Great activity idea: Put on a Shadow Puppet Show! You can use many different things for your puppet characters!
Shadow Puppet Show
All you need is a bed sheet or large piece of thin paper. Shine a light from behind it, where you will be casting the shadows. Your audience will sit on the opposite side of it and see the shadows that you cast on the sheet.
Shadows can be created from many things:
Paper cutouts
Foam shapes
Silverware
Other Unusual items from around the house
Your hands!
Try a Shadow Puppet play with your created characters!
Shadow Puppet show — with a creative Bed Sheet!
Shadow Illusions
Kijeon and Zach show you some really cool shadow illusions. In the description of the video, you can download the 3d models if you wanted to print these out and try them!
The Mystery Science team creates lessons that inspire kids to love science! They provide an engaging and understandable approach for kids to learn about the mysteries of our world through science.
To help with School Closure Planning, they have created a dedicated page to access their FREE lessons that do not need an account.
Also, for a limited time each week, Mystery Science is giving away FREE memberships for one year (to June 2021). So if you don’t see them available, just visit their website on a regular basis.
In addition to Mystery Science, make sure you don’t miss “Ask Doug” each week! Doug answers real kids science questions and provides a fun and easy-to-understand perspective! He also inspires kids to ask their own questions that they may have. Check out Mystery Doug!
Very talented and creative people at a few libraries have created Digital Escape Rooms and offered it for FREE! It’s just like the fun and challenge of a physical Escape Room without the need to be trapped in a confined space!
You can complete this escape room as a family or individual, you can compete against friends and try it multiple times. Just make sure you have fun!
Hogwarts Digital Escape Room
Created by Sydney Krawiec, Youth Services Librarian at Peters Township Public Library in McMurray, Pennsylvania
Created and shared by a school media specialist from Shiloh Valley Elementary School, North Carolina
Escape from Wonderland Digital Escape Room
Created by Erin Honeycutt, Children’s Librarian at Moultrie-Colquitt County Library System in Moultrie, Georgia
Space Explorer Training Digital Escape Room
Created by Morgan Lockard, the adult/teen services librarian at the Carrico/Fort Thomas Branch Library in Carrico/Fort Thomas Kentucky
Minecraft Digital Escape Room
Created by Laura Escamilla, Youth Services Librarian at the Regency Park Library in New Port Richey, Florida
Pikachu’s Rescue Escape Room
Created by High River Library in High River, Alberta Canada
Escape from Star Killer Base!
Created by the Richmond Hill Public Library in Richmond Hill, Ontario Canada
Bring the fun and challenge of a physical Escape Room to the virtual world.
If you know of someone who would like to create one of these escape rooms, or want to create one yourself, you can check out this “How to Build a Digital Escape Room Using Google Forms” by Meredith/Bespoke.
This is a game of skill where you challenge your friends and family to score the most points by flying your paper airplane through a target.
You can use large poster board paper and draw circles or other shapes and determine the points that your contestants will score when they fly their paper airplanes through the holes.
As you make Paper airplanes, try out various designs of folded airplanes and see which type you prefer! Some may fly straighter, for longer, or loop around. Then you’ll know what type of airplane you’d like to use when playing this Paper Airplane Range game.
Outschool is one of the best distance/remote education ecosystems out there, especially for kids! There are Arts Classes, Coding & Tech Classes, Health & Wellness, Life Skills, Math, Music and Science (and more, of course!)
The Deal? Click Here to sign up for Outschool and get $20 FREE toward classes. Since a lot of classes are $20 or less, that means you get a FREE Remote Class that is perfect for kids!
Tynker is an excellent platform for Kids to code! It’s a fun way to learn computer programming and starts with block programming, logic steps and transitions them into coding in a language like Javascript or Python.
Kids can do things like building games, modding minecraft and creating apps. Tynker is a great way to make kids’ screen time creative and productive.
Tynker is currently offering 15 Free Coding Resources. Read more about it on the Tynker Blog.
Until May 31, 2020, educators can apply for FREE access!
Enroll for free training and get great tips on how to teach coding to kids
Hour of Code - Story-based coding puzzles, fun projects, and STEM challenges
Download Free Coding Apps
Modding with Tynker and Minecraft: Education Edition
Until Apr 30, 2020, parents can sign up to get FREE access!
Your child can enjoy learning and improving their skill of cutting. This activity provides many benefits beyond scissors. It helps young children with fine motor skills that they will use when writing, painting, coloring and eating with spoons or forks. Many activities that require hand-eye coordination will benefit from this practice.
Kumon Cutting Books: Bright and fun cutting projects on durable paper
These cutting books are full color with pages of fun and bright projects!
Let’s Cut Paper: Amazing Animals (Kumon First Steps Workbooks)
When using these books, select the page for your child and remove it from the book. Then they will be able to hold and move the paper as needed when cutting.
Melissa & Doug Scissor Skills Activity Book
There are some great resources online to find Cutting projects for your child.
Free Cutting Projects
You can download the following cutting projects and print them out. They are available as PDFs so that they can be easily printed.
Cutting craft projects made from vector assets provided by Vecteezy
These are various cutting pages/projects found from around the Web:
Construction Truck Scissor Cutting Practice Sheets ↗
50+ Scissor Practice Cutting Sheets ↗
Scissor Skills Worksheets for Kids ↗
Winter Scissor Cutting Practice Sheets ↗
The cut out projects that you glue together after are a favorite!
Scissors for 3 year olds
It’s a great idea to start with plastic-bladed scissors and upgrade when they become more confident. Make sure you use safety scissors, especially ones with blunt tips.
Crayola My First Safety Scissors
Stanley Guppy 5-Inch Blunt Tip Kids Scissors Pack of 2
Pack of 3 Safety Scissors in Dolphin, Crocodile and Toucan
Start with Playdough Scissors
If you find that your toddler/child would like to cut with less supervision, starting with Playdough is a great way to practice cutting.
Play-Doh Buzz ‘n Cut Barber Shop Toy
Play-Doh My Little Pony Canterlot Court
Play-Doh Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Set
Illuminations Play-Doh My Little Pony Make ‘n Style Ponies
Melissa & Doug Created by Me! Cut, Sculpt, and Roll Modeling Dough Kit
Strokes Art Durable Clay and Dough Tools, Shapes Scissors
Practice tasks similar to cutting
There are many activities that also require fine motor skills.
Try using other instruments or doing other tasks associated to cutting. For instance, tongs, tweezers, and hole-punchers require the same open-close motion of scissors.
Source: Scissor Cutting Skills: Why They’re Important & How To Learn ’Em Makeovers & Motherhood
Helping Hands Fine Motor Tool Set Learning Resources
