Ideas for keeping Secondary school aged children entertained at home

[soniamumsnet]

Pre-teens and teens can be tricky customers when it comes to keeping them entertained at home.

Here are a few of our best ideas (and some of yours!) for keeping them busy.

Share your own ideas in the thread, and we'll add them to the list.

Strength and honour.

1. Visit the Louvre

Budding linguists will enjoy a virtual trip round Le Louvre. Ooh la la!

2. Take a tour of Ireland and Northern Ireland

Pay a visit virtually to some of Ireland and Northern Ireland’s landmarks.

3. Try out these Stem activities

Stem activities from Network Rail for older train enthusiasts. Follow them on Twitter, too.

Related: The best online learning resources for children and teens

4. Take a dance class

Re-watch Strictly and perfect some new moves or tune into Oti’s dance classes on YouTube. Paso Doble, anyone?

5. Find the international space station

Spot the International Space Station going over. Sometimes it’s good to ponder the wonders of the universe and remember how tiny our planet really is.

6. Try some microwave baking

Make mug cakes in the Microwave. We heard the experts have put together a bit of info on this…

7. Get into conservation

Wildlife, geography, conservation and more with the legendary Steve Backshall.


8. Visit the Uffizi gallery in Florence

Teenaged art lovers will love the bold and colourful pieces in Florence’s Uffizi gallery. Visit it online here.

9. Explore Britain’s secret World War II bunker from your sofa

The Liverpool War Museums closed for now but the virtual tour is fascinating and they’re running some brilliant ‘live history lessons’ from their Facebook page: Western Approaches HQ.

10. Have a movie marathon

The whole of the Harry Potter series should keep them busy for a while. If you had the foresight to stash a box of Microwave popcorn at the back of the cupboard before all this began, so much the better.

Related: Ideas for keeping primary school children entertained at home

11. Try a science challenge

Leave budding scientists in the capable hands of James Dyson for a while with his science challenge cars. (If you’re low on dry spaghetti maybe oversee some of these).

12. Listen to an audiobook

Audible just put loads of its children’s audiobooks online for free. Three cheers for them!

Try Audible for free

13. Take a trip to New York

A virtual trip to New York should always include a look round MoMA. Treat them to a hot dog afterwards and they’ll feel just like they’re in the Big Apple (almost).

...and while you’re (not) there, catch some opera at the Met Opera house, which is currently streaming performances each night.

Exercise classes you can do at home, courtesy of one of the United States’ biggest gym chains.

14. If you have a dog, try to teach him some tricks

“If you have a dog we are teaching our dogs more tricks, I can recommend joining this Facebook group if you fancy learning how to teach your dog some tricks - to do it just for fun or working towards trick titles with DMWYD. Super helpful group, and keeps dogs and kids entertained.”

Related: The best family board games

15. Write a novel

They’re never more creative and less self-conscious about their writing than at this age, believe it or not. They don’t have to show anyone, but then again they might even find time to self-publish it.

16. Start a book club

Or start a grown-up book club with them with books you’ll enjoy too. John Green, author of The Fault in Our Stars and Paper Towns has a list of discussion points you could use to spring off from.

Buy The Fault in our Stars

17. Go to a stay at home festival

The Cosmic Shambles Network is holding a Stay At Home festival with guests including Robin Ince, Josie Long, Mark Gatiss, Stephen Merchant and more. Check it out.

18. Learn how to DJ

By downloading this free app. You did buy them those headphones, right? Please say you bought them those headphones…

Buy headphones

19. Learn how to play an instrument

Get them to practise their musical instrument. There’s no time like now to get seriously good at guitar.

20. Host a Netflix party

Netflix and chill (well, less of the chill, perhaps, but they can watch Netflix with their friends, here.

21. Host a virtual house party

Meet up with their mates on House Party.

22. Learn a new language

Download DuoLingo to their phone and they can learn a language for free. How cool would it be to go back to school speaking Mandarin?

23. Help them redecorate their bedroom

Or if you can’t lay your hands on any paint, just a thorough declutter and a couple of hours’ rearranging furniture can make it seem like a whole new room. And giving them a space they want to retreat too might save everyone's sanity.

What are your suggestions for keeping teens entertained? Post them on the thread and we’ll add them to the list.

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[Creampancakes]

Book reading & learn any musical instrument

[FinchyBobs]

@Pegase these aren't live which is the problem I'm having. Do you have any recommendations for live learning?

[donna4692]

We've taken part in the Knowledge Recycled kids chocolate class and it was wonderful - kept them happy for a morning at least!. //www.knowledgerecycled.com/product/little-hands-in-the-chocolate-bar

[kickco]

Some DIY projects that kids and parents can do together? I love the DIY wood model kits from etsy. And another uk website is also selling them:

www.gurups.com/

[joerobertson11]

THANKS!!!!!! you're a saviour

[dyscalculicgal96]

Pine cone art. Both have decorated some this week.

[fidgi]

Hello

Cultivate the art of patience. Graded for age, encourage being still and quiet for an agreed time before a particular favoured task is allowed.

Create salt dough sculptures. These can be cooked on the microwave, under supervision for this step of course. Stonehenge in your kitchen!

Create treasure maps, from the simplest of outlines to the most elaborate of detailed and sumptuous embellished articles. Use the back of wallpaper.

