*This post originally appeared on Instagram. Please connect with me there @lesliemmartino to be able to engage effectively with the links.
Whether you’ve been homeschooling for a while or have recently been inducted into this world, these days ahead might leave you wanting for activities to do with your children. Here is a list (in no particular order) of 22 activities you can do anytime. It encompasses ideas for a wide range of ages, so not all may be appropriate for you. I tried to link to previous Instagram posts through the use of hashtags in order to provide more information or ideas. I hope this helps anyone who is interested!
1. Sparkle Stories or audiobooks while drawing, painting, building (Magnatiles, Lego, wooden blocks), or working a puzzle.
2. Math squares (you can find printable ones online) or other math games like addition and subtraction war (with playing cards).
3. Make ground displays of symmetry you find in nature outside.
4. Create equations (simple or complex) outside with rocks, sticks, leaves, etc. Check out @wildmathcurriculum for other outdoor math ideas.
5. Nature observations and journaling – Search this hashtag to find a post with examples: #martinoacademy_naturejournaling
6. Painting while listening to different kinds of music – classical, jazz, instrumental, etc.
7. Handcrafts like finger knitting or sewing – Search these hashtags to see posts for ideas and resources we use: #martinoacademy_sewing #martinoacademy_fingerknitting
8. Online science documentaries for kids from YouTube or Netflix
9. Free, extended play with loose parts – Search this hashtag to find the post with a more full description: #martinoacademy_looseparts
10. Homemade playdough or slime. Stamp nature items, toys, or loose parts into it. Or, make representations of things you find outside – Search the hashtag #martinoacademy_playdough for one idea.
11. Poetry Tea Time – Search this hashtag to find a post for inspiration: #martinoacademy_poetryteatime. Also be sure to check out @poetryteatime.
12. Reader’s theater – choose a passage from a favorite book to act out with minimal or no props.
13. Start a blog – Consider what you already spend a lot of time doing and write about it. Make it something that you do together.
14. Take nature pictures outside and write a limerick, haiku, sonnet, concrete poem, acrostic, or free verse to go with it. Try a different poetic style out on different days.
15. Board games – Spend time together playing different games. Try to create an original game together.
16. Strategy games like Chess or Mancala
17. Watch a historical film geared towards kids, choose a crucial moment together, and offer interior monologues (verbal or written) of what the characters involved might have been thinking or feeling.
18. Create a Lego maze and have the creator guide someone else through the maze with a series of simple steps and directions.
19. Create a marble chute with empty cereal boxes, paper towel rolls, toilet paper rolls, or other recyclable materials.
20. Collect sticks from outside and build with them – bridges, forts, houses, etc.
21. Use playdough to create figures for a stop motion video (download a stop motion app).
22. Initiate a Project Time where kids can explore a variety of materials of their choice or pursue an interest to which they are drawn – Search the hashtag #martinoacademy_projecttime for inspiration.
