Low Prep (and Teacher Approved) Activities YOU can do with your Children

You're home. Your Children are home. You need to work. You need to parent. Never before have we been in a situation where all childcare assistance is shutdown while needing to maintain a working presence. I've got your back! Here are 10 low prep (and teacher approved) activities that are easy to implement, have some educational component, and will keep your children busy!

1. Make a board game
   Get those Amazon boxes out of the garage (one per child) and cut them open to create a nice large working space. Have your child create a board game about ANYTHING...a favorite book, their favorite TV show, their family, a hobby. For younger kids draw the game board and add spaces, older kids can use rulers and trace plastic food storage containers
   Materials: cardboard box, markers, crayons, dice
   
   
2. Money for Meals
   Grab any grocery store flyer. Have your child go through the flyer and create meals. They can cut out the food item and glue it to a paper. Have them calculate the cost of each meal (if age appropriate). Add a challenge that each meal needs to have a vegetable/fruit, a protein, a grain, and a sweet treat. 
   Materials: Grocery store flyers, scissors, glue, paper, and perhaps a calculator
   
   
3. Shopping for a friend
   This is one that my sister and I loved to play when we were little. We would grab a catalog and go page by page "buying" something on each page. Have your kids do this for a book character. They can cut out the items they would buy for the character and explain (or write) why that character would need that item.
   Materials: Store catalogs and flyers, scissors, glue, paper
   
   
4. Nature Boxes
   This was actually a photography assignment I had in college. Create a foot by foot square and have your child collect, draw or write about something they notice in that foot by foot square. Then create a 2x2 square, 3x3, 4x4, 5x5, all the way to 10 if you can, and repeat the work of collecting a specimen, drawing something they see, or writing about something they notice. This challenges kids to be very observant!
   Materials: tape measure, notebook and pencil
   
   
5. Scribble Masterpiece 
   I always loved doing this as a child. Take a marker and scribble on a blank piece of paper, then color each section within the scribble with a different color pencil or crayon. Take it one step further and have your kids add a little note to the back and then mail it off to someone...mail would be a great thing to receive while we staying home and isolating.
   Materials: Paper, markers, crayons/colored pencils
   
   
6. Count the Cars 
   Sit on the porch or by a window and count the cars that go by. Younger kids could just tally the cars, while older kids could create graphs based on vehicle type or color.
   Materials: Notebook and pencil (and a somewhat busy street)
   
   
7. Collages or Vision Boards
   Have old magazines sitting around? Have your kids create a vision board or a collage that describes themselves, their goals, etc. Vision Boards are just as they sound, a collection of dreams, goals, wishes for the future. 
   Materials: Magazines, scissors, glue, paper
   
   
8. Book Spine Poetry
   Gather a bunch of books or just sit in front of your bookshelves. Arrange the book spines to create a poem. Book Spine Poetry is just that, a poem that is created by arranging book titles to create a poem. There's even a hashtag on twitter for this one #BookSpinePoetry; take a picture and post your child's masterpieces. 
   Materials: BOOKS!
   
   
9. Blackout Poetry
   Austin Kleon is the master of this craft, watch his tutorial here. It's a pretty simple task though; grab a newsletter and a marker. Start by boxing out the words you like, then blackout all the words you don't need. 
   Materials: Newspaper, markers
   
   
10. My toddler woke up early from his nap. The struggle is real folks! I have learned that something is better than nothing...so now here are 9 low prep (and teacher approved) activities you can easily implement. 
    

I hope this list helps you be productive at work while finding great things for your kids to do at the same time!!

Fighting the good fight along with you!!

Love,
Ruth

P.S. If you enjoyed this list, you may also enjoy my FREE workbook, Six Strategies to Reach Your Gifted Learner. Click here to download it now!