Play and Learn Every Day

Keeping a Journal While we are Isolating at Home

6:05 PM

I had a talk with the children today about how we are living through a historical time, how one day if they have children they will learning about Coronavirus in History class. That they will come home and ask them all about what it was like to live during the pandemic when they were 6 and 8 years old. But that they may not remember all of the details so it would be a good idea to keep a journal, and that I will keep a journal as well (in case the grandchildren want to ask me).

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It doesn't have to be anything fancy (although it can be!) and it could actually be the perfect thing for reluctant writers to get them motivated to write about what they know, which is what they are doing each day. I have no strict rules about journals, they do not have to write every day (though it would be nice), and I will not correct their spelling, grammar or punctuation mistakes. It has to be readable, so that they can understand what they were writing years from now, but it doesn't have to be their best writing.

We happened to have a few blank notebooks that we were going to use for travel journals, so we have used those. I like the ones with space at the top to draw a picture and lines at the bottom to write on. Other than that you do not need much, but I am going to put together a little journal writing basket of items to inspire the children to get creative.

Journal Writing Basket:

journals (space to write and draw)
coloured pencils
washi tape (to stick in any photos or other things that they make)
special pens
stickers

The children can freely write about whatever has happened that day, but as that is often only one sentence I am trying to ask them a few questions to prompt them some more:

How are you feeling today?
How do you think that the other people in your house are feeling?
Who did you talk to / video chat with today?
What was the weather like today (did you play more inside or outside?)
What made you happy today?
What was the funniest thing that happened today?
What school work have you done that you are most proud of?
What would you tell your future self about what it's like to stay at home?
What are you thankful for?
What's your favourite place in your house? Why?
What are your favourite games to play?
What did you learn today?
What do you want to do tomorrow?
What are you most looking forward to doing when you can go out? (I would only ask questions like this if your child isn't too anxious about missing out on things, possibly only for older children.)

We also talked about the important role that they are playing as children and how thankful we all are for the sacrifices that they are making to help the whole world to get through this. Then I showed them this video of the Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, thanking the children.

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Dobble 360 Game Review

6:14 PM

If there ever has been a time for staying home and playing games, this is it! So we are lucky enough to be a part of the Blogger Board Game Club with Asmodee, and this month we are reviewing Dobble 360.

We are already big fans of Dobble (we reviewed Harry Potter Dobble a few months ago) so we were very intrigued by how the spinning stand would work in Dobble 360.

We opened up the box and found the stand, a set of Dobble cards and instructions. We then had to put three AAA batteries in the base of the stand. There is a switch on the bottom to make the stand turn which has two different speed settings, so you can have it turning slowly or quickly.

The instructions include everything that you will need to familiarise yourselves with the symbols and to play Dobble 360 with the rotating stand.

That is all that you need to play the game. We switched it on (to the low speed) and watched as it spun around. There is one card showing on each side and you need to be the first to spot the matching symbol on both cards. Once you have spotted it you call out the symbol and slide out the top card from each side to put in your own pile. The goal of the game is to have the most cards by the end of the game.

Game playing got very competitive as heads were turned and necks were stretched to see if the symbol that you have been watching is on the other side as well. It was a real test to our fair playing skills to not get too disappointed when someone else called out the symbol first.

Once the stand was empty we then each counted our pile of cards to see who had collected the most, and they were declared the winner!

The instructions do include the other variations of the game that do not require the spinning stand, so we were able to play those as well. We are big fans of the game and love the extra challenge of the 360 stand. It's a great way to spend an afternoon, brushing up on our observational skills, memory and being a good sport!

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Making Thank You Signs for the Delivery People

4:20 PM

Play & Home Learning Every Day

10:46 AM

As schools around the world are closing and more and more children are home with their families I know that there are plenty of parents and carers who are looking ways to keep their children happily playing and learning at home (often while they are trying to get some work done too.) So I will try to use this page to collect some of our favourite activities for home learning that we have done in the past, as well as other resources that I have found. (This page is a work in progress and will be constantly updated).

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It is all about finding the balance that is best for your family during these difficult times. I think this means including as much play time as possible. So I hope that this post doesn't make anyone feel pressured or think that there is only one way of doing this, schedule or fly by the seat of your pants, screen time or no screen time, the most important thing is to get through each day together and to keep each other going. I am going to try to make it fun and keep us all distracted from the news, so on our first day of home playing and learning on Monday we will be setting up our own school. We will give our school a name, we'll decide on school uniforms (I'm assuming this will be a mixture of Princess dresses and football gear), maybe we'll even make up a school song! The children can set up their own little work space at the kitchen table with pencil pots, magazine files to hold their work and coloured folders for each subject. Or they can make their own little desks out of side tables or boxes that they can decorate. We'll take first day of school photos and make it all an adventure that we're taking together.

