August 4, 2020 By Adriane (Raising Kids With Purpose) 63 Comments

The Ultimate List of Over 225 Home Education Resources

Inside: Here is a master list of home education resources for parents including live videos, virtual field trips, supplemental educational lesson plans, subscription boxes and more! These resources allow you to sign up without a school account. Originally posted: March 21, 2020; updated August 4, 2020 with more resources)

Back in March, we left for our spring break vacation and came back to empty grocery store shelves and headlines that told us to socially distance ourselves from other people to prevent further spread of the coronavirus.

This post contains affiliate links, see disclosure policy for details.

Most states (if not all) here in the United States closed down all public schools. And now as we approach the 2020-2021 school year, it’s looking like a lot of schools’ doors will stay closed. School administrators, teachers, and parents are working hard to find the best solution that keeps mental and physical health in mind.

It’s much easier said than done, but it’s important that we do not panic.

Just because we are supposed to stay home does not mean our children’s education needs to stop.

The structure of our kids’ day does not need to look the same as it does when they are in school, but learning can continue.

Many parents are now faced with needing to educate their kids at home.

I have heard from many parents who have decided to switch completely over to homeschooling as they have the means to do so. However, many are not looking to homeschool full time or purchase curriculum, but rather, find resources that will supplement their children’s educational experience, like distance learning or online school. And some need educational resources to simply keep their kids busy at home until school doors reopen.

PSSST: If you are working full-time from home and it’s NOT working with having kids who are attending school at home, check out the brand new course, Work From Home With Kids Who Thrive course from Sparkitivity. Use the coupon code THRIVE25 for 25% off. My readers will also receive a free pdf workbook on how to create an invention station kids will love. You can also find more tips as to what to do here: 7 Practical Tips for Homeschooling and Working Full Time

This is why I’ve compiled a comprehensive home education list for Pre-K – 8th Grade (and everything in between) to assist parents who are needing to continue their children’s education.

The list is broken down into categories with learning resources that include both online and offline options.

How to Use This Resource (Free Download)

Okay, so I know this is information overload with so many different resources. Here is how we have been using it:

Save the eBook (download yours here!) to my desktop for easy access
Pick a subject to work on each day of the week
Look for a website that offers projects and activities for that subject
Write it down on our schedule for the week. Here are some great summer schedules that can be used at any time of the year.

Pick one or two activities or websites to focus on at a time (unless you’re researching homeschool curriculum) or it will be too overwhelming.

DOWNLOAD: The Ultimate Educational Resources List: Helping Kids Learn At Home for you to download for free.

Tips For Doing School At Home

In January 2020 (before the pandemic), our boys moved to an in-home school environment. It has been an adjustment to go from teacher-led learning to self-guided learning. However, it can be done especially if you don’t have the bandwidth to go to work or work from home while educating your kids at the same time.

Before I get into the resources, here are a few tips for educating your kids at home to help lessen frustration and make at home learning work:

Give kids the autonomy to choose where they want to learn and what they want to do.
Set up a basic schedule. Most kids thrive with structure. Be flexible with change. If not, you may be setting yourself up for frustration.
Designate a space in your house that is for homeschooling. I absolutely love this homeschool station Sumer of Grace, Giggle s and Naptime created for her kids!! It’s bright, colorful, organized, and such an inviting space to learn. She also mentions how it was quite easy to do!
Change your mindset of what “school” is. You don’t need to mimic the school setting.
Use your environment to learn. Go outside and use what you have.
Include recesses into your daily schedule. Let your kids have recess whenever they need a break.
Pull out the craft supplies and allow your kids to get creative and maybe even messy.
You do not need to “teach” your kids. Use the resources your school has provided or what you will find below and allow your kids to empower themselves to learn. You may be surprised at what they accomplish without a person teaching them.
Do what you can. And remember to give yourself lots of grace!

Home Education Resources for Families

The one bonus of this happening in today’s world is that we have more than enough technology available to use. There is a ridiculous amount of online educational resources that bring the classroom into your home!

Most of the resources are for elementary to middle school-aged kids. For some great educational programs for preschoolers, check out this post from Mom Teaches Mindset.

Please note that I visited EVERY single one of the websites to weed out any clickbait and to ensure the resource allows parents and students to register without a school account.

*If there are quotation marks around the descriptions, that means they have been directly copied from the website linked or from the company’s description.

1. School At (Or Someone Else’s) Home

Prenda School is where our boys have been attending school and absolutely love it. They offer micro-schools that are run by Guides out of their homes or a safe space for kids. It feels like a mashup between Montessori, traditional school, and home school. It is such a great model for any kind of learner but especially those who need to move or have a hard time learning in a classroom environment.

What’s great about this program is that they offer a Prenda Family option. You can do the program with your kids from home. While we were social distancing, we essentially did Prenda Family.

It was nice to have structure and resources so our kids could continue schooling without having to invest in curriculum or other programs. If you are in Arizona, the tuition is free through their charter partners. For students not in Arizona, it’s a minimal cost per month.

Once signed up, you will gain access to a portal called Prenda World that will offer some structure and support to educate from home.

2. Home School Resources

Here are great home school resources including online school options. There are full curriculums, unique or specific subjects, and other ways to supplement education at home.

Elementary

Kids Cook Real Food

Think Home Ec for homeschool! This is a comprehensive curriculum that organizes 30 kitchen life skills into logical steps. It’s also a great way to create strong connections between family members in addition to teaching skills kids will use all their lives.

All About Learning

They provide products that teach reading and spelling. I love how there is no prep work involved. The method they use is multi-sensory meaning this is great for all types of learners.

Christian Homeschool Entrepreneurship

I love the idea of this curriculum! It teaches kids how to be entrepreneurs while growing a biblical worldview.

THiNK OUTSiDE for Homeschool

This company as mentioned under the subscription boxes section below also offers the curriculum and lesson plans to get your kids OUTDOORS and in nature.

Techie Homeschool Mom Online Courses

These courses are tailored to specific projects and topics. A few examples are Ancient Eqypt, Famous Artists or the Solar System. They are very reasonably priced and great to add into your child’s curriculum.

Intoxicated On Life

Their mission is “to present Biblically grounded encouragement, fused with solid research, and practical experience. Nurturing bodies. Cultivating minds. Inspiring souls.” They have so many different types of resources and curriculum for homeschooling that are biblical-based.

Warm Hearts Publishing

Susan has over 20 years of experience teaching and provides so many resources. “They include hands-on learning resources, writing prompts, incentive charts, posters, games and puzzles, flash cards, mini-books, activity packs, and more! Most can typically be used by parents, teachers, homeschoolers, after school programs, homeschool co-ops, distance learners, tutoring services, daycares, and churches.

SQUILT Music

“SQUILT is a music appreciation curriculum that is easy to teach. Each volume is simple and affordable. It is for the parent with limited or NO musical knowledge. SQUILT is for the parent that wants to learn alongside their child. It is for the music teacher that needs something they can pull out that takes NO work.” This is a great music curriculum for homeschool and supplemental education. They offer self-guided voluntes AND live classes!

Be Wild and Free

Monthly content bundles as well as a podcast with amazing information.

Brave Writer

Writing resources for homeschoolers

Discovery K12

Free online homeschool that offers Language Arts, Reading/Literature, Math, Science, History/Social Studies, Visual/Performing Arts, and Physical Education.

Easy Peasy All-in-One Homeschool

“We exist to help families homeschool. We enable families to homeschool who thought they couldn’t because of a lack of finances, a lack of time, or a lack of know-how.”

Miacademy

Online K-8 learning program for homeschoolers. Also, here is their Facebook group!

Galileo

Self-directed online school for students aged 8-18

Match Fishtank

Match Charter School provides its entire curriculum online!

The Good and The Beautiful

Free course sets (Levels 1–5) that combine and thoroughly cover phonics, reading, writing, spelling, literature, grammar, punctuation, art, and geography.

123 Homeschool For Me

Free learning worksheets for kids.

Dad’s Worksheets

They have a growing collection of printable worksheets, online calculators, games, puzzles, and other tools… All of these are completely FREE. They help kids love learning math!

Early Learners

These resources are mainly for learners ages two up to seven or eight.

God’s Little Explorers Preschool Curriculum

Thematic units with a new letter each week all incorporating exploring God’s World.

Educational Coloring Pages

They offer educational workbooks for ages 3-7

All Kids Network

Thousands of activities such as printables, coloring sheets, connect-the-dot sheets, and more.

Hooked On Phonics

I can’t believe this curriculum is still around! They teach early learners how to read and spell.

Worksheets for Preschool

Worksheets and printables for kids ages 3-6 that teaches them the basic skills they need for Kindergarten.

3. Virtual Classes

Here are a few art studios and companies that offer (free and paid) online classes. You can find their lessons on their websites, YouTube, and/or Facebook pages.

Creative Bug

They are “a team of dreamers and makers who believe that everyone has a creative side – even you! {They} pride ourselves on bringing the latest in art and craft education to our members, and we work with renowned artists to do just that.” They have a bunch of art classes from oil painting to crochet. Click here to Get 2 Months of Creativebug for FREE!

UCode

UCode is your one-stop-shop for all education in coding and computer science. They offer camps and regular classes that can fit around any schedule. Your kids can learn experiential problem solving, how to code using Python, computational thinking, and more. UCode Membership starts at $99 a Month!

Lindsay’s Art Cart

They are entertaining and a joy to watch! They walk you through how to paint or make an art project. You can find their videos on Lindsay’s Art Cart Facebook Page.

McHarper Studios

This studio has tutorials that last about an hour and cover different types of mediums that kids can do with their parents. They have all the supply lists on their blog. You can catch the replays on their YouTube Channel. Check out the McHarper Studios Facebook Page as well.

Megapixels School for the Arts

Meg of Megapixels offers free online art classes through her Facebook Group. You can join here!

Loog Guitars

“Loog solves this: our 3-string guitars reduce chords to the basic triad, allowing for an easier and faster learning process. With a Loog, kids can play songs on day one, feeling rewarded and encouraged to keep on playing and learning.” When you buy on of their guitars, you also get flashcards and free zoom classes that teach kids how to play!

4. Online Education/Supplemental Classroom Websites

These sites are more than just educational games. They are used by a lot of teachers and in the schools to supplement education. I was shocked at how many incredible companies that are providing full-blown lesson plans, activities and materials. What great resources to have while doing school at home. These are both paid and free educational resources.

All Subjects (English Language Arts, Math, Science & More)

Scholastic (Grades K-9)

Scholastic is offering a learn-from-home section on their website that is extremely educational and fun to do! Scroll down to choose the grade level you want to work on. “Every day includes four separate learning experiences, each built around a thrilling, meaningful story or video.” There are even questions at the end.

Hand2Mind

I didn’t know where to put this resource because it’s not all online, but that made me love it even more! They offer so much including supplemental materials that you can purchase to have at home or in the classroom for your kids. They “support teachers, inspire students, engage parents, and champion learning by doing.” They provide students with hands-on learning!

Center For Interactive Learning and Collaboration (Grades K-6)

“Beginning March 23rd we will offer, free of charge, interactive, live-streamed programs from 9:30 am to 3:30 pm Eastern time. The programs are delivered by our highly professional content providers. Registration coming soon!” Seriously, you may want to jump on this one for kids in Grades K-6th.

IXL (Grades K-12)

Comprehensive K-12 curriculum. IXL provides a ton of resources to help families continue their children’s education at home. This site is LOADED with resources such as printable worksheets and workbooks!

BrainPop (Grades K-12)

BrainPop is a supplemental resource that provides “engaging learning games, animated movies, and activities.” They have free access during this time of social distancing.

Khan Academy (Grades K-8)

This is what our boys use through Prenda School for Math. The video lessons are very easy to follow. To test their knowledge, they take unit tests and don’t move on until they have mastered the content. This is a great resource if you are working from home and need your kids to do schoolwork without your help. Additional resources while stuck at home: Khan Academy home learning schedule for parents

Actively Learn (Grades 6-12)

This website has so many ways to educate your kids from home. “Actively Learn is a digital curriculum platform for grades 6-12 English Language Arts, Social Studies, and Science. Our catalog includes over 3,000 texts, videos, and simulations that include embedded questions, scaffolding notes, and multimedia to support all learners.”

DK findout!

DK, the maker of the best non-fiction fact books has “built a safe place online for your child to see, learn, and explore almost everything.” This website includes videos, quizzes, and an abundance of fact pages. There are resources for both parents and teachers.

Raddish Kids Homeschool Lesson Plans

Amazing lesson plans that incorporate Reading, Geography, Social Studies, Culture studies, AND Home Economics!

PBS LearningMedia (Grades PreK – 12)

“PBS LearningMedia is a free, PreK-12 digital media service available to educators nationwide. Our free service offers access to more than 30,000 learning materials aligned to state and national standards, including 25,000+ videos, interactive lesson plans, media galleries and more to enrich classroom instruction.”

3D Bear (Grades Pre-K – 12)

“[3D Bear] has lesson plans available for Pre-K, elementary schools, middle schools, upper secondary and libraries in ELA, Social Studies, Math, Science, Coding, Design Thinking, Computational Thinking, and STEM/STEAM. It is also a great tool for Career and Technical Education (CTE).”

Teachers Pay Teachers (All)

A great resource for school activities, games, printables, and more. A lot of the resources are free and the others are available for a small fee. When you buy from this website, you are supporting teachers!

Education.com (Grades K-5)

“Independent Study Packets: [Each packet has a] week’s worth of offline activities tailored to grade levels covering English Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies for K-5. Ready to print.”

Achieve 3000 Literacy at Home (Grades 2-12)

SCROLL DOWN the page to find the “any student” section. Students in grades 2-12 can set up an account to be able to read articles on the topics of science, entertainment, technology, current events, and other fictional stories. Also included are short lesson activities and poll questions.

Great Minds (Grades K-12)

Great Minds is a knowledge-building website that provides written materials for math (Grades K–12) and daily instructional videos for English Language Arts (Grades K–8), Math (Grades K-12), and Science (Grades 3–5). “We will post new video lessons and update our content daily.”

Circletime (Grades PreK – K)

“Circletime provides interactive “Mommy and Me classes” that are convenient and engaging for parents and fun and educational for children… The hands-on sessions are evidence-based and promote healthy play activities that continue beyond the class.”

Fluency & Fitness® (Grades K-2)

” Fluency and Fitness® helps students review essential K-2 reading and math topics while providing a movement break.” Currently, they are offering free weeks for parents to use with their kids at home.

Curriculum Associates (Grades K-8)

This is a curriculum company that is offering math and reading packets including worksheets kids can do at home.

Izzit (Grades K-12)

This site ” offers FREE, high-quality educational materials to educators: teachers, homeschoolers, parents, grandparents, scout troop leaders – to anyone interested in learning/teaching!” Content covers all subjects from STEM to ELA to Art and Business.

Lakeshore Learning Free Resource Library (Grades PreK – 5)

Lakeshore has stores and sells educational products. They also have a huge online resource library with lessons, activities, and crafts in the subjects of Math, Language, Writing, Science and Social Studies.

MobyMax (Grades PreK-8)

MobyMax provides lessons to help find and fill learning gaps for kids. They are currently offering their software for free.

Outschool (Grades PreK – 12)

Live online classes for kids ages 3-18 covering just about every subject even including music and life skills. Here is what they are doing during school closures.

E-Learning For Kids (Grades K-6)

E-Learning For Kids “offers free, best-in-class curriculum-based learning for children ages 5-12 in Math, Science, Environmental skills, Computer skills, Health, Language and Life skills. We currently offer 800+ e-lessons and are continuously developing new ones.”

Reading, Writing & Grammar

Lalilo (Grades K – 2)

Phonics and comprehension program for grades Kinder – 2nd Grade. Kids work on adaptive exercises in phonics, word recognition, and comprehension.

NoRedInk (Grades 4-12)

“NoRedInk builds stronger writers through interest-based curriculum, adaptive exercises, and actionable data.”

Rockin Resources – Rockstar Writers (Grades 3-5)

Rockstar Writers class offers educational student writing videos. “These student version educational videos cover sentence structure, paragraph writing, narrative writing, opinion writing, and informative writing. Each video is a mini-lesson and numbered in the order of the Step-by-Step Writing Program and Professional Development Course.”

Litfilmfest (Grades K-12)

Purposeful writing projects for kids of all ages. They provide free English and classroom projects. Also, they have put resources and activities together for independent learning, homeschool, or home education. Check out their YouTube channel for updated writing challenge videos.

Readtheory (Grades K-12)

“Personalized reading comprehension exercises for K-12 students.”

ReadWorks (Grades K-12)

“Provider of the largest high-quality library of curated nonfiction and literary reading passages in the country, along with reading comprehension and vocabulary activities, formative assessments and teacher guidance.” They have a free webinar on their school closure page that walks you through how to use their platform.

Institute For Excellence in Writing (IEW) (Grades 3-12)

With their programs, Structure and Style for Students and Fix It! Grammar, IEW offers English Language Arts instruction. These programs include writing, grammar, vocabulary and poetry memorization passages.

Squiggle Park & Dreamscape (Grades PreK – 10)

A Reading skill-building and comprehension program that uses fun games to help kids increase their literacy skills. Squiggle Park is for ages 3-8+ and Dreamscape is for ages 8-15+.

Math & Science and/or STEM

The Tech Interactive (Grades K-12)

“Silicon Valley’s favorite science center has compiled their favorite STEM, maker, and design challenge activities into one place for teachers and parents.” The Tech Interactive offers virtual tours, building and making activities, global good activities, and IMAX educational films.

cK-12 (Grades K-12)

There are so many math and science lessons to choose from! And it’s always free! Each has a reading passage, videos, optional review questions, and self-graded practice questions.

Cignition (Grades 3-6)

Cignition is offering a free math game as well as the ability to purchase math tutoring sessions.

Astrostem

“Astrostem.org is an online platform for courses, activities, applications, workshops, games, current science and educational news, and users can create their own content in this area, designed to support and develop STEM literacy in the field of science.”

Defined Learning (Grades K-12)

Defined Learning offers project-based learning projects including real-world STEM projects to do at home.

DreamBox (Grades K-8)

“Online math program that looks at how a student is solving problems to adjust accordingly and build a unique learning path for them.”

Prodigy (Grades K-8)

Prodigy offers a math-aligned curriculum for Grades K-8 that encourages self-paced math practice at home.

Learning Blade (Grades K-12)

Offering free STEM lessons to help parents that may be working from home. Included are Table Talk Starter Questions, research prompts and experiments.

Teaching Garage (Grades 2-5)

“Free digital STEM curricula for elementary-aged students.” “Teaching Garage continues to build creative and practical tools that will support teachers and parents in project-based learning that inspire innovation and creativity.”

National Integrated Cyber Education Research Center (NICERC) (Grades K-12)

The NICERC is offering free projects to help kids stay engaged and continue to develop cybersecurity literacy. There are some fun activities including how to build an enigma machine from a Pringles can!

The PAST Foundation – Maker Mania (Grades 4 – 12)

“The PAST Foundation is here to provide parents/guardians and educators with access to some of our STEM educational resources!” Maker Mania includes at-home activities for students that parents/guardians can download or print.

Population Education (Grades K-12)

“Population Education creates classroom activities for K-12 students that focus on human population change and related issues including natural resource use, environmental sustainability, equity, well-being, and more.” They are providing free lesson plans in Math, Science and Social Studies.

Science and/or Coding

Mystery Science (Grades K-5)

Another fantastic resource that has open-ended science lessons. It’s a full K-5 science curriculum which includes hands-on projects. Here is their School closure planning page. There is also an additional website called Mystery Doug that has many science videos for kids to watch.

American Chemical Society Inquiry in Action (Grades K-5)

“Inquiry in Action is a FREE teacher resource of fully-developed lesson plans in physical science for grades K-5. All Inquiry in Action lessons are aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) for “Weather and Climate” (Kindergarten) and for “Structure and Properties of Matter” (2^nd and 5^th), are based on phenomena students observe and explore through hands-on investigations and are presented in a 5-E format (Engage, Explore, Explain, Evaluate, and Extend) and include student activity sheets for 2^nd and 5^th grades.”

Generation Genius (Grades K-5+)

Amazing Resource Alert! This is a science resource that has videos as well as lesson plans, activities, quizzes, reading material, discussion questions and more. The videos are produced in partnership with the National Science Teaching Association and have been aligned to standards in all 50 states. Currently, the videos are for K-5 but will be extending to older grades in the future.

Create & Learn (Grades K-12)

Professionally trained instructors teach online classes using Scratch, Minecraft modding, Python, robotics and AI. They offer free introductory classes.

Creosity Space (Grades K-5)

“CreositySpace is a unique inquiry-based, learner-directed science curriculum that connects ALL K-5 students to science and capitalizes on their creativity and curiosity.”

Steve Spangler Science (All)

This is loaded with all things science including a huge experiment library. It’s a nice one-stop-shop for easy to follow science experiments and projects.

Quark Academy (Grades 6-12)

“We bring the most up to date science to live streaming interactivity with world-class scientists responsible for everything from training astronauts in the world’s only underwater saturation laboratory to developing robots that interact with us as equals and engineers who create tech to use on Mars, all to inspire and excite your students to embrace and explore science in school and in life.” Curriculum for Grades 6-12.

Social Studies & Economics

Kids Discover (Grades K-8)

“With a paid subscription to Kids Discover Online, you can gain unlimited access to our entire library of award-winning science and social studies articles from any internet-enabled device. Select the plan that best meets your needs!” Only $4/month!

Discover the World Education (Grades K-12)

“Discovery Education Experience is an online K-12 service combining curated curriculum resources with on-demand teaching strategies. Along with the Geographical Association, they are providing a variety of free geography resources.

Academy 4SC (Grades 6-12)

Academy4SC is a video series on various psychology, rhetoric, logic, reasoning, and economic topics. Great for Grades 6th – 12th. Each video comes with an explanation of the topic as well as a lesson plan.

C-Span Classroom (Grades 5-12)

Comprehensive Social Studies lesson plans, videos and bell ringers.

Social-Emotional Learning

Character Strong

Tons of resources around Social-Emotional Intelligence and Character education. Included is a resource library, an upcoming Whole Child Summit, virtual assemblies and a kindness journal.

Learning Through Landscapes

This isn’t necessarily a supplemental education company but wow! they sure have a lot of amazing resources! Learning Through Landscapes is a UK-based charity dedicated to enhancing outdoor learning and play for children. During the social distancing and quarantines around the world, they have created a Facebook group where they will be posting tutorials, learning plans and discussions.

Respectful Ways

“Respectful Ways is a PreK-12 digital curriculum offering 300 FREE online activities that teach children social skills and emotional intelligence. Students need to feel connected during uncertain times. This is a great opportunity to teach them empathy for others, how to persevere through tough times, and the responsibility to do the right thing.”

5. Educational Videos

We don’t watch a ton of videos online but there are some incredible websites and YouTube channels that can really help your kids learn. Since this list can get very long, below, I only included our favorites.

For a list of even more educational YouTube channels, check out this free educational resource list over on Marifer’s World. She also has some great apps on the post too!

PBS Passport

If you make a donation to your local PBS station, you’ll gain access to their entire library of videos on their app including Nova science programs!

MIT Open Courseware

MIT has free courses on their old content.

Stanford University Videos

We don’t watch much on YouTube but Stanford University’s YouTube Channel has many very fascinating videos on what they are testing and researching in many different fields.

Greater Good Science Center

One other YouTube channel that comes from UC Berkley. It has great videos teaching kids about the psychology, sociology, and neuroscience of well-being. Their focus is to foster a thriving, resilient, and compassionate society. All that we’re about here at Raising Kids With Purpose!

Discovery #Mindblown

The Discovery Channel’s website for kids offering a ton of science videos that are very entertaining and educational.

ProjectExplorer

Free educational videos from around the world for Grades 3-12. This website is easy to navigate with videos categorized by grade.

Doodles Academy

Art curriculum for 1st through 5th Grade. ” Each project includes video tutorials and thorough lesson plans so that anyone can feel comfortable teaching art, regardless of their background or experience level. More, the art projects are aligned to topics and themes found in literacy, math, social studies, and science, so while students work through an art project they are building knowledge and context around other subjects.”

Crash Course

They upload educational videos including subjects like Chemistry, Literature, Psychology, Film, Sociology, Physics and more.

6. Learning Websites

Here are as many educational and learning websites that have good content (and not just a bunch of ads) for kids of all ages.

National Geographic Kids– Science and culture fun
Smithsonian Learning Lab
Zoowhiz – Learning games
MentalUP – Brain exercises and mental boosters through games
Go Noodle – Short videos to get your kiddos moving!
PBS Kids – Educational videos, shows and games
NASA Kids Club – Games and activities about NASA
The New York Times: The Learning Network – Educational articles
Crayola – Art activities
Ranger Rick – Crafts, activities, games and jokes with an animal focus
Instructables – Lessons and instructions for makers
Chrome Music Lab – Hands-on music experiments
Classroom Cereal – Printable short story Grammar exercises
Invent.org – STEM Activity guide (pdf)
Club OASIS – Free STEM club for kids
Code.org – Teaches coding to kids
Seusville – Games and videos
Magic Tree House – Games and books
Playmada Games – Chemistry games
Science Buddies – Free STEM activities
Connected Camps – Free and safe Minecraft server
Cool Math 4 Kids – Math games
Dreamscape – Reading game for 2nd – 8 th Grade
codeSpark Academy – Self-paced coding K-5 platform; use “schoolclosed” to get 3 months FREE
Breakout EDU – Digital games in all subjects
Arcademics – fact fluency and multiplayer learning games
Busy Kids Do Piano – online piano lessons
Minecraft Education Edition
Starfall – Educational games
Highlights Kids – Activities, jokes, games and videos
Mathseeds – Math games for ages 3-9
My Shakespeare – Digital shakespeare plays
Free Rice – Synonym awareness game/app
Bedtime Math – Math games and apps
FunBrain – educational books and games
Science News for Students – Science articles for ages 9-14
Piper – Computer kits you can purchase; they also have a lot of educational resources for parents and kids
Gamilab – Find and create online educational games
Scratch – Create and play stories, games and animations (coding)
Teachers 2 Teachers Global – Global math stories
AppyTherapy Handwriting Heroes – Handwriting help
Homer – Lessons, activities, songs. stories for ages 2-8
Carmen Sandiego™ Fearless Kids Around the World – discussion guides, videos and activities
Newsicle – News trivia for families
PenPal Schools – Connects PenPals from all over the world
Nitrotype – Typing games
I Know It – Math practice for K-5
Dr. Panda – educational app for early learning
Johnnie’s Math Page – Math games and activities
Joy Sun Bear – Global education videos and activities
Nomster Chef – Cooking for kids!
Poptropica – Educational games from ages 6-12 around the book series
Fuel the Brain – Educational games
Mrs. Nussbaum Learning + Fun – Educational games and activities
The Old Farmer’s Almanac For Kids – Facts and jokes
Grammaropolis – All things grammar
DOGO News – Kids current events and news
Reading Eggs – Reading program for kids
Let’s Talk Science – Science resources and lessons
Makermaven – STEM challenges
ABC Ya – Educational games and apps
Eduprintables – Thousands of activities, games and worksheets
Enchanted Learning – Information pages, printable worksheets, crafts, coloring pages, etc.
Animated Anatomy – Videos that help you learn about the entire body
Math-Drills.com – Math worksheets
Spelling Shed – spelling games
Vocabulary Spelling City – Spelling practice program. Free right now with code VSCFree90
Word Search Wizard – Print, and create traditional word search puzzles
SplashLearn – Math practice and games
Story Jumper – write and share stories with the option to print book
Teach Your Monster to Read – Early learning reading skills game
Typing Club – Typing lessons for kids
Unite for Literacy – Easy online readers and stories for young kids
Switch Zoo Animal Games – Animal education through games
Turtle Diary – Online educational games for Pre-K – 5th Grade
Volunteer Crowd – Find volunteer opportunities for students
Newverest – Scratch-off maps to track your adventures

7. Educational Subscription Services

Kiwi Co

The boxes kids get every month with Kiwi Co really are incredible. I’m blown away with what they can squeeze into a small pamphlet and shoe box. Use code SHARE30 for 30% off.

