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FAMILY TIME IS QUALITY TIME
DAILY IDEAS TO SPEND QUALITY TIME WITH YOUR KIDS AT HOME
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IDEA 45
Use your phone to throw and catch paper planes to people around the world.
Get your own ready, stamp it and send it away!
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IDEA 44
Visit the fate of coastal cities Google Earth
On your phone/tablet: download Google Earth for IOS or Android.
On a computer/laptop: just go to the Google Earth website.
STEP 1: Open the app/website
STEP 2: Go to "Voyager"
STEP 3: Go to "Travel"
STEP 4: Scroll down until you find "Sea Level Rise and the Fate of Coastal Cities" (you can also look it up in the magnifier)
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IDEA 43
Make a hedgehog playset
Printable hedgehog page (if you can't print it, you can always draw it yourself looking at the pics)
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IDEA 42
Design your own postcards to your loved ones!
These days it's hard to see our families and it's a difficult time for them too.
Let's write something nice to let them know how much we love and miss them!
Download the template or design your own.
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IDEA 41
Make a maze with straws and cardboard.
Make it as hard as you want and then swap games with your family and play each other's games!
If you don't have a ball, you can use a garbanzo bean or something else that is round.
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IDEA 40
Paper plane contest!
Got some scrap paper in your mailbox today? Pick your model and fly far.
Using blank paper? Bring out your markers and make it look cool.
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IDEA 39
US 50 States challenge!
Go to the Seterra website and work as a team to place correctly all the states in the map.
* There are other game modes right under the map.
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IDEA 38
Crazy improv stories.
Participants will make a circle and say only ONE word by turn rotating clockwise.
They have to make a story. They can say any word that makes sense into the sentence or "period" to end the sentence and lead to beginning a new one.
The game has to flow fast: no time to think!
* Tip: use your own names in the story to make it even more fun! Be creative! Nonsense = Fun!
* Example: One-day-mom-was-feeding-Toby-in-the-cave-"period"-A-bear-smelled-the-food-but...
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IDEA 37
Can you turn this figure into 3 squares in only three moves?
* Use toothpicks or pencils to figure it out.
Giving up? Check the solution.
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IDEA 36
Let's travel around the world with 360º Virtual Travel Escapes
(interactive videos - VR enabled, but not required)
- Paris
- London
- New York
- Rome and Florence
- Washington
- Egypt
- Brooklyn
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IDEA 35
Play "Where is Carmen Sandiego: The Keys to the Kremlin Caper" on Google Earth
On your phone/tablet: download Google Earth for IOS or Android.
On a computer/laptop: just go to the Google Earth website.
STEP 1: Open the app/website
STEP 2: Go to "Voyager"
STEP 3: Go to "Games"
STEP 4: Have Fun!
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IDEA 34
Let's visit the Georgia Aquarium!
Observe the animals with the live webcams.
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IDEA 33
Celebrate Earth Day!
ACTIVITY 1
Learn how to draw the Earth with Art for Kids Hub
ACTIVITY 2
Look up for "Lexington, Kentucky, US" at dinosaurpictures.org and find where it was located 240 million years ago, before the continents where formed.
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IDEA 32
Paper & Pencil games
Best 5 Pencil and paper games.
Want more? Here's 16 more games.
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IDEA 31
Riddles!
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IDEA 30
Let's go to the amusement park!
Hop on the 360º ROLLERCOASTER with your phone and faster your seatbelts!
(any phone will work, no VR needed)
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IDEA 29
Desktop Drumming
Learn cool rhythms with Hoani and James's video.
Mastered level 1? continue the video to the next level. There are 5 different rhythms!!
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IDEA 28
Play "Where is Carmen Sandiego: The Tutankhamon's Mask Caper" on Google Earth
On your phone/tablet: download Google Earth for IOS or Android.
On a computer/laptop: just go to the Google Earth website.
STEP 1: Open the app/website
STEP 2: Go to "Voyager"
STEP 3: Go to "Games"
STEP 4: Have Fun!
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IDEA 27
Let's go to the Zoo!
Visit San Diego Zoo Kids website and watch live cameras of the animals that live in the zoo.
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IDEA 25
Let's go on a field trip!
Choose your museum:
- The British Museum of London (Ancient Egypt, mummies, coffins)
- The National Gallery of London (classic paintings)
- The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (dinosaur remains)
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IDEA 24
Look a these optical illusions!
Baingio Pinna - Convergent and divergent lines (look around with your eyes)
Baingio Pinna - Apparent rotating illusion (look at the dot and move your head back and forth)
Baingio Pinna - Ouchi (moving ball)
Nicholas Wade - Concentric circles (it's not a spiral)
Gianni Sarcone - Impossible fork
Gaetano Kanizsa - Ghost triangle (the triangle is "not" there)
Richard Gregory - Cafewall (horizontal straight lines)
Akiyoshi Kitaoka - Horses (they have the same tone of color)
Akiyoshi Kitaoka - Rotsnake (moving circles)
Stanford Slutsky - Parallelogram (cubes on top of each other)
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IDEA 23
Shadow Art!
Use your camera to match the shadow figures.
Website in English
Website in Spanish
Are you short on data? You can just match the figures on this "shadow figures sheet".
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IDEA 22
Play Mystery Animal.
- Player 1: thinks about an animal (or writes it down on a piece of paper).
- Player 2: asks Yes/No questions (i.e. Can you fly? Do you eat meat?).
There's only one chance to guess the animal and you can only ask up to 20 questions.
