Keeping the kids happy when working from home

This can be a challenging time at home for everyone. Trying to juggle your day job while keeping the kids occupied and entertained is certainly going to add to everyone’s stress. What follows are some simple practices to help keep a sense of calm where everyone can co-exist during these uncertain times.

Establish a routine

Children, young and old, thrive on routine. It gives their day a structure and helps keep boundaries in check. Let young kids co-create a wall chart that details the daily schedules for all the family. This will help maintain quiet times, family mealtimes, and rest times. It might take a day or two to establish these new routines but it will be well worth the effort.

Keeping them occupied

Small children like to feel useful so giving them simple tasks to carry out will keep them happy.

• Empty out a kitchen or bedroom drawer and ask them to “sort” the contents out
• Setting up treasure hunts in the garden or the local green spaces can help with fitting in exercise and fresh air into the day while using up all their excess energy
• Making a den with old sheets and chairs can create a new magical space for them to play. They can hide out here with their toys and their imagination for hours

There are lots of great websites to help with keeping toddlers and kids of all ages educated and occupied:

• GoNoodle designed to get kids exercising at home.
• A good way to explain the virus and the importance of  hand washing is to show them this video clip or better still re-create it as an experiment and let them try it out.
• Marvel artist from Cork, Will Sliney, who has drawn Spider-Man and now works on Star Wars comics set up a new challenge each day on his YouTube channel at 2.00pm WeWilldraw.
• There are great learning platforms online and one of the biggest is Kahoot which is free to use and gives access to millions of free learning games for the entire family
• Learning a new skill or language on Youtube is a great way to spend an hour a day for all ages.
• Lots of museums now offer online tours – what a great way to while away some time while broadening their education.  See this one that covers twelve world class museum visits.
• Is your local library closed?  No problem, here’s a great elibrary resource which will provide hours of reading and entertainment to kids of all ages.

Be sure to check out the full list of resources at the end of the article.

Connectivity

Connecting with grandparents and other family members, as well as friends, using online technology has never been more important.  Setting up regular “Skype” or “Facetime” chats will benefit all of us and ensure we reduce the feelings of isolation and loneliness communities are facing.  Perhaps grandparents can “Skype” at bedtimes and read goodnight stories each night?  Getting groups of young children to connect with their best friends and peers regularly will help maintain the fun elements of each day and has never been easier to set up.

Family time

Creating a hour or two per day for family activities will be a necessary part of any new routine.  Here are some easy ways to have together as a family:

• Preparing the family meal – getting everyone involved from the choosing of the meal/recipe, chopping the veg, laying the table, and clearing away. Capitalise on the extra time at home to make meal times count
• Movie night – have regular movie nights which allow each member of the family to pick their favourite movie
• Board games – now is the time to dust off the Monopoly and Pictionary.Kids love this time with their parents when everyone comes together and all devices are turned off and put away
• Getting outside – having regular excursions outside to the park, the beach and any green spaces is a great way to spend quality family time while enjoying some fresh air and exercise!

The first few days of this schedule may seem a little awkward as we all get used to our new “normal” but children are so adaptable and will follow our lead.  Before long, when they see us relax into the new schedule, they will too. This structure of activities and routines will help keep us all productive and appropriately challenged. We may even find we all benefit considerably from this extra time together – here’s hoping!

