Do you have little to no tech available? Or just needs some ideas to get your kids off of screens for a little while? Here are some ideas that you can try with your students!
Check out the list of resources below or CLICK HERE for a printable version! How many can you cross off this summer?
Thanks to the Princess Awesome & Boy Wonder Community for the amazing suggestions!!
Have each kid pick a topic they'd like to learn about and spend 30 mins each day on that topic
Spend one day reading every single picture book we have in the house
Go through all the old mail laying around (ok, that one's not for kids although they do enjoy helping tear stuff up)
Bake something every day
Have each kid write a letter and/or emails to a different friend or family member each day
Use all of our building toys on one giant structure
Wash our hands!!!!
Races of various kinds in the backyard (hopping on one foot, crabwalk, walking backwards, etc.)
Try stop motion animation with playdough
Facetime grandparents a lot
watch everything on Disney+
Inventory the plants & wildlife (from bugs on up) in your yard.
Learn the parts of plants/flowers & how they function (bonus if they learn the Latin names).
If you aren't too squeamish & have a spare clear shoebox size tote or 5-10 gallon tank, catch some pillbugs (rolly pollies, sowbugs) & observe them (if you really do this, i can tell you how to set them up. i have about a thousand of them currently because it's too cold here to thin the herd & they've been reproducing all winter. they're pretty interesting).
Write a short story & illustrate it.
Learn how to do simple book binding.
Make paper (from your old mail!)
Have the kids help with yardwork in between playing games outside. They're little, but they like getting dirty and "working" in the gardens.
GoNoodle! Great for guided movement, relaxation, etc.
Board games, card games
Legos.
We have some extreme dot to dot books (1400 dots) that the kids love, especially the 5 year old!
Lots of reading, playing with the dog,
Working on learning to sew using stuff we have on hand.
Card making/scrapbooking projects (mostly for me but kids can do it too).
Getting the garden ready, we need to weed and work the ground. I might get seeds and we'll set up to have our own starts this year.
Make tents and reading caves : ) flashlights, tidy snacks, books, and pillows!
Have a shadow show in the reading tent (we used blankets over chairs or a table)
Get binoculars and learn about the birds near your house, look them up on google and search for their birdcalls on YouTube
Learn how to make a stuffed animal
Play with cornstarch and water and cheap action figures
Many educational websites are waving fees if your students school is closed
Collect a bunch of tape markers and cardboard boxes. That'll keep them busy for a day or two.
Watch all the hand washing videos & vote on your favorite. Discuss why each good, helpful, funny. The Holderness parody one is hilarious, the Vietnam Tiktok one is great choreography, some have good songs etc.
Also pick your favorite song with a 20 second refrain or verse perfect for hand washing length of time.
Family puzzles. Ones that are 500-1000 pieces and a challenging but not frustrating picture
We homeschool (4 kids) and honestly, just have fun!!!!!
Team up and really clean and organize each kid's space, making a donation box for each. Parents are included.
Have a board game day
Kids can also make their own games! Board games, card games, you name it! My daughter spent a lot of time this winter creating soccer and football games played with cards for moves and pieces made out of legos
Write a story cooperatively. One person picks a character and the other picks a setting and then go gangbusters together.
The folding picture story one! We called it “eat poop you cat” one person draws a small picture across the top of a paper the next person writes a sentence that describes that picture and folds Over the paper top of the paper hot dog style to cover the picture. So the 3rd person only sees a sentence and they have to draw a picture. They fold over the sentence.
Any and all art is fun at home: beading, painting, drawing, play dough or kinetic sand, sewing, etc. when my daughter was young we could do art all day.
Massive board game tournament with all the (mostly forgotten) board games we own!
Stolen from “growing up global fb page”
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My daughter (6) has enjoyed doing yoga at home. There are kid-friendly YouTube videos and printed cards with poses.
Zumba or Dance-along videos on YouTube
We home school exclusively and the best advice I have is check out Pinterest. There are tons of ideas for activities, games, etc.
Draw self portraits on blank faces
Color coded different interesting places on a map.
I've had them draw maps of places and then make directions from one place to another to see if someone else could follow it.
We've done scavenger hunts, indoor treasure hunts where they follow clues through the house to a "treasure" at the end (could be candy, a movie, whatever), and a lot of charades.
My daughter wanted a doll house for her 18" dolls. We saved cardboard boxes and got more from Dollar general and got to work. The closets and couch are cardboard as well.
There are a few easy "kitchen chemistry" type science experiments that are easy to do, like making slime, baking soda and vinegar reaction, etc.
we put food coloring under the baking soda in a mini muffin pan and used Pipette to drop vinegar in and then you can see the color!
Last summer we did an experiment to learn what each ingredient did for a cake (so we made one following the recipe, one without eggs, one without milk, etc.). We then compared and contrasted the different cakes ... Then we ate a lot of weird cake.
