Learning at home with Learning Resources toys
- Learning Resources Posted On Mar 19, 2020
While your little ones might be out of the classroom for a while, there are easy ways to ensure that they keep learning in the meantime.
We asked learning expert Amy Torf of Noggin Builders to come up with some fun and easy at-home learning lessons and activities you can do with your Learning Resources toys. Here are some of her favourite suggestions:
Imaginative STEM with Gears! Gears! Gears!
Learning Resources Gears are a fascinating simple machine. Just connecting them to see how they spin is fun to watch! In addition to putting on a good show, Gears! Gears! Gears sets also help your kids learn critical thinking skills every time they build. As you and your kids design your own Gears! creations, ask them questions that get them thinking beyond the build. What direction and speed do the gears spin? When you connect different sized gears together, how does that affect their rotations? As you add more gears to your creation, how does it change? The skills in Gears! sets aren’t limited to STEM, either. Ask your kids to tell a story about their imaginative machines – how do they work? What do they do? How might they make the world a better place?
Money Matters with Pretend and Play Calculator Cash Register
When you use your imagination, you can go just about anywhere (even when you have to stay home!) In addition to stretching their creativity, social skills, and emotional development, engaging your kids in fun pretend play is also a great opportunity to practice and build maths skills. Here’s an example to try with the Calculator Cash Register:
Have your kids set up a store with their favourite toys, complete with prices. They’ll be the shopkeepers, and you’ll be the customer. As you shop, have your child calculate the sum (total) for the items you want to buy. Pay for your pretend purchases with more money than the total, and have your child subtract to make change. If you buy more than one of the same item help your child multiply to find the total.
Physics Fun with Tumble Trax Magnetic Marble Run
Physics fun is happening all around us, so it’s easy to find at-home examples of force, motion, and more. One of my favourite physics tools is the classic marble run. They’re hands-on and engaging, and a great way to visualise and explore concepts like gravity and energy. Have your kids design their own courses using the Tumble Trax Magnetic Marble Run, and have them make the following observations: Does the marble always move down? What speed does the marble have at different parts of the run? How tall or long can you make your marble run without the marble falling off?
Much like the Gears! example above, you can also turn these physics lessons into crafty imaginative play; as they build, encourage kids to make more marble tracks out of items you find around the house, like cardboard tubes, blocks, and more. How big will your marble run get?
At Learning Resources, we’re here to help you make the best of this challenging time. Stay safe and healthy, and check back with our blog for more tips and learning ideas as the situation unfolds.
How to balance home learning expectations
For the first time in recent history, most parents across the UK have had to step into the role of being home educators during this season of school closures. For the majority, this wasn’t a choice and they perhaps feel overwhelmed with how to balance home learning expectations.
Some face added pressures including being furloughed, possibly being made redundant (or not earning an income as freelancer/self-employed) and others continue to try and juggle teaching their children with working from home.
Many parents feel ill-equipped to suddenly fill this new role. With the lockdown deadline extended and uncertainty as to when UK schools will open again, families have mixed feelings about what they should achieve during this time.
In this guest blog, Becca Tooth, an experienced primary teacher, home educator, parent and blogger at Pears and Chocolate Sauce shares some advice to help you and your family work through this time and keep your head above water.
Home educating in a pandemic
If your child is usually educated in school, then what you’re experiencing now isn’t a typical example of home educating. You’ve been thrown in at the deep end, and for many of you home educating may never have crossed your mind.
In addition, many of the resources those of us who do home educate would usually access - libraries, museums, home school groups, and so on - are currently unavailable. We are all having to find our new normal, considering both our children’s and our own wellbeing.
Image: AleksandarNakic/Getty Images
Have realistic expectations
- Don’t feel you have to ‘recreate’ school. You don’t have to start at 9am or end at 3pm. You can do it at the weekend. You can do more some days, and less others. You don’t have to record everything (and nor do they). Do what works for you and your children. That might be reading over breakfast. It could be putting on a show. It might be as simple as a conversation or finding out something together. There may also be days when emotions are running high (particularly given the current circumstances) and what might work best is just to spend the day doing whatever brings you and your children some comfort.
- My experience is that my own children can be far more resistant to what I ask them to do than most children I’ve taught. This is normal. However, it can make things difficult when you’re pulling in opposite directions. Try letting them choose when to do things. Instead of saying, “It’s time for maths now,” give them a list of tasks for the day or the week and let them choose the order. This way, you’re still setting the expectations, but they can exercise some control.
- Home education can be more ‘intensive’, by which I mean that I can do the same kind of activity with my daughter that I may have with a class, but because she has my full attention (well, almost - she does have two younger brothers!), both the teaching and the activity often take less time. So, don’t feel your children have to be doing ‘schoolwork’ all day. I’d say three or four 15-30-minute bursts, depending on their age, would be plenty for most children.
Image: MartinPrescott/Getty Images
Keeping up with school expectations
Some families are finding it hard to keep up with the sheer volume of work that has come in from the schools. If this is the case, speak to your child’s teacher to clarify what their expectations are. Some families will want to be given more to do than others, and so schools will be trying to cater for those parents who want lots for their child to do, but they probably don’t expect everyone to do everything.
Let them know what you’re struggling with and ask for advice. In these difficult times, the priority is your child’s wellbeing. If it’s causing friction at home trying to get everything done, then take a step back. Do what feels manageable - that might just be some reading and a craft activity some days.
Remember that your children will be learning as they play, and there’s lot to be learned from day-to-day activities such as cooking, gardening, and helping around the house. Alternatively, you may find it works better to choose a topic that your child is particularly interested in and do your own thing.
