List of activities for small children if school closes for a month please

[dollface19]

My daughter is 5 they are talking about shutting for a month, 2 weeks school close 2 weeks Easter!
I have all the normal things colouring play do
Arts crafts
Anything else you can think of we can do ? Thanks 😊 xx

If they are in the Scouting or Guiding movements (and possibly others?) Interest badges might be a good one for them to look at?

This thread might be a godsend. I've been thinking about this and with the news about Ireland I reckon it's only a matter of time they follow suit elsewhere. I'm thinking of having a topic we can learn about. DD1 is 6 and learning about rainforests and been loving that so I'm thinking something like that might help direct activities and crafts? Like learning about space, human body sonething like that. I'm guessing there must be learning resources for things like this online...

Definitely going to get out in the garden and go out for walks locally too. Hopefully the weather is on our side.

Does she know how to ride her bike ?
playing with sands
legos
cooking and decorating biscuits/ cakes (very pretty or very scary : jelly worms etc)
preparing a picnic (sandwiches) and eating in watching a nice movie
cut and paste activity (food groups, plants, animals, landscapes)
learning about an animal life cycle with craft (ladybug/butterfly)
pebble painting and hiding them later on
making costumes
makup and fingernail paint day
fingerpaint day
sponge paint day
slime day
salt dough day
preparing her Easter bonnet
fire safety drill (fireman day) and safety in general.
make a rag doll with fabric and wool
make a crazy puppet
finish a puzzle (age appropriate)
house for bugs,
bird nest and a bird watch station.
football with a softball if indoors.
Do you have a corner with make believe toys (kitchen, workstation etc) That could be worth the investment even in a very small size.
beads beads beads : necklace and fusing them to make all sorts of decorations.
diy weather station
loads of books
loads of funny family games (memory, uno, domino etc)
planting seeds and taking care of them I second (will do with mine)
physical activity everyday so as not to get crazy, there are a few funny youtube videos that you can do with them.

Usual arts and crafts, saltdough, painting, drawing, going through the recycling box to see what we can make, Playdoh, Lego, baking etc. We're "doing" the garden at the moment with a full redesign and mine love getting involved. We have sown seeds in tray in the conservatory that ave come up beautifully and they need potting on soon. Den building indoors and out. Housework as both love helping. We have lots of board games and books. They both love a good boogie so we'll make sure we put music on regularly. Kids' yoga as above. My eldest loves it. Ball games in the garden. Regularly reading practice and early maths and science skills to keep up with DD's learning. If necessary we'll FaceTime her little friends. Easter eggs are in the cupboard and we have Easter crafts to do. Also we'll decorate a "tree" (old branch) for Easter.

I've been crocheting mice for them and my eldest can make clothes, a bed and blankets for them from old things. I've already written a poem about them but DD wants to write a story as well.

We're also very lucky that we have a huge backdrop of nature behind us so we'll go exploring. They have binoculars, bug hunting kits, flower presses, so rambling through all that with no other human contact will be an absolute joy. I also have a card scavenger hunt called Go Find It, which is great for exploring textures, sizes, and other things in nature and at home which DD loves playing. Expensive for what it is but nothing that couldn't be replicated with a couple of sheets of paper and some felt tips.

My basic plan is to maintain as much normality for the kids as I can knowing that face to face contact with the outside world will have to stop. We have so many family and friends in high risk categories and I won't chance passing anything on.

I have a 5 year old and 21 month old plus dh will likely be working from home.

We have stocked up on books, board games and craft materials. I promised ds we'd make papier mache hot air balloons for his bedroom and I have a few other craft projects planned. Salt dough is another go to. Then I was just planning on going through pinterest looking for things which spark their interest.

We're going to do some cooking and we're meant to be going to the Netherlands at the end of the year, so I thought I'd take the time to teach ds some Dutch. Thought we could work through duolingo together. I can speak some given that I spent quite a bit of time there as a child but am decidedly rusty.

I was thinking something like breakfast - exercise of some sort - an activity - play - lunch - board game whilst youngest naps - activity x 2 - help make dinner - board game - play - story - bed.

Mine are a home with me all day (4 and 2 plus a newborn) and we have a similar routine to the ones shared above :)

I have a rota of different things I like to do with them and weather permitting we always go out. My 4 year old has so discovered minecraft so I allow her to play a console, but take it from me do not let them play console games anywhere near bed time :O

We tend to do busy morning, post lunch relaxing and then quieter/sit down activities like crafts and baking when they start to get bored again. You can also vary it and don't have to do something super active every day, for example we have been to a big outdoor park and lake to feed the ducks yesterday so though we didn't get out in the wind and rain today I wont sweat it, we made animals out of duplo instead :)

Our quieter activities:
Card games (toddler style cards with games of pairs and snap)
Making things out of duplo together (diplo do little cards of stuff you can make with boxes/on their website)
All kinds of painting and crafts, finger painting, sticking and stamping, paper crafts, clay painting
Board games
Role playing games like cafes, vets
Dressing up (doesn't last as long as you would think though)
Den/fort building
Stories
Water play in the bath
Sensory style play with stuff like pasta, lentils, marbles, buttons etc and lots of containers and utensils to mess around with
Baking
Simply playing alongside them with their toys for a while

I don't structure their days too much or pack it with stuff to do, we do on average 2 or 3 organised activities a day and then the rest of the time is just pottering, playing independently and meal times/bed time.

Oh yes and writing stories together is lovely! Write personalised stories about them and get the to illustrate, if you do it in a nice notebook it's a cute keepsake too :)

Oh and sorry to spam but my DD also loves making bracelets out of beads and also aquabeads/hamma beads

Making lunch into a picnic is also fun, you can do it indoors as well as outdoors and they seem to enjoy it just as much.

Making dens with cardboard boxes
Helping with household chores
Dressing up
Playing shop, if they love that a different one each day
Making jewellery once they’ve painted pasta
Practising hand writing by writing letters to family
Long soapy baths
Walks with dogs that neighbours may not be able to walk
Making homemade Pizza
Making biscuits
Lego challenges
Finding 20 different items on a walk
Learning to use a skipping rope
Washing their toys
Playing board games
Playing cards, etc
Leading some foreign words

This is the best thread ever with all the craziness going on. Thanks OP. Looking forward to spend quality time with the kids.

Cosmic kids yoga (online)

I love the idea of a theme. Maybe a different theme every couple of days, books, baking biscuits in the theme shape, reading books about the theme, colouring, maths etc.

I agree with a PP about lots of baths to take up time and have fun in.

Den building one day and then all meals can be eaten in there.

I'm forsaking my playdough ban in the house. I'm going out on my lunch break tomorrow to get art supplies etc.

Go Noodle is a slightly more lively YouTube channel for indoor exercise on rainy days.

Our school will be issuing learning packs and giving access to online activities for KS1. KS2 tbc but likely the same.

Definitely cooking and making things. I used to love that with my DC.
Gardening? Keep a book on Springwatch where she can record and draw pictures of the flowers and leaves, birds and bugs. Or just do a scrap book for cutting and pasting.

Treasure hunts going from clue to clue round the house.
Dancing to music and putting together 'shows' including designing the programme.
Learn languages - a bit of French or Spanish?
One thing I liked doing with my DD was to draw a cut out of a woman in cardboard and then we would design outfits to hang on it - with little paper tabs to fold over so they could hang on the model.
Modelling with Das clay. Making animals etc.
Building dens with chairs and cushions and blankets.
Making films with your phone with your DD and favourite toys.