Activities for Quarantine- Ideas!

[Soror]

So, we are not usually super busy but already I have had complaints.Sigh.

We are lucky to live in a rural area so we can play outside and will be gardening soon. We can ride bikes.

We have games to play that we all enjoy.

I'm thinking I need to get some new puzzles as we've enjoyed those as a family. 

What are you doing?

I'm trying to think of some new fun things to make this suck less for everybody, so please share your ideas!

Edited March 17, 2020 by soror

[chloefletcher]

This is my go to list:

• Card games
• Art and craft projects 
• Educational workbooks
• Board games
• Singing/dancing/acting
• Walks *summer only
• Swimming
• Baking
• Gardening
• Fly fishing *summer only
• Scrap booking
• Sewing/knitting/crochet etc
• Reading

What about your local library? Our local library organises a weekly singing event for toddlers every week. You could also try to see if there are any horseback riding lessons in your area or not. Also photography is another good hobby to have. 

[Carrie12345]

37 minutes ago, chloefletcher said:

This is my go to list:

• Card games
• Art and craft projects 
• Educational workbooks
• Board games
• Singing/dancing/acting
• Walks *summer only
• Swimming
• Baking
• Gardening
• Fly fishing *summer only
• Scrap booking
• Sewing/knitting/crochet etc
• Reading

What about your local library? Our local library organises a weekly singing event for toddlers every week. You could also try to see if there are any horseback riding lessons in your area or not. Also photography is another good hobby to have. 

I don’t want a horse in my living room.  😂 

[Emba]

Baking bread (kneading by hand to work off some energy)

origami

Following drawing tutorials 

baking cookies, making tortillas, crackers, homemade versions of other things we usually buy

calesthenics/body weight exercises (kept my jr. High boy busy for 45 minutes yesterday)

Musical instrument practice (and maybe making  videos of child playing instrument to send relatives)

[Elizabeth86]

We are watching a live video stream of local eagle chicks hatching.  🤣

[EmilyGF]

We've made a daily time sheet for all of us (me included), so there is no need to ask, "What next, mom?"

Our coop has set up an online class schedule.

The kids are setting up Skype play dates with their friends who live far away - a real treat for them!

I got out my boxed, out-of-rotation books and let the kids go book shopping. I expect DS8 to advance at least a grade level (or three...)  in reading during this time. I let each kid choose 15 books.

I am teaching DD11 to make sourdough bread. DS15 is learning to make normal bread. I had each child come up with a list of projects to work on during this time. They ranged from "Wash everything in my room so it stops stinking" (DS8) to "Write a play" (DD11) to "Set up a worm bin" (DS15). 

I'm requiring everyone to exercise daily and be outside daily, even if just in the backyard.

Music lessons are continuing remotely. 

Emily

[JustEm]

My kids and I have been enjoying the Mo Willems lessons each day so far (I particularly am fascinated when he shows his books during different phases of completion.)  That has sprouted into a lot of free time drawing. 

We're also playing lots of games, reading, playing outside, preparing garden beds, planting seedlings, and getting a bit of computer time.

My favorite new activity is that we've been doing an hour of writing a day together. In the last three days I've nearly completed the first chapter of my new book. If I didn't have the newborn in my arms while writing I'd likely be moving a bit faster but that's ok. If we keep this up I'll finish the book in the next 8 weeks during this self distancing ordeal. Ds11 has been writing flash sci-fi and I'm loving reading it.

[rebcoola]

My big girls want to

Build a playhouse

Cleaning out the area under the stairs to make a Harry Potter reading area. (Was supposed to happen when we moved in)

Fill a baby pool with oobleck.  

Paint their rooms.  

Put paint on the slip & slide to "dye" t-shirts.  

 

[EmilyGF]

8 minutes ago, hjffkj said:

My kids and I have been enjoying the Mo Willems lessons each day so far (I particularly am fascinated when he shows his books during different phases of completion.)  That has sprouted into a lot of free time drawing. 

We're also playing lots of games, reading, playing outside, preparing garden beds, planting seedlings, and getting a bit of computer time.

