Keeping youngsters occupied

This is a useful thread, I’ll be stealing some of these ideas!

We adults are all doing a Saturday night quiz, one a local group is posting on Facebook, with a strict 30 minute time limit. We mark them on Monday, and the highest scorer at the end of all this will win a magnificent prize (yet to be decided ).

Our five boys all love a quiz too, so they get one at the same time. Downloaded from the many on the net, but tweaked to suit them. The age range is 3 to 9 so it’s a challenge! Mind you, I know that every one of them will be able to name at least one dinosaur bigger than T Rex, and I can’t without googling.

If they can identify the alphabet, send them around the house and ask them to look for an object starting with each letter of the alphabet and they can write it down (or draw). This should take a while

They could make a short moving picture. A post it book would be ideal start with a simple drawing and change it slightly on each page as if each page was a frame on a piece of film - can’t explain well. Then press the side of the book to see “the film”. We used to see it on Hart to Hart.

Thank you Pauline the Scouts website looks great.

Also thanks to you ALL for your great suggestions. ??

Take a look at activities on www.scouts.org.uk The Great Indoors. 100 activities to do indoors for ages 6 to 18. They don’t need to be members of the Scouts to take part. Girl Guiding also have Adventures at Home for ages 4 to 18.

Madmaggie - Jamie made a lovely "cheats' pizza" on TV this week. See Episode 4 on:
www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/category/books/keep-cooking-and-carry-on/

My SIL is a teacher, the school is closed, exams will not now be sat but there he is every day holding lessons from home for his final year students determined that they won't miss out on essential coursework which could impair their chances at university or colleges. He's there for them if they feel they need any gaps filling or encouragement. As are many of his colleagues. I take my hat off to them.

NanKate I think many of the Kirsty ideas very good indeed as are yours. Why not make pizzas from scratch & have them for a family meal. Now is a good time for at home parents to work with their children to improve reading & maths skills. British children are lagging behind (I spend volunteer time in a secondary school and have been saddened to see just how many pupils are so behind in their reading abilities) after all, they're not 'on holiday' .

What a good idea.

My daughter has two youngsters at home. One dyslexic, left-handed and mild aspergers, on aged 4 on the gifted and talented list in his first year at school. What a difference in home schooling!

My grandchildren are 12 and 13. Doing schoolwork at home. We WhatsApp but at that at age conversation can be tricky! They are both saving up for a new phone. So I have devised a way to make them learn new things and find the answers from a variety of sources.
I set a quiz every day. They have
in til the end of the day to send me
the correct answer. They get a fixed sum for each time they get the right answers. I keep a tally of their winning and the get the money at the end of the month. As they really want new phones they are motivated and very competitive! It gives us something to talk about and is a great success. My grandson cracks on with his quiz as soon as he is awake! Today’s question was how many countries does the Equator pass through and name them all! Also see if you can find 20 words of three letters or more out of the word Coronavirus!

I've been playing Bingo online via WhatsApp or FB with my 5 grandchildren aged from 4 to 10, they love it! They have a set of Bingo cards and I have some too. We take it in turns to call the numbers. They're now playing with friends too. If you don't have a set of Bingo cards, you could try printing some off. You can also play with playing cards (I have two sets of cards, they only need one) ? x

A favourite with my grandchildren was "talking" games such as I went to the beach and I took a......They then have to say something beginning with A.The next person says the same and has to remember the first item and add something beginning with B,and so on.When someone forgets the items or can't think of one with their letter,they drop out until one winner is left. EG - I went to the beach and I took an Apple,next person -I went to the beach and took an apple and a bucket,etc. It gets quite hard by the time you get to J!

Another one is writing down 10 subjects and then picking a random letter from a book.Then each player has to write an answer starting with that letter. Subjects can be anything,eg,a colour,a pop star,an actor,a Disney character,a part of the body.Set a time limit,maybe 5 minutes. You score 10 points for a unique answer,5 for an answer that someone else has written too and 0 points if you couldn't think of one. Play as many rounds as you like. Adapt the subjects according to age group. Great fun.

Such good ideas.

Perhaps older children would enjoy a description of our school days to compare to theirs.

Things like, that we rose to our feet when an adult came into the classroom and remained standing until we were told we might sit down.

They probably won't believe it is true.

See how many words they can make out of caterpillar.

I can send a facit list if anyone wants it, and other long words that can be used in the same way.

Thank you for those ideas Bradford Lass and Nan Kate. I have 3 grandchildren in Australia and now I too will be sending them challenges. What a brilliant idea.
Keep safe everyone.x

Don't know about ramping it up - got 'our Dan is...' but can't do hippopotamus !

I feel for my niece and husband.

She works for the YHA dealing with bookings and refunds. She currently working through a huge amount of refunds!

Husband is also working from home and busy 9:00 - 5:00

Their 4 boys are all under 11 and the youngest has ADHD.

Can you remember making little “ motorised” thingys out of cotton reels, elastic bands a cork and a matchstick?
Well I can! I’m sending GD all the necessary bits and we will do it over FT together.

@Lisagran. The scavenger hunt idea looks a winner but the photo is not sharp enough to allow magnification on my tablet.
Might it be possible for you to repost it? Thanks in advance.

Love your ideas BradfordLass and I will translate them into next week’s challenge. Thanks so much ?

Party games are fun. I loved the paper fish game when my boys were young; used a lot of energy.

Draw a simple fish, perhaps the length of an old magazine. Place it on the floor and slap the magazine down on the carpet behind the fish - which will jump ahead. We used to flap towards 2 chairs. There was no monetary reward, the fun was enough.

My grandson likes writing stories. I'll give him a sentence and he has to write the next bit for as long as he's inspired.
Like this:
Me: 'There once was a very clever tiger..."
Him: 'Who decided he didn't like his stripes so he went to try and wash them off..." et cetera.

We've recently been doing a project on how chimpanzees lie to one another and he decided to give them dialogue.

So you could find some funny pictures of animals and ask the children what they'd be saying if they could talk.

Thanks Lisagran.

This was on a Facebook.......