In the Summer of 2020, being stuck at home for days on end, can make children rather restless and bored. While this may be a great time for parents to bond with kids, and engage in playtime and other activities together, realistically this is challenging, with parents working from home, and managing the household without help.
Fortunately, social media is buzzing with online activities for kids, with parents sharing ideas with each other, to keep the kids entertained, and (hopefully) learn something new. Here are some of the top ideas recommended by parents, most of these have a free option, or currently have ongoing offers.
1. Learn a new language
Learning foreign languages like French, Spanish and German is a very useful skill in today’s world. The most popular platform for learning new languages is Duolingo, an app that’s easy to use and makes learning languages fun!
2. Pick up a new skill
Another great way for your child to utilise their time is for them to learn a new skill. It can be anything – cooking, sewing, learning sign language, learning a programming language on a website like Tynker, Codeacademy, or Scratch, which is an amazing block based language even great for smaller kids to start learning to code.
For the musically inclined, this may be a great time to learn to play the guitar, or keyboard, or another instrument, with a plethora of sites and youtube channels offering online tutorials.
3. Bring school home
Of course, the most important thing in your child’s life is still their education, Some wonderful online resources to help your child learn concepts in a simple and fun way are BrainPOP, Discovery Education, Outschool and Udemy. Some other platforms are subject-specific, like Beast Academy for math.
Scholastic’s Learn at home is another engaging free option, for kids upto Grade 9 – definitely worth exploring.
4. Check out some fun websites
Other than educational websites, there are many other resources that can help your child learn concepts outside of the school curriculum and help them explore and develop their interests. These websites teach concepts in the form of games, which means that your child will never be bored of learning! Turtle Diary, Starfall and Fun Brain have fun activities for kids aged 3-8 years, while Science Kids makes learning science interesting. Seussville, Literactive and Storyline Online are perfect for learning English and Literature while Math Game Time and Cool Math 4 Kids will help your kids enjoy solving math problems!
5. Start a Blog
For children who love reading, or are passionate about cars, games, animals, science, astronomy, sports, (or anything at all!), and enjoy sharing their thoughts and ideas with others, writing a blog may be just the thing to get started on, this summer.
6. Travel from Home
This is one of the most fascinating options these days, where some of the best museums in the world have virtually opened their doors to people around the world. You could also take your child on a virtual tour of 12 famous museums, and give them an experience of art, history and culture, which they may only have read about.
With so many options, it is hard for kids these days to be bored. Of course, each child has their own preferences, so do check out various options and see what catches their fancy. Do share any other interesting online options you have come across, in the comments here.
This would be also a good time to introduce children to spirituality. Nothing heavy but the power of positive affirmations and reciting any religious mantra. Would hardly take 5 minutes a day.
Google virtual tours are so much fun! We have already toured Eiffel Tower, Taj Mahal and Cherry Blossom Season in Japan.
We have tried Duolingo app and totally loved it. My daughter is trying to learn French on this app.
Awesome compilation! Could you please recommend some online resources for toddler activities?