Teacher Jasmine Shannon says this will be a formative time for children. Photo: Shutterstock.
AN EARLY childhood teacher has compiled a list of activities for those home-schooling their children in the days and weeks ahead.
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Jasmine Shannon, who teaches in the Northern Territory, shared the list and encouraged parents to create routine by setting a simple, daily timetable with a mix of learning, play, family and free time.
"This is going to be a formative time for your child. What do you hope they'll say when their grand-kids ask them what they remember about the coronavirus outbreak of 2020?'' she said.
FIELD TRIPS AND MUSEUMS
- Virtual Field Trips: docs.google.com/document/d/1SvIdgTx9djKO6SjyvPDsoGlkgE3iExmi3qh2KRRku_w/mobilebasic?fbclid=IwAR2C0YUvqH_h4Vt2li3QsmLP54LQzQhb9_cEgtIoWkMgJ7S-nvtnsuf2M0s
- Visit museums: Google Arts and Culture partnered with over 2,500 museums and galleries around the world to offer virtual tours of their spaces. Some of the options include New York's Museum of Modern Art and Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum- https://artsandculture.google.com/partner?hl=en
- The Louvre, based in Paris, is also offering its own virtual tour online for free: https://www.louvre.fr/en/visites-en-ligne
- Explore the surface of Mars on the Curiosity Rover: https://accessmars.withgoogle.com/
- The British Museum, located in the heart of London allows virtual visitors to tour the Great Court and discover the ancient Rosetta Stone and Egyptian mummies: https://britishmuseum.withgoogle.com/
- Geography with National Geographic: https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/
- The Kid Should See This: https://thekidshouldseethis.com
LANGUAGE AND CULTURE
- Learn a language: https://www.duolingo.com/
- 35,000 pages of online content on the different cultures and countries of the world: https://www.countryreports.org/
GEOGRAPHY
- Tests kids' geography skills. Using images from Google's Street View, it puts players down in the middle of the street and asks them to figure out where they are: https://www.geoguessr.com/
- Google Earth. All sorts of incredible learning here: https://www.google.com/earth/
- Young Explorers is a magazine designed specifically for young children. Children can listen to the magazine being read to them as they follow along with the highlighted text: https://ngexplorer.cengage.com/ngyoungexplorer/index.html
- Go Geocatching: https://geocaching.com.au
ZOOS
- The San Diego Zoo has a live webcam for animals: https://zoo.sandiegozoo.org/live-cams
- Melbourne Zoo also has live webcams: https://www.zoo.org.au/animal-house
- Live video of the National Zoo and Smithsonian Learning Lab: https://www.si.edu/kids
READING
- Children's books read by famous people: https://www.storylineonline.net/
- Projects to keep kids reading, thinking, and growing: https://classroommagazines.scholastic.com/.../learnathome.html
ENGLISH
- Grammar- Work on the 8 parts of speech: https://www.grammaropolis.com/
- Boost writing confidence with Storybird: http://storybird.com/
CRAFTS AND ACTIVITIES
- Crafts and activities: https://www.allkidsnetwork.com/
- Fun games, recipes, crafts, activities: https://www.highlightskids.com/
HISTORY
- Online history classes for all ages from pre-teen through to adult: https://school.bighistoryproject.com/bhplive
- Type in any city, state, or country to view an archive of historical photographs and other documents. It's a unique way to help children learn about history: http://www.whatwasthere.com/
EDUCATIONAL GAMES
- Educational games for kindergarten to Year 12: https://www.breakoutedu.com/funathome
COOKING
- Illustrated recipes designed to help kids age two to 12 learn cook. Recipes encourage culinary skills, literacy, maths and science- https://www.nomsterchef.com/nomster-recipe-library
ARTS
- Help children learn to appreciate the arts by providing them with the opportunity to play games, conduct investigations, and explore different forms of art: https://artsology.com/
- Mo Willems, the author of Don't let the Pigeon Stay up Late is uploading daily drawing lessons: https://youtu.be/MjaYnyCJDdU
- A wonderful detailed way to get kids engaged in the world of art: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/online-features/metkids/