We are going to follow a detailed daily schedule, because my children thrive on routine. Of course this won't be the same for every family, but here is an idea of how I plan to structure our days (definitely subject to change!) I'm trying to include a lot of activities that children could possibly do independently, which should leave us time to get our own work done as well as manage the household. (You can download our schedule here). We will complete worksheets and assignments set from school, but we will also be using anything and everything from around the house to play with in between. We will also be as active as we can and get outdoors as much as possible. (I have updated our schedule, but if you liked the older version it can still be found here)

I have also created a basic daily schedule that will hopefully be more suitable for families that want a little bit of structure but have to be working all day. But if even that is too much structure for your family I would recommend to alternate doing something active with doing a sit down activity. To try to get any assignments set from the school done in the morning when children are most receptive to new information and to have a dig around to find some materials that they can use to get creative during other times of day. Most of all have fun (this is taking its toll on all of us, so even if you're swamped with worked taking half an hour out of your day to play with Lego or a board game could do you a world of good too!). We are also going to be keeping a journal which is something that the children should be able to do independently.

Here are a few ideas for the different activity times that we will be doing:

Play & Home Learning Every Day - Morning Active Time

a quick run around the garden
a bike ride / scoot down your street
active online videos to follow along with

The Body Coach PE lessons
Disney Family Get Moving videos - Moana, Peter Pan, Mulan, Jungle Book, The Lion King, The Incredibles
Brain Gym videos
Go Noodle videos
Cosmic Kids Yoga videos
Kidz Bop dance videos
This Girl Can Disney Dance Alongs

Play & Home Learning Every Day - Maths

I have set aside a big chunk of time each day for Maths and English, but this doesn't mean that I think that my children will sit still for that long and write a bunch of sums! Because I have two children I know that I might need one on one time with each of them for these subjects, so I plan to put out some activity sheets as well as physical maths toys for them to play with while I work on school set activities with the other child. They may only spend 5 minutes doing written Maths per day, and that's absolutely fine!

activity books
activity sheet printables

Twinkl - free for one month with offer code UKTWINKLHELPS
iChild
Orchard Toys
Mrs Mactivity
TTS
Learning Resources

online resources

BBC Bitesize

maths counters to play with
building blocks
shapes - go on a shape hunt

Play & Home Learning Every Day - English

activity books
activity sheet printables

online resources

BBC Bitesize

writing activities

write in your journal
write a letter to a friend
write a letter to a character in a book
make your own book
write a shopping list
handwriting
spelling

phonics activities

Phonics Play - free with code (username: march20 password: home)

book activities

comprehension questions after reading together
what might happen next in a story that we're reading
listen to audio books

Amazon audible stories - currently free

authors live readings online - Oliver Jeffers
Storyline Online - storybooks read by celebrities
Scholastic Learn at Home activities

Play & Home Learning Every Day - Creative Play

crafts

buy some simple craft kits if you don't have lots of craft supplies at home
paint rainbows to hang in your windows
make a pencil pot for your new school desk

sensory play
junk modelling
collage making
play dough
create with building toys (Lego, stickle bricks, blocks, etc)
make a track for toy cars out of cardboard tubes
use sidewalk chalk to write positive messages for children to read when they walk past your house
small world play

playing out scenes with dolls
make your own farm with toy animals

online drawing classes

Play & Home Learning Every Day - Topic

current topics that they are studying at school (often springtime and growth)
child's interests (favourite animal, mode of transportation, country, etc.)
outdoor fun
gardening
Easter crafts and activities
Science Experiments

virtual days out

zoos - San Diego Zoo, Edinburgh Zoo, Chester Zoo
museums
NASA Access Mars
Farm Tour
Roman Fort
Art Galleries

online resources

BBC Bitesize

free courses

Disney Imagineering in a Box

Play & Home Learning Every Day - Smoothies and Books

We started Smoothies and Books a few years ago over the summer holidays, setting out time each day for a healthy snack and independent reading. It's an opportunity to build a cosy fort or put up a play tent, read some books and get lots of nutrients from a smoothie.
If you run out of books at home have a look at your local library website, ours offers the option of borrowing ebooks as well
Zoey and Sassafras - free ebook (one we love!!!)

Play & Home Learning Every Day - Me Time / Quiet Time

During this time I think that it is especially important to be focusing on our children's feelings and keeping the lines of communication open if they are worried about anything. I have a list of many resources here to Explain and Explore Emotions with Children During Lockdown, I also recommend:

journalling
meditation
making a cosy space to cuddle up and read a few books or have a quiet chat
quiet crafts (making bead bracelets)
mindful colouring
writing cards or letters to friends or family members that we are missing

Play & Home Learning Every Day - PE

dance

put on the music and have a dance party (maybe even with friends on a video call!)

ball skills

take a ball out in the garden and set up some items to kick it around, bounce it over, roll it past

yoga

set up a mat inside and follow along to a yoga video or use some yoga cards to make your own sequence

coordination

set up an obstacle course in the garden

kids choice

children can choose their favourite way to be active, maybe go for a bike ride or a walk (keeping your distance from others of course)

Play & Home Learning Every Day - Board Games

We are big fans of educational board games, in fact I've now written a whole post on Board Games for Playing and Learning at Home so you can see which games we recommend.

we have reviewed many fun games that we would recommend as part of the Blogger Board Game club
educational games

Orchard Toys

family games
card games
computer games and apps

Weekly Lesson Plans

There are quite a few websites that now offer weekly lesson plans for each year group that can be a very helpful way to fill in the subjects on your schedule if what is provided by your school is not enough for your child: