If schools delay opening, any ideas for keeping the little grey cells active ?

No you can hold my blazer

It works well for lots of age groups Galaxy. Kids can achieve lovely results with it.

Any additional home input is valuable, but it doesn't always have to be of an academic nature.
It very much depends on the relationship you have with the child. Our youngest son firmly told me, "the words don't sound the same at my school mummy," when I tried to teach him to read!
I switched to other methods.

Okey dokey.
Writing using the senses is pretty much EYFS and KS1 bread and butter stuff.
I'm surprised that this has come as a revelation to you.
Please don't fight me. I'm not in great condition.

‘‘Twas a joke. You’re right. I take it back. Fight is cancelled.

Thank you Lucca, you are a good egg

Oh you spoil sports.

I mentioned Tangrams before www.parentingscience.com/tangrams-for-kids.html

And maths puzzles www.mathsisfun.com/puzzles

Playing puzzles with kids of any age is good fun

Twinkl is a good resource (and it's not all in Welsh!)
www.twinkl.co.uk/

FannyCornforth

Okey dokey.
Writing using the senses is pretty much EYFS and KS1 bread and butter stuff.
I'm surprised that this has come as a revelation to you.
Please don't fight me. I'm not in great condition.

That may well be the case Fanny, but it gets good passes at GCSE level for the descriptive writing component. And it is fun if it is made interactive for younger kids.

No need for sarcasm.

And also, while you DO have to wade through the dross on TES (and avoid anything you have to pay for), I got 2 resources from that website today for a scheme of work I am planning. I'm sure any home schooling grans can sieve through to find helpful bits.

Yes and good to combine with sensory bags for children with additional needs.

Yes, I want to make my GS some of those to unglue him from the iPad (which I don't approve of ). They look good fun.

DGD's school will be providing her with more than enough work to be getting on with during the extra period at home.

Last lockdown, by 9.00am, everyone was up, breakfasted and working; parents at their jobs, children doing school work.

I cannot see that changing.

With respect. I’d be surprised if the kids take notice of anything that smacks of you being a school teacher. They’ll want a gran. ❤️

I think you could do both. I have never dealt with children in a lockdown or over Zoom, but mine used to like playing Bingo when they were learning numbers. I bought a cheap game with a globe to put the numbers in and some cards, and we used to have great fun. They didn't realise that they were learning double figures as they played. I can't remember how old they were though - I'm bad at that.

They also liked playing a story relay, where I would start off a made up tale and they would take over in turn to progress the story. It usually ended up with a ridiculous farce, with everyone laughing, but it was good for imagination, and possibly character development.

They could rehearse some sort of show to put on for their parents. Learn a poem, write a little talk, sing a song - whatever they enjoy doing. Get them to write out programmes and make tickets, that sort of thing.

If the older ones are learning about a particular time in history they could make a snakes and ladders game based on the good and bad things about the era. 'Overheard saying bad things about the King - get sent to the Tower' and slide down a snake, or 'Bring potatoes to the Queen' and climb a ladder. You could use the same principle but make 'good things' and 'bad things' cards that they have to pick up if they throw a 6 or a 3. Instead of snakes and ladders they go forward or back a few spaces.

FannyCornforth

I think that things are getting over complicated now to be honest.
Please don't recommend teacher resources for non teachers.
There is a lot of absolute rubbish on tes.

Indeed there is a load of rubbish and it takes time to sift through it, but some of it isn't difficult to follow.

If the op wanted secondary, I'd recommend my own resources . Since March, I've written them specifically for non-specialists, including parents.

During the first lockdown, the son of a friend of mine researched Captain Scott's diary and then produced a short video of him acting it out.

You could get the GCs to plan a party/special meal and work out a shopping list, maybe doubling the quantities for more guests.

Kim's game (with objects, words or numbers).

Odd one out.

Countdown.

Describe a picture of two or more people (or animals). Ask how they feel and then make up a conversation they're having.

Depending how old they are, just encourage them to talk.

Experience of a time traveller - using a historical period they know. What's different from today? What's strange/different etc?

20 questions. Yes/no games. I'm thinking of an animal ... etc.

Use Google Maps to take a screen shot of somewhere in the world and get them to guess where it is. Why do they think that?

Thanks; lots of constructive ideas and some helpful-looking websites. You've all been great - and I enjoy your different approaches.