Fun Learning Projects for Parents and Children
Are you a parent that needs some fun new ideas for children to do at home? With many parents trying to work from home and monitor their child’s assigned classwork, there are homebound activities you can do to incorporate educational activities into everyday life activities.
Here are some ideas for you as a parent that you can do with your children to create fun memories while social distancing inside or in your yard.
Cooking: You can incorporate both math and science in a variety of ways while cooking meals. Using various size measuring cups and spoons is an easy way to learn about fractions, addition, and whole numbers. Mixing ingredients, cooking temperatures, yeast, and more can be used for a science lesson. Click this link for easy baking recipes for children.
Scavenger Hunt: Use this time to create a scavenger hunt around your house and yard. For younger children, you can incorporate colors and shapes, such as something green or something round.
Gardening: Teach children about plant growth and more by creating your own garden. You can grow both edible and non-edible plants at home in your yard, flowerbed, or containers. If outside space does not permit a planted garden, you can grow many plants, including strawberry and blueberry, in pots on a porch. Many starter plants and seeds are available to purchase online or at your local home improvement store. Don’t forget social distancing when shopping in stores for the item you will need. Click this link for some children gardening ideas.
Virtual Museum and Zoo Tours: Many museums and zoos already had activities and virtual tours available on their websites. You can take an around-the-world virtual tour of museums such as the Louvre in Paris, France, or the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
Most of these also have printable activities to do at home. https://www.memphiszoo.org/ - the Memphis Zoo does virtual wild encounters every Monday - Friday at 12:30pm
Exercise, Stretching, and Yoga: When it is time to step away from electronics, enjoy some exercise by incorporating outdoor or even indoor activities. Shoot some basketball, toss the baseball/softball around and run some races around your yard. If the weather isn’t cooperating with being outside, you can find many beginner exercises, stretching, and yoga videos for free on Youtube.
Public Library: Many public libraries are creating live streams and videos of their storytimes. Dolly Parton, through her Imagination Library, has pre-recorded bedtime reading videos of her reading children’s books. The Memphis public library also has great programming available online for children of all ages.
Job Applications and House Chores: If age-appropriate, teach your children how to apply for jobs. You can create “house chores” as job openings. Each child can apply for the job opening with the sample job application you created. They can also interview for this position.
Click this link for a sample “Home Responsibility Job Application” from Living Locurto.
Laundry: If age-appropriate, teach your children how to use the washer and dryer while incorporating water temperature, proper use of laundry detergent, and drying temperature.
Parent/Child Book Club: Create a book club. You and your child each read the same book. Create discussion questions for you and your child to answer based on the content of the book. Reading has many benefits including building vocabulary, reducing stress, stimulating the imagination, improving focus, and improving language skills.
If you’re a member of your public library, you probably have access to OverDrive where you can access ebooks and audiobooks for free - all you need is your library information! The Memphis Public Library OverDrive is available here!
Money Management: Now is the perfect time to teach money management skills. Create a chart of extra chores your child can do to earn “play money”. With this earned “play money”, have them create a savings account and checking account. Create and print “checks” for them to use to purchase things like screen time. This will teach them how to save, write checks, keep a checkbook register while incorporating extra chores and math skills.
Maybe you need a break too. Washington State also has a list of links to fun online games that teach children about money management:
Check with Homeschool Groups/ Online Virtual Classes: Most areas have homeschool groups that you can reach out to for advice. They have websites and Facebook pages.
Check out some of the free online resources from VirtualTutors.com. Virtual Tutors’ resources include Virtual School Day, Virtual Summer Camps, Adaptive Diagnostic Assessments, Varsity Learning Tools, and more!
If you’re having trouble helping your child understand a part of their school work, Khan Academy is also a great free online resource full of learning experiences for children of any age. They may have lessons that line up with what your child is learning.
Many of us instantly had to become homeschool teachers while trying to work from home or juggling odd schedules. Many of us are also stressed as we have lost jobs during this pandemic.