As we are heading into the final days of the school holidays, you might have run out of things to do with the kids while in lockdown, or under restrictions. We have put together a list of activities that you can do to keep the kids (and most adults!) entertained, and maybe learn a thing or two!
Get out in the garden
- Let your kids create their own vegie patch or garden bed. Grow what they want, nurture their plants and learn about where food comes from and what it takes to look after the plants.
- When building nests, birds will collect twigs, leaves and bark. Build a dispenser where birds can collect materials to help build their nest. Kids will have loads of fun collecting materials.
- For a lockdown “crafternoon”, get your kids decorating terracotta garden pots with dripping colourful paint.
- Plant those seeds! Get the kids to make their own small pots from newspaper or empty toilet paper rolls, and also create a fun “egg head” using seeds and an egg shell.
Image by ‘Crafts by Amanda’
Get that lab coat and start experimenting
- Oobleck, slime, cornflour goop; whatever you call it, this mixture of 1 part water to 1.5 parts cornflour is a classic experiment to try at home.
- Learn about acids and bases with the colour-changing science of cabbage juice.
- For those who enjoy a bit of quarantine baking, or are still keen to take a crack at homemade bread, why not explore the science behind yeast at the same time?
- While natural stalactites can take thousands of years to form, you can grow one in just a few days.
Cabbage juice reacting with different liquids. Image via ABC Life.
Get off the screens, and put those headphones on!
- If you’ve got pre-primary aged kids then Imagine This is for you. It’s a science podcast for the young and curious. Get the answers to the age old questions like, where does your poo go when you flush the toilet? Why don’t cats wear shoes? What are spider webs made from? How do echidnas breathe underground?
- Story Store – Children submit their story, and then a group of performers from the Story Store — orchestrated by CBC Kids hosts Mr Orlando the Moose and Gary the Unicorn — adapt it into a hilarious radio play around fun-filled adventures.
- The Big Fib – Can your clever kids work out who’s full of knowledge, and who is full of it? With topics from superheroes to chess, it’s funny, fast paced, silly, surprising, and super fun to play along with.
- Short & Curly is for kids who like to question what’s right and wrong and why humans act the way they do. You’ll hear curly ethical questions, silly drama, real life examples, puns, gags and zany sound effects.
Still bored!?
- Write a story
- Find your local indigenous language
- Create art, and enter it in a competition
- Scavenger hunts
- Paper plane making – turn it into a competition
- Try origami
- Make sock puppets – a few socks, big buttons, needle and thread or glue, then put on a play
- Build a Domino trail
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Sources
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-01/lockdown-with-kids-gardening-australia/100255606
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-02/seven-kids-podcasts-to-listen-to-in-lockdown/100253076
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-29/lockdown-with-kids-language-writing-abc-education/100250488
