Stuck inside with the kiddos during this quarantine can make anyone go a little stir crazy. I’ve found some fun ideas to get outside but still abide by the social distancing standards. It’s so important to get outside and move during a time like this both for your mind and body’s sake.
Toddler adaptations
Rowyn is a little young to understand what a scavenger hunt is, so we will go for a walk and play “I Spy”.
OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES
Winter outdoor scavenger hunt. Click here for some ideas/templates.
Bury small toy dinosaurs (or any toy) in the backyard and have your child be an archeologist and dig for “fossils”.
Get your child(ren) to shovel the walk of an elderly neighbour -teaching them the importance of community and the warm feeling of knowing they did something good for another person during this crazy time.
Tell your child to make an obstacle course in the snow that you and your family will attempt once completed -this gets their creativity juices flowing!
Pile snow on your back steps and make a mini sledding ramp.
Leave a carrot trail up to your door/window and wait for wildlife to wander up!
Dig through your summer stuff and bring out the sand toys and build snow castles
Build a snow fort/snowman/ice castle
Outdoor (Educational) Activities
Put water and food coloring in squeeze bottles and create snow art! These bottles from Amazon work great! Or to be frugal use water bottles you already own. Have them mix colors in the snow. If they don’t already know, have them predict what color will appear when two colors are mixed.
Snow volcano. This doubles as a science experiment! All you need is baking soda, vinegar and food coloring. -I suggest some rain gear for this one just in case!
Supply sight words and have them write them with a stick in the snow! - Toddler adaptation would would be to write the alphabet with whatever assistance necessary.
If you have other fun things you have been doing with your kiddos, send me a message and I will add them to the list! Sharing fun, easy activities with each other is what will get us through this quarantine with our sanity intact!
I will be adding more teaching related content over the next few weeks. I will share my resources, favorite apps and activities that I use in my classroom. Everyone has a different teaching style, while worksheets and tests do have a place, I have always loved doing hands on activities and inquiry based learning with my students. The experience will stick with them much longer than any attempt at memorization. Your kids will remember this time of quarantine, let’s make sure there are some happy memories that come from this.