That You Can Do at Home
Photo by Pragyan Bezbaruah
Due to the global pandemic, many parents are looking for ways to occupy and educate their kids at home this year. The good news is there are lots of activities that will entertain and teach your kids, often with ingredients you already have at home. To help you put together your activity list here are 8 educational activities for kids at home.
- Bake Something Together
Baking is a great way to spend quality time with your kids, and you can register for a virtual cooking class and teach them important skills. Baking involves reading the recipe (literacy), measuring out ingredients (math), helps them learn to follow directions, works their fine motor skills, and teaches a valuable life skill. Plus, after all this learning, you end up with a tasty treat.
- Grow a garden
Kids learn a lot from simple activities like growing seeds. Sunrise Montessori suggests you plant an herb garden with your kids that you can use year-round for cooking in the kitchen. Your kids will love to watch their seeds grow and can help take care of them by watering them and transplanting them when they are big enough.
Childcare Mount Albert has a fun activity for kids to learn about growing food. You can also use vegetable scraps as a way to start growing food. Cut off the bottom part of a bunch of celery, about 2 inches with the root or base section attached. Place this 2-inch section into a clear glass of water and place the glass on your window sill.
Keep the water glass filled to cover the bottom of the celery. In a few weeks, you should start to see roots forming. Once the roots are established you can plant them into a pot of dirt and grow your own celery to eat.
- Dance Party
A dance party that gets everyone up and moving is a great activity to break up the day. There are lots of kid’s playlists available on the internet or find your favorite dance song, turn up the volume and move! Through music and dancing, kids learn about rhythm, coordination, and just plain have fun and get some exercise. This is a great activity to do with the whole family.
- Learn about your neighborhood
Often we go to places like museums and art galleries to learn about our city and its history, but did you know there are many things to discover right in your neighborhood? Many cities have walking apps that teach you about important historical events in each neighborhood.
You can also do a walking tour of local plaques and read about the people and things that happened right where you live. Use the internet to do some research on local buildings, or talk to neighbors who might be able to tell you stories of the past.
- Identify the trees in the park
Another way to get to know your neighborhood and learn about natural history is to identify the trees in your local park. There are many free apps you can download that will help you identify trees or plants, or find a book about trees from your local library.
- Science Experiments
Do you remember making baking soda volcanos as a kid? How about growing geodes from eggshells and salt and sugar solutions? Learn about science and have fun with your kids using ingredients you can find right there in your kitchen cupboards.
- Lego Challenge
Another way to use your kid’s favorite toy as a learning activity is with a lego challenge. Create a new lego challenge for your child each day – or play along with some online groups who also post their creations online. Experiment with shapes and colors, or get creative with the design.