Creation Crate

Tech education in a box! These boxes promote kids to be makers and creators. When you sign up, you get an UNO R3 (arduino compatible), a breadboard, and all the needed components. Then there are videos that teach your kids how to use it. This is definitely a one-of-a-kind subscription box that kids who love computer science will love!

Superpower Academy

These boxes look amazing. Their website had me at, “Raising good humans.” Superpower Academy helps parents teach kids about managing emotions, becoming empathetic and making good choices with secret missions, comic books, maker projects, and parent tools. Use the Code: SPRINGFUN for 10% off.

Groovy Lab In A Box (in partnership with Popular Mechanics)

This is another amazing STEM box kids can get monthly. “Each box activates thinking, questioning, inquiring, and original creation as we guide children through the ‘SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY & ENGINEERING DESIGN PROCESS.’ Our product features all the supplies needed to complete activities, experiments, and design challenges outlined in our custom, subject-specific lab notebook.”

Kidstir

“Kidstir’s award-winning cooking kits have one very important mission: to help parents raise children who have a healthy and happy connection to food. We believe good food can be fun for kids—whether they’re shopping at the farmers’ market or whipping up a batch of their very own granola bars in the kitchen. By educating and empowering our kids about food, we can prepare them to make smart, healthy choices. Plus, they’ll develop key kitchen skills and cook up plenty of family memories!” They have many different subscription options!

Little Passports

Little Passports offer monthly packages filled with activities for your kids to explore everything from science to different parts of the world.

THiNK OUTSiDE

“THiNK OUTSiDE is a monthly subscription box full of outdoor gear and resources that will get your kids away from a screen and outside exploring nature!”

Orange Art In A Box

“A collection of projects every month or on demand to inspire your artist.” Each box comes with one featured activity adn a few smaller projects.

Bookroo

Monthly books club for kids. They have boxes of board books for ages 0-2, picture books for ages 2-6 and chapter books for ages 7-10. I love that they have so many purchasing options.

Raddish

In addition to their free lesson plans mentioned above, Raddish also has a membership club. Once you sign up, your kids will get a monthly cooking kit, digital bonus recipes and activities.

Little Global Citizens

“Little Global Citizens is the only subscription box that introduces your child to countries of the world AND their cultures.”

Green Kid Crafts

STEM projects that are hands-on and delivered every month for ages toddler to 10+. These boxes are loaded with a magazine, eco-friendly materials, a book, and STEAM projects.

Preschool In A Box

“Monthly preschool activities that encourage learning, reading and creativity in children ages 3-6!”

The Preschool Box (2 Kids)

toucanBox

Craft boxes for kids. You can choose from different themes such as Under the Sea, Space Explorer, Outdoor Adventure Box or Story Time.

Sensory TheraPlay Box

Items in this subscription box help kids with self-regulation. These are perfect for kids with learning or attention challenges and need a little extra support especially when learning at home.

For Purpose Kids

For Purpose Kids has “quarterly Toolkits teach kids how to be kind, do good and make the world a better place for others, animals and the environment through simple, fun and easy-to-do activities.”

Just Right Reader

Choose curated books for readers in K-3rd. After your kids read the books, you send them back to get more. It’s like a library but through the mail!

Color In Kind

Color In Kind offer creative art boxes. Although not a subscription service, they have many different themed boxes you can choose from.

8. Screen-Free Activity Ideas

Here are many ideas on what to do inside with kids:

65 Indoor Activities- includes free printable (Self-Sufficient Kids)
Supplies and Activity ideas to keep toddlers busy (Raising Kids With Purpose)
25 ScreenFree Activities (Kids Activity Blog)
The Creative Moms Guide to Learning at Home (ADDitude Magazine)
5 Minute Crafts (Kids Activity Blog)
Crowdsourced resources, ideas, and links to help parents during the quarantine (Camp Corona)
At-Home Activities for Kids (Educational Insights)
Free Sewing Patterns for Kids (Felt With Love Designs)

Activity Pinterest Boards

Check out these Activities Pinterest Boards. Click “Follow” to see more pins as they are added.

One More Resource!! You can sign up right now (March 18 – March 29) for a Play Alongside Me Challenge with Hands On As We Grow.

9. Books – Digital and Audio

We are a huge fan of podcasts. Here is my master list of kid podcasts. In addition to podcasts, here are ways kids can listen to or read digital books.

Epic!

Epic! is a digital library for kids 12 and under. Sign up now and read FREE for 30 days!

Hoopla

You need to log in through your local library system to access books, audio files and movies all for free!

Libby by Overdrive

This service is also connected through your local library. It offers thousands of ebooks and audiobooks for free.

Pinna

Pinna is an ad-free, screen-free audio streaming service for kids. They have some great audio programs available!

Awesome Stories

From the Awesome Stories website, “5,390+ robust, original stories based on primary sources and presented in various media formats: written, dramatized narrations, videos, audios, images, maps, manuscripts, documents, recordings, first‐draft versions of famous speeches (and more). All are evidence-based and linked to 100,000+ primary sources resulting from hand‐curated searches of the world’s most‐reliable online archives.”

Bamboo Books

“Bamboo Books offers narrated stories and exercises to help children improve listening comprehension…There are 3 different levels to ensure an engaging experience for pre-readers, early, intermediate and advanced readers.”

Audible Stories

Audible is offering Audible Stories for Kids with hundreds of audiobooks, from folk tales to small children’s books, and from elementary school reading material to literary classics.

Heifer International

“FREE resources (downloadable books, mazes, word searches, and more) from Heifer International’s school programs — with topics in social studies (geography, economics), science, language arts.”

Storyline Online

“Storyline Online, streams videos featuring celebrated actors reading children’s books alongside creatively produced illustrations. Readers include Viola Davis, Chris Pine, Lily Tomlin, Kevin Costner, Annette Bening, James Earl Jones, Betty White and dozens more.”

Novel Effect

“Read aloud with your favorite print books and our free, award-winning app follows along playing music, sound effects, and character voices at just the right moment.”

10. Virtual Field Trips

Virtual field trips have been a great way to visit locations from around the world. I got most of these links from a google doc I saw floating on social media. So thank you, Mrs. F! I took what she had and added a few more “trips”.

Live Cameras

11. Videos with Children’s Book Authors

We Are Teachers posted a master list of all the book authors who are doing virtual readings, classes or activities across websites and social channels.

You can find them all here: “The Big List of Children’s Authors Doing Online Read-Alouds and Activities”. Some of the authors are no longer reading live but you can still find most on their websites or social media accounts.

Some of our favorites include:

Josh Gad (the voice of Frozen’s Olaf)
Mo Willems (author of Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus)
James Dean (author of Pete the Cat series)
Bruce Hale (author of Class Pets)
David Shannon (author of David books)
Jennifer Trafton (author of Henry and The Chalk Dragon)
Jeff Kinney (author of Diary of a Wimpy Kid)

**A huge thanks to the sources of many of these websites:Amazing Educational Resources, Faith Bound Travel, Raising World Children, ADDitude Magazine and Prenda School .**

Download Your Ultimate List of Education Resources

I know this a HUGE list of educational websites and resources so I created a printable for you!

Share the Love

Please feel free to share this list of resources for parents who are continuing their kid’s education at home!

July 13, 2020 By Adriane (Raising Kids With Purpose) 65 Comments

The Scary Truth About Sending Kids Back to School & What Experts Say to Do

Inside: Parents are at such a crossroads with what to do with their children’s education. Sending kids back to school can feel scary. I interviewed experts from The Childhood Collective on ways we can help our concerns and move forward in a healthy way. And don’t forget to download your Emergency Emotional Toolbox.

My mom-friend recently sent me the document she got from her children’s school outlining how the school will function when it reopens the doors. Her text to me said, “This feels like prison.”

She’s not the only one who feels this way.

In the past month or so, I don’t think I’ve gone a day without seeing or hearing parents posing questions about whether or not to send their kids back to school or whether or not schools are going to reopen. Many of these parents are really contemplating keeping their kids home regardless if they work or not.

This is a hot topic because education matters. Our kids’ social and emotional development matters. How we interact in this world and what we learn matters. How we overcome adversity and scary times matters not only for the time being but for our future; for our kids’ development and for their future well-being.

This post contains affiliate links, see disclosure policy for details.

Parents’ Concerns About Kids Returning to School

I posed the question, “What is your biggest concern about kids returning to school when schools reopen?” on my personal Facebook page as well as a Facebook group I’m in. I got an overwhelming amount of insightful responses.

Here are some of the comments I received from moms:

“Wearing masks all day and our kids not getting the exercise they need by being stuck in the same room all day at a desk. Our kids even have to eat lunch in the room. The cafeteria staff will be bringing the food to them. Will they even get bathroom breaks or will those be limited too?” Danielle Phelps, Holistic Life & Business Coach

“So many questions about what the school year will look like – concerns about the schedule, it then changing, mandatory masks, mandatory temperature checks, social distancing what that would look like, no specials (we pay for his education to be above and beyond so what are we paying for if he doesn’t get what we originally “signed up for”), mandatory va-x — all of which we could navigate one by one, but as a whole, I think this year is so unstable from ‘what to expect'” Heather Shriver Burns, Mindset and Business Strategist

“Consistency. Having the district decide on a plan, then having to change it because of a rise in cases. Also not going back full time. Our district is considering a plan where they go one or a few days a week…my kids cannot handle the constant transition.” Connie S. Hurlburt, Online Health & Wellness Coach and Digital Media Marketing Strategist

“…Concerned about mental health for everyone, kids, teachers, families. This is still real and affecting everyone. Will everyone be anxious? Will kids be stressed? Acting out more in class? Will the environment be as good for learning as it was before this happened? Or is staying home better, for now, to be with family? Many of the staff, teachers even could be very anxious, scared, could even have lost family members or have had personal experiences with the virus. That’s a lot to go through and expect to go back to work like usual.” ~Amy, RN working with COVID patients

“The use of face masks and the physical distance as that’ll affect teaching and their [the children’s] sense of self.” Zoia, Natural Nutrition Health Coach

“The stress and chaos have me the most worried. I will be keeping kids home because of this more than my health concerns.” Jasmine Holdren

“I hate the idea of mandatory masks…and temperature checks and social distancing and anything else that will give young children anxiety. My son has fought a battle with chronic strep throat a few years back. I saw many doctors, shed a lot of tears, and spent a ton of money getting his immune system back on track. We now see an amazing chiropractor and he takes daily supplements and hasn’t had it since but…I refuse to start at square one again. I keep reading that strep is on the rise from wearing masks due to bacteria growth inside the mask. I just can’t fathom making him wear a mask…it gives me anxiety. My question is what if a child passes out from wearing a mask at school? And honestly how effective will they be? What if some kids parents never wash them or don’t provide clean ones? What if the kids touch them all day? 🤷🏻‍♀️” Echo Muncie, Former Preschool/Daycare Co-Director

“That my oldest child’s anxiety is going to go through the roof.” Jenn Paterson

Teachers’ Concerns About These Uncertain Times

With so many concerns about teachers, I reached out to a friend, Amanda Kortright, who is a school improvement consultant/coach. She wrote this post on Facebook, “You know what would be neat? If an article said, ‘Here’s what experts say schools should look like next year.’ And then those experts that they went on to quote WERE TEACHERS. Teachers. Teachers are experts on school.”

I couldn’t write this post about sending kids back to school without including what teachers’ concerns are as well. Amanda does a great job at summarizing what she has seen in the education communities.

Amanda writes:

“Every teacher I have spoken with is worried about their students and the learning gaps that have and that will widen. The abrupt end to the year caused havoc to their systems of delivering instruction and to student achievement growth.

They are all busy this summer (no extra pay, of course) trying to figure out how to assess the kids and catch them up! All are worried about the most disadvantaged, obviously. Some kiddos get their only hug or meal of the day at school.

Some want to go back face-to-face because they haven’t had any training in how to deliver instruction virtually. Despite the fact that there are record numbers of teachers spending their own time online in training on how to do so, they don’t even know if they’ll be delivering the content remotely or in-person because no one in government can make up their mind.

And don’t get me started on the two days on/three days off “blended” learning plans. Teachers are not being included in the conversation unless they have an awesome superintendent who wants to hear from them. How do they plan on teachers delivering instruction if they don’t know whether or not it’ll be on Zoom/Google Meets or in person?

And if teachers and students are in the classroom, that forces a whole new method of delivering instruction because of all of the regulations/rules.

Here are a few questions to ponder, ‘How do teachers teach reading when kids can’t see their mouths because of having to wear a mask? How does a teacher put 30 first graders in a small classroom and keep them 6 feet apart? How do they give the kids recess or gym class and keep them from spreading the virus?’

And I’ve seen some districts that cancelled recess altogether; a teacher’s worst nightmare.

Since masks mute voices, many teachers are also buying (with their own money) sound projection mic systems. Others are purchasing the mics that will record their voices to live feeds because their districts have ordered them to deliver instruction to kids who are sick at home, whose parents aren’t comfortable, or who have immunity issues. All of this is expected with no technology training.

Some teachers are terrified for their lives. New York City Schools stayed open one week longer than most other districts in the spring. They were worried about sending the most disadvantaged home to abusive households, homes with no food, etc. (Educators get sick to their stomachs in June for some of their kiddos for the same reason.) NYCSD lost 68 teachers/staff/lunch ladies/bus drivers/principals as a result because they died in March/April from COVID.

Some can’t bear the thought of homeschooling their own kids while delivering online instruction.

Some are worried they will bring COVID home to their own families – grandparents, immune-compromised kids, etc. They are praying for online instruction.

Some believe it’s a hoax and no worse than the flu. But they do know they get strep throat, colds, the flu 2-3 times a year because schools are cesspools of germs.

Bottom line: Teachers MUST be included in the conversation. Many teachers are feeling left out. This is not new. Only the wisest administrators/community leaders/politicians bring teachers to the table for education talks. And politicians (on both sides) typically bring in business people to decide on big issues – like state learning standards and testing. Lastly, teachers absolutely don’t make enough money for what their jobs require and compared to other professions that require the same higher education and licensure requirements.

