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The last month has been crazy with so many people adjusting to not only working from home but also now facilitating school for their kids. Whether your child’s school has implemented virtual classes or your school district has decided to end the school year early, these activities for kids at home will keep them busy. Many of these resources are free or at a reduced price but all have been keeping me sane while working from home with two kids. Funny enough we use many of these resources when we’re traveling with our kids to keep the traditional education going.
Teachers Offering Free Classes On YouTube and Facebook
Preschool Circle Time with Ms. Monica
Ms. Monica has been an early childhood educator for the last 18 years. She recently started uploading 15-25 minute circle time videos for preschoolers. My four year old is obsessed and every morning wakes up asking to watch circle time. Videos are uploaded to Ms. Monica’s YouTube Channel Monday-Friday at 8AM, watch her channel here.
Music for Minis with Miss Sarah
I don’t know what kid doesn’t like music! While you can just play music on any streaming platform we’ve been tuning into Miss Sarah’s music class on Facebook. Her class is live Tuesdays and Thursdays at 11AM EST, however she saves the videos and you can watch them anytime. She plays the guitar and gets the kids involved throughout this 30-45 minute class. You can join her Facebook Group here.
Miss Megan’s Kindergarten Camp
Miss Megan has been a Godsend! She is a Kindergarten teacher who has been offering one hour lessons via Facebook Live. This daily hour has provided a lot of structure for our four year old which has been much appreciated. The class is live Monday-Friday from 10AM-11AM EST but she saves each video so you can put it on when it’s most convenient with your child. You can join her Facebook Group here.
Ms Nicole Canta’s Spanish Class
My eldest daughter is in a dual language program at school for Spanish. Unfortunately there is only so much we can help her with this at home. Thankfully I found Ms Nicole Canta on Facebook. She offers the lessons sporadically but you can find them all on her page here.
El Show 123 Andres
Another Facebook Live show that helps my daughter with Spanish is El Show 123 Andres. They post three new episodes each week but there doesn’t seem to be a set schedule. Still you can watch all the old videos whenever you want and there are plenty to keep your child busy even if you can’t catch them live.
Learning Apps/Workbooks
Hooked on Phonics: Learn to Read for Kids 3-8
Thirty years ago my parents invested in Hooked on Phonics for me to learn to read. Now I use it with my children. For the past two years we’ve been using it to teach our eldest to read. She’s a 5 year old kindergarten student and reading at a 2nd grade level. We couldn’t be happier with the progress she’s made! Right now they’re offering the first month for $1 to try out, sign up here.
Now, her sister is following along in her footsteps! Since our daughter was 3 when we bought the program we purchased the entire bundle which includes Pre-K through the Second Grade. If your child is older or you think you won’t need all levels you can purchase each level individually, although the bundle works out to be cheaper. The bundle comes with DVDs, workbooks, flash cards, reading books and more.
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ABC Mouse: Reading, Math & Science for Kids 2-8
ABC Mouse is an educational app for kids 2-8 years old. It goes over reading, math & science and also has an assessment your child can take to determine what they’re doing really well at and what areas of improvement they have that they should focus on. It’s interactive for the kids and if your child knows how to use an iPad they can pretty much maneuver it on their own.
They’re currently offering several deals, one month free, two months for $5 and one year for $45. Each account allows up to three children to use the same one, each getting their own profile so when they use it it’s catered to their age. You can be logged in on multiple devices at once, iPads, phones or the computer so if you have multiple children they can all be on at once.
Adventure Academy: Reading, Math & Science for Kids 8-13
The creators of ABC also created Adventure Academy for older kids 8-13 to assist with homeschooling or if your child needs extra help after school. Adventure Academy is offering the same deals, one month free, two months for $5, and $45 for one year. While my kids are 4 and 5 years old so we haven’t used this level yet if it’s anything like it’s counterpart ABC Mouse, it’s totally worth it!
Amazon Kindle: Free Books for Kids
Amazon Kindle is currently having a promotion for a two free month trial (sign up here). During this trial you can read as many books as you can that are offered on Kindle. The best part is you don’t actually need a Kindle, I just downloaded the free app on my phone and iPad.
One of their favorite books has been the kids cooking book Super Simple Baking for Kids. They enjoyed making the Apple Cinnamon Oat Bread from it and well I enjoyed eating it!