Extra resources

• World Book Online have just made their collection of over 3,000 ebooks and audiobooks available for free for children to access at home. They have books suitable for all ages. Click on the following link to access them. https://worldbook.kitaboo.com/reader/worldbook/index.html…
• Actor Josh Gad Is Reading Books to Kids Online Every Night During Coronavirus Quarantines. https://chipandco.com/actor-josh-gad-is-reading-books-to-kids-online-every-night-during-coronavirus-quarantines-383789/?fbclid=IwAR2MvdsfU7CKHMUSQw3j84lC83mUus9VWoC-2TrybTAvhgTlOcvguqVsnk8
• You can now download over 300,000 books from the NYPL for free: https://www.timeout.com/newyork/news/you-can-now-download-over-300-000-books-from-the-nypl-for-free-031820
• Stuck at Home? These 12 Famous Museums Offer Virtual Tours You Can Take on Your Couch (Video) https://www.travelandleisure.com/attractions/museums-galleries/museums-with-virtual-tours?utm_medium=social&utm_term=59F3F59E-653B-11EA-938E-3D9296E8478F&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=travelandleisure_travelandleisure&utm_content=link&fbclid=IwAR2SKLUqtJ3RwzZN_T72GNWmMdnL_u_VzK-jc8XsJoD4n60qWocvKj_Cs2Y
• Coding for kids during school closures: https://www.tynker.com/?fbclid=IwAR1YfXhVlHvIcagAg3cE5AR_sfe6pMbvyHujh-prjPEsL_ViaFpMDvHqnUM
• The San Diego Zoo has a website just for kids with amazing videos, activities, and games. Enjoy the tour! https://kids.sandiegozoo.org/
• Tour Yellowstone National Park! https://www.nps.gov/…/lea…/photosmultimedia/virtualtours.htm
• Explore the surface of Mars on the Curiosity Rover. https://accessmars.withgoogle.com/
• This Canadian site FarmFood 360 offers 11 Virtual Tours of farms from minks, pigs, and cows, to apples and eggs. https://www.farmfood360.ca/
• Indoor Activities for busy toddlers https://busytoddler.com/2020/03/indoor-activities/…
• Play games and learn all about animals https://switchzoo.com/
• Play with fave show characters and learn too https://pbskids.org/
• Travel to Paris, France to see amazing works of art at The Louvre with this virtual field trip. https://www.louvre.fr/en/visites-en-ligne
• This Virtual Tour of the Great Wall of China is beautiful and makes history come to life. https://www.thechinaguide.com/destinati…/great-wall-of-china
• Math and Reading games https://www.funbrain.com/
• Phonics skills https://www.starfall.com/h/
• This iconic museum located in the heart of London allows virtual visitors to tour the Great Court and discover the ancient Rosetta Stone and Egyptian mummies. https://britishmuseum.withgoogle.com/
• Read, play games, and hang out with Dr. Seuss https://www.seussville.com/
• 300,000+ FREE printable worksheets from toddlers to teens https://www.123homeschool4me.com/home-school-free-printabl…/
• Geography and animals https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/
• Math practice from counting to algebra and geometry http://www.mathscore.com/
• Fave kids books read by famous people https://www.storylineonline.net/
• Crafts, activities, mazes, dot to dot, etc, https://www.allkidsnetwork.com/
• High school chemistry topics https://www.acs.org/…/hi…/chemmatters/articles-by-topic.html
• Math and reading games https://www.abcya.com/
• Math and language games https://www.arcademics.com/
• Hands on Elem science videos https://www.backpacksciences.com/science-simplified
• Voice based learning... learn through Alexa https://bamboolearning.com/resources
• Fun games, recipes, crafts, activities https://www.highlightskids.com/
• ClickSchooling brings you daily recommendations by email for entertaining websites that help your kids learn. https://clickschooling.com/
• Math as a fun part of your daily family routine http://bedtimemath.org/
• Games to get "into the book" https://reading.ecb.org/
• Online history classes for all ages preteen through adults https://school.bighistoryproject.com/bhplive
• Biology https://www.biologysimulations.com/
• Elem Math through 6th grade https://boddlelearning.com/
• Educational games K-12 https://www.breakoutedu.com/funathome
• Digital archive of history https://www.bunkhistory.org/
• Test Prep for SAT, ACT, etc. https://www.bwseducationconsulting.com/handouts.php
• Geometry https://www.canfigureit.com/
• Resources for Spanish practice https://www.difusion.com/campus/
• Chinese learning activities https://chalkacademy.com/
• Music is for everyone https://musiclab.chromeexperiments.com/Experiments
• Science, Math, Social Studies https://www.ck12.org/student/
• Grammar practice for middle grades https://www.classroomcereal.com/
• Daily free science or cooking experiment to do at home.http://www.clubscikidzmd.com/blog/
• Chemistry https://www.playmadagames.com/
• Reading passages for grades 3-12, with reading comprehension and discussion questions. https://www.commonlit.org/
• Vocabulary, grammar, listening activities and games in Spanish, French, Italian, German, Portuguese, Korean, and Latin. https://conjuguemos.com/
• 35,000 pages of online content on the cultures and countries of the world. https://www.countryreports.org/
• K-5th Science lessons https://mysteryscience.com/
• Tons of free classes from leading universities and companies https://www.coursera.org/
• Free printable K-8 Reading and Math activity packs (available in English and Spanish) https://www.curriculumassociates.com/supporting-students-aw…
