Corona Time Educational & Fun ideas for Kids

It’s official, the Coronavirus is in the US and severely cramping our style. Many of us have schools shut down and work closings. If you don’t, you will soon and it’s not a regular day off, we all have to STAY HOME from everywhere for this to work!

My children’s school district does not have e-learning in place, so I immediately started thinking of ideas to keep my kids thinking, learning, and using their knowledge so they can at least go back to school not having lost anything and maybe go back knowing a little more. I still have to work from home and am not a teacher, so I am positive there are better resources out there, but I thought I would share some of my ideas.

These are all super low planning/work for you and activities that my children, children who do not want to do school work at home, will do and largely enjoy.

• Artist of the day: have child research an artist (give them the name) & then discuss their art with you. Then, have child paint/draw a picture similar to the artist’s style or simply have them color/draw a picture
• Physical exercise: Take a walk. Don’t touch anything or stop at the park. Just walk.
• Art/history: Virtual museum tours (internet required)
• Language: Read a book for “X” hours/minutes a day. When done, write a report or give it orally
• Drama/language arts/tech: Have kid(s) write, plan & perform a play/musical. Post on social media so you can read them all of the positive comments people leave 😊Send to family members who may be missing not seeing your littles during this time! Send to a local nursing home! I am positive if you call, they can give you an email to send it too and you and your kids can make some old people smile!
• Home ec/Life skills: Have then prepare/help prepare meals from start to finish (including cleaning up after, of course!)
• Shop class/life skills: Have then help you fix that squeaky door, leaking faucet, clean up the yard, etc. anything needed done around the house.
• Life skills: teach them to change a tire, change your car’s oil, read & understand the manual to your car & how it all works
• Math/Life skills: have them keep a ledger for money. Make fake paper money & give them a bunch. Then, make snacks cost money, any activity they do, tv, video games, etc. Have them keep track on their ledger & teach them to budget appropriately. Tell them when they will next get paid & their salary based on whatever chores you want them to do.
• Language/Reading: READ, READ, READ! Make a chart & criteria for each kid, then give them a reward for each book they read or for a reading a certain # of books/minutes a day.
• Language/Reading/writing: Teach then to properly write a letter or email. Have them utilize their new skills by keeping in touch with loved ones you can’t go see right now & checking up on people
• Writing: Teach them Cursive! Or at least how to sign their name in cursive
• Art: let them draw whatever they want. It’s all about creativity, so this one is super easy. If you have little supplies, all you need for this one is 1 pen/pencil & something for them to draw on (y’all have plenty of toilet paper for that, I’m sure 🤣)
• History: think of a historical event & have them google it. Then have them come up with a project to do (written report, play, craft) having to do with said event
• History with no internet: Think of a historical event you lived through & discuss with them. The. Do project idea.
• Life skills: This is a great time to have your kids learn all the little things at home that need cleaned occasionally. Have them do 1 obscure thing each day. Clean out the microwave, wipe down baseboards, wipe down outside of washer/dryer, dust shelves, wash windows, wipe down the kitchen cabinets/side of oven, clean out their closet, sort through their books, organize Tupperware!
• Foreign language: (internet required) Have your kid start googling, learning about & watching YouTube videos on a foreign language. They could probably learn a good portion of one in 30 days
• Sports/History/Physical Ed: Ask your child what their favorite sport is. Have them research the history of it. Who was the best player of all time? How did it start? Etc… Then, have them write or draw about it. Last, Play that sport with them!

Thankfully, my kids came home with resources such as physical workbooks and online log-ins for programs they use at school already to help them stay engaged. If you do not have these resources, here is a google doc that has a HUGE list of free websites you can use that are all educational. I do not know who made this or who to credit it to and I have not checked all of them out to validate it, but it’s a good place to start!

I also plan to have my kids journal daily. I know my two littles do this at school already and I plan to do this also. I am trying to get them to focus on their view of what is going on right now and think it will be really interesting to read different points of view from a 6, 8, 13, and 36 year old during this time. Jack and I’s journals will be mostly writing and probably a few paragraphs, although I tend to get carried away. Jess Jr. and Charlie will be more like a few sentences and a picture. I will try to get Jess Jr. to do at least a paragraph as I think that is what he has to do in class.

I realize I have not even delved into all of the real issues surrounding the closings and hardships caused by that, but I don’t know if I even will. I realize that filling our extra time with education and whatever else for our kids is a #firstworldproblem. This is the first thing that popped into my head to write about, so here I am writing about it. Please, please, Please Share your ideas too!

If you don’t do anything educational for your kids and they sleep all day, play video games and watch Netflix, you are still doing a Stellar job!

REMEMBER: Everyone is going through this thing for the Very First Time.

Be Kind.

MAKE GOOD CHOICES.

~Love & Light, Sarah