Learn & Play Ideas
Having decided to homeschool our children, we wanted to give them the opportunity to learn what they want, when they want and how they want. Since they are still quite young, a lot of learning happens just as we go about our life – cooking, gardening, or fixing things around the house. Other times, when an interest persists, we take time and invent more involved projects to explore the topic in depth. Then all of us, including adults, often discover something new.
Some of our favourite ways to learn:
- THROUGH MAKING THINGS: Some of our favourite things to make include engineering projects. We also do a lot of general crafts to visualize things and understand how they work. We like working on art projects because whenever our son sees something that impresses him, he looks for a sketchbook to make a drawing of it.
- THROUGH GAMES: We play board games, and we make a lot of printable games of our own. Here are a few of our favourite games: Flag Bingo, Animal Tracks Game, Emotions Game, and Lego Charades Game.
- THROUGH BOOKS: We are always reading. We also listen to audiobooks! Check our list of favourite audiobooks for children that adults will also enjoy.
- and through PLAYING OUTDOORS: For all that summer is short in our part of the world, we love spending time outdoors.
On this page, we would like to share some of the projects and materials we created with other enthusiasts for creative learning.
Literacy
A category of activities related to our love of reading and writing.
- LEARNING TO READ. Our kids learned the alphabet while playing with their favourite toys and completing STEM challenges – you can read about how that happened with Lego Duplo Alphabet, Magna-Tile Alphabet, Lego 2D Alphabet, Lego 3D Alphabet and Pattern Block Alphabet. For a while, we were building letters out of everything. We made templates to share with other little engineers.
- STORYTELLING. Since the children were little, we have been using shadow puppets to enhance our storytelling experience.
- WRITING. Since my son loves making books, we have a series of free printable journals for kids. We fill some in every year, just to see how his answers have changed.
How to Write a Book Review – for Kids
Wondering how to teach children to write book reviews? With this free printable template, anyone can write one! While I usually write about our educational games and crafts, the biggest part of our homeschooling has always been reading books. (Isn't it the same for...
Nursery Rhymes with Printable Shadow Puppets
Use these printable shadow puppets to stage a shadow puppet play for children, based on famous nursery rhymes! Mary Had a Little Lamb Nursery Rhyme Shadow Puppets First things first, what exactly is a nursery rhyme? Any traditional poem or song for children can be...
Town Mouse and Country Mouse Shadow Puppets
Using these printable shadow puppets, you can stage a shadow puppet play, based on the popular fairy-tale The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse! We are back with a new instalment of shadow puppets. Every year, we make a few more to add into our collection of printable...
Social Studies
Geography and history can be a TON of fun when studying in a playful manner.
- HISTORY: Learning about vikings? Build a viking tent in the backyard. Interested in knights? Construct a castle from cardboard tubes.
- GEOGRAPHY: When exploring the world, either in reality or in imagination, learn flags while playing Flag Bingo or find out about different costumes children wear to school around the world.
- OTHER SOCIAL STUDIES: Learn about emotions with paper dolls or discuss recycling while playing a recycling game.
50 LEGO Flags with Printable Instructions
Use our printable LEGO Flag instruction cards to build the flags of 50 countries from around the world! Whether for education or entertainment, these LEGO flags make learning geography fun. LEGO hardly needs a special introduction. It must be among the most...
30 Architecture Magnetic Tile Ideas
Explore civic, domestic, and vernacular structures with these architecture magnetic tile ideas! Over the years, our kids have tried to push the envelope on what they could make with their magnetic tiles. Some tiles are badly scuffed from having been shoes, some rusted...
Women’s History Timeline Game
Use our Women's History Timeline Game and dive into the lives and achievements of remarkable women who shaped our world, from ancient trailblazers to modern heroines! History is not just about events and battles; it's also about the people who shaped our world. This...
STEM
- SCIENCE: This far, we have been mostly focusing on biology. We learned about anatomy by making life-size paper models of our bodies, playing with anatomy paper dolls and modelling organs on play-dough mats. We also have an on-going study of plants and animals – we play games of matching bird pairs (males and females are often surprisingly different!), animals with their tracks (have you ever seen an armadillo footprint?), and draw the missing halves of insects.
- TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING: Many of the engineering activities were actually invented and implemented by my son. Ever since he was a baby, building was his passion, and so he learns by building: foam airplanes, tall towers with wooden blocks and robots with magnets.
- MATH: Board games and Magna-tiles are our best friends when it comes to math right now.
10 Printable Earth Day Activities for Kids
Looking for meaningful Earth Day activities for kids that go beyond the usual one-day crafts? These hands-on projects help children connect with nature while developing eco-conscious habits that stick. The environmental challenges of our time are impossible to ignore....
Free Printable Spring Icebreaker Questions
Try our free printable spring icebreaker questions to spark fresh family conversations! Did you know that male frogs create spring evening choruses that can reach 90 decibels - as loud as a lawnmower? Perhaps you'd be interested to learn that robin's eggs are blue due...
10 Printable Cat Paper Dolls
Make our printable cat paper dolls and satisfy that craving to dress up your feline companion in adorable outfits! Graceful, little, and soft but full of personality, cats are among the most beloved pets worldwide. Unfortunately, very few of them like to play...
30 Architecture Magnetic Tile Ideas
Explore civic, domestic, and vernacular structures with these architecture magnetic tile ideas! Over the years, our kids have tried to push the envelope on what they could make with their magnetic tiles. Some tiles are badly scuffed from having been shoes, some rusted...
12 Ways to Stop Global Warming for Kids (with Printable Colouring Pages)
Looking for ideas on how to stop global warming for kids? We created 12 colouring pages outlining some practical and attainable ideas on how to help the environment! My son has been watching David Attenborough's videos ever since he was a toddler. Planet Earth, Blue...
Printable Dog Breed Game
Using this Dog Breed Game, players will learn about the diversity of the dog world, in particular, twenty-four unique breeds! A spin-off of the classic guess-who game, it will make an excellent gift for dog lovers of all ages. Do you know which are the heaviest dogs...
Outdoors
Backyard Railroad Engineering: Outdoor STEM Challenge for Kids
Like many kids, my son likes everything on wheels. Cars, construction machinery, emergency vehicles, trains. Especially trains. He also loves playing in the backyard, and for several summer now, I've been thinking how much fun it would be to build a railroad outside....
How to Make a Bean Teepee for Backyard Play
If you're looking for a kids' gardening project this summer, try building a bean teepee. This natural play tent is a fun addition to the backyard and a perfect hideout for little explorers. Last summer was our first as home owners, and we were as excited about...
Flower Canning Pretend Play
The end of summer, and it's time for canning. Can my son stay away? Of course not! And while we're still washing fruits and vegetables, he has already canned twenty jars! A lot of the posts in my blog are ideas of what parents can do for kids. This one is not. From...