If your child’s school start date has been delayed, and you are looking for fun and educational activities to do with them at home, then look no further! Here are 10 ways to keep your kiddo busy and their brain working:
1) Baking/Cooking
Baking and cooking are great skills to have throughout life. When teaching a child to bake and cook, they are also learning math and science skills as well. Fractions are more fun to learn about when you are mixing ingredients together and you get a tasty treat at the end.
2) Puzzles (jigsaw or crossword)
These time consuming activities are great for sharpening your child’s mind! Jigsaw puzzles exercise both the right and left sides of your brain at the same time, while also improving your short term memory. Crossword puzzles are helpful in learning new vocabulary words as well as having been shown to improve your long term brain health.
Click here to learn more about how puzzles can help a child’s development.
3) Science Experiments
There are so many websites that provide easy science experiments to do at home with your kids. From making slime to making a baking soda and vinegar volcano, all of these can help your child learn about chemical reactions as well as exercise their creativity! Below are a couple great examples of where you can begin your search for the perfect activity:
https://www.weareteachers.com/easy-science-experiments/
https://www.sciencefun.org/kidszone/experiments/
4) Scavenger Hunt
This activity can help improve problem solving skills. Provide your child with clues that lead to to other clues, and coach them along the way! This can be in the form of a riddle, or just by hiding different goodies around the house.
5) Plant a Garden
Planting a garden is such a great way to teach your child focus, patience, and determination. Taking the time to water each and every day can improve their caretaking skills as well!
6) Design a Weather Calendar
The best way to do this activity at home with your child is to print out a blank calendar for the month. Look up the weather forecast for an extended period of time, and have them decorate the calendar based on the weather predictions each day. For example, if the forecast is calling for rain on Monday, have them draw clouds and rain on that day of the calendar.
7) Alphabet/Color Hunting
This is a simple and easy activity to pass the time. Have your child bring you an item that starts with each letter of the alphabet in order from A-Z. You can also make this a game between the two of you by going back and forth naming different animals from A-Z.
8) 5 Senses | Learning Activity for Kids
There are a lot of ways to improve your child’s general senses, and teaching them about each one can be fun! Find things around the house that you child can:
- Smell (Good or Bad)
- Taste (Sweet vs. Sour)
- Sight (Bright vs. Dark)
- Touch (Hard vs. Soft)
- Sound (Loud vs. Quiet)
9) Track Constellations
There are a couple apps that you can download on your smartphone to track constellations. One of them being, Star Walk 2. This is a fun nighttime activity that will allow your child to change up his/her learning scenery!
How does is work?
By looking up at the stars and pointing your phone camera up towards the sky, it will tell you what your child exactly what he/she is looking at. Sometimes you can even see a few planets!
10) Order Ants or Tadpoles Online
This activity is great for teaching kids about science and caretaking. Ordering ants and/or tadpoles online is very easy! With a few clicks your child will have some new “pets” right in their backyard that they can study and watch grow.
Here at Fry Orthodontics, we are wishing parents and children a safe and successful school year, whether learning remotely or in a classroom. We hope that some of these activities to do at home with your children provide a great start to a year full of learning.