I’ve been forced to be a real mom lately.
I’m kidding.
Kind of.
Planning activities/crafts for my kids to do is not one of my strong suits. Browsing on Pinterest makes me feel super overwhelmed, and I often end up not selecting anything to do because I can’t figure out which activities I can actually pull off.
But with Covid-19 keeping us all at home, I’ve had to pull myself up by my boot straps (and give myself a stern pep talk) and figure it out.
Thankfully our preschool has been sending us some ideas, which has helped a ton, but it also gave me the shove I needed to get a few activities under my tool belt that I can pull out and do with the girls.
Now mind you, these are activities that some people will find way too basic and to that I say:
Bless you. I admire you. I wish I could be more like you.
But to those of you who, like me, do not have a crafty bone in your body this post is for you.
So now that you have that disclaimer firmly under your belt, here are 5 EASY educational activities we’ve been doing lately:
1. This one took me three tries to get right, but by golly I persevered and we pulled it off in the end! It was an idea sent to us by Kit’s preschool, and it looked so simple that I went into it with false confidence. I’m talking about the rain cloud in a jar experiment that you can find here. Learn from my mistakes: you have to whip the shaving cream up in your hands before plopping it on top of the water… squirting it directly into the water will not work if you are using a gel shaving cream. My perseverance was worth it however, as I’m happy to report this activity was well received.
2. This one is easy so literally anyone can pull it off. Cut out some puddles from blue construction paper, throw them around the living room and have them jump in the puddles. You can even do this with sidewalk chalk outside if it’s warm enough where you are. Sounds simple, but kept the girls entertained for quite some time (yes please).
Now onto things that I found online to purchase for the girls. I told you, my creative abilities are limited in this area so I often turn to pre-made things to help me out. I have zero shame about that and you shouldn’t either.
- These scissor cut out and tape activity books are THE BEST THING IN THE WORLD. I’m not kidding. Kit has spent (literally) hours doing these while Ella and Rosie are napping.
- This puzzle is so great for counting practice, number recognition, matching, etc. My girls love it!
- And finally, these shape matching boards are another great way for them to get some practice with shapes in, but they keep them super busy!
Like I said, easy right? Just a few ideas to get you through these weird, weird days. Let me know if you found this helpful, if you tried anything, or if you’d like to see more ideas as I come up with them! Leave your feedback in the comments below.
Until next time,
Karin
To see Gabe’s six month update click here