• Digital learning content for preschool through high school https://www.curriki.org/
• A wide range of math content from middle school through AP Calculus. https://deltamath.com/overview
• Day-by-day projects to keep kids reading, thinking, and growing. https://classroommagazines.scholastic.com/…/learnathome.html
• 3 Free Weeks of Maker Stations to keep your children creating at home! Each challenge includes simple instructions using materials around the house, QR code video resources, and a student recording sheet. bit.ly/freemakerstations
• Classes for older teens or adults https://www.thegreatcoursesplus.com/lp/t1/freemo…
• Online homeschool platform & curriculum for Pre-K to 12th grade. All main subjects are covered, plus extra curriculum courses. http://discoveryk12.com/dk12/
• Printable board games, activities and more for phonics and reading all using evidence-based methods. Can be customized to any student's needs including creating flashcards for other subjects. https://dogonalogbooks.com/printables/
• K-8 online math program that looks at how a student is solving problems to adjust accordingly and build a unique learning path for them. https://www.dreambox.com/at-home
• Engaging reading game for grades 2-8 that combines strategy, engagement, and imaginative reading passages to create a fun, curriculum-aligned literacy game. https://www.squigglepark.com/dreamscape/
• Higher level math series... online video series with detailed solutions to more than a thousand publicly-released College Board SAT Math, Subject Test Math Level 1, and Subject Test Math Level 2 problems.https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbQoCpvYRYRkRRvsObOPHaA…
• Foreign languages https://www.duolingo.com/
• Interactive video earth science based curriculum supplement. https://www.everyday-earth.com/
• A safe research site for elementary-level readers. They are offering -- free 24/7 access USERNAME: read (case sensitive) PASSWORD: read (case sensitive) https://www.facts4me.com/
• Resources for AP students including live reviews, live trivia, and study guides! https://app.fiveable.me/
• Educational brain breaks to help students review essential literacy and math skills, while getting in some exercise. Find over 900 videos to help your child keep learning at home and burn off some extra energy. Our site is best used for ages 4-8. https://fluencyandfitness.com/register/school-closures/
• Movement and mindfulness videos created by child development experts. https://www.gonoodle.com/
• 7,000 free videos in 13 subject areas https://hippocampus.org/
• Carmen Sandiego videos, stories, and lessons for all subject areas https://www.carmensandiego.com/resources/
• Math Videos with lessons, real life uses of math, famous actors https://www.hmhco.com/math-at-work
• Entertaining & educational videos for all levels and subjects https://www.izzit.org/index.php
• Online education program for toddler through high school... https://www.khanacademy.org/
• Free Printables for PreK-2nd Grade https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/…/Lite…/Price-Range/Free
• Free printables library with activities for children 0-6 https://www.littlesparkcompany.com/printables-library
• Free at-home kids yoga lesson plans https://littletwistersyoga.com/online-store/
• Magic Spell is a carefully crafted spelling adventure. https://brainbox.games/
• Resources for AP students https://marcolearning.com/
• Enter your math problem or search term, press the button, and they show you the step-by-step work and answer instantly. 2nd grade through college. https://www.mathcelebrity.com/online-math-tutor.php
• Elem Math games, logic puzzles and educational resources https://www.mathplayground.com/
• Poetry and music https://www.thewell.world/mindful-mu…/mindful-poetry-moments
• 3D printing projects and Coding projects, involving math and other K-12 subjects https://www.instructables.com/…/EdgertonCent…/instructables/
• Introductory and intermediate music theory lessons, exercises, ear trainers, and calculators. https://www.musictheory.net/
• Scads of free resources, games, learning resources, and lesson plans for teaching personal finance https://www.ngpf.org/
• Improve your typing skills while competing in fast-paced races with up to 5 typers from around the world. https://www.nitrotype.com/
• Illustrated recipes designed to help kids age 2-12 cook with their grown-ups. Recipes encourage culinary skills, literacy, math, and science. https://www.nomsterchef.com/nomster-recipe-library
• Online curriculum that builds better writers. https://www.noredink.com/
• 80+ do at home science activities https://elementalscience.com/…/n…/80-free-science-activities
• Daily lessons and educational activities that kids can do on their own https://www.superchargedschool.com/
• Adaptive curriculum in Math and ELA for Grades K-8 https://www.scootpad.com/
• Novel Effect makes storytime a little more fun for kids (and grown-ups too!) As you read out loud from print books (or ebooks!) music, sound effects, and character voices play at just the right moment, adjusting and responding to your voice. https://noveleffect.com/
• Quick & easy at home projects curated for kids 2 and up https://www.kiwico.com/kids-at-home
• Teaches students how to write a paragraph through interactive online tutorial http://www.paragraphpunch.com/
• PreK-12 digital media service with more than 30,000 learning materials https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/