From what I see and hear, most teachers have the safety and learning of their students on their minds and hearts.”

Parents And Teachers Are Worried

Only days after I was seeking out answers on this topic, it really started to explode all over Facebook. Parents and teachers alike are worried and many are fearful for a myriad of reasons.

After reading through hundreds of other posts, this is what I’m seeing that parents are most concerned about:

Kids getting sick, dying or spreading it to at-risk populations.
Schools not reopening at all; or on the flip side, that schools will open.
The social and emotional health of our young kids because of social isolation, mask-wearing, lack of play and recess, being stuck in the same room all day, no bathroom breaks, not being able to see facial expressions, not being able to make new friends, and a break in connection between teacher and child.
Being able to survive at home because of feeling like in-person school is not an option.
Disruption to schedules and routines.
No real learning will take place or kids will continue to fall behind.
The teachers’ mental and physical health or that teachers will quit.
Kids being able to social distance and how that will be enforced.
The chemicals they will use to clean and the carbon dioxide inhaled all day in a mask.
Special needs being met or educational issues with kids with IEP or 504 plans.
Parents’ own anxieties and fears about all the changes.
Kids who rely on schools for their well-being.

The Scary Truth

The scary truth about sending kids back to school is the uncertainty.

No one knows what is going to happen nor do we know the implications our decisions are going to have on our kids’ overall development or how it will affect our precious teachers.

The plans and rules are constantly changing.

Every time an email comes through from the school, parents hold their breath to see what new restrictions or rules are being proposed. In-person school start dates in some states are already getting pushed back and some schools are planning on starting virtually then moving to in-person when they are given the permission to do so.

There is no concrete plan nor can there be. This is not a situation where a one-size-fits-all approach will work. There is going to be trial and error and hopefully it’s not at the cost of our kids’ and teachers’ emotional and/or physical health.

Another scary truth about sending kids back to school is that we don’t know what the residual effects of social isolation, mask wearing, increased level of anxiety, and abrupt changes are going to have. How are these changes going to affect the future?

What Can Parents Do?

I keep seeing concerns but not much about what we should be doing.

For a better insight into what we can do, I interviewed mental health experts with The Childhood Collective. Their online parenting site (and amazing Instagram feed) is run by two psychologists and a speech-language pathologist. I wanted to get their professional insight on…

What can we do to help our kids come out on the other side of this pandemic as resilient, gritty, and emotionally strong individuals?!

You will see I categorized the questions so you can scroll down and find the information that will be most helpful for you and your family. All the italicized questions are what I asked the experts at The Childhood Collective and the information provided is all written by them.

Lastly, I wasn’t planning on making a printable, but I just wanted to have something you could print, hold, and use to write down your feelings to help you overcome these challenging times as a parent who cares deeply about your children. I named it The Emergency Emotional Toolbox so you can have some very practical tools to use.

Download: If you need something to help you walk your child through this time, download The Emergency Emotional Toolbox. It’s a quick little worksheet that helps you get your feelings out and gives you reminders on how to be your child’s emotion coach.

Disclaimer: The responses provided are opinions of The Childhood Collective unless otherwise noted. The information provided is not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent any type of medical condition and is not intended as personalized medical or psychological advice. Any decision you make regarding you and your family’s health and medical treatments should be made with a qualified healthcare provider.

Communicating With Kids About Going Back to School and All of The Changes

How should parents talk to kids about all the upcoming changes? Are there phrases to avoid or does it depend on the child?

HOW To Communicate To Kids

Anytime we are sharing important information with children, we want to consider that what we are saying is just as important as how we are saying it. Children are amazingly in-tune with us… often more than we realize!

If our stress, frustration, worry, or discomfort with the upcoming changes moves our conversations from factual to emotional, our children will respond accordingly. So, first and foremost, we must talk with our children about these changes when we are in an emotional state that allows us to convey the information in the most accurate way possible.

This is not to say that we can’t acknowledge the challenges of the present situation (indeed, we must in order to validate their experiences and feelings!), but we must take care to ensure that our message isn’t lost in translation because of the way it is delivered.

Yes, this is often easier said than done!

What To Communicate to Kids

When it comes to the content of this conversation, keep it factual and developmentally appropriate.

Help your child get a picture of what a typical day in the classroom or at home may look like, and supplement with developmentally-appropriate details about why it will look like this. Do your best to convey confidence and reassurance that the adults are doing their best to keep kids healthy and happy through these tough times.

Finally, once you’ve talked through these changes with your child, provide the space for questions.

Many times, what we anticipate will be an issue is not a concern for our child. Similarly, we may not anticipate certain questions or concerns that they have. Providing a space or “check-in time” regularly as the time approaches to return to school (whether physically or through distance learning), is just as important as your initial conversation.

Emotional Concerns

How do we help kids recover emotionally?

Become Your Child’s Emotion Coach

As the pandemic wears on, you’re not alone if you are seeing big emotions bubbling over in your child. The most important thing to keep in mind is that all feelings are allowed.

One of the ways you can best support your child emotionally during these times is to be an emotion coach for them. This entails allowing all feelings (though not all behaviors are acceptable), labeling and validating the feelings you observe, listening to hear rather than respond, and providing a safe space for your child to problem-solve.

To provide an example, you may be tempted to say something like, “I’ve already told you, you can’t see your friends! It’s not safe. I don’t want to keep repeating myself!” This statement shuts down the emotion. Your child may stop talking to you about it, but that doesn’t mean the underlying emotion goes away.

A more helpful, emotion coaching alternative would be, “You seem upset. It’s hard when you can’t see friends the same way you used to. I miss my friends, too. Even if we can’t see friends in person, I’m wondering if you have an idea about how we can make this all a little bit easier?” With this statement, you are labeling and validating their feelings. You are holding the same boundary (which, in this case, is not being able to see friends in person), but you are opening the door to problem-solving rather than shutting your child down.

Fostering Resilience

How do we help our kids become resilient during this time instead of emotionally damaged?

Emotion Coaching and Finding Passion-Igniting Activities

Emotion coaching, again, is a great way to foster resilience. It empowers children to manage their tough feelings and engage in helpful problem-solving.

Another great way to foster resilience during this time is to find activities that excite and ignite your child’s passion. Time that used to be invested elsewhere (sports, carpools, outings, etc.) can now be poured into other things that build your child up.

Encourage them to pick-up that hobby that has been on the back-burner or go “all-in” with something they already love. Doing something you love, and doing it well, is a great way to build resilience and protect emotional well-being.

finding children's interests and passions

Choosing the Best Schooling Option

What are some considerations to take when deciding to 1.) send kids to school 2.) keep them at home for homeschool 3.) do online distance learning?

Do What Will Work Best for You and Your Child

This is where I encourage parents with the… “You know your child best.”

The fact of the matter is that, right now, there is no perfect answer. There probably won’t ever be.

You must consider your child’s personality, temperament, skill level, etc. You must also consider your personality, interest level, and availability! This is a situation where it may actually be helpful to write down your options, consider the advantages and disadvantages of each, and proceed with confidence knowing there is no perfect answer.

Try to find a good enough answer based on your family’s circumstances.

Handling Change and Transition

How to help kids with constant change and transitions? How do we help kids with transition especially those who are neurodiverse and already may face more challenges?

Reframe, Hold Constant and Have Open Conversations

How does that saying go? Something like… “The only constant in life is change.”

I like to reframe all of these changes as an opportunity rather than a detriment.

Our kids are learning how to adapt and manage changes. Some will do this better than others, but we as parents have the capacity to help them weather this storm.

My first piece of advice would be to hold constant as much as possible. Have open conversations with your kids about how things are changing and that you’re here to help them. But also point out how much hasn’t changed.

Keep essential routines firm, like bedtime, mealtimes, and mornings together.

When change is inevitable, do your best to prepare your child by doing some pre-teaching. This may include talking about what to expect, talking through possible scenarios, and role-playing if your child needs that level of support. Oh, and can I circle back again to the importance of being an emotion coach? That, too, will help during times of inevitable change.

https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/i7w0n7

Benefits of Keeping Kids In School (If Schools Reopen)

What are the benefits of keeping kids in school even if there are going to be so many changes like mandatory mask-wearing, no specials, no recess, strict social distancing rules, etc? Or do you think it’s better for parents to homeschool if they have the means to do?

Attune To Your Child’s Needs

Again, this is very family specific.

At the time that I am writing this, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has actually urged for the goal of children returning to in-person schooling, citing the academic, social, and emotional well-being of children. EDITED: The AAP came out with a new statement urging for a safe return stating, “Public health agencies must make recommendations based on evidence, not politics.”

There are children that are greatly feeling the effects of social isolation, experiencing abuse in the home, and reporting increased symptoms of depression and suicidal ideation. These are all important things to consider when making the best decision for your family.

It’s hard to say what exactly the in-person school day will look like; these are very district-specific things. So, again, I urge families to stay as up-to-date as much as possible with their district’s plans in order to make a decision that sits well with their family.

Coping Skills For Kids

What are coping skills parents should be focusing on teaching their kids? Do you have resources for this?

Self-Calming and Relaxation Strategies

The importance of self-calming and relaxation strategies cannot be understated. These are some of the most overlooked life skills that come in handy on a daily basis.

We have a free Relaxation for Kids guide for families that provides different relaxation strategies for kids of all ages, including deep breathing, muscle relaxation, and guided imagery.

There are some great online resources for guided imagery and relaxation. A quick Google search for relaxation tools/apps will reveal tons of options! Some apps for kids include Calm, Smiling Minds, and Headspace.

I would also recommend that families talk with their kids about other helpful coping strategies, such as physical movement, mindfulness, and connecting with friends. Depending on your child’s age, you may even make a “menu” of coping skill options to help in stressful times and remind your child that there are tools at their fingertips.

Psssst: Check out Generation Mindful’s amazing tools! They have a game called Peacemakers that builds emotional IQ, a Time-In Toolkit, a plush toy collection called SnuggleBuddies, and an Online Positive Parenting class that all focus on teaching emotional health and coping skills to kids. Should we be concerned about kids not being able to see facial expressions? If so, what can parents do to help kids adapt or gain social skills?

Mask-Wearing Effects on Social-Emotional Health

What effects do you think mask-wearing will have on emotional health? Not being able to see facial expressions, be able to hear as well, etc?

Use Books or Other Tools and Practice

It’s really hard to predict how this will play out for our children.

However, keep in mind there are some countries with residents that regularly wear masks due to air quality (granted, not usually in the classroom).

Encourage your children to notice how people communicate what they are feeling outside of what their mouth does, including other facial cues, gestures, words spoken, and tone of voice.

If your child is in need of extra support, foster social and emotional understanding with books and educational shows. Make the experience interactive by making observations and asking questions (though be careful not to overdo it here!).

Make sure to allow time to practice wearing a mask before having to wear it at school all day. Your child will likely feel more confident and comfortable interacting with others in a mask if they have had time to adapt to it at home first.

Signs of Anxiety or Depression

What are signs parents should look for that their child is experiencing too much stress or if it’s turning into anxiety or depression? When should a parent seek professional help?

What to Look For

I always encourage parents to err on the side of seeking help if they think their child may need extra support.

You may consider seeking professional help if you notice:

changes to your child’s sleeping or eating habits
your child seems more fearful
your child is more tearful or emotional; your child frequently complains of physical pain/symptoms with no clear cause
they express to you thoughts of self-harm or suicidal ideation
they spend more time in isolation
they stop finding pleasure in things they once enjoyed.

Again, parents, you know your child best. If something seems “off” or you have a gut feeling that something is wrong, it may be time to seek a professional opinion. Many psychologists, therapists, and counselors are offering telehealth services from the comfort of your own home. If you’re ready to take that next step, we have a blog with tips about finding the right counselor for your child.

Thank you to The Childhood Collective for these incredible tips!

Additional Concerns

Do you have any concerns that weren’t covered? Comment below and I’ll try to do a follow-up post to address those.

And don’t forget to download the Emergency Emotional Toolbox to write out your thoughts and feelings to help walk your children through this time.

If have decided or are considering keeping your kids home for their education, check out 7 Practical Tips for Homeschooling and Working Full Time. Also included is a course that can really help working parents maintain sanity and emotional health for their whole family. It’s called “Work From Home With Kids And Thrive.” Enter the PROMO code: THRIVE25 for 25% off! We are going to have to make changes to make it through this thing without detrimental emotional scars. Thank goodness we were created to be resilient (with the right tools)!

And if you’re looking for online educational resources, download my free Master Home Education Resources eBook. It’s loaded with over 200 resources!

Encourage More Parents!

As I mentioned this is a very popular topic as I see constant posts and comments about parents’ concerns and worries in regards to sending their kids back to school. As they should be!

These tips that The Childhood Collective have provided can really help a lot of people but will only be seen if you share. Share in parent groups you’re in, with your school groups, or any other social media channel. Thank you so much!!!

July 10, 2020 By Adriane (Raising Kids With Purpose) 22 Comments

7 Practical Tips for Homeschooling and Working Full Time

Inside: Schools may not reopen in the way parents are hoping this Fall so they are looking into homeschooling and working full time. Here are 7 tips that will help parents who work from home with kids. And for proven strategies, tools, practical tips, activities, and additional resources, check out the new course, Work From Home With Kids And Thrive. Scroll down for the promo code!

Working from home has its own challenges as we have experienced with my husband’s job for the past 10 years. However, up until this year, our boys have not been home all day long nor have they had to be homeschooled.

Because of these changes, there have been challenges upon challenges.

What I noticed the most is how everyone’s mental health suffered.

I can’t imagine we are the only ones as families from across the world were forced to homeschool while working. For some, remote working with remote learning was a brand new experience and for others, having the kids in the home was the only change. Regardless, it is an unprecedented time.

This post contains affiliate links, see disclosure policy for details.

Working At Home With Kids Is Hard

Common statements I keep hearing from my working parent friends are,

“It’s just not possible.”

“It’s so hard. Either I can’t get everything done at the level I’m used to performing or I don’t help my kids with their school work. Something has to give.”

