, many have similar programs.
- Livebrary also offers online tutoring services through Brainfuse.
- Scholastic Learn At Home. Scholastic is offering a learn at home 20 day program that includes educational articles, videos, and more based on grade level. Learn more here. Landon has been thoroughly enjoying these.
Math
I’m not going to lie this has been the most difficult subject for us to work with at home, however, we are making the best of it!
- Baking and cooking! This is my favorite way to incorporate math at home. Not only can you teach fractions, basic calculation, and measurements, it is also a great life skill!
- Our local pizzeria La Famiglia of Sound Beach is offering pizza kits, pictured above. We plan on making one for dinner tonight while incorporating our math lesson for the day. Don’t worry I’ll definitely be sharing the process on my Instagram! Check with your local bakeries and pizzerias for similar kits.
- Prodigy. Prodigy is a fun online math game. Landon likes this game so much he asks to play it in his free time!
- Khan Academy. Khan Academy is a great resource for many school subject as they are offering daily schedules for students ages 4-18. We personally love their math programs as their instructions are easy to following along with and the practice questions with breakdowns at the end are very helpful.
Physical Education
- YouTube is a great source, simply search for children’s exercise programs and so many will appear, below are two of our favorites.
- Glenn Higgins Fitness. Glenn Higgins Fitness offers a kid’s workout series including Avengers Training Academy , choose your character and train to become a superhero! So far Landon’s favorite is the Spider-man video.
- Cosmic Kids Yoga. Cosmic Kids Yoga has been a long time favorite of ours. There are so many different videos and options, including Landon’s favorite Minecraft yoga and Pokemon yoga.
- Get outside! Fresh air is always great. Play in the yard or go for a walk, just remember to practice social distancing.
- If going for a walk see if your neighborhood is participating in the Rainbow Movement (scavenger hunt to find houses with rainbows) I shared about above in Arts. You can find out by visiting your local Facebook groups (or post and start your own!) You can also turn your walks into scavenger hunts by looking for certain flowers, animals, etc.
- Set up an obstacle course! We have THIS American Ninja Warrior obstacle / competition set and it is so much fun! Of course you can also set one up with items inside or outside your home such as chairs, rope, and hula hoops – get creative!
STEM + Science
This is our favorite subject!
- The Long Island Explorium is offering live virtual STEM workshops weekdays for only $10. Landon participated in the Forces for Fun: Building Rollercoasters, not only did he learn about energy and matter, he had so much fun building his very own rollercoaster, see pictures below. Click here to see their schedule (next weeks registration will be available Saturday evening.)
- NASA Kids Club. NASA Kids Club is such a great educational resource for students from pre-K to 4th grade that has great articles, games, experiments to do at home, and more!
- Plant a tree! We happen to already have a bonsai tree kit (pictured above) at home, however I was able to find many on Amazon.
- www.sciencebuddies.org/ provides hands on science resources for home and school. Their website has tons of science projects/ experiment ideas, including a fun selection wizard to help find ones suitable for your child’s interests and grade level.
- Have an at-home science fair! Due to school closures our district, like many others, had to cancel our annual science fair, however, that doesn’t mean you still can’t participate. We are going to be holding a mini in-home science fair with ideas from the website listed above. You can even make this a group activity with other friends and their families by scheduling your in-home science fairs at the same time and face timing, using zoom meeting, or Facebook live to show off your projects to one another.
- Cincinnati Zoo. The Cincinnati Zoo is going live on Facebook weekdays at 3PM EDT to highlight one of their animal and include a matching at home activity. You can see previous videos on their website here. Landon has been learning so much from these!
- YouTube: There are so many great STEM + science channels, however a fun one I recommend is Science Max , an exciting series that turbocharges all the science experiments you’ve done at home and in school
Social Studies:
- Virtually explore your city’s history. Long Islanders can click HERE for a local guide.
- I Survived book series. Landon loves to read the I Survived series by Lauren Tarshis. Each book in the series “tells a terrifying and thrilling story from history, through the eyes of a kid who lived to tell the tale” and covers historical events such as the American Revolution, the Attacks of September 11th, D-Day, and Hurricane Katrina. You can purchase the series here or check Livebrary (referenced above) to rent the eBook and audio-book versions.
- Youtube: Liberty Kids , Kids Academy , and Homeschool Pop are great learning video resources.
Other Resources:
Varsity Tutors: Varsity Tutors offers a wide variety of live online classes (covering subjects from STEM all the way to art), personalized 1-on-1 tutoring, and complete learning-at-home solutions. Landon has taken a few of their unique courses such as Superhero Stories and had so much fun while learning!
Have a fun educational resource or activity that you’d like to share? Comment below!
Please note: Some, but not all, links attached are affiliate links.
I love all these art ideas! Good and informative article!
What great ideas! Thanks for sharing. I find that even if we do just one activity every day (I’m trying to keep it simple) it makes a big difference.
All such great ideas! I especially love that you include a bible study with them
Excellent list of resources! This is great list for parents to use.
So many great ideas! Definitely saving this to come back to.
such great ideas! I love that so many places are offering free/cheap resources at this time!
Love these ideas! Always looking for fun educational resources to use at home to kill the boredom.