My favorite new activity is that we've been doing an hour of writing a day together. In the last three days I've nearly completed the first chapter of my new book. If I didn't have the newborn in my arms while writing I'd likely be moving a bit faster but that's ok. If we keep this up I'll finish the book in the next 8 weeks during this self distancing ordeal. Ds11 has been writing flash sci-fi and I'm loving reading it.

Oooh, do you have a link to these? That sounds great! 

[Meriwether]

I used some of the money we will now not be spending on my oldest Dd's trip to Spain to buy a few things for the kids. We are doing Andy and the Circus and Toby Tyler. I got a slack line we are going to set up for a tight rope and some juggling stuff. Hopefully that will keep them busy for awhile. I am considering buying mats for indoor sparring. That will be worth it if they can't go to the dojo for a month or two, not for a short amount of time. 

Edited March 17, 2020 by Meriwether

[JustEm]

1 hour ago, EmilyGF said:

Oooh, do you have a link to these? That sounds great! 

Episode 1 :https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RmzjCPQv3y8

Episode 2: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=30DCOgTGn_o

He's posting a new one every day at one pm. We've been viewing on YouTube because we've heard the site that is hosting it gets bogged down and people can't get on right away.

 

[mmasc]

Our list of ideas includes:

-read-shop the bookshelves and look at art books, science encyclopedias, etc (books that haven’t been looked at for a while)

-research something of interest to you

-www.artforkidshub.com
-free lit class online for two weeks of short stories 

-basketball (indoor or outdoor, weather permitting)

-walk/play with dogs (they’re bored too!)

-virtual field trips

-Netflix educational videos

-board games we haven’t played in a while

-outside time even if it’s just sitting on our porch

[ScoutTN]

My ds has school online now and dd is a homeschooler, so there is still a good chunk of time occupied by schoolwork.

But so far, we have taken long walks daily, worked on Scout/AHG badges, planned our garden, written real letters, done free online drawing lessons, and started a new, very hard puzzle. 

Tomorrow dd is baking cookies. 

[LarlaB]

My kids still have online school so we aren’t digging deep yet

DD rearranged her room 

DS made no knead artisan bread

DD made key lime pie

neighborhood walks

new art supplies for DD

DS helped DH with a rental camper project

practice driving for Dd16 (permit) 

we have exercise equipment so kids will use it... I won’t mandate it yet tho. DD uses it due to health issues 

And once the weather is closer to decent (we are in CO and it’s snowing this week)l and still a smidge too chilly at night) we will go tent camping.  The kids LOVE this!!!  

IF we hear that the school won’t be continuing with distance learning I will likely implement our schedule like summer....4 consecutive hours screen free time  (reading, cleaning, cooking, laundry  and exercise) and then free time. So my kids have that familiarity built in.

 

[cintinative]

Our nursing homes are no longer allowing visitors, so if you have little (or big) artists, having them create letters/cards and send them to the nursing homes is a great idea.  😃

[PeterPan]

Lakeshore Learning has a gr3-5 chain reactions set that we're really liking. Go for the master set, not the starter. 

I like your puzzles idea!! Have you seen the escape room puzzles? They're Ravensburger. Target might have them online.

Have you thought about cooking or sewing?

I have a dvd of magic tricks using cards, so it's easy to work on one a day. Then they can wow their friends after this break.  

Yoyo tricks

Balloon animals?

Really involved lego sets

Knex science education kits. There's one for roller coasters and you can combine more with the classic pieces (not micro) and make huge tracks. Also their ball machine. You can kill a week or two just assembling that, mercy.

I was thinking I ought to have one day a week where I help ds watch a video on youtube and learn how to tear apart something and repair or put it back together. We have an old hairdryer that doesn't work that I thought we'd start with.

Amazon has science kit subscriptions by age range, and they're pretty nice. Maybe your youngers would like that?

Scholastic is doing a bang up job with their "learn at home" page https://classroommagazines.scholastic.com/support/learnathome/grades-3-5.html 

They could start a debate club using the 50 Debate Prompts book from Scholastic. 50 Debate Prompts for Kids by Patrick Daley;Michael S. Dahlieshop.scholastic.com › teachers-ecommerce › teacher › books › 50-de...

They could make Christmas presents.

You probably need new curtains.

You definitely have cleaning you'd like done (by them).

