Ever since the onset of Coronavirus isolation, all moms have been frantically searching for best virtual learning activities for their kids. Even if your children are hardcore introverts, it is unlikely they are still having fun being isolated. Kids miss their regular social activities and friends. They also miss school, which leaves them feel unchallenged and, frankly, extremely bored. As single mothers, we feel an additional stress of having children at home all the time without help of another parent. Yet, I believe our children need an extra helping of empathy during this time, as this season is very challenging and confusing for them. Most likely even more so then it is to adults.
I don’t know how about you, but I’ve started running out of ideas for interesting activities to do with my daughter pretty quick. We have re-read the books we have at home, painted, played board games, gave extra attention to our pets, sang, played music and the list goes on and on. While it all seemed exciting and fun at first, it became pretty repetitive. Under normal circumstances, all these activities are done in conjunction with schooling, social interaction with peers, and extracurricular activities. But the COVID-19 pandemic brought a new set of challenges with its strict social isolation protocol. Kids have been adjusting to this new reality ever since.
After my daughter and I have completed many activities listed above, I realized that she was really missing actual “school-like” learning. She was excited when her teacher began sending online assignments for her class, but they were pretty short and did not provide enough variety. Since no one really knows how long the Coronavirus pandemic will last, I began my search engaging virtual learning activities to help my child learn during the isolation period.
When I searched for children’s online learning activities, I was focusing on 3 key features: fun, challenging, and preferably free (or low cost). In Canada (where I live), all parents were promised to receive about $300 per child in May 2020 to help cover some of the costs associated with the Coronavirus school closures. If you are in the United States, your benefit might be even higher at $1,000 as per Trump’s administration plan. I mention it so you can budget some of this money to help your child learn and grow their knowledge during this unusual period of global pandemic.
Top 5 Learning Activities To Help Your Child Learn During the Coronavirus Isolation
- Scholastic Learn At Home: people at Scholastic did a great job compiling FREE learning resources arranged by school grade. I like their simple and straight forward approach to making it simple for a busy parent like me to find lesson plans for various days. There is a good variety of learning topics to choose from, so it is never boring.
2. If you have a child who can sit for hours and listen to stories, Storyline Online is a great resource! Each book is accompanied by an activity guide so your child can develop those listening skills and pay attention to details in the story. We absolutely love this learning resource!
3. Khan Academy has created a detailed schedule that might work well to keep your child occupied and focused on learning. It really helped me when I was writing the learning schedule for my daughter, and gave me some good ideas. You can find great learning materials on most subjects for various grades, and it is easy to use. Definitely will help your children progress in their knowledge!
4. ABCMouse.com made it very easy and interactive for my daughter to continue her learning. I personally really appreciated their Assessment tool, which helped me as a parent understand areas of learning to focus on. The creators of this learning platform made it easy for children to play and learn. Yet, it offers solid learning resources which actually help your child progress in their knowledge.
5. LightSail is a great online platform that helps kids advance in their literacy skills. They are now offering a free access to their huge library of books to help your child work on their reading skills (free until June 30, 2020). It is a wonderful and super helpful resource we will be using regularly.
Additional mentions
- If you child is a bit older, Google offers a pretty neat virtual program called Be Internet Awesome to help older children learn about online safety and best practices. If your child is younger and is feeling creative, try Google’s Canvas to channel those creative juices.
- For kids who are curious about space, NASA offers a few really cool station tours which are very fun for both children and adults to view and explore together.
- The Old Farmer’s Almanac For Kids has launched free stories and fun projects to help kids (and their parents) learn and have fun during the isolation. There are some great activities and learning materials to read and discuss together with your child.
- Monterey Bay Aquarium and Ripley’s Aquarium are now offering free live streams of their fish and shark tanks, learning activities, and educational materials. Their peaceful live streams are perfect for a break time when you and your child just want to take a break and enjoy some nature and animals.
- I have been also using Skillshare which is a learning platform full of bite size lessons on everything from painting to business and leadership. Right now they are offering 2 FREE months off Premium via this link subscription, which will allow you to learn a ton of stuff at no cost.
- If you want to get creative and need some teaching and craft supplies, you can get a lot of educational materials shipped directly to your home by Discount School Supply. They have a pretty extensive selection of supplies for different ages.
If you want to share additional free or low cost learning resources, please share below in the comments.