- Red Tent Art step-by-step instructions on art projects including origami, 3D cards, clay pots: https://www.youtube.com/user/redtedart
- Carson Ellis' Art Club: Carson Ellis, author and illustrator will be posting art assignments on her Instagram page every weekday morning. If you want to share them, you can use the hashtag #quarantineartclub. She'll also provide individual hashtags for each exercise so everyone can see each other's work. https://instagram.com/carsonellis?igshid=1urg2g0rg5r4b
NASA
- This NASA initiative covers a wide range of topics including weather, climate, atmosphere, water, energy, plants, and animals: https://climatekids.nasa.gov/
- Listen to astronauts read stories from space: https://storytimefromspace.com/library/
DESIGN
- Think Design explores careers in fashion design, graphic design, interior design, book design, product design, film and theatre, architecture, animation, and environmental design: http://www.kidsthinkdesign.org/
FITNESS AND MINDFULNESS
- Movement and mindfulness videos created by child development experts: https://www.gonoodle.com/
- Kid-friendly workouts - choose from Strength for Kids, Agility for Kids, Flexibility and Balance for Kids, Warm-Up for Kids, Cooldown for Kids, Stand Up and Move for Kids, OR create your own custom kid workout: https://app.sworkit.com/collections/kids-workouts
- Yoga and mindfulness for kids: https://youtu.be/0ImHIWzP49M
- Lady Gaga's former backup dancer, Mark Kanemura, is hosting virtual dance sessions on his Instagram page: https://instagram.com/mkik808?igshid=xp9gywx8gc02
MUSIC
- Music is for everyone: https://musiclab.chromeexperiments.com/Experiments
- Let kids play instruments online. Instruments include the guitar, piano, pan flute, drums, and bongos: https://www.virtualmusicalinstruments.com/
- A large selection of fun songs to help teach preschool students: https://www.songsforteaching.com/preschoolkindergarten.htm
MATHS
- Maths as a fun part of your daily family routine: http://bedtimemath.org/
- Maths games galore: https://gridclub.com/
- Short videos about numbers that help kids explore complex math topics and make math more fun: https://www.numberphile.com/
- Kids numbers: http://www.kidsnumbers.com/
- Maths Frame: http://www.mathsframe.co.uk/default.aspx
ONLINE CLASSES
- All sorts of online classes for kids: https://outschool.com/#abk7vott3k
- Short videos and texts that answer various burning questions for children. There are vocabulary challenges and comprehension questions: http://wonderopolis.org/
- ABC Educational resources: https://education.abc.net.au/home#!/home
CODING
- Learn to code: https://www.codecademy.com/
- Scratch teaches students all about coding: https://scratch.mit.edu/
- Coding for 4-10 year olds: https://www.kodable.com/
SCIENCE
- Lots of science experiments that you can do at home: https://www.stevespanglerscience.com/lab/experiments/
- Science podcasts to listen to with your kids: http://medium.com/kidslisten/19-great-science-podcasts-you-can-listen-to-with-kids-6fe46ac506b8?fbclid=IwAR0KABSsyG72F3vUDA8hgUAAPCJFf3-ZYWQUQK6_hhblNbVmXUzF3a79FrE#.rb23iuaw6
MARINE
- For budding Marine Biologists, take a deep dive into ocean life: https://ocean.si.edu/
MULTIMEDIA
- Make your own animated videos with Go Animate: http://goanimate.com/
- Prezi (make your presentations zoom): http://prezi.com/
- Create interactive avatars to showcase children's learning at Voki: http://www.voki.com/
POLITICS
- Learn all about Australia's Electoral System: https://education.aec.gov.au/teacher-resources/
- Kids News: https://education.aec.gov.au/teacher-resources/
OUTDOORS
- And don't forget to fly a kite! #24 https://www.google.com.au/.../101-things-to-do-with-kids.../amp
Parents who feel overwhelmed or want help to navigate the work sent home from schools can contact Ms Shannon via Facebook.
Emily Sweet
Managing editor
Emily Sweet is the managing editor of The Courier. Previously Head of Engagement for ACM, Australia's largest independent regional news organisation. emily.sweet@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Emily Sweet is the managing editor of The Courier. Previously Head of Engagement for ACM, Australia's largest independent regional news organisation. emily.sweet@austcommunitymedia.com.au