As a librarian of many years working with children and families, I hope that the
following observations might be of some use. They have come from experts in the field of young person - wrangling.

Time moves slowly for the young. I think that an hour, day, week or decade has whizzed by. They think that a minute has lasted forever. Allow for gaps between scheduled activities, perhaps create water cooler meetings.


If the subtle art of boredom can be cultivated, it can pay dividends for all ages. Gaze out of a window, paint cloud pictures. Decorate a blank back yard wall with mental sunflowers. Unfocus the eyes and just daydream.
Best wishes, Anne xxx

[WordInYourShellLike]

For those wanting an app to teach typing - this was what my DS used and got on very well with: tux-typing.en.softonic.com/

[sashh]

@soniamumsnet

Can you do shifts? So you and dh have the rooms and lp tops 9-5 and the kids get them 6-9?

@bookwormish

have a look at BSL - British Sign Language group on facebook. It's mainly learners but also Deaf people and you can upload videos.

Watch out for which BSL you are learning, there are regional variations particularly with colours and numbers, a good course will cover a few variations and tell you the most understood sign.

It's a bit like regional words, we all know that when someone from Scotland or NI says 'Wee' they mean little, but generally English people don't use the word.

There are other signs that either have a different meaning or are only used in one area.

There is a famous (infamous?) story of a newly qualified (English) interpreter working in Scotland. Her deaf client signed that he wanted to arrange a meeting for the following day.

The Scottish sign for 'organise/arrange' is used in England to describe sex, and in quite a crude way.

The interpreter went home.

Some concepts with multiple signs

Colours
Numbers / counting
Hospital
Nurse
School
People
Toilet

Also check you are learning BSL and not SSE. BSL has its own grammar, SSE uses BSL signs but puts them in English word order.

One of the rist things you will probably blearn is how to introduce yourself, in BSL the sign order is "Name, me" and then you fingerspell your name, SSE would be,"My name"

On the subject of names everyone has a 'sign name', often related to something embarrassing or physical features, mine relates to my nose stud.

One of the signs that have multiple meanings is one of the signs for 'toilet', which happens to be the same sign used for 'Belgium', so the uni lecturer from Belgium was given the sign name 'toilet'.

It's a good idea to get your own sign name ASAP before someone else gives you one and it sticks.

Good luck with it

[totallynotchanging]

A afternoon at a virtual theme park? You tube have rollercoaster rides videos. Line up some chairs on a towel, like a rollercoaster ,make some tickets or wristbands and get them to queue up. Stand behind them with a water drinks bottle and when they come down splash mountain you could squirt them with water! (Don't get it near your electrics though obvs)

[BarkandCheese]

DH found this www.khanacademy.org/humanities/hass-storytelling/imagineering-in-a-box it’s a fun free course from Disney to design your own theme park (on paper or computer/tablet).

[babasaclover]

Amazing!

[FlippyNeck]

Aardman Animations Lead Model Maker, Jim Parkyn, is doing live 'Community Clay Time' on his insta channel - first one today at 3pm - any kind of modelling clay/plasticine and a few cocktail sticks needed! //www.instagram.com/jimparkyn/

[Janemarpling]

We've got our kids to design their own school badge and class name. They have designed some worksheets with their badge on and we've also seen a really good idea that a shop is doing. They're printing t-shirts with your own school badge on so the kids have a uniform whilst at home. A bit of additional fun for them,



My dd 11 cringed when I did a welcome speech.

[WeBuiltCisCityOnSexistRoles]

Oh and I'm not some person from Disney opportunistically trying to sell this to parents like the knobhead up thread feel free to AS my username

[WeBuiltCisCityOnSexistRoles]

If you have older teens like mine, and are happy to pay the £6.99 (?) for the new Disney app that has just launched, it has all the old shows/films from when my DC were younger - Wizards of Waverley Place, Hannah Montana, Phineas and Ferb alright that's my favourite and the films High School Musical etc, plus all the Pixar films etc. Mine are beyond excited to have a nostalgia fest and it should keep them busy for a while. Hopefully!

[LifeImplosionImminent]

If you have Diversity Dance Group fans at home there's an online (mostly street dance) studio that was launched this month, because of the lockdown it's now free until 1st May. 20dv.co.uk/

I did the beginners one, took a look at the advanced one and went "NOPE"... back to beginners I go.

[TheHumansAreDefinitelyDead]

Do useful things in the garden and home, I will teach my 15 yr old to cook

[NewHomeSchoolTeacher]

We've got our kids to design their own school badge and class name. They have designed some worksheets with their badge on and we've also seen a really good idea that a shop is doing. They're printing t-shirts with your own school badge on so the kids have a uniform whilst at home. A bit of additional fun for them, plus some of the money goes to charity. www.stadiumsports.co.uk/bespoke-sports-kit/design-your-own-school-t-shirt/

[Onceateacher]

BBC dance mat (for typing lessons, not dancing!)

[LaureBerthaud]

Anyone know of any resources to learn to touch type?

Ooh that would be good!

[AintNobodyHereButUsKittens]

Stop motion videos are a great activity that they can do independently or together with siblings. The advantage at the moment is that they take aaages, don’t require any outlay or special kit beyond a smartphone, and produce an impressive artwork that you can keep and share with friends and family, but not a physical object that needs storage. DS is doing online animation, to which the same applies.