Dig up all the activity books, presents, etc that never got played with, and use those!
There’s always time tested building a tent in the house with blankets and chairs. Great for just before nap time.
We are going to bust out our hiking gear and try new hiking paths. As long as you stay away from over populated areas you will naturally stay a safe distance from others and sick people generally don't hike!
Do a study on planets, then have the kids create their own planets- how big is it, where in the universe is it located, atmosphere conditions, can it sustain life, how long is a day/year, name it, etc.
you could even spread the planets out around the house to show "approx." distance from each other.
Design a new space craft, draw plans, then create out of legos or household items. Spend some time pretending you're on different planets with different gravity, you could seriously spend a whole week on just fun space activities.
But that's not limited to space- these ideas would work for animals, geography, body systems, historical events/time periods, etc. Beyond that, do some fun physics experiments like making a bridge out of straws, egg drop protectors, paper airplanes, etc.
PuppetMaster: an app where you can animate anything from a drawing to a stuffed animal.
Practice spinning poi - my daughter is just learning how to spin and it’s been fun practicing together.
Puzzle races: put several puzzles (20+ piece puzzles) in a paper bag and shake it up. Pour pieces out and give each person the puzzle box they are to put together. Go! (Cooperation tends to be a result as pieces are traded.)
Dig through cabinets and figure out recipes for that thing you got at the grocery store and thought "this is interesting surely it can be used for something!" And then make it!
Audible!
Blackout Poetry-Grab a newsletter, newspaper, or magazine article and a marker. Start by boxing out the words you like, then blackout all the words you don't need. (Materials: Newspaper, markers)
Collection sort-Choose a collection you have a home (stuffed animals, Hot Wheels, Lego, dolls, buttons, etc.) and sort it in as many ways as you can (color, size, etc.) See if you can have your family guess how the collection is sorted
Create a holiday-Using craft supplies or household items, create decorations, identify colors, choose a date, and explain the family values celebrated by the holiday. Do not forget to name your holiday and mark it on your calendar! You can even create a holiday song for singing only at this special time of year!
Germ Free Olympics-0Using only items in your home, develop a set of competitions that are germ free. Analyze how a competition can take place without a transfer of germs. Devise a scoring system, names for your games, rules, and judges. How many germ-free competitions can you invent AND who will win the gold?
Mailbox-Using cardboard (from food boxes, mail deliveries, or other kind of box, build a full size mailbox for your room or play area! Write letters or draw pictures to send to your family (they can each make a mailbox, too!), and ask them to write you back! Be sure to put a flag on your mailbox so you know when you have mail waiting for you!
Make a board game-Get those Amazon boxes out of the garage (one per child) and cut them open to create a nice large working space. Have your child create a board game about ANYTHING...a favorite book, their favorite TV show, their family, a hobby. For younger kids draw the game board and add spaces, older kids can use rulers and trace plastic food storage containers. (Materials: cardboard box, markers, crayons, dice)
Money for Meals-Grab any grocery store flyer. Have your child go through the flyer and create meals. They can cut out the food item and glue it to a paper. Have them calculate the cost of each meal. Add a challenge that each meal needs to have a vegetable/fruit, a protein, a grain, and a sweet treat. (Materials: Grocery store flyers, scissors, glue, paper, and perhaps a calculator)
Nature Boxes-Create a foot by foot square and have your child collect, draw or write about something they notice in that foot by foot square. Then create a 2x2 square, 3x3, 4x4, 5x5, all the way to 10 if you can, and repeat the work of collecting a specimen, drawing something they see, or writing about something they notice. This challenges kids to be very observant! (Materials: tape measure, notebook and pencil)
Post Office Time Machine-Create a post office in your home that serves as a time machine to the past. Write to historical figures that have been involved in events that you would change. Instead of telling them why you would not make the decisions they made, create an informational letter that would convince them to act in a different manner. Justify your course of action then create and describe an alternate future based on the new events. Tell them how it would affect your life. Find a way to show these figures by sending packages through the Post Office Time Machine!
Rainy Day Recess-Start with at least two pairs of socks rolled into balls and a large container like a hamper or laundry basket. What type of indoor game can you make up? What are the rules? How can it scored? How many players on a team? What will you name it? Let your imagination run wild, and maybe you will invent the next BEST indoor recess game that every person in your class will want to play!
Shopping for a friend-Grab a catalog and go page by page "buying" something on each page. Have your kids do this for a book character. They can cut out the items they would buy for the character and explain (or write) why that character would want or need that item. (Materials: Store catalogs and flyers, scissors, glue, paper)
Solve My Puzzle-Create a physical puzzle using craft supplies or household items that requires a solution or solutions. Is it a pattern? Is it a maze? Does it involve pictures? Is it a riddle? Are there clues? Do not forget to name your puzzle and create rules or directions if necessary. Can you stump your family members?