Hello everyone!
Hope you all are well and keeping safe.
We are on the last week of Easter break. The times we are going through had made us to stay indoors for the safety of every single one of us. Most of the parents are teaching and tutoring their children themselves. And some of us like me, decided to give some break.
So I thought before schools start back – physical or online – I’ll share some fun indoor activity ideas. Keeping children busy with useful experiments and games helps them to discover their talents and abilities, and boosts their learning.
Here some fun ideas:
1. Free online museum tours
One of the benefits of quarantine for me has been the chance of virtual touring through some of the world’s greatest museums. I think both parents and children shouldn’t miss this opportunity. Artefacts, paintings and statues will tutor children with their history and art learning. Please find below links to some of the museums:
- British museum, London https://britishmuseum.withgoogle.com/
- National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/national-gallery-of-art-washington-dc?hl=en
- Musée d’Orsay, Paris https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/musee-dorsay-paris?hl=en
- National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/national-museum-of-modern-and-contemporary-art-korea?hl=en
- Pergamon Museum, Berlin https://artsandculture.google.com/entity/pergamon/m05tcm?hl=en
- Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam https://artsandculture.google.com/streetview/rijksmuseum/iwH5aYGoPwSf7g?hl=en&sv_lng=4.885283712508563&sv_lat=52.35984312584405&sv_h=311.1699875145569&sv_p=-5.924133903625474&sv_pid=fOVcUXQW2wpRf33iUmxEfg&sv_z=1
- Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/van-gogh-museum?hl=en
- Uffizi Gallery, Florence https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/uffizi-gallery?hl=en
2. Set up home cinema
Every family has one movie that everyone enjoys. Pop some corns, take sweets and juices out and set a time for family movie evening. Sell tickets and snacks to your parents or to your kids and snuggle up for cosy cinema evening.
3. Meditation / self-reflection
Set-up a daily meditation and/or self-reflection time. This will help children to be ready for learning and parents to be ready for the “challenges” :)
Self-reflection and gratitude are the best values we can teach our children. Practising gratitude is something that teachers and tutors show their students. So why not to try it at home too?!
4. Arts and crafts
There is no need to give you a list of arts and crafts activities. Every parent knows their children well enough. Therefore bring that craft box out and let everyone practice their engineering skills. YouTube will guide and help you a lot.
5. Cooking and baking
Perfect time to teach children some cooking and baking skills. So many lovely recipes online nowadays that you can tutor your child almost professionally. I use BBC Good Food a lot with my son: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/collection/kids-cooking
6. Scientific experiments
Learning through experiments will help children to remember knowledge easily and add lots of fun to the learning process. Experiments develop planning and problem-solving skills in children. They become more aware of the structures of surroundings and encourage them to question everything. YouTube and BBC Bitesize are best places to refer.
7. Exercising
Yes of course! The most fun part of children’s break. Daily jogging, cycling or simple yoga stretches will keep everyone energized and happy. Also they won’t miss their PE lessons.
Surely there are more idea out there. Please share your activities with us too.
I really hope you’ll find this post helpful.
Stay safe and take care.
Afsana