• Curricular content hub specifically designed for K-3 students. https://pebblego.com/free-pebblego-capstone-interactive-acc…
• Science and math labs and simulations https://phet.colorado.edu/
• An online physics problem and video bank designed for conceptual, standard, honors or AP1 physics. https://www.positivephysics.org/home
• Prodigies is a colorful music curriculum for kids 1-12 that will teach your kids how to play their first instrument, how to sing in tune & how to understand the language of music! 21 for free https://prodigiesmusic.com/
• Free videos from around the world from grade 3-12 https://www.projectexplorer.org/
• QuaverMusic is offering free access to general music activities to all impacted schools, including free student access at-home https://www.quavermusic.com/info/at-home-resources/
• For students to practice and master whatever they are learning. https://quizlet.com/
• ReadWorks is an online resource of reading passages and lesson plans for students of all levels K-12. https://www.readworks.org/
• Critical Thinking resources for K-6 students https://marketplace.mythinkscape.com/store/redtkids
• Music Based Spanish Learning https://rockalingua.com/
• Science simulations, scientist profiles, and other digital resources for middle school science and high school biology https://sepuplhs.org/
• The Shurley English program for grades K-8 provides a clear, logical, and concrete approach to language arts. https://www.shurley.com/
• Sight reading and sight singing practice exercises. https://www.sightreadingfactory.com/
• Music practice transformed https://www.smartmusic.com/
• Spellingcity is free right now with code VSCFree90 https://www.spellingcity.com/
• Kid-friendly workouts — choose from Strength for Kids, Agility for Kids, Flexibility and Balance for Kids, Warm-Up for Kids, Cooldown for Kids, Stand Up and Move for Kids, OR create your own custom kid workout. https://app.sworkit.com/collections/kids-workouts
• A collection of hundreds of free K-12 STEM resources, from standalone models and simulations to short activities and week long sequences of curriculum materials. https://learn.concord.org/
• Course sets (Levels 1–5) that combine and thoroughly cover phonics, reading, writing, spelling, literature, grammar, punctuation, art, and geography—all in one easy-to-use, beautiful course. https://www.goodandbeautiful.com/
• At home OT, PT, and ST resources designed to build skills in children through movement and play. https://www.theottoolbox.com/
• Science projects that can be completed with or without Internet access https://sciencespot.net/Pages/classhome.html
• Keyboarding practice https://www.typingclub.com/ or https://www.typing.com/
• Next Generation Science video game focused on middle school where students directly engage in science phenomena as they solve problems. https://www.tytoonline.com/
• Short videos and readings that answer various burning questions for students. There are vocabulary challenges and comprehension questions. http://wonderopolis.org/
• Math practice https://xtramath.org/#/home/index
• K-5 curriculum that builds deep understanding and a love of learning math for all students https://www.zearn.org/
• A quick start resource to help families pull together a plan for surviving the next 1-2 months at home with their kids, but it can also be a time of slowing down and enjoying kids as they learn. Preschool through 8th grade https://abetterwaytohomeschool.com/learning-at-home-everyth…
• 450 Ivy League courses that you can take https://www.freecodecamp.org/…/ivy-league-free-online-cou…/…
• Spelling 1-4 grade https://www.spellingtraining.com/
• 2,500+ online courses from top institutions https://www.edx.org/
• 22 languages to learn https://www.memrise.com/
• Learn to code https://www.codecademy.com/
• Miscellaneous games for all subjects k-8 https://www.funbrain.com/
• Phonics and learning to read https://readingeggs.com/
• PreK - 5 games for all subjects https://www.turtlediary.com/
• Online digital coloring pages https://www.thecolor.com/
• Every course you could possibly want to homeschool preschool - 8 https://allinonehomeschool.com/
• Every course you could possibly want to homeschool for high school https://allinonehighschool.com/
• Phonics worksheets for kids https://www.funfonix.com/
• Free stories online ages 3-12 https://www.freechildrenstories.com/
• National Geographic Young Explorers is a magazine designed specifically for kindergarten and first grade students. Children can listen to the magazine being read to them as they follow along with the highlighted text. https://ngexplorer.cengage.com/ngyoungexplorer/index.html
• Learn all about earthquakes https://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/kids/
• Learn all about the periodic table https://www.chemicool.com/
• Farmer's almanac for kids... Date, weather, moon phase, etc. https://www.almanac.com/kids
• Guide to gardening for kids https://web.extension.illinois.edu/firstgarden/
• Website allows students to play basic games to reinforce math skills and compete against the computer or others https://www.mangahigh.com/en-us/
• Space science for kiddos https://www.nasa.gov/kidsclub/index.html
• Math Games, Logic Puzzles and Brain Builders https://www.mathplayground.com/
• Games, quizzes and fact sheets take kids on a journey through time. https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/forkids/
