Games and Activities
Looking for activities to show your child the fun side of learning? From science experiments and math games to writing projects and more, we've got you covered! Use the selector on the right to browse around, or narrow your search by grade and subject area.
Help your child "step up" to math challenges with a fun game in your very own kitchen. Not only will this help your child learn basic addition and subtraction facts in an engaging way, it will also get her up and moving--with math!
Get kids busy with this colorful craft activity, and sneak in some math practice without them even realizing it! This beaded wind chime is fun to make, and it gets kids experimenting with patterns, a key kindergarten math skill.
More activities:
Create a School's Out! Calendar
Another school year, come and gone. Plan ahead for summer, by constructing a holiday calendar with your child. Not only will it teach your kid about the passing of time, but it will build excitement, all summer long!
Take a Picture Walk
Everyone's heard of taking a dog for a walk. But how about an illustration? Kindergarten teachers have a technique, called a "Picture Walk", that teaches emerging readers to use pictures as clues to understand the meaning of a story, and guess at unfamiliar words. Here's how it works:
Make a Counting Book
If a picture's worth a thousand words, how many numbers is it worth? Break out some old newspapers and magazines and let your kid find out, by creating her very own counting book!
Slide Sounds to Teach Reading
Once beginning readers know the individual sounds that letters make, they need to learn how to blend them and how to break them apart. This activity will help them practice. Readers, ho!
Make a Ladybug Storyboard!
Does it bug you that math isn't more fun? Teachers have been using flannel boards for years, to make stories sing. Now, you can make your own version of the flannel board, and help bring math to life!
Take a Scavenger Hunt for Shapes!
Learning to identify and categorize different geometric shapes is a big goal for early learners. And your neighborhood is the perfect place to start!
Build Sentence Puzzles
Does your kindergartener know what a sentence is? Does she keep reading, long after she reaches the period, like she's in a run-on marathon? Help her practice reading, and learn the key pieces to the sentence puzzle, by creating sentence puzzles at home!
Build Family Mailboxes!
Does your child stalk the postman, hoping for something with his name on it? You can help him practice his writing skills, while ensuring he'll get an envelope or two of his own, by helping him build a mailbox for each member of the family.
What's Eating Hamlet? Reading Shakespeare
Here's a quick look at the Hamlet, the classic Shakespearean tragedy, as well as useful SAT vocabulary to give your teen a leg up in English class and beyond.
Play Musical Motor Stations
Take some of the spirit of musical chairs and incorporate it into an indoor obstacle course of sorts. You'll set up 8 stations and invite a bunch of your child's friends. When the music stops, each child jumps up and switches to the next station down the line.