Managing younger children
If you have younger children, it can be difficult to find time to work with older ones, do your own work, or get jobs done around the house. Firstly, try and find a routine that works for you. No two sets of circumstances are the same, so nor will our routines be.
I am constantly tweaking our routine to try and make it work best for the family at any given time. I shared some pointers a few weeks ago on how to create a routine that works for your family - it can be as strict or as loose as you want; whatever suits you.
Secondly, have some things in mind that your child can do fairly independently - something that really engages them. For example, one of my children loves using scissors. He will sit quite happily cutting up a piece of paper or an empty cereal box for quite a while.
Playdough [Ed’s note: try our Playfoam for non-drying, non-sticky, squishing, sculpting fun] is another one which goes down very well with my kids, or a tub of containers and scoops with some pompoms, beads, oats or lentils. Don’t feel bad about putting the TV on, either, if that’s what works for you.
Image: gradyreese/Getty Images
What if the schools only reopen in September?
While we’d all love to get back to normal sooner, we have a responsibility to stay at home for as long as necessary. When schools do reopen, there is going to have to be a huge focus on children’s wellbeing and coming to terms with all that has happened over the past however many months.
Teachers will also need to assess where children are at, so I hope the DfE are supportive in enabling schools to make meaningful assessments which prioritise the children’s wellbeing.
Have a healthy perspective on success
Try not to compare yourself to others - easier said than done, I know. I’ve seen a quote going around that says something like, “We’re all in the same storm, but not in the same boat”. Everyone’s circumstances are different. The variables include our workloads; number of children; financial situations; physical or mental health; and access to outdoor space amongst other things.
We don’t all have the same input and we cannot all have the same output. I find it helpful to have a rough plan in my mind of what I want to have done by the end of the day - not only what I want to have done with the children, but what else needs to happen for it to be a good day.
There will be some days when you get loads done and some days where it feels like nothing productive has happened. I think the key thing is wellbeing. If we all go to bed happy, the day has been a success.
 | About the author: Becca Tooth is a mum of three from London. She has taught across the primary age range over the last twelve years and is currently having a break from teaching while she cares for her children, including home educating her eldest, who is aged six. Becca is a big believer in the power of play as a tool for learning, and writes at Pears and Chocolate Sauce sharing practical ideas and insights to help parents and educators use play to nurture children’s natural curiosity and inspire a love of learning. |
Looking for more? Read about ways to stay feeling positive while staying at home. And keep visiting our blog, Facebook and Instagram pages to stay in touch - we're all in this together.
Main image: gradyreese/Getty Images
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8 Easy Organisation Tips for School at Home
You’ve got this, Mum! Even though the children may be home, you can still focus on prepping them for success in the (home) classroom. One of the best things you can do to help your children adjust to the change of pace and perform at their academic peak during the next few weeks of home learning is to get organised. Check out our 8 easy organisation tips for school at home to get your children off to a great start with home learning.
Create a learning zone
Clutter can make your head spin, and when your head is spinning, it’s difficult to learn. Boost productivity by creating a ‘school’ station where you collect all the pencils, papers, and folders in a nifty schoolwork zone. Keep supplies stocked in a colourful and cute storage centre (try our Create-a-Space™ Storage Centre or a nifty, smaller Create-A-Space™ Mini-Centre) so kids can jump in and blaze through their home learning assignment. Imagine what they’ll do when they have all their supplies at hand.
Image: Learning Resources Create-A-Space Storage Centre
Snack attacks = no problem!
Give your kids the fuel they need by creating a handy snack station. By organising foods, you can reduce a lot of your lunch prep time. Bag apples, carrots, and other perishable snacks as well as sandwiches, cheese sticks, yoghurts and other munchables in the fridge. Keep treats such as bags of crisps, juice boxes and sweets in a shelf in the pantry. Preparing this way helps make it easier for kids to make healthy food choices and eat regular brain-fuelling meals.
Dress for success with an organised wardrobe
Take some time on a Sunday evening to plan your children’s clothing for the week ahead – just like when they’re going to school. Make the process fuss free by creating hanger labels for each day, and then pre-select outfits. Young fashionistas can take their time to express their personalities without the early morning stress of digging through drawers and laundry baskets to find their favourite go-to items. Plus, it’ll make their school day at home seem more like a regular day at school.
Organise books and resources
It’s oh so easy for books to go missing in a bustling household. Keep reading books and course books in book baskets where kids can “borrow” and return them as needed. And your young learners will have easy access, which will enable them to study when they need to. They may even find material in there they wouldn’t otherwise explore, which helps to encourage and boost an interest in reading.
Screen time guidelines:
Wipe away the worry of disputes over TV/game/computer time by setting guidelines. Put your concentration on what is most important for your kids - schoolwork, outdoor activity time, and online socialisation should be considered. Help your kids by using a chart to outline what needs to happen before it’s time to plop down in front of a screen.
The meal of champions
Breakfast provides youngsters with the nutrition they need to get going and sustained through their day. Get them off to a great start, just like you do on out-of-home school days. There’s no reason to not start your kid’s day off right.
Main Image: Monkeybusinessimages/Getty Images
Celebrate in styleParents love to display their child’s schoolwork and awards. Make a special place for such items that they create at home – utilising magnetic clips to keep these items in order while providing an artistic presentation your kids can take part in and pride in. Or think of a magnetic post-it board that is in clear view in a family-centric area of the home. This little trick keeps messy papers to a minimum and provides a special touch to the display.
Schedule downtimeMake sure you plan to take time for NOTHING. Having time to relax helps young students to reboot and reload and provides quality family time or solo time – they are both important.
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