You could declutter rooms, old toys, etc.

Fitness goals like couch25K for the oldest and 1 mile for the youngers. https://healthykidsrunningseries.org/healthy-families/mile-training-plan/  and https://content.nike.com/content/dam/one-nike/en_lu/SP16/Kids/PDF/Kids_Ready_Set_Go_Running_Guide.pdf

I don't know, we don't go out a lot for socializing. We're out for therapies, but even then it's like one day out, most days in. So to me, I'm just pretending this is normal. Now the loss of the library, that KILLS me. I got a ukelele from the library before they closed, so I'm a happy woman. I need to trim my nails so we can learn ukelele. 

Edited March 18, 2020 by PeterPan

[JustEm]

@PeterPan I was looking at that chain reaction set earlier today. Put it in my cart and everything. I just can't seem to bite the bullet and pay for it

[Emba]

I bought my 8 year old a spade to dig in the dirt with, my 14 yr old DD a book of sudoku puzzles, and gave my 12 yr old DS a copy of The Dangerous Book for Boys that I’d been hanging on to for just this sort of occasion. He saw that it had a few paper airplane instructions and was immediately intrigued.

[PeterPan]

2 hours ago, hjffkj said:

@PeterPan I was looking at that chain reaction set earlier today. Put it in my cart and everything. I just can't seem to bite the bullet and pay for it

Well if you have a Lakeshore store near you, they can at least get you free shipping. I think they would have used a coupon too, but I was using a coupon on another item. Yeah, it was a splurge, but it's really nicely done. It has the 12 components you build, which each have a (small) two page spread of variations, discussion questions, etc. So we discuss it (without showing him pics) to see if he can think up what might happen, use academic vocabulary (momentum, force, etc.), and then I show him the section with the list of pieces to see if he can figure out how he might build it. That suits him, and it leaves him exploring lots of variations and asking questions. After you work through the 12 components, then there are the challenge cards.

So is it months and months? Well not unless you do one a week or something, lol. Two for us was a nice day. I'm hoping we work it each day. The components are very well made and thoughtfully made. For instance, there are these grooves on the underside of the tracks and grooves on the joiners and stops. So it gave him a run for his money to think about why each piece was made that way and what he could do with it. The pieces are also durable, not flimsy. The cardboard box is the only weak point. 

So yes, expensive but nicely done. Honestly, ds is challenging to work with, trying to find materials that are engaging but don't tax his language deficits and can be broken into small chunks. So I plunk out for things from Lakeshore because they come with those chunks already obvious (do a card a day, that kind of thing). You're not going to win and feel like it was a great *value* because you're paying for quality/durability meant for schools. But since it has the features I need and will get us many weeks of interaction (18 sessions at least), it's a win. And it actually has in the materials that they're working on perserverance, which is a real issue for my ds. That ability to stick with something and try another way and not get flustered or give up. So it's hitting my goals on a lot of levels. 

But yeah, if your kid doesn't need chunks/breaks, doesn't need to work on sticking with a task that is hard, can do complex things independently, etc., you may be like wow he flew through the entire kit in a week. My ds can't hold it together emotionally to do that, so this will last us many weeks. But if your kid is building 3k piece lego sets by himself, yeah he's going to go through the kit pretty quickly. I still think it's cool though. The science is good and thoughtful. 

Just a story, but when ds got into the kit later, he started playing and building things, figures, as is his habit. I don't think he has yet figured out the idea that he's building components for a sequence of actions/reactions. It's a totally new concept for him.

[JustEm]

@PeterPan thank you for the great description. It sounds perfect for one of my kids and the rest would enjoy it just in a different way. We have a science lab from Lakeshore and I love the way they have a card for each experiment. It makes it less overwhelming for my high anxiety science lover.

I just may purchase it.

[ScoutTN]

This book is fun for older kids!

Redeemed Reader has great booklists up, for people who are good with a Christian worldview. 
 

[fairfarmhand]

My girls (age 15 and 18) made an enormous blanket fort in the attic of our garage. Yes, theyre older teens but a blanket fort was their choice of things to do. It was way cushier than the ones they made when they were little. Throw pillows, fairy lights, decor, etc.