• NGAkids interactives offer an entertaining and informative introduction to art and art history. https://www.nga.gov/education/kids.html
• News and more for kids https://www.youngzine.org/
• Randomly generates 356,300,262,144 story starters https://thestorystarter.com/
• Immerse yourself in cryptography https://www.cryptoclub.org/
• Math games galore https://gridclub.com/
• Tons of science experiments that you can do at home https://www.stevespanglerscience.com/lab/experiments/
• An interactive way to learn history https://www.mission-us.org/
• Just explore, have fun, and learn some science along the way. https://thehappyscientist.com/
• Interactive games based on the book series https://www.magictreehouse.com/
• Work on the 8 parts of speech https://www.grammaropolis.com/
• Learn all about cells https://www.cellsalive.com/
• All sorts of learning here if you dig in https://www.google.com/earth/
• Scratch draws students of all types into coding and lays a foundation for future learning. https://scratch.mit.edu/
• A wonderful, endlessly detailed way to get kids engaged in the world of art. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/online-features/metkids/
• Tests kids’ geography skills. Using images from Google’s Street View, it plops players down in the middle of the street and asks them to figure out where they are. https://www.geoguessr.com/
• Allows students to type in any city, state, or country to view an archive of historical photographs and other documents. It’s a unique way to help them learn about history. http://www.whatwasthere.com//
• Short videos about numbers that help kids explore complex math topics and make math more fun. https://www.numberphile.com/
• A human visualization platform that allows students to explore the human body in really cool ways. https://human.biodigital.com/login?returnUrl=/dashboard
• Helps kids learn to appreciate the arts by providing them with the opportunity to play games, conduct investigations, and explore different forms of art. https://artsology.com/
• Lets kids play instruments online. Instruments include the guitar, piano, pan flute, drums, and bongos. https://www.virtualmusicalinstruments.com/
• Crafts, activities, bulletin board designs, and finger plays for early education teachers and parents to use with kids. http://www.preschoolexpress.com/
• A large selection of fun songs to help teach preschool and kindergarten students https://www.songsforteaching.com/preschoolkindergarten.htm
• Resource section includes free flashcards, coloring pages, worksheets, and other resources for children, teachers, and parents. https://supersimple.com/
• Life skills curriculum for students in grades K-12. Their resources include strategies for teaching social and emotional skills. https://www.overcomingobstacles.org/
• Coding for ages 4-10 https://www.kodable.com/
• No need to travel to one of the Smithsonian’s zoos or museums — this website brings your child everything from live video of the National Zoo to the Smithsonian Learning Lab right to their screen https://www.si.edu/kids
• Cool Kid Facts gives your child access to educational videos, pictures, quizzes, downloadable worksheets, and infographics. They can use these to learn about geography, history, science, animals, and even the human body. https://www.coolkidfacts.com/
• This interactive website, hosted by the U.S. Government Publishing Office, allows your child to see the ins and outs of the U.S. government by taking a series of learning adventures with none other than Benjamin Franklin. https://bensguide.gpo.gov/
• This NASA initiative covers a wide range of topics including weather, climate, atmosphere, water, energy, plants, and animals. https://climatekids.nasa.gov/
• Ask Dr. Universe is a science-education project from Washington State University. Kids can send Dr. Universe any question they may have about history, geography, plants, animals, technology, engineering, math, culture, and more. https://askdruniverse.wsu.edu/
• Your child can play games, learn fun facts, and find out how to turn coin collecting into a hobby. https://www.usmint.gov/learn/kids
• From rainbows to tornadoes and winter storms to tsunamis, meteorologist Crystal Wicker breaks down the fascinating world of weather. http://www.weatherwizkids.com/
• Kids Think Design explores careers in fashion design, graphic design, interior design, book design, product design, film and theatre, architecture, animation, and environmental design. http://www.kidsthinkdesign.org/
• This educational website hosted by the Smithsonian Museum takes a deep dive into ocean life. https://ocean.si.edu/
• Brainscape offers over a million flashcard decks for every subject, entrance exam, and certification imaginable. https://www.brainscape.com/
• The Theta Music Trainer offers a series of online courses and games for ear training and music theory. https://trainer.thetamusic.com/en
• Banzai exposes students to real-world financial dilemmas to teach them the importance of smart money management. https://www.teachbanzai.com/
• Innerbody explores the 11 bodily systems in depth. With interactive models and detailed explanations, this website will help them learn more about the internal mechanics of the amazing human body.https://www.innerbody.com/htm/body.html

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