Having your kids learning from home because of school closures due to the Covid-19 pandemic can be an intimidating experience. Christa Craats, the coordinator of the Canadian International School’s (CIS) innovative Open Minds program, has designed some fun, Open Minds-inspired activities you can do at home with your kids to help keep them busy and still enjoy the love of learning.
Here are 4 Engaging Kids Activities to keep your kids learning:
Activity 1: Secret base
Ask your child to draw a detailed map of your home or garden. Get them to imagine it has become a secret base where they can go to hide and escape. Where would the secret tunnels be? Where would they lead to? Where would the secret portals be? What secret potential do the items in your base have? This is bound to keep them busy for quite a while!
Activity 2: Thankful journal
Why not ask your child to take some time each day to think about what they are thankful for? Maybe it’s their family, or the yummy strawberries they ate for a snack. Encourage them to use their imagination and find an interesting and creative way to keep track of what they’re thankful for.
Activity 3: Let’s Get Interviewing!
Get your child to choose an object from your home or garden to interview. It could be their shoes, a plant or Dad’s smelly socks….. Ask them to write down what questions they would ask their chosen object and how they think it would then reply.
Activity 4: Alter your reality
Give your child a pair of glasses and get them to pretend it changes what they see through them. How would the glasses change the way they see the world and the things in it? For example, what happens when they put on a pair of glasses that change everyday objects into music DJs? Perhaps their bedroom light will play “You light up my life” or the map on their wall “I’ve Got the Whole World in my hands”.
