By Saskia Nilsen RITES learning specialist and education advocate

Try something fun each day. You’ve got this!

Keep your child learning and achieving goals, while also social distancing and working from home yourself. Below are ideas to support parents at home to help your children get started with digital learning, as well as other ideas for activities and hands-on learning.

Hands-On Science 

•       Janet Van Cleave experiments https://scienceprojectideasforkids.com/
•       Junk Drawer Physics https://www.amazon.com/Junk-Drawer-Physics-Awesome-Experiments/dp/1613749201
•       Order something to dissect off Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Young-Scientists-Brain-Dissection-Kit/dp/B003HMESRY/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=disect+sheep&qid=1584719135&sr=8-2
•       Build a model of a cell, DNA, the solar system, catapult
•       Odyssey of the Mind challenges https://www.odysseyofthemind.com/past-problems/
•       Start an indoor garden or seedlings – order seeds online

Math Ideas

•       Fraction baking or cooking https://www.education.com/activity/article/Bake_Fractions_middle/
•       Woodworking projects https://cutthewood.com/inspiration/woodworking-projects-kids
•       Sewing projects  https://hellosewing.com/30-fun-easy-sewing-projects-kids/
•       Sidewalk chalk math  http://momitforward.com/math-reading-sidewalk-chalk-activities/
•       Math geometry aerobics  https://teacherblog.co/?p=254
•       How many ways can you measure your pet? https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=measuring+penny&view=detail&mid=62B7BF7320A0AC18269362B7BF7320A0AC182693&FORM=VIRE
•       Sudoku and other math puzzles as warm-ups  https://websudoku.com/

Language Arts Hands-on Activities

•     Check out Audible’s free website for kids https://www.audible.com/ep/kids-audiobooks
•     Read and perform a play – take on multiple   characters at once or use homemade puppets
•     Draw a picture of a character or scene from the current book, while listening to audio
•     Make a Jeopardy game to review key details after a couple of chapters
•       Take a ”virtual” trip by reading a book set far away and research the location
•       Write an email to relatives and friends to keep them updated
•       Write a song, script or play good old Charades
•       Send in a book review to be published online

 Social Studies Activities

•       Make a historical timeline of important events on your hallway wall and add pictures
•       Dress up from different time periods
•       Build dioramas or models of historical events
•       Make a meal from a country you are studying
•       Draw a map, real or imaginary
•       Create a “National Treasure” hunt where students have to research an answer to find the next clue
•       Find all the quarters in your house and see how many states you have by matching to a map 
•       Make a family tree, complete with historical time period information
•       Read or listen to a historical fiction novel https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/650.Best_Children_s_Historical_Fiction
•       Make your own crash-course video!

By incorporating just a few of these ideas into your daily life, you’ll find it sparks further creativity.  You and your kids may even start coming up with ever-more interesting ways to tackle subjects that become a part of your lasting, fond family memories!