Home Activities and Educational Resources
With much of the United States under quarantine due to COVID-19, we looked into activities and resources to keep you and your children busy during the downtime. Concerned about making remote work happen while quarantined due to Coronavirus? We’ve got you covered.
33 National Park Tours — Take the Trip Virtually
Enjoy the sights and history from the comfort of your own home. From Acadia National Park in Maine to Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming and Yosemite National Park in California, there are endless sights to see.
The National Parks are best viewed on Google Chrome or a similar browser that supports Google Maps.
12 Famous Museums Offering Virtual Tours
There are museums from London to New York City and Seoul that share virtual tours of their collections. The best part? You can tour them from your couch. A list of the online exhibits can be found on Travel + Leisure.
20 Virtual Field Trips
The are numerous art museums, zoos and aquariums with virtual field trips. Many of them have corresponding activities to make it a fun, educational experience.
Education Companies Offering Free Access
Due to a large number of school closures, this Google Sheet has a list of education companies that are offering free subscriptions due to school closures. Squared Away does not own this sheet Away; it is a resource from a school Librarian within the United States.
Scholastic Learn at Home
Scholastic launched a free Learn at Home Program on their website. You can search by grade level (Kindergarten through Grade 6+) for free resources and tools. There is currently one week of content on the website, with fifteen more days currently being prepared.
Cosmic Kids Yoga
Learn about mindfulness and relaxation with Cosmic Kids Yoga. The company is currently offering a 2-week free trial period.
Letter Activities
- This list provides educational activities that encourage wind-down time for 3-year olds.
2. Dirt Play Dough & Rock Writing
- You can try this with shapes, too!
- Letter activities for preschoolers can be uniquely engaging when kids have the chance to use materials they love. Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls shares their natural playdough recipe via this post. Substitute rocks, beads, beads, marbles, buttons, or whatever you have on hand for making the letters.
4. Sprinkle Sensory Writing Bag, By Active Littles
- Sprinkles are such a fun and colorful filler for this writing bag. Using popsicle sticks as a writing tool is such a great way to ensure your kiddos’ letter creations come out clearly.
- This idea can easily be adapted to whatever materials you have at home. Have your preschooler find a letter in a sensory bin and place it on a page. Besides the message, they can try to write it, and then they can draw a picture of something that begins with that letter. Organize the page; however, you’d like, leaving enough room for your child’s letter writing and drawings. Alphabet activities for kids come in all shapes and sizes
Art Activities
- Paint/color by number activities
- BCPK
- AllKidsNetwork
- Education.com
- Crayola
- Fun Photo Collages
- Contact Paper Mandalas
- Use contact paper, tissue paper (cut into shapes) and create fun mandala designs using mandala templates
- Paper Crafts for Kids
Miscellaneous Activities
- These have a lot of different free printable resources for printable counting, letter & shape activities
- Supplies-Container for the “pond,” paper fish, dowel rods, string & magnets.
- Tie string to dowel rod & magnet, tape/glue magnets to the fish/sea creature cut-outs
3. Educational Worksheets by Grade Level
4. Indoor Treasure Hunt for Children
5. 21 Fun and Easy Recipes for Baking With Kids
6. The Disney Bounding Challenge
- Give your kiddos a character/theme/prompt, and let them use clothes/objects in the house to create their outfits! Take a picture of each complete outfit, and make a collage at the end!
8. Library Trip
- Go to your local branch and let the kid choose their books; that way, you have a pile of new books ready to go! We recommend following all local and Government-issued travel and quarantine plans.
8. Have your Child/Children Write a Play
- They can practice in another room or other space where you have quiet while they work on it. Have them perform for you while you take a break! (Dance choreography is another good one for this! Keep the song on repeat!)
STEM Activities
- Easy enough for little hands to use, but bigger kids will enjoy building complex creations. From Powerful Mothering.
5. Oobleck
- A super fun activity (a little messy, but easy to clean) for all age kids. Let the littles play with it and challenge the older kids to figure out if they think it is a solid or a liquid (let them slap/punch the bowl of oobleck).
If you are currently working remotely, we have a guide on best practices that the Squared Away team has followed since we started.
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