Fun and educational activities for kids while we are stuck at home during this Covid-19 outbreak
As social distancing continues and all the schools are closed or closing, we are all adjusting to this new normal.
These are strange and scary times and are causing a huge amount of stress on everyone. But I refuse to let this be a childhood trauma for my kids.
I’m doing my best to keep their minds off of things like, why can’t they go to school, why can’t they go to the playground, why can’t they visit their grandparents or their friends. I know all of you parents are probably trying to do the same. So I want to use this space to share some of the activities and things I’ve been doing to keep them occupied.
We have already done so many fun activities and crafts at our house and I’ve seen so many great ideas out there! I am going to use this post as a round up of all our favorites. So I plan on continually updating it as I come across new fun things to do so be sure to check back often! You can also follow along on my Facebook or Instagram to see when I post updates.
Monterey Bay Aquarium Live Cams
All of my kids (ages 4 – 7) enjoy these live camera feeds so much! They keep wanting to go back and check them. There are 10 different feeds to choose from. There are Sea Otter, Sharks, Penguins and more! Check it out with this link Live Cams from Monterey Bay Aquarium
30 Lego Challenge
If you have kids into Legos they’ll love this. You can download the 30 day challenge below. Each day gives your child a different Lego challenge!
Nature Scavenger Hunt
As we enter spring it’s the perfect time of year for this scavenger hunt. This list is simple and fun and can totally be done right in your own yard! You can download a copy below.
At home Safari
This quickly became one of our favorites! The Cincinnati Zoo is doing a Facebook Live at home safari every week day at 3PM where they a feature an animal. Click the link below to check out their Facebook Page. So far, we have seen a hippo, an ocelot and a sloth!! Make sure you check out the videos you missed!
Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden
Rainbow Fish Craft
We’ve done this one a few times. It’s fun, simple and always looks so pretty, as you can see in the picture below. The kids love the idea of painting with anything other than a boring paintbrush. Use the link to go to the original post from Crafty Morning to download the Fish template and print as many as you’d like!
Cosmic Kids Yoga
My kids absolutely love these yoga videos and we’ve been doing them every day since we’ve been stuck at home. She does yoga sequences to Disney movies, Star Wars, Pokemon, trucks, animals, almost anything you can think of! It’s a great to break up your day of homeschooling or to just get your kids moving and stretching. I highly recommend them, use this link Cosmic Kids Yoga
Stories From Space
We discovered this website a few months ago and have been enjoying it ever since! An astronaut in the space station reads a story. During the video they usually talk about being an astronaut and little about what it’s like on the space station. It’s perfect for a relaxing, quieter activity. And watching them in space was really entertaining and exciting for my kids, hopefully it’s the same for yours. Click the link and go check out Stories From Space
Color mixing and squishing activity
This is a fun, mess-free way to learn about colors. Here are links to the two original posts that I saw this on. Mix and Squish Hearts from a Little Pinch of Perfect and Color Mixing St. Patty’s Day Activity from Crafts on Sea They were both for holidays, Valentine’s Day and St Patty’s Day, but I think it’s fun activity for any time.
I draw different shapes on different ziploc bags, draw a triangle on one bag, a square on another and so forth, as many as you want to do. I add different colors, one gets yellow and blue, one gets yellow and red, one gets red and blue…you get the idea. And then we squish and see what new colors we make!
Expo markers on windows!
This is something new I learned, expo markers can be used on windows and wiped off just as easily as a white board! You can imagine how much kids love this idea!! It worked especially well getting my daughter into her math work. Math is her least favorite subject and getting her to do the worksheets is such a challenge. So I told her she can use the sliding glass doors to do her work, you can see her in the picture below. It worked like a charm!
If there’s an area your struggling to get your child to do with your homeschooling see if you can incorporate this. My preschoolers loved it too! I did patterns with them. Mixing up your activities will help keep your kids engaged.
Check back soon for more ideas!
And if you have any fun ideas you don’t see here please share in the comments below so I can add it to the list! We are in this together and can only get through this together!!
