If you and your child would like a straightforward way into learning coding then the Code For Life program developed by Ocado will help you get started. It's totally free, just requires an email sign up. Through a series of challenges it takes the student on a learning journey from simple block coding using Blockly onto Python, the coding language used by large organisations like Google and Nasa. There are two ways to access the program - as a teacher or as an 'independent student'; the second one is what you want if you're a parent homeschooling.
...And to a website dedicated to helping you survive isolation with your kids.
For weekly updates and resources subscribe here.
Quarantined With Kids is a hub of curated (free) resources to help you to help your children - from tots to teens.
We'll find our way together.
There are lots of great ideas out there and many of you are overwhelmed with the options. I'm going to select and summarise a limited number of sites covering a wide range of ages and subjects and provide my own printable resources when I can.
Check out the links in the menu. If you're feeling a bit lost in this new situation, try starting with the button below.
Welcome to quarantine folks!
Site of the day
Blutick is a great tool for supporting your secondary aged students with mathematical concepts. It uses technical analysis to give automatic feedback line-by-line and is really straight forward to use. There are videos to show how to work through problems step-by-step and tests at the end of each session to assess understanding. It can be used by parents at home or by schools to set work and is completely free to everyone until 1st September; but the most of the features that students and parents will find useful are free forever!
Links, tips and advice about activities, education and staying sane.
Tin Can Alley
Collect cans in advance of your fair and make sure they have no sharp edges. Pile the cans in pyramids of three, six, etc. and give players beanbags, balls or even a nerf gun to try to knock them off. The more cans knocked down, the higher the score. Paint the cans to fit your theme.
Ball Toss
Set up three plastic buckets of different sizes in a firing line, with the largest nearest to the player and the smallest furthest away. Give each contestant three shots at throwing a ball so it lands (and stays) in a bucket. Can give a number of points for each bucket and a bonus if they get all three in a bucket, or if they get one in the smallest bucket.
Races
Egg and spoon
Three legged
Assault course
Dressing up race...
Hook-a Duck
Float some toys/plastic items (doesn't have to be ducks) in some water (paddling pool, bath, washing up bowl...) and scoop them out. You can use a net to scoop if you have one or even a bucket taped to a stick. Especially good for little ones.
Lemon Balance
Fiendishly hard, you could actually do this with pocket money or leave it on the counter all week and give the collected coins to charity. Float a lemon in a bowl of water and challenge players to balance a coin on the fruit. If the coin balances, they win, but if it falls off they lose their money. .
Marble pots
Challenge players to use a spoon to get as many marbles as they can into the hole on an upturned ceramic plant pot in one minute. Keep a leader board and see who's on top at the end of the day. You could even paint the pot to jazz it up!
Pin the Tail on the Donkey
...or pin whatever you like on whatever seems appropriate! Draw or print out a tail-less donkey. Create a tail with a sticky end - blu tack works well, or you can make a tail per player and have them tape them on. Blindfold players and invite them to pin the tail on the right place.
Yucky Dip
A messy sensory one! Put jelly in big bowls and fill it with little plastic toys or fairly solid sweet treats. Children dive in and dig out the prizes - yuck!
Shooting Gallery
Use what you've got to make this work - nerf guns, water pistols, catapults. Balance ping pong balls on the tops of plastic bottles filled with water to weight them down and try to shoot them off. See who can knock the most down given a certain number of shots or amount of time.
Photo Booth
Gather some hats, glasses, fake moustaches or other wearable items, make a cardboard frame and take some silly pics of yourselves. Then put them in your lockdown scrapbook!