As a teacher of eight years, I loooove all things education.

I have created a list of EASY educational ideas, games, activities, and products that any parents could use to teach their child at home! Many of these ideas are with materials that you probably already own or can grab at your local grocery store.

I’ve also linked a lot of products that were favorites in my own classroom with my students! Games and activities that make learning fun for kids so that they always wanted to keep doing it.

I am hoping that these activities are simple to incorporate into your daily routine!

And CHECK BACK OFTEN since this is a cumulative list that will be added to throughout the next couple of weeks!

ALL SUBJECTS:

One thing that I absolutely want to start by recommending is:

The Amazon Fire Tablet

My kids absolutely love their Amazon Fire Tablets! They are perfect for elementary-aged kids. And as parents, my husband and I both absolutely love it too!

• Parents are able to put parental controls on! Password can be required for making any purchases and putting time limits on the device
• You can require that kids complete “X” amount of educational time before other games and activities are unlocked
• Comes with a kid-proof case and a 2-year “no questions asked” guarantee
• Audible books and educational apps
• Games and movies
• Safety features protect kids from unauthorized sites and inappropriate material
• Age filters available
• Comes with one year of Amazing FreeTime which gives access to over 20,000 books, education apps and games, movies, and TV shows!

READING:

Reading is the easiest thing you can do at home with your child! Take turns having them read to you and then you read to them.

Ask your child questions before, during, and after they read a story. This will help with comprehension. Examples:

Before Questions:

• What do you think about the cover of this book?
• What do you wonder as you look at the cover?
• What do you predict this book will be about?
• What do you already know about the topic of this book? What do you want to know about this topic?
• Does this book remind you of anything in your own life?

During Questions:

• Why do you think the character did that?
• What emotion do you think the character is feeling?
• What can you tell me about the story so far?
• What do you think is going to happen next?
• How does the story remind you of your life?
• How will the story most likely end?
• What do you wonder?

After Questions:

• A great after reading strategy is “Five Finger Retell”. Thumb = character(s). Index Finger = setting. Middle Finger = Problem. Ring Finger = Most Important Events. Pink Finger = Ending
• Another great after reading strategy is “Somebody Wanted But So Then…” Use these five words to prompt them to come up with the main idea of the story. Example: SOMEBODY… (aka. the main character) WANTED TO… (what was their goal in the story) BUT… (what was the conflict that happened?) SO… (then what happened to fix the conflict) THEN… (how did the story ultimately end?)
• One more great (and simple!) after reading strategy is “BME: Beginning Middle End.” Simply ask your child to tell what happened in the beginning of the story, the middle of the story, and at the end of the story. Often I would tell my students to pretend they were explaining this to someone who has never read this story… that way it helps them include details that they might not have if they were just telling me, their teacher.
• What would you change about the story if you had been the author?
• Do you think you’d be friends with the main character? Why/why not?
• Could there be a sequel made for this book? If so, what could happen in it?

A great article with some AMAZING tips in regards to helping your child love reading: How To Raise Kids Who Love Reading

Click HERE to read article!

LANGUAGE ARTS:

Sight Words Flashcards:

Items Needed: Index Cards (or any paper!)

• Have your child write sight words on index cards.Start a timer. Have your child read each word one at a time. Any words they miss, correct them and then put that card in a separate pile so they can try again at the end. Stop timer after all words have been read correctly. Then, repeat the process and the child tries to beat their time!

Sight Words Alphabet Stamps:

Items Needed: Alphabet Stamps

• Stamp words out letter by letter. This could be with sight words, spelling words, states and capitals, anything that the child could use practice with.

Sight Words Around The House:

Items Needed: Site Words Written Out

• If your child has a handful of sight words that they’re really struggling with, tape them up near a light switch in the house. Anytime your child passes that light switch or uses that light switch, they have to practice saying the word.

Some Recommendations For Practicing Sight Words:

WRITING:

Acrostic Poems:

Items Needed: Paper, Coloring Materials

• Choose a word or topic to write down the left-hand side of the paper.
• Then, create a word or a sentence that begins with each letter that has to do with the main topic.
• Then color and make it pretty!

Rebus Stories:

Items Needed: Stickers

• Have any stickers lying around the house? Randomly let your child select 3-5 stickers. They can create whatever picture they want with these stickers as well as drawing additional items. Then, they write a sentence or paragraph describing what the picture is about.
  Another option: use the sticker within a sentence.

Friendly Letters:

Items Needed: Paper, Pencil, Stamp, Envelope

• Have your child write a friendly letter to a friend. Mail it and ask their friend to write them back!
• This could be in the form of notebook paper, a blank card, etc. As long as they’re writing, the educational part is covered so don’t get caught up on the specifics!
• Some other fun things they could include: quotes about friendship, riddles, a quiz to have their friend fill out and return, etc.
• Thank you letters could also be written to mail to police stations, fire stations, nursing homes, etc.

“How-To” Writing:

Items Needed: Paper, Pencil

• Have your child teach someone how to do something.
• Make sure they include the materials needed and the steps to complete.

