Working from home: Activities for children
If you are trying to work from home with children, it is a great idea to schedule in some activities for them to do everyday, so you can get some work done whilst they are busy. With this in mind, our teams have been sharing some of the activities their children have been doing to keep them and their brains active and distracted whilst they try to get some work done.
If you have found any amazing resources or activities that your children are really enjoying, please share them with us on our LinkedIn page or by getting in touch. We hope our ideas help you and your ideas help us!
Recreational resources
Free online colouring templates – you will need a printer for these: http://www.squidoodleshop.com/freebies
Audible has made all of its children’s audio books free for as long as the schools are closed, so there are hundreds of hours of free listening time Children's Audiobooks Audio Books | Audible.co.uk
Also, if your children are fans of David Walliams, he is doing a story at 11am everyday and you can listen to it throughout the day. https://www.worldofdavidwalliams.com/elevenses/
Educational resources
Readingeggs.co.uk is a great resource to help your children learn to read. However, after the 30 day free trial it does go up to £6.99 per month
https://ed.ted.com/parent – Ted Ed is an excellent free resource where you can compile child friendly Ted Talks into lesson plans for your children. Definitely worth a look to get them watching something educational. We even learnt a thing or two!
The Maths Factor https://www.themathsfactor.com – Usually £2 a week, this resource has been made free during lockdown. Created by Countdown star, Carol Voderman, the platform involves videos, games and practise levels to help teach curriculum maths to 4-12 year olds.
If your children love animals, then Chester Zoo is opening its virtual doors everyday on their youtube channel – showing live feeding times and some of the animals antics whilst the zoo is closed.
https://www.pobble365.com – A tool for some creative writing fun. It explores how a single picture can trigger a whole heap of ideas and stories.
The Government are also launching a great resource of lessons recorded by teachers. These are going to be published under the banner of Oak National Academy.
Social resources
Board games where you don’t have to keep your hand private can all be played over video call with friends and family. Games like Monopoly, Scrabble, Snakes and Ladders and Chess are perfect, as long as one of you has the board game and you nominate a dice roller.
The Dash and Find Game: Works best with more than two teams over video call. The object of the game is to race each other to find a specific item in the house and bring it back to show to the camera. One person needs to be the caller and to look out for the winner in each round. We have played this with finding specific items like teddy bears or toothbrushes, and it also works very well with coloured items of the rainbow.
If you have anymore resources to add to the list, please get in touch.