“Homeschooling and working full time are unattainable and unrealistic. Although we don’t want our kids on the tablet all day, that’s the only way we can get work done.”

With my own experience, I’m finding I can get some work done but productivity goes out the window. I find it impossible to work consistently when I’m interrupted with a new need every ten to thirty minutes. Or who am I kidding, there are times when I’m interrupted every 30 seconds!

We quickly found that without a plan, life is extra messy.

Subsequently, how do we gain more control and stay productive with everyone having to work, play, and learn all in the same environment?! How do we make homeschooling and working full time a pleasant experience for all?

Work From Home With Kids and Thrive

Before I get into some basic tips of working from home with kids that can help kickstart productivity and positive mental health, I want to share an incredible course with you!

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The course title encompasses exactly what is needed for working parents right now. It’s called,

“Work From Home With Kids And Thrive.”

The course helps lessen the stress by using creative strategies that take time and dedication to implement that is well worth it! She is offering YOU, my readers, 25% off from the total price when you use the coupon code: THRIVE25.

To sign up, simply click here, and don’t forget to enter THRIVE25 at checkout.

What is Homeschooling? The 4 Different Types

I’ve seen quite a few discrepancies around the word and concept, homeschooling. Here are all the different ways kids can “go to school” at home. If I’m missing any, please comment below!

1. Traditional Homeschooling

Essentially homeschooling is when parents choose to educate their children instead of having someone else do it. Kids do not attend a traditional public, charter, or private school.

Instead, the parents sign an affidavit saying that they are responsible for educating their children. Homeschooling programs or curriculum are not associated with any school system.

2. Unschooling

Unschooling is a form of homeschooling where the learning is student-directed and led. The children get to choose what they learn and the parent forms an education around those specific interests. For more information, check out Why Are You Still Sending Your Child To School? by Blake Boles.

3. Emergency Remote Learning/Crisis Schooling

What most families did when schools were shut down is transition to emergency remote learning, or I’ve seen it called crisis schooling.

This kind of schooling is when kids abruptly go from learning in a school environment to learning virtually or through packets that teachers send home.

According to this article on Educause Review, the authors caution, “These hurried moves online by so many institutions at once could seal the perception of online learning as a weak option, when in truth nobody making the transition to online teaching under these circumstances will truly be designing to take full advantage of the affordances and possibilities of the online format.”

While we were in crisis schooling, I created an Ultimate Home Education Resources Guide that I update often. It has helped us so much as we continue to find activities and projects for my kids to fully engage in learning all subjects.

4. Distance & Online Schooling

Lastly, there is distance learning and online schooling. They are similar in the sense that students engage in schoolwork using a computer.

The difference is that distance learning is when students are given online assignments, lessons, and assessments to do at home whereas online schooling (also known as eLearning) is when students are taught live by a teacher using platforms such as Zoom.

There are also full-time online schools where they do a little of both, live instruction with online assignments.

For the sake of this post, I will be referring to any schooling done at home while parents are working full time or part-time as “homeschooling.” If you’re a homeschool momma, please note I’m not taking away from all the hard work you put into educating your kids. It would just be confusing if I listed all the different types throughout the post. Thank you for understanding!

7 Practical Tips for Homeschooling and Working Full Time

Whether you work from home full time, are remote working from home for the time being, or are a stay-at-home parent with a side hustle, you have probably quickly found that it’s hard to get a whole lot done with kids.

Unless they are taught otherwise, kids can be incredibly needy or desiring your attention all day long.

It can be enticing to let them sit in front of a TV or tablet all day but the research is clear that this is incredibly unhealthy for your child’s brain and autonomic nervous system and it’s hard for your child to thrive in these conditions. *I’m not saying all screen time is awful, it’s just not optimal for growing brains.

I also want to add that if this way of life is brand new to you and your kids, it can feel extra challenging. Kids who are typically in school are used to having every second of their day scheduled. Sudden ambiguity can cause some unwanted behaviors or resistance.

Kids need routines so life is predictable. Otherwise, they can inadvertently experience increased amounts of stress because the brain perceives the environment as being unsafe.

1. Reframe Your Thinking

The first step to reducing stress while homeschooling while working full time is to reframe your thinking.

Life may have always been a certain way but now it’s different. We can’t continue to think things should happen a certain way just because that’s always how it has always been. Embrace the change and the mess that comes along with change.

As parents, we often unintentionally feel like it’s our responsibility to drop everything to appease or fill our kids’ every request and (what they may think, but it actually isn’t) need.

In our current culture, there’s this underlying message that kids need to be watched at all times, must never get hurt, and never experience any emotion besides happiness. I get it, but not only is it unrealistic, it’s also holding our kids back from growing in so many ways!

Because when we look at developmental research, this is all wrong!

Kids need to explore, make mistakes, fail, and learn how to experience and manage ALL feelings. Also, if you have children who are fighting all the time, instead of solving the problem for them, give them the skills they need. I walk you through how to do teach sibling conflict management skills in this post on sibling conflict.

Bottom Line: Start with a reframe and throw away unrealistic expectations.

2. Take Care of Yourself First!

I talk about this a lot. If we don’t take care of ourselves and engage in some basic self-care or soul-care, it’s really hard for anyone to thrive.

It doesn’t have to be a long-drawn-out process. I get a lot of my self-care during my morning routine that can either last five minutes or two hours depending on how early my kids wake up.

In the “Taking Care of MYSELF” eBook (which you can grab for free when you sign up for the Raising Kids With Purpose Newsletter), I go through six areas of your life to focus on to avoid running on empty. An absolute must for me is prayer and exercise!

Bottom Line: Parents need self-care.

3. Teach Self-Sufficiency Skills

The science of motivation teaches us that all humans (so kids included!) are born with a need to be autonomous, have a sense of relatedness to others, and want to have a feeling of competency.

This tells us that kids already have the ability to be self-sufficient, some just need more nudging than others. Or they need to experience some freedom in order to prove to themselves they are capable of doing tasks on their own.

This mantra runs through my mind often, “Don’t do for a child what he can do for himself.”

When my three-year-old hands me a tissue to throw away, I stop and think, “Can he do that himself?” If the answer is, yes, then guess who is throwing that tissue away? It’s not me! Because if I do it, how is that useful or helpful to his development?

Now, I’m not a drill sergeant nor am I super crazy about this as I will do things for my children that they can do for themselves. I just try to make sure it’s only when they need some extra love or if I want to model kindness.

It’s hard to know where to start when teaching your child a new skill. In this post, you’ll find four easy steps. I learned this process from Julie Lythcott-Haims’ book, How To Raise An Adult.

Depending on the skill, it can go through all four steps in a few minutes or each step can take a few days or even weeks. Regardless, the goal is to get kids to complete tasks and do life skills on their own without your help!

Bottom Line: Kids are capable of doing a lot on their own.

Check out this new course, “Work From Home With Kids And Thrive.” over on Sparkitivity and receive 25% off with the promo code THRIVE25.

4. Give Your Kids Daily Jobs

Just like in school when kids are given a special job to do to help the teacher, you can also do this at home.

Call these special tasks or ask your child what fun name they want to use. Their teacher may have had a snazzy name you can continue to use at home.

I like to use “special job”! Kids want to feel older than they are and older people have jobs. I’ve also heard these types of tasks called contributions signifying how they are contributing to the family. Whatever floats your fancy!

You can also get more creative or let them pick.

Bottom Line: Encourage your kids to help out around the house.

5. Implement Routines and Schedules

Kids need routines.

Period.

Now, they don’t need every second of their day scheduled with a new lesson or activity, but they do need to experience predictability.

In order to be productive while working from home with kids, there has to be some kind of routine. And this routine isn’t just for your little people but for you too.

While homeschooling and working full time, set aside a block of time for “office hours”. This can be a chunk of time when your kids focus on schoolwork if they can work independently or when they have “room time” or “quiet time”.

If you work for an employer, make sure your boss understands that although you have a schedule, it needs to be flexible. Discuss how this will happen and what this will look like.

Bottom Line: Routines and schedules will make life easier.

6. Schedule Quality Time

When your kids’ attention buckets are full, they typically will play on their own or get along with their siblings a lot better.

We tried not scheduling quality time but that didn’t work because we would forget to make time for it. Therefore, we have found that if each kiddo consistently gets even 10 minutes of quality time with me or my husband daily, then they will play by themselves for a lot longer and make better choices (this helps with siblings fighting too)!

Bottom Line: Kids desire one-on-one time if they realize it or not.

7. Get Help When Needed

If you are able to hire a sitter or mother’s helper to play with your kids so you can get a few hours of interrupted work time in, then do it! I did this when I owned my photography business and had two littles under three.

Depending on the age of your children, you could also look for virtual help! My mother-in-law loves to read books to our kids via Facetime since she lives across the country. Find a family member or your kids’ friends who can entertain your kids long enough to get a little work finished. Research supports that this is one way screens are very beneficial for young children!

Bottom Line: Ask for help!

Homeschool While Working

It is doable and can be done if you have the means to be able to work from home.

I have been looking into resources for parents who are required to go to work if schools remain closed and haven’t had a whole lot of luck. If you work outside of the home and have been able to make it work where your kids can still do some kind of online schooling or homeschooling, comment below on how you’re doing it!

Lastly, if you are working from home while homeschooling (or your kids are doing online schooling, distance learning, crisis schooling, unschooling or clown schooling …just checking to see if you are still awake😉), and it isn’t working well, check out this course, “Work From Home With Kids And Thrive.” Enter the PROMO code: THRIVE25 for 25% off!

And as always if these tips helped you, please feel free to share or pin!

July 8, 2020 By Adriane (Raising Kids With Purpose) 10 Comments

An Easy Way for Kids To Pack School Lunch (Free Lunchbox List Printable)

Inside: Kids can learn how to pack their own school lunch by using this free lunchbox list. Discover the benefits of kids doing this life skill on their own and tips on how to teach it. Originally published: 7/28/19; updated July 8, 2020

A new school year is just around the corner! It doesn’t seem like schools quite know what they are doing yet, but it does look like many are requiring all lunches to be packed.

Does anyone else dread packing lunch for their kids? I sure did before I discovered that my kids can do it COMPLETELY by themselves! Without my involvement!

{This post contains affiliate links. This means if you click on something and purchase it, at no extra cost to you, I will earn a commission. see disclosure policy for details. )

No matter what I did such as try to get inspired and make something fancy or pack for an entire week in one day, it felt hard. I just didn’t want to do it. To add fuel to the fire, many times my kids would come home and complain about what they did or didn’t get for school lunch. OR they would give away their food or not eat it at all. Insert eye roll and a dagger to the heart here. Ha!

Then there would be days when I would have to go on a hunt for their lunchboxes and almost fall over from the smell of death.

Then I realized something super important.

Why in the world was I doing something for my kids who were perfectly capable of doing for themselves? What was I teaching them by packing their lunch and cleaning disgusting lost lunchboxes? How is this raising self-sufficient kids?

An Easy Way for Kids To Pack Their OWN School Lunch

Parents often do what psychologists refer to as over-functioning. Parent over-function for their kids by worrying too much about them or by not allow their kids to do what they are perfectly able and capable of doing themselves. And we now know how damaging over-functioning is as kids become adults. Essentially, it sets kids up for failure.

If my kids took the responsibility of packing, they have no one to complain to but themselves. And if they had to clean out a gross lunchbox, they would probably learn to not lose it or throw away their trash at school.

Lastly, they would become more independent which has a laundry list of benefits for a developing child.

Read More: Four Easy Steps For Teaching a Child a New Skill

Why Parents Should Let Their Children Pack Lunch

Here are the many reasons why kids should pack their own lunches and what I’ve learned by giving this responsibility to my boys.

Kids Will Learn How to Eat Healthy

Food affects my kids. Hands down. They do have “differently wired” brains, and therefore, we have to pay close attention to what they put in their bodies.

What we’ve found though is if we control what they eat, they make poor choices when we’re not around. Or they only want it because they can’t have it. So instead, we have taken the time to educate about healthy ways to eat, why it’s so important, and alternatives to sweets or foods they crave.

At ages eight and ten, they both even know how to properly read nutrition labels. I know adults who have no idea how to interpret these labels!

Having to pick out foods to pack for school lunch is a great way to teach kids about a balanced diet. In the lunch list, I provide below, it’s broken down into categories making this very easy for any child to do.

Kids Can Work On Life Skills

Statistics show this generation of kids entering adulthood is not ready. They don’t have the life skills or motivation to live on their own. That kind of scares me!

Starting kids early with simple things like packing school lunch every day will have lifelong benefits.

Kids Can Have Autonomy Over What They Eat

As I mentioned above, if kids pick what they are eating (with your guidance, of course), there is no room for complaints. All humans have an innate need to feel autonomous. This is such a beneficial and easy way to give kids control over their own lives. More on this can be found in one of my favorite books, The Self-Driven Child.

Also, this can broaden your kids’ palettes.

My oldest has come up with all kinds of concoctions that I would have never made for him. In addition, lessons have been learned as to what foods go together… and what does not. We’ll call it experimentation!

No More Power Struggles!

A lot of times, kids are picky because they don’t feel like they have control over what they eat. We have found this to be true with dinner.

If I fill a plate with food, our “picky eater” will immediately say it’s gross and that he doesn’t want it even though he ends up eating it anyway. However, if I put the same exact ingredients in separate containers for him to make his own plate, there is a lot less complaining because it is his choice.

School lunch is the same way. If your kids get to pick their own food using a lunchbox list, they are more likely to eat it and like it. Because they decided what to pack, less food is (usually) wasted.

4 Tips For Teaching Kids How To Pack School Lunch

Getting kids to pack their own lunch is an important life skill so how do we help them do it if they are resistant or have never done it before?

I’m a strong believer in scaffolding when it comes to helping our kids become independent. We need to support in the ways we can with the intention of completely removing ourselves when they are developmentally ready.

1. Discuss The New Responsibility

Before you do anything, have a little conversation about how they are getting older which comes with the privilege of being more responsible. Explain how they will need to pack their lunch every day.

Talk about it in a positive way!

“You get to do pack your own lunch now and pick what you want to eat!!!” Instead of, “I’m sick of packing your lunch and smelling your nasty lunch box, so it’s all on you, kid.”