Learning Games/Activities for Kids
Sight Words Bingo
My daughter used to play this game in preschool and we got one for our home. It’s Bingo but made educational so while we’re working on sight words we’re also having fun! The company that makes this also makes Bingo games for the alphabet, number recognition, addition, multiplication, Spanish words and so much more. You can see all the versions they offer here.
Letter/Number Tracing
My four year old is still learning how to write and we use these Wipe Clean Letter and Number books. We’ve had them since our older daughter was younger and I love that since they wipe clean we’ve been able to reuse the same ones for years.
Kids Charades
Charades while seems like it’s only a fun game definitely teaches kids how to act things out and use non-verbal communication. We love the Charades for Kids game because even non-readers can play. Each card has three words you can choose from to act out and the first one is always a picture so non-readers can see what it is without needing help.
Monkey Balance
Monkey Balance helps kids with math, from number recognition to addition. There are 3 levels of cards depending on where they are in their math journey, 10 numbers, and then monkeys which are used to balance out the pendulum so the child knows when they’ve answered the question correctly.
I don’t know about you guys but I’ve been ordering a lot more things on Amazon these days. I never had a Prime account before because it wasn’t worth it based on my spending but oh how quickly that has changed. Even though i graduated college 10 years ago I still have my student email address and with that I was able to sign up for the Amazon Student Prime free trial which lasts for 6 months! If you don’t have a student email you can still sign up for a free one month Amazon Prime account here.
I don’t know about you guys but I’ve been ordering a lot more things on Amazon these days. I never had a Prime account before because it wasn’t worth it based on my spending but oh how quickly that has changed. Even though i graduated college 10 years ago I still have my student email address and with that I was able to sign up for the Amazon Student Prime free trial which lasts for 6 months! If you don’t have a student email you can still sign up for a free one month Amazon Prime account here.
Arts & Crafts for Kids
Coloring Books
For art class the girls have been coloring and painting in the coloring and activity books we have. These are some of our favorite ones.
Making Slime
We made slime for our art class one day and it was so much fun and quite entertaining. We ordered this inexpensive slime kit and went at it!
Outdoor Fun for Kids
Outdoor Picnic
If you’re lucky enough to have a backyard spice up lunch or dinner time with a backyard picnic. Kids really don’t need much to keep them entertained. We surprised our daughters with this outdoor picnic and they had so much fun and were so thankful. It’s the little things.
Backyard Pool Party
Even though we have a small backyard we’re making it work! I ordered this kiddie pool from Target for $20 and it was money well spent! We had our own backyard pool party and you couldn’t tell the kids they weren’t at a nice community pool.
Who remembers going down a slip n slide as a kid? I had so much fun doing this we got one for our girls as well. It was their special Spring Break activity but we’ve been using it every week since then. We got this triple racer one with three lanes.
Backyard Camping
Since all traveling has been cancelled we’ve been trying to find ways to keep the adventure alive at home. One way is by doing some backyard camping. If you don’t have a backyard you can also do this in the living room. Either way you can read about all the fun activities you can do backyard or living room camping here.
Fun Fitness Activities for Kids
If you don’t have the luxury of having a backyard or don’t want to go outside at all but still want to keep the kids active these activities are great.
Cosmic Kids Yoga
Cosmic Kids Yoga is a channel on YouTube which offers yoga for kids. My girls are absolutely obsessed and I never expected them to enjoy yoga. The videos are often themed with various kids movies like Frozen, Beauty and the Beast and more.
Just Dance Now
We downloaded the Just Dance Now app on our AppleTV and it is so much fun! Basically there are a ton of songs and it gives you a dance routine for each one. There are various levels depending on easy or hard it is for you to catch on. Plus there are songs all kids love like Baby Shark and Let it Go. You get points for how well you mimic the moves!
Super Hero Workouts
We discovered these recently and my kids love them. They’ve done the Black Panther one every day this week but also love the Frozen one, Superwoman and the many others. The workouts are short, roughly 5 minutes so very easy for kids of all ages to stay focused.
These activities have been keeping us sane while spending so much time at home. I hope they’re helpful to you and your family! I’ll update this list as I discover more things that are a hit in our home! If you found this article helpful please share it!
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