Mommy and Me OR Daddy and Me Journal:

Items Needed: Spiral Notebook or Mommy and Me Journal

• Start a mommy-and-me or a daddy-and-me journal.
• This could be a simple spiral notebook or purchase one like this one!
• Simply keep it as an ongoing activity where you write something, ask a question, or draw a picture… and then pass the journal on to your child to do the same.
• Make sure you write the date for every entry because I’m sure that later on, it will make a great memory keep!

Choose a Story:

Items Needed: Paper, Pencil, Three baggies or bowls

• First, have your child brainstorm a list of characters (ex. vampire, princess, talking bird, a mad scientist, etc.)
• Next, have your child brainstorm a list of settings (ex. school playground, the mall, a pirate ship, an abandoned office building, etc.)
• Then, have your child brainstorm a list of actions (ex. played dodgeball, ate a pizza, got chased by a monster, etc.)
• Now cut up all the ideas and put all of them into separate baggies by their category.
• Now have your child pull one idea from each baggy.
• Now they must find a way to create a story with these items!
• Your child can pull more than one idea from each baggie for an added challenge!

Some Recommendations for Writing Activities:

MATH:

Fact Fluency:

As a teacher of 8 years, I cannot stress the importance of your child practicing their math facts. Fact fluency is the foundation for all Math to come, and the faster they get them memorized, the more successful they will be!

With that said, I have to talk about FlashMasters! These little devices are absolutely amazing for children. They are able to practice addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division – and since it’s in an electronic mode, it holds their attention more than just basic flashcards.

Various settings allow your child to choose either one specific number to practice or your child can mix them all together. They can be timed or untimed. And when they are done with each round, it will give them a score. If any are missed, the settings will allow it to repeat only the ones that were missed so that your child is practicing the hard equations over and over again! Plus, parents can see their results so you’ll know where they are struggling with!

These electronic devices are fun for kids since they’re electronics, but without the distractions and ads that a computer might have. And even just five minutes a day on this device will absolutely improve your child’s fact fluency!

I highly, HIGHLY recommend these FlashMaster devices!!

Another amazing resource for Fact Fluency is Wrap-Ups! They make them for addition and subtraction facts as well as multiplication and division facts. They even have a kit for all four equation options that you can buy!

These wrap-ups were always a favorite of my students! A child simply wraps the string around one plastic part at a time as they answer equations. The wrap-ups are self-correcting so once a child completes one, they turn it to the back and can tell in an instant whether they’ve made any mistakes or not!

They absolutely are wonderful for repeat practice with fact fluency to help children memorize their math facts. Plus, they’re easy to grab and take on-the-go so they’re great for road trips or to be used while waiting at restaurants, etc.!

I highly, HIGHLY recommend these Wrap-Ups!

Fact Fluency:

Items Needed: Dominoes

• Place dominoes face down in a large pile.
• You and your child each draw one domino. Your child is in charge of doing the math for both of you. They will then add or multiply (depending on skill level) the dots on their domino and compare it to the total of dots on your domino.
• Whoever has a larger total, earns both dominos.
• Repeat until there are no more dominoes left.
• Then each player gets to build with their dominoes and create a domino effect!
• For more of a challenge, have your child draw two dominoes per turn. Each domino should be added together to create the number.
  (Ex: A domino with 2 on one side and a 3 on the other side would now become a 5. Another domino with a 6 on one side and a 5 on the other would now become an 11. Now they do 6+11 or 6×11. This will make bigger numbers for more of a challenge.)

Patterns:

Items Needed: Pony beads and pipe cleaners

• Create patterns with beads!
• For example: Black bead, white bead, black bead, white bead… would be an ABAB pattern.
• Red bead, white bead, white bead, red bead, white bead, white bead… would be an ABBABB pattern.
• Challenge your child to patterns and then let them come up with some of their own patterns.
• As an art extension, they could turn these into bracelets if you have some stretchy bracelet string on hand! They could even make some for friends or family members and give them away or mail them as gifts!

2D / 3D Shapes:

Items Needed: Miniature marshmallows and toothpicks

• Create 2D and 3D shapes using miniature marshmallows to connect the toothpicks.
• Start with a square, a triangle, a parallelogram, a hexagon, etc.
• Then, advance to 3D shapes such as a cube, a pyramid, a rectangular prism, etc.
• Geometry vocabulary terms that you can discuss while working: Vertices (the points/corners), Edges (the toothpicks), Faces, Right Angles
• As an extension, have your child go on a scavenger hunt to see how many of these shapes they can find in your home!

Estimation:

Items Needed: Cheerios or Honey Nut Cheerios, Paper, Pencil

• Have your child trace his/her hand on a piece of paper.
• Discuss estimating. What does it mean? (an educated guess). When might you have to estimate in real life? (MONEY: how much your groceries will cost at the store, SUPPLIES: how much food you will need to buy for a party, TIME: how long it will take to get somewhere, MEASUREMENT: will this couch fit in my living room, etc.)
• Give them one Cheerio, and ask them to estimate how many Cheerios it will take to fill up their entire hand. Write the sentence, “I think that it will take _____ Cheerios to fill my hand.”
• Then give them a bowl full of Cheerios to begin filling their hand. After it’s full, have them count how many Cheerios there are total. Have them write the sentence, “It actually took ______ Cheerios.”
• Discuss if their estimate was good or bad. Is there anything that could improve how they estimated?