I have to admit I have said the latter phrase but to my mirror only to get it out of my system. Because saying it to them would not be helpful in any way.

A great time to talk about their new responsibility is during a family meeting.

2. Help Devise a Plan

The plan doesn’t need to be complicated or involve a lot of steps.

A plan is important so your child knows what the expectations are. Instead of telling your child how and when to pack, have him or her take the lead while you facilitate the decisions. The more control he or she feels that they have, the more likely they will keep up the new skill to turn it into a habit.

The Time and Days Lunch Will Be Packed

A great tip I learned from a friend is to suggest that your kids pack lunches as soon as they get home from school. Before anything else, clean out the current day’s lunch and pack new food. Store it in the fridge so it’s ready to go the next morning.

Lunchbox Food Options

With the lunch box list I provide for you, it makes it easy to set rules on how many of each category a child needs.

Purchasing Lunch Options

When our kids used to go to a traditional school and they bought school lunch, we could usually tell in their attitudes and behavior almost immediately. However, for some reason, there are a few food choices that don’t have the same effect.

If your kids aren’t affected by what the school offers (or if your school is even going to have the cafeteria open), maybe give them the option to buy at least one day a week.

A Place To Put In Requests For Grocery Shopping

Because my kids are in control of what they eat (with guidance from us, their parents), I also give them a little freedom in what I will be purchasing from the grocery store.

We have the list on our command center. We have a place to put agenda items for our family meetings as well as what anyone wants to get from the grocery store. The command center is also where we hang our routines, monthly memories sheets, character strengths poster, empathy poster, camping packing lists and of course, our lunchbox list!

Now, we don’t eat food dyes and or a lot of processed sugar so I won’t buy those items. Instead, they can choose any fruits, vegetables, carbs or proteins they want for their lunchbox.

A Location For The Lunch Box, Containers and Food

Make sure everything your child needs to pack his or her own lunch is reachable. We moved all the containers to a floor level cabinet and the dried food/snacks on a lower shelf so there were no excuses of not being able to reach. This also keeps kids safe from having to climb countertops.

3. Provide the Materials Needed

What kids pack their lunches in matters.

With one of our kids, if any food touches or looks “gross”, it comes back home with him. Having the right containers and right-sized lunchboxes makes a big difference.

However, remember to give your kids the control over what they pack their lunch in and how. If they don’t do it the way you want, that’s okay! Yes, your way may work better, but it’s vital that they figure out what works best for them. Trial and error help kids develop the life-long skills they need to be competent adults.

The one thing I do is show my kids what food containers usually work well and what they have available to use.

Items That Work Well for Packed School Lunches

Water Bottle – We got these Zorri Sports Bottles this year for a little bigger bottle but less expensive just in case it gets lost. I recently found these Dyln bottles that look great too. I also found these super cool smart water bottles for kids called Gululu. The price is a little high but look at all the features in the video below!

Lunchboxes – These have lasted a few years even being left at school with food in them for months! Ha! And they fit the lunch containers as not all lunch boxes do.
Lunch containers – We love these. However, the lids have broken by the end of the year with the way my kids use them. Thankfully, the containers are rather inexpensive and easy to replace. We usually get a new set at the beginning of every school year. Side note: These four-compartment snack containers look GREAT for toddlers!
Sauce containers – These fit perfectly inside the lunch containers and keep sauces or dips separate from the other food.
Paper Towels – I encourage the kids to put at least one paper towel in their lunch boxes because, you know, messes!
Reusable Cutlery – These don’t always make it home but it does save from needing to constantly buy disposable forks and spoons. And they are better on the environment!
Thermos Food Jars (for hot stuff) – A great tip in using thermos containers is to pour boiling water into the container first, dump it out then put the heated food in. This keeps the food hotter for a lot longer.
Flat Icepacks – Sometimes, my kids will pack a few of the puzzle icepacks so they can build cubes once they’re done eating. Always creating.

In addition to all the items needed to pack lunch, something we have found super helpful are labels! We have been using Mabel’s Label’s since my oldest was a baby. They work well in the dishwasher, and they help our kids find their lost items at school. I love all the fun creations they have too!

4. Teach New Skills

With any new skill a child learns, they may need a little help. When we give new responsibilities to our kids without helping or giving expectations, we are setting them up for failure (or at least it will feel like a failure compared to what we expect).

Here are the four steps to take in teaching a child to pack his or her own lunch.

First, pack the lunch with him or her watching.

Second, do it together. We did step two for about two weeks before moving onto the third step of watching.

Once I oversaw the lunch packing process and they packed enough food with plenty of variety, they moved onto the last step of doing it themselves. Now and again, I will help or pack for them if something comes up, but for the most part, it’s their responsibility… and it’s GLORIOUS!

Here are some basic skills that are beneficial for kids to learn to help them be successful lunch packers.

Cutting With A Knife

Our middle child loves to cook so for his sixth birthday, his aunt and uncle got this AWESOME kid knife set. They also got him these cut-resistant gloves which he still uses.

The gloves have been essential to giving him the confidence he needs to cut vegetables and fruits knowing that he won’t get hurt. And it’s a peace of mind for me to know he’s not going to cut his hand wide open. I don’t do blood very well.

We had to teach him how to properly hold a knife, how to cut certain fruits and vegetables, where to place his “helper hand” and where to put the knife when he was finished.

Microwaving Food

Using a microwave is simple for us adults. For kids, they may need a quick tutorial.

Most importantly, we need to go over what can and CANNOT go into a microwave. Avoiding explosions is a must in our house and probably should be a rule for all.

Packing the Lunch Container

Some kids struggle with visual perception skills so by showing them what fits in each part, they can get the amount of food they need.

They may also need help with putting the lid on or zipping the lunch box especially if they are young. Doing these things requires both fine and gross motor skills.

Making A Sandwich

One of our kids loves the loaded meat, cheese, and lots of sauces sandwiches whereas the other is more of a PB&J kind of guy. Both involve different skills.

We took the time to show each of them how to make a basic sandwich and how to use a butter knife to spread the sauces, peanut butter or jelly.

When Your Kid Doesn’t Seem Ready

If you have a child who just doesn’t seem like he or she can fully take on this responsibility, that’s okay! Here’s a great place to start:

Designate a drawer in your fridge and a bin(s) in the pantry for their lunch food items.
Bag up the items they can pack at the beginning of the week – Have your child HELP with this task.
Label how many items they need to grab from the fridge and how many they can from the pantry.
When it’s time to pack the lunch, simply have your child pick what he or she wants from what you prepared and put it in their lunch container or lunch box.

After it seems like your kids can pack the school lunch items by themselves, you can slowly start introducing food preparation skills.

What Kids Should Pack For Lunch

I created a master school lunch food list (download here) for my kids that I laminated and attached to our command center in the kitchen. Whenever they’re stuck on what to pack, my boys grab the sheet and make sure something from the required categories get thrown in the lunchbox.

They are required to have at least one protein, one fruit or veggie, and one carb. What they pack and how much is completely their choice.

Here are the main categories of food:

Protein
Fruit
Veggies
Carbs
Dairy
Nuts & Seeds
Sweet Treats

Free Download!

This has been so helpful for our family, I wanted to make it available to you as well. Bonus! I updated it for the company I work for so I’m including that one for you to download as well!! My boys like the colors better and there are a few added options.

It’s an exhaustive list of every healthy-ish easy-to-pack food I could think of.

Something I’ve also done is put a small mark next to all the items we currently have in the fridge or pantry. As the year went on, I forgot to do this part, but the kids figured it out. They’re rather resilient!

Now It’s Your Turn! Happy Packing!

Remain patient and remember that your children may fall back to old habits or complain they don’t want to pack.

Empathize and stay positive. Give specific ways you have overcome that feeling of dread to help them realize what a special opportunity they have to be self-sufficient.

So, tell me, will these tips help your kids pack their lunch? Or what are your concerns about giving this responsibility to your kids? I’d love to know! Please comment below.

And don’t forget to share with your mom and dad friends!

June 28, 2020 By Adriane (Raising Kids With Purpose) Leave a Comment

Creative Kids: Super Simple Kaleidoscope for Kids

Inside: How art and science foster creativity in kids. Also included is a tutorial on how to create a kaleidoscope found on The PAST Foundation’s website. This is the third project in the Creative Kids Mini Series. Click here to download the experiment to print and do at home!

This is going to sound super cheesy but kaleidoscopes make me so happy.

When I was seven, I remember having one that I would stare at for the longest time. All the colors changing with each turn and the shapes! It was fascinating how the shapes would change and morph into new shapes.

Without realizing that I was a deep thinker or highly sensitive person, I’m sure I was drawn to kaleidoscopes because of what they represent. They can symbolize an escape of self-doubt or challenging times. Or really, any kind of change as the colors and pattered constantly become something different.

This post contains affiliate links, see disclosure policy for details.

When finding a project to do that fosters creativity, I knew my boys would be more interested if it also involved science or engineering. Making their own kaleidoscope totally marries the two! And as I mentioned, kaleidoscopes make me happy. Win-win!

Before we get to the project, as I did with process art and engineering, I am going to unpack why art in general is important for raising creative kids, the benefits and how art can be incorporated into a child’s life.

The Importance of Art in Childhood

Any kind of artistic activity fosters brain development by stimulating both the left and right hemispheres. Art is often the first outlet a child has to express him or herself and the first way he or she interacts with the world.

Skills Kids Develop Through Art

The abundance of skills art teaches a child can really have a positive impact on development. This is why art is so important. A child’s brain not only grows but his or her personality can be influenced simply through art.

Communication | Drawing, painting, or gluing pom poms to a piece of construction paper are all ways kids communicate visually. Feelings and emotions can be expressed and released through art.

Social and Emotional | Kids can learn these skills through collaborating on an art project, celebrating a friend’s art piece, or understand him or herself better which is the first step in developing empathy.

Problem-Solving and Critical Thinking | As a child creates art, he or she is solving problems and having to think critically about what the next step is. Kids can also learn how to solve problems by figuring out how to even use different materials and seeing what gets the results they want and what doesn’t.

Creativity | Ding ding ding! Ha! Art is such a way to tap into creativity. Making something that is novel and useful; using divergent thinking with convergent thinking.

The word, useful, doesn’t only mean productive, but can simply be helpful in a way that allows a child to express his or her feelings. Art is very useful in that way in our house!

Fine Motor | When kids learn how to control a paintbrush, crayon, marker, pencil, or even scissors with their hands, they are working on their fine motor skills. Art is really great at increasing fine motor skills and some mediums can actually increase gross motor skills as well!

Benefits of Art For Kids

Besides all the skills that are gained through art, there are also some added benefits.

Here are a few:

Increases academic outcomes because of the skills built.
Helps kids process emotions and gives them words when they don’t have any.
Provides kids with critical sensory input.
Encourages motivation and innovation.
Increases self-confidence and self-worth.
Helps kids create connections with each other.

Easy Ways to Incorporate Art Into A Child’s Life

Art doesn’t have to be complicated or planned. With all the crazy amount of activities and crafts found on the internet, parents may feel the need to plan out their kids’ art time.

Actually, the more unstructured time kids can have with art supplies and the more freedom they have to create whatever they want, the more creativity will be cultivated and fostered.

Have Supplies Readily Available And Easy To Access

For toddlers, you may not want to have paint, markers, and any other destructive supplies easy to access, but if older kids are responsible and know the rules, give them the freedom to grab what they want when they want! A Cherry On Top is a great place to purchase art supplies.

Encourage Art Activities

My boys are tricky ones. If I suggest any kind of project regardless if it’s something they love, they tend to resist. So instead, I talk about art and encourage different activities.

If they are really wanting screen time although we have strict rules around screens, I’ll suggest watching a tutorial on Art for Kids Hub so they’re not just watching a screen, but also using their hands as well. Or I pull out an art supplies bin so when they see it, they’re self-motivated to start creating.

Create with Your Child!

Kids learn by parents showing them what to do, not telling them. Creating art with your child not only encourages this kind of activity but can also be a really great way to connect and grow closer.

Visit Museums or Take Art Classes

Give your kids the opportunity to see other people’s artwork. Younger kids may not appreciate staring at art, but they sure do like attending classes (like through Creative Bug) or creating art at places like a Children’s Museum.

How to Create a Super Simple Kaleidoscope

As I was looking for art and science projects to do for school to include in my free Home Education Resources eBook, I came across Design Challenges on the PAST Foundation’s website.

PAST is an organization that helps schools and districts develop transformative learning strategies. The design challenges they have created are free and are transdisciplinary which links different subjects in a project-based hands-on educational way! I absolutely love what they do!

This is an art project that also teaches about light, prisms and reflection.

Materials Needed:

Paper Towel or toilet paper roll (we even used a wrapping paper roll)
Mylar or mirror sheets (We found these mirror boards from Amazon and they worked great!)
Scissors
Tape
White card Stock
Bendy straws (we got ours from the Dollar Tree)
Materials to decorate with such as markers, colored pencils, crayons or stickers

Step 1: Cut and Fold Mirror Sheet

Cut the mirror sheet so you can tri-fold it and place it inside the toilet paper roll. The instructions said to do 10cm X 10.5cm rectangle, but we found that it depended on the kind of cardboard roll we used. This may take some trial and error in which you tri-fold the paper until it fits.

Step 2: Fit The Mirror Sheet Into Toilet Paper Roll

Once you fold the mirror board or mylar sheet, slide it into the paper towel roll. It should fit very snugly so it doesn’t move. We had to do step 1 and step 2 a few times to get it to fit.

Step 3: Decorate the Toilet Paper Roll

Use any kind of supplies to decorate the paper towel roll such as markers to draw pictures or stickers.

Two of my boys decorated their using this colored masking tape and it worked really well! One of my sons meticulously made a pattern using black and red squares while my toddler made a bumblebee by alternating yellow and black tape. Both were able to do this part without any help from me (with the design or application)!

Step 4: Cut and Tape the Straw

Cut the straw near the bendy part. Tape it to one end of the paper towel roll. This is going to be used to put the decorated cardstock circle on so it can spin.

