Being stuck at home doesn’t mean that your children can’t learn about the world.
There are plenty of exciting and engaging activities you can do inside the house to teach them important lessons and key life skills.
From craft projects to simple cooking lessons, here are five ways you can help children learn about the world without going out:
Cooking together
There are lots of things you can do in the kitchen to entertain and educate children about the world.
Baking sweet treats, cooking dinner, or just helping you to organize your cupboards can teach them a lot of different skills such as communication, coordination, problem-solving.
Counting and measuring ingredients will help them with their math, and they’ll learn about different ingredients and new foods.
You’ll have to avoid anything too complicated when the children are helping out, but there are plenty of simple, child-friendly recipe ideas out there.
Sites like Kids Cooking Activities have lots of recipes and educational cooking activities.
Arts and crafts
Arts and craft activities are great fun for kids, and there’s plenty of opportunities to make it educational as well.
Get together some supplies – paint, card, paper, glue, string, and anything else you have lying around like bottle tops or empty boxes and let your kids get creative.
Set them challenges, for example, ask them to paint letters or objects, or make a certain animal – and talk to them about what they’re making at the same time.
You could get them to make a plane or a rocket ship out of cardboard boxes, or use play dough to make models.
If you want them to be just as creative but with a bit less mess, then a subscription box for kids like the Sago Mini Box is perfect.
They’re full of make-and-play activities that provide hours of fun, but also teach kids about the world around them and useful skills like creative problem-solving.
Building a den
Another engaging way to help children learn at home is by getting them to build their own den.
It might just seem like a bit of fun, but constructing a den requires them to be creative and think logically about how to make it stand up.
They’ll have to overcome obstacles when it falls down and come up with new ways to construct it – this will help teach them about buildings and basic construction ideas.
Once the den is built it’s the perfect space for children to play imaginative games, or you can tell stories and read books together.
For more adventurous kids you could build a den outside in the garden, which gives them a chance to explore and learn about nature.
If you don’t have all the supplies try The Original Den Kit, which includes everything they need like tarpaulins, tent pegs, and rope to build their own hideaway.
Get them moving
When children are stuck indoors all day you’ll need to find ways to keep them active and burn some of that energy off.
It’s recommended that kids under 5 should aim for 3 hours of active play in a day, and 6-17-year-olds should get a least an hour of exercise every day.
Turn on some kids dance videos to follow along, or try making up your own dance routine.
There are many YouTube videos that blend education and exercise — Cosmic Kids Yoga engages children in adventures and popular stories while they follow yoga instructions.
Or you could get creative and make an obstacle course around the house.
Not only will exercising keep them fit and healthy, but it can also incorporate learning and thinking skills, and it will help kids focus for the rest of the day.
Make music
Music can help children learn in a number of ways from developing their language and literacy to important emotional skills.
They’ll learn to recognize sounds and understand the meanings of words, plus it will help improve counting and rhythm.
Put together a playlist of their favorite songs to sing along to, or try making instruments out of household objects – pots and pans for drums or shakers out of old tins.
These are just a few of the ways in which you can help your children learn about the world from home.
The most important thing is to find activities that engage and challenge them and incorporate learning about the world in fun ways.