Welcome! This week we have another 9 brilliant and simple activities for 6-11 year olds. These activities can be used in conjunction with our homeschool timetable or used as fun activities for whenever you like.
More posts you may enjoy:
Begin a Journal Journey (Literacy)
A journal is a wonderful way to build self-confidence, resilience and work on having a growth mindset. We have invested in some beautiful hardback journals like these that feel really special for our older two, but you could easily make your own using a scrapbook and print pages with specific activities to fill it. If you have a purchased one then simply work through the first few pages, but if not there are some suggestions below to get you started.
1. All about me! Get children to do a page all about themselves. Include their name, age, a picture of themselves, some of their hobbies, interests and favourite things. There is a nice booklet here if you don’t want to make your own.
2. Superpowers! Have your child create a list of all their superpowers. They might need you to help them think of some, but there will definitely be lots. They could decorate the page with pictures too. You might include things like: their kindness, their imagination, their powerful brain, being a good friend, their great ideas, helping others, making cool things or their funny jokes.
3. Talk to your child about a time when believing in yourself helped you to deal with a difficult situation. Can they think of a similar experience and tell you about it? Encourage them to think about their favourite stories or films. Can they think of a character that faces and challenge and has to believe in themselves? They could draw their character and write a few sentences (or you could write what they say) about the character’s experience.
This would be a great ongoing project!
Cool Co-ordinates (Numeracy)
1. A brilliant way for children to start understanding the basics of coordinates and to get them moving in the process is to play the grid game. Simply chalk out a grid, size dependent on your outdoor area (or if not available/weather is against you use masking tape on the floor inside).
Get children to label across the bottom with letters and up the side with numbers. Tell them they must always go across the hall before climbing the stairs (horizonal then vertical). Make a game of shouting out ‘A5’ and having your child jump or hop to the right square. Repeat several times and then let them call the commands and check you’ve got it right!
2. A brilliant way to practise co-ordinates is to play battleships. Either prepare your own grid with squared paper or use this handy one here and explain what vessels your child needs to mark out. Enjoy a great game of battleships!
3. As an extension your child may enjoy working on a treasure map that has a co-ordinate grid marked on it. Once the grid is drawn out you can give them a list of things that need to appear on the map in particular places. There’s a volcano in C4, a palm tree in B2 and an X in E7 for example. To complete the map, you could use a candle to carefully burn the edges or a rub a used tea bag over it to make it look rustic and authentic.
Seeing Circles (Art)
Kandinsky’s Concentric Circles is a great to use as inspiration for your child’s own artwork. Talk about the shapes they can see in the picture and colour choices that have been used. Do they like it? What do they like about it? What would they do differently?
Children can divide a piece of card into however many sections they feel enthused to create and let their paintbrushes do the talking. This activity works brilliantly with some calm music or an audio book on in the background.
Build A Junk Masterpiece (STEM)
Children love nothing more than being given a pile of things from which they can freely create. Junk modelling is a hugely popular activity and costs absolutely nothing, since you’ll be using things you already have (we LOVE that!).
It’s a good idea to give children a range of equipment such as scissors, tape, string, glue and pens. If your child is overwhelmed with the enormity of making ‘anything they like’ you may wish to narrow it down and make some open ended suggestions like a creature, a machine or a building – these give them a category but are still very much open to their interpretation.
Crazy Colour Investigation (Science)
This is a really easy and very cheap activity to set up. It’s brilliant to add to the feel of being a scientist with some accessories like these pipettes and safety goggles but of course those are extras and it can be done easily without. Mix up a selection of coloured water (fairly concentrated) and provide white kitchen roll, regular paper and ‘test tubes’ (small glasses from the kitchen work perfectly!).
Invite the children to investigate what happens as they mix colour potions and experiment with dripping various colour combinations together. Super fun and simple!
Lego Challenge (STEM)
LEGO challenges keep our kids occupied for hours. Introduce the characters to the child to bring a feeling of excitement and realism to the challenge. Children can either work independently on these challenges or in a team. You can provide mini whiteboards or paper and pens for children to jot down their ideas and designs if they like.
For this challenge you will need a mini figure, a ruler or tape measure and a real egg (preferably decorated to look special). If you don’t already have a Lego collection, this is a great LEGO starter set.
“Wildlife enthusiast Phoenix Swift has discovered an abandoned egg whilst out walking. Straight away he identified it as an extremely rare egg, from the endangered Green-dotted Block Hawk. Being an expert on all bird matters, Phoenix knows this egg will be eaten by predators unless he can care for it until it hatches.
Phoenix urgently needs the help of the Lego Masters to design and build a structure to house the egg until the Green-dotted Block Hawk hatches. The egg needs to be kept exactly 20 cm off the ground and must be secure so it can’t roll around. Remember to check your measurements carefully as the egg is very sensitive to its environment.
The future of this species is in your hands Lego Masters! Good Luck! “
Create a Lava Lamp (Science)
This is a brilliant follow-on activity to the liquid layers experiment we did previously. Simply fill a large glass, jar or plastic bottle three quarters full of oil and top it up with water. What do the children notice about the two liquids? What do they think will happen if they add a few drops of food colouring? If you are using gel colours like us, mix them with a little water prior to dropping in.
After adding the food colouring and observing, you might like to explain that the water sinks because it is denser than the oil. The food colouring sinks to the bottom because it has a similar density to the water.
Now for the fun part – give your child a soluble paracetamol or aspirin tablet and see what happens when it is dropped into the glass. What do they think is happening now? The tablet is dissolving and creating carbon dioxide bubbles which are less dense than the water or oil and are travelling to the surface. The bubbles are carrying some coloured water with them as they travel. Once they pop at the top, the colour becomes heavy and sinks back down again.
As an extra fun addition, mix a second colour into some water and drop some into the glass, what happens to the colours? What about a third colour?
Ocean Study (Self-led project)
Following on from week 1 and 2 of our Ocean Study Project, it’s time to watch another brilliant documentary! How about one that explores coral reefs? There is a great selection available. We love this short National Geographic one and this Octonauts episode. You could then do some research into different species of coral, the threats to the reefs or what can be done to protect them perhaps?
Mindfulness Colouring (Reflection)
Mindfulness colouring is a great way to create a sense of calm for children and adults. It’s a great activity to enjoy together. We love to put on some soothing music in the background. It can also provide a great opportunity for children to discuss with you their thoughts and feelings without it feeling too intense (eyes are on the colouring, not on them). It’s a good chance for a check in. These colouring pencils make a great gift.
We love these inspiring quotes to colour.You can either use these activities whenever you like, or you can join over 12,000 others and click the Download button below to get our completely free, 100% filled-out timetable! Forget trawling the Internet for resources and putting lessons together- we’ve done everything for you and there is NO boring busywork in there at all! To accompany the timetable read our parent guidance you make the most of our activities.
We hope your children enjoy these activities in partnership with Curious Little Monkeys Learning Hub, and that you enjoy having some ideas laid out for you- thinking of how to fill time can be a challenge with little ones! Do remember to check back every Sunday for our next week of free homeschool activities, and join our Facebook group Homeschooling During Coronavirus for more free ideas and support!
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