Step 5: Cut The Card Stock Paper Into Circle & Decorate

This is the part that will be reflecting so kids can get as creative as they would like. Before decorating, cut out the circle.

You can find a template on the PAST Foundation’s tutorial or you can make a circle that’s bigger than the toilet paper roll. The dimensions they give is one that is 3.75 inches in diameter. My oldest had fun doing the math to figure this out. While the other two used the template.

Once the circle is cut out, it’s time to decorate it.

One of my sons made a mosaic with markers using bold bright colors. The other scribbled and my toddler asked me to draw shapes. The mosaic and shapes worked best for the completed kaleidoscope. Using shape stickers would work really well or drawing any distinct bold shapes will be the most transformative in the reflection.

Step 6: Attach Circle to Straw

Now you want to cut a tiny hole in the center of the circle so the straw can poke through. Slide the circle to the bendy part of the straw in order for it to stay attached. Make sure the design is facing the toilet paper roll.

Step 7: Enjoy Your Kaleidoscope

Once the kaleidoscope is finished, it’s time to put it up to light, look through the opening and spin the cardstock circle.

The boys had never seen a kaleidoscope before so they thought it was the coolest thing ever and I think got the same joy as I did growing up.

Your Free Kaleidoscope Instructions

Thank you, PAST Foundation for such a fun project! We absolutely loved it!

If you would like to print out instructions with questions and more details, you can head over to their website or I have simple instructions you can download here.

Smiles,

June 27, 2020 By Adriane (Raising Kids With Purpose) 12 Comments

4 Easy Steps for Teaching Life Skills to Kids

Inside: Teaching kids life skills is imperative for raising self-sufficient, independent, self-reliant adults. Here are four simple steps to take in teaching a new skill to kids. Scroll to the bottom for a free life skills by age printable!

At the start of kindergarten and second grade for my two little guys, our morning routine looked similar to that of The Jetsons except for my husband and I were the machines.

We unintentionally got into the habit of waking them, dressing the younger kiddo, making breakfast, packing their book bags, and walking them to the bathroom. I’m almost embarrassed to say we even PUT THEIR SHOES ON while they did nothing.

teaching kids life skills such as cutting fruits and veggies

This post may contain affiliate links, see disclosure policy for details.

Yep, there it is. We weren’t allowing them to have any autonomy whatsoever.

It’s not because we didn’t think they were capable. Oh, our oldest did all of those things on his own starting in Kindergarten. It’s because it was:

Easier
Faster
Involved no power struggles
and did I mention easier AND faster?

Now, with the implementation of routines, they do all of those things at only a year older.

READ MORE >> Routines for Kids: Why They Work & How to Create Your Own

When I tell people our third grader (read: nine-year-old) makes his own hot breakfast, including eggs, French toast, and pancakes, I get a lot of surprised looks, which are followed up with a lot of questioning.

Recently, I was talking with a mom who told me they just couldn’t trust their son because he can be impulsive. My son, too! I was able to share with her a four-step process to teach life skills that I break down below which I got from Julie Lythcott-Haims. author of “How To Raise An Adult.”

Life skills matter. I love what Caitlin Van Wyk has to say about why life skills matter for kids on Parent From Heart. She explains how life skills develop resiliency in kids. It helps them pick themselves up when life happens and things don’t always go as planned. Also, it helps kids develop many more traits and interpersonal skills such as regulating emotions, learning how to make responsible choices, critically solving problems, and more.

Four Steps For Teaching A New Skill To Kids

Learning new life skills can be exciting and rewarding for a child. It leads to autonomy which creates competence and self-confidence. Say that ten times fast.

mom teaching boy life skills of packing lunch and cutting fruit

I came across a very interesting study done by the online security company, AVG that found 47% of small children were able to navigate a smartphone but couldn’t do basic life skills like tying their shoes. Also, they referenced learning to ride a bike or swim unaided.

This hit me hard in the chest because it took us forever to teach our middle child how to tie his shoes since he didn’t need that skill. Thank you Under Armour Alternative Lace Sneaker 😉.

It’s not about needing to but the feeling of confidence in being able to do something on your own is what we are missing.

I have clear memories when I was five years old being able to tie my shoes for the very first time. As those loops came and STAYED together, I had an overwhelming exciting feeling. The feeling of competence.

We robbed our son of that because it was just easier to buy Velcro shoes. When we finally did teach him, we ended up using this video from Understood.org if you’re in the same boat of needing to teach your own child.

Consider These Things When Teaching New Life Skills To Kids

Your Child’s Readiness

Keep in mind your child’s personality, age, coordination, and physical ability.

The Time To Teach

Try to avoid times when your child is not ready to learn such as when he or she is hungry or tired. You may also want to eliminate any distractions.

The Difficulty Level

Consider how difficult or easy the skill is and make sure it’s developmentally appropriate. Teaching a two-year-old how to tie his shoes may just result in a lot of frustration because he or she probably doesn’t have the motor skills to do that skill yet.

Pssst: You can figure out what life skills kids typically can do by age group in this free Life Skills by Age Printable that you will get when you sign up for my newsletter.

Take As Much Time As Needed

Some kids may be on step one for one day, step two for multiple months, and step three for a little while longer before getting to full independence. Don’t feel like you need to rush it or do it all in one sitting.

I have been on step three with one of my boys teaching him how to pack for camping for like two years now. One day, he’ll fully pack on his own!

Now if it’s something like folding clothes, that’s a zip-through-the-process kind of task for most kids five and older. Allow your kid to feel confident enough to complete the task before you remove yourself from the process.

Give Encouragement

Focus on praising life skills or pointing out what they are learning. Try to avoid “personality praise” which is using labels like “smart kid” or “rock star”. Instead, praise the skill he or she learned and the effort it took to complete it.

Make the Experience POSITIVE

Focus on what they are doing right, not what they are doing wrong. They will continue to improve with time.

Find a Developmentally Appropriate Way of Teaching

There may be a more fun way of doing a skill or a way that allows doing something usually older kids do. For example, just this morning, my sister-in-law sent me a video of her FIVE-year-old making pancakes all by herself. She first sprayed the pan and then had a squeezy bottle from Dollar Tree of pancake batter that she squeezed onto the pan. GENIUS!

Give Your Child Time to Practice

Like with anything, practice makes perfect, right? Well, perfection isn’t quite the result we’re looking for but I know you get me.

READ NEXT: Why praise doesn’t work to motivate kids and what to do instead

For the cooking hot breakfast skill, we did steps 1-3 all in one day. It only took a day or so before my son was doing it completely on his own. We do still supervise while he’s turning on and off the stove, but that’s because we like our house and prefer it doesn’t burn down.

4 steps for teaching a child new life skills graphic

A quick disclaimer about the photos listed for each step below:

When originally writing this post, I picked a skill to teach. We decided to blow a bubble because gum is fun. After multiple tries, we realized it’s kind of hard to blow a bubble with no two front teeth.

Whoops!

I envisioned him with this huge bubble beaming with pride. Instead, he shed a few tears, got frustrated but decided he’ll try again when his teeth come in. It’s all part of the process, right?

And seeing that this is being updated a year and a half after, he can now blow a bubble! We kept working on each step until he got it.

Now onward with the steps!!! (Totally said with my chest sticking out and my right arm up in the sky😂)!

Step 1: Your Child Learns From You

There are two different approaches you can take for this step:

Take whichever task or skill you want your child to do such as clean the sinks, get dressed, or make hot breakfast, and show her how to do it.

Give verbal instructions. It helps to get on your child’s level and make sure you have his or her undivided attention. Use a calm voice with words she can understand to give clear instructions. You can even make a poster or write the instructions down.
Show or model the skill. This tends to be more effective and successful. Instead of just telling your child how to do something, show him or her! Move at a slow pace to ensure all the steps are shown clearly.

Step 2: You Do The Task WITH Your Child

Now that your child knows what and how to do the skill, it’s now time to do it together. Keep in mind he or she is learning so take it at the pace they need.

While I was teaching my son how to make eggs, we each did a different part of the task as he was continuously watching what he didn’t know how to do yet.

Step 3: You Watch Your Child

This one is easy to skip but it’s important that you don’t. Our kids need reassurance that we are there for support. They also need to know you are on their team.

This is a great way to build that self-confidence so your child is affirmed in knowing he can accomplish (big or small) things without you.

My son was so proud when he cracked that egg and no shell pieces were floating in the bowl. He kept looking at me as he turned on the stove to ensure he was doing it correctly. I was there to be his cheerleader and to keep him safe.

Step 4: I-N-D-E-P-E-N-C-E

You know what I mean? (Just in case you didn’t get that, it’s a song!)

The final step is getting your kids to do the new skill on their own. Your kids need to feel agency and be intrinsically motivated. They will feel a sense of relief to not have you breathing down their necks with criticism or not allowing them to do things on their own.

Why Kids Need Independence

Do you remember why my husband and I did everything for our kids? It’s because it felt easy. But these reasons why independence is so important help remind me that it really isn’t making anything easy to achieve our goal of raising adults.

Here are the reasons why it’s so important to get to step 4:

It teaches self-discipline
Kids feel self-worth and have greater self-esteem
It allows kids to experience failure and more importantly resiliency skills
And lastly, it teaches kids to make their own choices in what they want and like to do

Take a Class

One other way that kids can acquire new skills quickly is through taking classes. Check into your local library or community center for life skills classes such as cooking.

Here are a few classes and subscription boxes I’ve come across that your kids may love to learn a new skill!

UCode – Online coding classes such as animation and Python
Creative Bug – Online art classes
Epic Soccer Training – Online classes to teach you how to be a stellar soccer player
Read Music Notes for Children – Learn how to read music
Raddish Kids – Cooking subscription boxes for kids
Piano For All – Online piano classes
Little Passports – themed subscription boxes for kids
Kiwi Crate – STEM subscription boxes for kids
For Purpose Kids – Kindness kits for kids

Life Skills By Age

For kicks, I created A “Life Skills by Age” Guide. It’s super helpful to realize where we are ahead of the curve or a little behind on teaching our kids skills that will benefit them into adulthood.

What new skills have you been teaching your kids?

Originally published on January 29, 2019; updated on October 23, 2024

June 23, 2020 By Adriane (Raising Kids With Purpose) 7 Comments

Creative Kids: Engineering Inflatable Project for Kids

Inside: How engineering, building and making foster creativity in kids. Also included is an engineering activity for kids, how to make an Inflatable friend. The inflatable project was inspired by The Tech Interactive and is the second activity in the Creative Kids Mini Series. Click here to download the experiment to print and do at home!

My oldest son’s favorite way to be creative is through engineering, inventing, building, and making! He has been a maker before he knew how to walk!

Engineering and creativity go hand in hand. Engineering needs creativity to provide breakthroughs during the design phase.

In an abstract by David, H. Cropley of the University of South Australia on Creativity in Engineering, he states, “Creativity is the fundamental element of Engineering. Creativity is concerned with the generation of effective, novel solutions to problems, while Engineering, and Engineering Design has a similar goal, focused on technological solutions.”

inflatable friend engineering project for kids

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My kids love doing engineering activities for kids. However, something I’ve noticed is that when they have more access to screens (any including television, computers, tablets, video games), the less they want to make and create. The attitudes and anger often come in full force as well. This is why we have a zero TV rule M-F and Minecraft only gets played on the weekend.

Because of this, we are teaching our kids how to use the computer as a tool. When used to design, research, or engineer a project, their nervous systems don’t get as overloaded and they don’t spend as much mindless time on a screen. It’s more mind-full time!

Another thing I’ve noticed is that the project cannot be my idea!

Do you know anyone like that?

So instead, I keep the materials in an easy-to-access location in our house and I may suggest a project, but then don’t mention it again (which is super hard for me to do)!

Side Note: I recently came across UCode which a company that offers coding classes for kids! If you have kids like mine who are very interested in all things STEM and coding, you should check them out. And if you’re reading this during the summer, they have a ton of summer camps like Python Plus Camp and Animation Camp.

Engineering Activities For Kids

Let’s unpack what engineering activities for kids are.

An engineer is a person who not only builds something but also designs and maintains everything from machines, engines, structures, and the environment.

When engineering is introduced to kids, it needs to be developmentally appropriate.

Help your child take big concepts and pare those concepts down to simpler ideas that they can create, implement, review, and do all over again. With the rise of technology and STEAM and STEM curriculum, kids have been exposed to engineering at a much younger age so they can develop even more advanced skills early on.

The Engineering Process For Kids

This doesn’t have to be a formal process but it is good for kids to understand that there is a process that engineers take when making or building something. It is iterative which means the different steps are repeated until the project is complete.

Also, while steps need to be revisited, the engineer makes improvements and learns through failure.

The Design Process Has 7 Parts:

Define the problem
Research the problem
Brainstorm solutions
Pick one solution and begin planning
Create by building a prototype
Test and evaluate
Make improvements

This is such a great way to explain the engineer design process for kids!

How Engineer Projects Help Kids

While watching kids play, you can already see that they are natural-born engineers.

This is how kids discover their world.

Stacking a ton of blocks on top of each other to see what happens when it’s knocked over is one of the first ways kids explore how things work.

Two of my boys learned how to use a (real) screwdriver before they were three. They love to take things apart and figure out how to put them back together again. Actually, they are still like that!

When kids become curious and begin to design or make something, they learn so many skills. Engineering not only requires creativity but also applies the disciplines of math and science.

Once kids use their minds and hands to make something, they can see how these subjects are relevant to their everyday lives.

Lastly, kids often work with others in the engineering process. When this happens, they learn both collaboration and effective communication skills. All of these benefits and skills are crucial as our society moves forward with all its technological advances.

Read Next: The Best STEM Toys for Kids

Inflatable Project For Kids

This project was inspired by The Tech Interactive.

I stumbled across their site when researching hundreds of educational resources and websites for kids. I highly recommend you check out all they have to offer. Also, if you are ever near Silicon Valley, you should check out their physical Science Center. I can’t wait to go one day!

Bonus!!! If you’re looking for ways to entertain your kids that are educational or you need to supplement your education during temporary homeschooling, click here to receive The Ultimate Home Education Resource when subscribing to the Raising Kids With Purpose Newsletter.