When the game is over, switch roles.
* Alternative:
Play online with Google Mystery Animal and take turns to ask questions.
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IDEA 21
Play the "Animal sounds" quiz on Google Earth
On your phone/tablet: download Google Earth for IOS or Android.
On a computer/laptop: just go to the Google Earth website.
STEP 1: Open the app/website
STEP 2: Go to "Voyager"
STEP 3: Go to "Games"
STEP 4: Have Fun!
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IDEA 20
No thumbs challenge!
STEP 1: Wrap your thumbs with tape around your hand.
STEP 2: Complete the following challenges with your family:
1. Open a wrapped cookie.
2. Write your name on a piece of paper.
3. Grab a pair of scissors and cut around your name.
4. Unpeel a banana and eat it with fork and knife.
5. Fold a shirt.
6. Put on the shirt and button up.
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IDEA 19
Hand clapping games!
You can play the ones you (parents) know from when you were a child or just click on the picture and discover some songs with video and lyrics. Have fun!
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IDEA 18
Explore how life and school are in other countries with Touchable Earth.
Discuss at home how they are alike and different from our culture.
* Learn about China, India, Irak, Mongolia, South Africa, Syria, Romania, Russia and Nepal.
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IDEA 17
Blindfold Drawing Challenge!
You'll need: paper, pencil, blindfold.
Pick a category (animals, jobs, actions, feelins, places, etc.)
One player wears a blindfold and has to draw something related to the category you picked.
The partner player must guess what it is within 60 seconds!! (too easy? try in 30 sec)
Alternative:
One drawer wearing the blindfold, and two guessers. Whoever guesses it first, will be the next "blind drawer".
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IDEA 16
Draw a foldable surprise with "Art hub for Kids"
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IDEA 15
Exploring constellations! ✨💫🌟
Use a piece of paper to draw the constellations posted under this line. Feel free to be creative with the colors of the stars.
* If you have black paper, you can use white crayons to connect the stars, which can be also stickers from the dollar store.
ALTERNATIVE:
Projecting your constellations.
- 1. Draw your constellation (on card stock, if possible).
- 2. Make holes where the stars go.
- 3. Use a flashlight to project your constellation on the wall (get close to see it better!).
OPTIONAL:
Download the Sky View App (free) for Android or iOS and explore the constellations you drew before.
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IDEA 14
Visit Disney World (and other 9 theme parks) on Google Earth
On your phone/tablet: download Google Earth for IOS or Android.
On a computer/laptop: just go to the Google Earth website.
STEP 1: Open the app/website
STEP 2: Go to "Voyager"
STEP 3: Go to "Travel"
STEP 4: Scroll down until you find "Theme Parks Around the World" (you can also look it up in the magnifier)
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IDEA 13
Listen to radios around the world on "Radio Garden"
Discover radios from remote places in the world, what kind of music they listen to & how their languages sound like.
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IDEA 12
Make origami figures from the Origami-fun website and decorate them.
There are 25 different options with video or picture instructions at 3 different levels.
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IDEA 11
Make a Family Tree
If you don't have paper pictures: design a family tree on a piece of paper, draw your family members and write their names underneath.
If you have pictures in albums: make a giant family tree on the floor and cut out labels to name the members.
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IDEA 10
Play "Word-Number Chain"
- In a circle, players count by turns, one by one, up to 10.
- The person who says "ten" must change a number by a word. I.e.: change "3" by "dog"
- Start over with the new rule: "one", "two", "dog", "four", "five",...
- The game ends when all the letters have been changed. If a player gets it wrong, he/she's out of the game or you can just start over without eliminating players.
- I was too easy? Try up to 20!
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IDEA 9
Play "Word Chains"
- Pick a theme (fruits, animals, places, food, jobs...)
- Start the word chain saying the first word. Example: Theme – types of fruit. First word in the chain: Apple.
- The second person will have to repeat the chain, and add a unique word that fits the category. Example: Apple, Watermelon.
- Each person will have 30 seconds after correcting reciting the chain to add another new word.
- The chain is broken when a player cannot correctly recite the chain or can’t think of a word to add to it within 30 seconds.
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IDEA 8
Draw an elephant and his pig balloon.
More step-by-step (and video) tutorials at Drawinghowtodraw
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IDEA 7
Play "Where is Carmen Sandiego?: The Crown Jewels Caper" on Google Earth
On your phone/tablet: download Google Earth for IOS or Android.
On a computer/laptop: just go to the Google Earth website.
STEP 1: Open the app/website
STEP 2: Go to "Voyager"
STEP 3: Go to "Games"
STEP 4: Have Fun!
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IDEA 6
Watch the latest Liberty play: "The Jungle Book".
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IDEA 5
Look at old pictures where you (parents) were kids or your student was a baby or a toddler.
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IDEA 4
Paper airplane race.
Make one airplane per person, color them to make them look nice and make them fly!
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IDEA 3
Play charades!
Download the app to your phone and play!
If you can't download it, write 15 different animals (or jobs, movies, actions, places) in a piece of paper, cut them out and put them in a bag. One person shows them, one (or more) acts and another one guesses. Quickly! You only have 1min to guess as many as you can!!
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IDEA 2
Flamingo contest! Let's see who can stand longer on just one foot!
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IDEA 1
Treasure Hunt
Hide something in your house, draw a map and have your kid finding it. You can take turns.
* Variation: write a sentence, every word on a different piece of paper. Hide them, mark them on the map and have your kid collecting the pieces and putting the sentence together.
