30 learning activities for kids to do while at home during Quarantine

Along with our teens at the onset of our quarantine we created a very long list of things we could do no matter if we were stuck at home or not. We’ve been checking them off each day and it has been so fun. You can find our list here.

As I was searching ideas I pulled up our “kiddos” board on Pinterest. This is 10 years worth of this mama, a lover of arts, crafts and learning pinning, pinning and pinning.

With so many friends with younger kiddos I wanted to share some favorites from the collection. Almost all our ideas for our Covid-Quarantine family learning fun can be found on our board but we are creating a list of those links for you here too to make it easy peasy.

Getting Creative with Art and Science

• Create Squishy Stress Balls
• Make Penny Batteries: Our son loves to test science experiments, even now. This was one I have on video when he was just a little. AHHHHH!
• Make playdoh or slime if you are brave. Our girls went through the slime stage. Let’s just say we advise against making slime. (See our carpet for justification:)
• Make hand sanitizer and leave bottles on your neighbors doorstep. We found this recipe works great. 
• Try tie dying something. We love this kit by tulip.
• Gather all your old nail polish and create art with it. I have an over abundance of nail polish I rarely use and we loved Mom’s and Crafters creative ideas to use up those bottles of old polish. ​

Get your fairy garden kits here

Gather ideas for your question jars here.

Create your own cooking challenge here.

The Great Outdoors

• Plan and plant a garden.
• Create a bug jar.
• Go on a nature hike and collect unique finds.
• Find and paint rocks.
• Make a fairy garden. This has been our girls favorite “Nana” time activity. This is the perfect time to create one. It may be something your kids want to enter into a local county or state fair like our girls did. It will give them something to look forward to and encourage them to tend and care for their garden for months to come.

Family Consumer Sciences

• Take an online babysitting class at theAmerican Red Cross. For tweens this is a perfect learning activity that doesn’t have to be done in a classroom.
• Allow kids to create a business and a business plan. Our daughter and niece created a “nail salon” at their grandparents several years ago. They give mani’s, pedi’s and a foot or hand massage. They created price lists, expenses/budget, a company handbook and earnings and inventory all housed their office at Nana and Papa’s. They must have great negotiating skills because I am confident they are not paying rent:)
• Make bread in a bag
• Make bunny eggs or animal pancakes, or anything fun and creative with food.
• Create cooking Challenges. We loved My kids adventures tips for creating these challenges and they are really great for all ages.

Get Game ideas here

Find ways to Give back here

Get printable maps here

Travel and History

• Post a map and choose places you want to visit and have the kids plan a trip. Home School Giveaways has so many FREE resources for you and your kids it will blow you away.
• Pin all the places you have been on the map. Field of Daisies has a FREE World History curriculum you can teach all ages at once. It’s pretty cool.
• Explore historic icons, places and things in your home town. Or if your kids have a certain area of interest such as women in history like our daughter, we love Home School Superfreaks women in history activities.
• Watch a historic movie kids will enjoy.
• Try a YouTube Geography channel

Giving Back

• Use plastic grocery sacks to make sleep mats for the homeless. Follow this tutorial to learn how. 
• Create a list of Random Acts of Kindness and do one each day. This month is both my daughter and I’s birthday’s. We invited friends and family to complete a random act of kindness a day throughout our birthday month. This may be our best birthdays ever! We are also partial to Luca and Danni's sweet gifts for special occasions and to brightens someone's day. 
• Create family challenges and engage family members from afar to participate. My aunt initiated this and we have used Zoom, Google Drive, Group Me and What’s app to post challenges and share our results while spending  virtual family face time together. ​

Shop Luca + Danni Best Sellers

Family Time

• Get out scrapbooks and old photos and take a trip down memory lane. Here is a hint parents. Many of us have boxes and totes of photos yet to be organized. Turn a “to do” you’ve been putting off into a fun family activity for the whole family. #winning
• Create a scrapbook or take the time to create a digital scrapbook as a family. Here is my issue if you will. My kids now take tons of snap chat and insta photos and sometimes I miss seeing them….and then they are gone…. This allows everyone to use their devices to curate their favorite memories through photos and put them into something tangible ever family member can enjoy over and over.
• Play Board Games. A no brainer right. But truly, we lost sight of the value playing games as a family has and the laughter and memories we have created. We are back in the game, game, and we’ve included some of our Schrad family favorites.
• Make cards and letters to send to loved ones.
• Create a question jar to use during meals. We have been doing this for years and you can find many lists on our Pinterest page. I simply download lists, cut them into strips and place them in the jar, refreshing with new lists every so often. This has become a normal activity for our family and our friends at Schrad family dinners.
• Read books by local authors. Every city has an abundance of local authors. Search for those, support local and enjoy reading as a family. Susan Lawrence is one Iowa author we love dearly and 100% of her profits go to support the development of housing for orphans in Eswatini (a country in South Africa). You can buy her books here or at our Mercantile too.