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.
Famous Women in History for Kids
March is a Women's History Month. Explore the topic of famous women in history for kids together with us! Do you know who wrote the first novel? Murasaki Shikibu, a lady-in-waiting who lived in Japan between the 10th and 11th centuries, is considered to be the world’s...
Women in History Books for Kids
To celebrate Women's History Month, we have selected 25 of the best picture books about inspiring women for kids! Do you read books with children? If you're on this page, you're probably a dedicated book lover, just like me. Personally, I have always preferred...
Christmas Around the World Colouring Pages
Celebrate the winter holidays with a free poster of Christmas characters and Christmas around the world colouring pages! The closer it gets to the winter vacation, the more challenging it becomes to get any schoolwork done. Cue holiday-inspired (but secretly, quite...
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.
Animal Drawing Ideas
Following these animal drawing ideas, discover fun animal facts and create fifteen science-themed pictures! Reading about animals is fascinating, but turning facts into art helps children to analyze the information, interpret it and make it a part of personal...
LEGO Animals Instructions
Use LEGO animals instructions to build twenty animals from all around the world and their habitats! LEGO must really be one of the most amazing toys ever invented. It allows children to explore any concept in a hands-on way! When my children learned letters, we made...
Animal Habitat Project
Complete animal habitat projects with LEGO bricks. With our printable pack, you can study eight principle biomes, design them and play with them! From a cute arctic fox prowling the Arctic tundra to a mighty elephant lumbering over the African savanna, this pack...
Endangered Animals Game
Our Endangered Animals game introduces kids to the topic of endangered species, threats to their survival, and efforts being made to protect them. Many animals that live on Earth right now are considered endangered. There are currently more than 31,000 species on the...
Best Math Apps for Kids
We have selected the best math apps for kids that make math learning engaging, creative, and fun! Believing that the quality of screen time is as important as quantity, I have been collecting educational apps for my children for several years. It is now a universally...
Bird Egg Cards with Templates
Make pop-up bird egg cards, featuring a real-life egg and the bird who lays it! If you were to imagine a bird egg, what picture would you see in your mind? Chances are, it is a chicken egg, white and ovular. But the world of bird eggs is surprisingly interesting and...
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...
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