I’ll walk you through the steps to make an inflatable friend or you can scroll to the bottom of this post to watch the Tech Interactive’s video that inspired us.

Materials:

Plastic- grocery bags, garbage bags, shopping bags, bubble wrap (!) or any other kind of plastic that you can fill with air will work!
Tape
Scissors
Sharpie
Accessories – pipe cleaners, buttons, feathers, yarn, ribbons or anything else you would like to embelish your inflatable friend with
A Fan or Blower

A great place to get materials if you don’t have them on hand is Dollar Tree.

How to Create An Inflatable Friend

Now the fun part!

Step 1: Prepare

Pull out all your materials and come up with an idea of how you are going to create a friend out of plastic. You can draw a design or simply discuss it.

On the Tech Interactive’s Instagram page, they had fans who made the COOLEST inflatable friends. One was taller than the little girl’s house and another was the ghost from Ghost Busters! I even saw a cactus friend. Now, that my friends, is creativity!

Step 2: Create

Start cutting and taping!

There will be trial and error during this step. Encourage your kids to use tape in different ways to figure out what works best to attach the plastic. Tech Interactive recommends using poster board or something thicker at the bottom to give the inflatable friend structural support.

We worked on this step for a while!

Step 3: Blow Up With Air

Fill your inflatable friend with AIR!

You can use a blow dryer, leaf blower, extra large fan or what we used was the fan for our indoor bounce house.

You may need to figure out where holes are in the plastic or materials you use in order to figure out how to get your inflatable friend to stay up. It took us a while, but when our friend finally stood tall, my son was SO excited. I was also excited because I caught his natural reaction on camera.

Step 4: Spread Joy to Your Neighbors

We put our inflatable friend outside in the driveway so it could waive to friends and neighbors to spread a little joy as this was during the stay at home orders. We had a few friends stop by and other neighbors smile big as they walked by.

Step 5: Discussion

After you are finished, end with some questions!

I love getting insight on what my kids’ favorite part was or what they would do differently. After reading Alfie Kohn’s book, Punishment By Rewards, I’m careful not to tell the kids, “Good Job”, but instead reflect on how they feel about what they created. I’m sure this helps raise creative kids as well as they won’t constantly be looking for other people’s approval through life.

Read Next: Why Praise Doesn’t Work to Motivate Kids and What To Do Instead

What We Did:

The boys watched the video from Tech Interactive on how to make an inflatable project then I asked what kind of materials they wanted me to help them gather. They decided to keep it simple but wanted to go tall and big!

We pulled out different colored grocery bags, scotch tape, yarn, sharpies and one of my sons grabbed fake money. Dollar Tree is a great place to check out too!

After the first round of cuts to the bags, my oldest son realized it was much easier to cut the sides of the bags so they could fully open, then tape from there.

My middle son was in charge of the face so he drew eyes, a mouth, and taped yarn for hair. Then he decided to put money in the friend’s hand that they later took off because of the added weight.

The last thing they did was add arms. They left the “hands” open so the air could flow out of them.

Once my boys’ inflatable friend was finished, it was time to blow him up!

The boys brainstormed what they could use for air. Pretty much at the same time they remembered the bounce house fan. It was a good size and blew a lot of air with a lot of force.

Plugging it into the garage outlet, the boys completed their inflatable project in our driveway for neighbors to see as I mentioned above. It took many tries to get our friend to stay standing because there were too many holes throughout the body. With perseverance, my son continued to use tape until he was successful.

Free Inflatable Friend Worksheet

If you would like to do this project and would rather print out instructions, you can download here! Or you can grab the printable from The Tech Interactive’s website; it has more educational content!

Happy Making!

June 16, 2020 By Adriane (Raising Kids With Purpose) 4 Comments

Creative Kids: Paint Rockets Process Art Activity

Inside: A paint rocket STEAM/Process Art project for kids ages 3 and up! I walk you through what worked and didn’t work for this project that we adapted from Steamstaional. This is the first activity in the Creative Kids Mini Series. Click here to download the experiment to print and do at home!

Let’s get creative! In the first post of this series, I unpack what creativity is, what it takes to cultivate creativity in kids, and why we have to pull it out of or allow it to grow bigger in some kids.

A great way to cultivate creativity and raise creative kids is to introduce them to process art.

I had never heard of this concept until my sister-in-law (who is the most incredible human I have ever had the pleasure of knowing) told me how it’s good for our kiddo’s brains. In fact, she transformed her formal dining room into a Process Art Studio! It basically looks like you’re in a room at a Children’s Museum. No joke.

Complete with art, craft and office supplies, building materials and recyclables and tools, this space has been life-changing for their family.

When we visited over Christmas break, I stood in their dining room admiring all the colorful and creative artwork that plastered the walls. Large canvases with melted crayon wax dripping down the middle, custom-designed dress sketches, pipe cleaner sculptures, mobiles, paintings, paper plate creations and I’m probably missing many other types of artwork that surround their former dining room.

Seeing how much my boys entertained themselves (WITHOUT screens!) and how it positively affected their behaviors and moods, I wanted to find ways to bring some of this magic back home for my creative kids.

What is Process Art?

Okay, so back to Process Art.

What exactly does this phrase mean, why do kids love it and how is it helpful for brain development?

Process Art simply means creating art in a way that focuses more on the act of creating it than the outcome. Producing art for the outcome is called Productive Art.

It’s not painting to create a display piece but rather painting to experience what the paint feels like when it hits the canvas or whatever material the child chooses. It’s finding different ways to use the paint. Or figuring out what happens when different colors are mixed together.

Another key component of process art is that it’s self-directed and choice driven. The parent or teacher can still pick the specific project. Then, within the project, they allow the child to let his or her imagination and creativity run wild!

Why Kids Love Process Art

Process art is unstructured and full of choice!

Kids are born with a need to have autonomy. So not only are they able to express themselves through art, they are also able to be creative.

Remember, creativity is novel and useful. When you hand a bunch of materials over to your child to create something with, the creative possibilities are endless.

Engaging in process art also gives kids the freedom to be who they are.

With process art, there are no rules.

Even if you choose a specific activity to do like the paint rockets (see below), your kids still have choices and can run with it in any way they would like. This is the part that I LOVE about process art and really any art.

It’s like a window into my children’s personality and true self. What they create always reflects back on who they are as a person. When we stop and pay attention to these things, we can have a greater appreciation for our children as people.

The Benefits of Process Art on Kids and Their Growing Brains

I probably could fill up an entire blog post with how this kind of art benefits kids from babies and toddlers to teens!

A huge benefit is that this kind of art increases a ton of skills. Here are a few of the skills learned:

Creativity and imagination skills
Critical thinking skills
Fine and gross motor skills
Sensory skills
Self-esteem and self-confidence
Collaboration (if creating with others)
Leadership skills (as he or she has to figure out what to do and how to execute those decisions)
Resilience and grit as they overcome challenges
Curiosity
Independence and self-sufficiency skills

According to the American Association of School Administrators (AASA), “Neuroscientists continue to find clues as to how the mental and physical activities required for the arts are so fundamental to brain function.”

Essentially process art helps wire the brain by engaging all the senses that lead to the ability to learn.

AASA continues to say that kids “…develop essential thinking tools – pattern recognition and development; mental representations of what is observed or imagined; symbolic, allegorical and metaphorical representations; careful observation of the world; and abstraction from complexity.”

Process Art Activity: Exploding Rockets

Like most of the world, we have been forced to do school at home. Although we have had our ups and downs, getting to do fun projects where my boys could tap into their creativity has been a great bonding experience.

As I mentioned, process art allows us to really see who are kids are beneath the surface.

For this project, we decided to combine process art with STEAM (Science Technology Engineering, Art and Math) to make exploding paint rockets.

We started by watching this YouTube video on rocket propulsion.

My kids totally schooled me as they already knew most of this stuff and I did not. Womp Womp.

I pulled out all the materials from the exploding rockets tutorial on Steamstational’s website plus a few other materials then let my boys CREATE!

I’ll walk you through what we did and give you some tips on what we found that worked and didn’t work. However, I encourage you to take risks and explore different and new ways to make paint rockets so you can cultivate even more creativity in your kiddos.

Materials:

Alka Seltzer Tablets
Film canisters
Kids paint mixed with water in jars with a lid
Large pieces of poster board or foam board
Materials to decorate or add to your rocket
Wipes, lots and lots of wipes (to clean up!)

Cherry On Top Crafts has washable poster paint that can work great! And they also have other craft supplies that would work to decorate the canisters.

And you can get other supplies like poster board from Dollar Tree!

How To Make Paint Rockets

Step 1: Make The Rockets

Use film canisters that will become the rockets. You can keep the canisters as is or decorate them to see how it affects how fast (or slow) the rockets fly or see if it impacts the art creation.

What We Did: This is where my boys really experienced the “process” in this project. I originally planned for them to follow the instructions. Instead, they wanted to make their rockets look like, well, rockets!

One son wrapped his in paper and included a rocket-like spherical pointed top. What I thought was super creative and fun was when he made a launching pad by taping a pipe cleaner to a piece of cardstock. He wanted to see if this would slow down his rocket or make it launch faster. And because our toddler mimics everything his older brothers do, he asked to have a similar style of rocket and launchpad too.

My other son used packing material (I’m not even sure what it’s called!) to make a parachute. He taped pipe cleaners all around the film canister then poked holes through the packing material to secure it in place. Part of his process was discovering that he put the parachute on the bottom side of the rocket so he had to figure out a way to switch it without undoing all of his work.

He did get a little frustrated but this is part of the process! As I said, grit and resilience are skills gained from process art…even if a few tears are shed.

Step 2: Prepare The Paint

Choose a few colors of paint and mix it with water. Using any kind of containers with lids works best so you can save the paint for later and prevent paint spills.

Start with 50% water, 50% paint.

What We Did: The boys decided to use primary colors. They thought this would make for more dynamic colors on the poster board …and they were right!

We used mason jars we had on hand. The more paint you prepare, the more rockets you can do. The Alkaseltzer box comes with a ton of tablets so you can do this project over and over again.

We started with 50% water and 50% paint per the recommendation but found that by adding a little more water, the rockets shot higher.

Step 3: Set Up

Take all the materials outside into an area where the paint will not stain such as in your back yard or on grass.

You’ll need:

The rockets you created
Alka-seltzer tabs
Jars of water/paint mixture
Posterboard (or any kind of material for the paint to land on such as paper, canvas, foam board or maybe even cloth)
Wipes or something to clean up with!

Once you spread out the materials you’re using to paint on, you are ready to watch rockets explode!

What We Did: We used poster board we already had from school projects.

Each of my boys had their own. They overlapped them in the grass.

All of the other materials were placed on one side of the poster board sheets for easy access. Our boys started with clothes on but as it got messy, they took off their socks, shoes (and one may have taken off more…ha!).

Step 4: Watch The Rockets Explode And Create ART!

The last step is to explode the rockets.

Put a small amount of the paint/water mixture into a film canister
Drop an alka-seltzer tablet into the canister
Immediately place the lid on the canister – make sure it’s TIGHTLY sealed
Place the rocket on the poster board, foamboard, canvas or whatever you are using
Watch it explode and launch into the air

What We Did: At first, the canisters were popping immediately. The boys were not sure if they figured out exactly why this was happening. They think it has to do with how much water was in the mixture (more was better), how much of the mixture was put into the canister (about ⅓ full seemed to work best), if the lid was securely and tightly attached, to not use the launchpad, and that the canister needed to be shaken up before putting down.

We had one rocket shoot up higher than our house! The boys thought it was so cool but also got really nervous because of how fast the rockets exploded.

The End-Product

After the rocket explosions concluded, the art doesn’t have to end there. Since the paint is watered down and includes a disintegrating alka-seltzer tablet, you can finish by using the paint to create more shapes on the poster board.

What We Did: For this part, my boys were done so I actually decided to get a little creative myself. It was nice to be out in the yard by myself!

After removing the Alka-Seltzer tablets, I used the one poster board with the most paint to make creations on the other poster boards. It was kind of fun! Moving it in a circular motion, the paint dripped off making fun patterns.

Once I was done being a kid again, I put the finished artwork on the back patio to dry.

Conclusion:

Once your kids are done making their rockets explode, you can turn this into more of a learning or educational activity by talking about the speed, chemical reactions, the mixing of paint colors, or any other STEAM related concept OR you can just admire the art and ask your kids questions.

A great way to raise creative kids is to help them tap into their curiosity.

Sample questions to ask:

Do you see how the colors mixed to make new colors? What colors do you see? Which ones are your favorite? Why?
What made the rockets explode?
What would you do differently if we did this again?
What was your favorite part?
Did anything surprise you? If so, what did?
How long did it take for the rockets to explode?
What caused the rockets to explode?
What do you like most about the art you created?
What other materials could you use?

Raising Creative Kids Through Process Art

Giving kids art supplies and the freedom to create art in any way they would like is the way to raise creative kids. If they get stumped or frustrated, encourage them to have a growth mindset, and push through.

There is a reason that art can be found all throughout history.

Our brains crave art.

We have been created to create.

For You! Paint Rockets Printable

Here is a free printable you can download when signing up for the Raising Kids With Purpose Newsletter. It includes all the steps and a reflection worksheet.

If you and your kids love doing this STEAM project, please share!

June 12, 2020 By Adriane (Raising Kids With Purpose) 23 Comments

The Importance of Creative Kids

Inside: I wanted to figure out about the world of creative kids – what creativity even is, what makes a child creative, how to cultivate creativity at home, and how to raise kids who are curious about their world and use that creativity for good.

This is also a kick-off to a mini-series on creative projects we have been working on during quarantine! All the other posts in the series are linked at the bottom of this post.

“The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind—creators and empathizers, pattern recognizers, and meaning makers.”

― Daniel H. Pink, A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future

My boys and I were all sitting around the kitchen table starting school for the day. One was working on the computer. Another son was writing his word and sentence of the day.

My toddler hasn’t started school yet so he was getting ready to create art. I put an oversized piece of paper, stamps, markers, scissors, and a box of colorful masking tape in front of him.

He started out by writing on the paper and putting tape on it, which is what I expected him to do. But after leaving him alone for a few minutes, he did something else.

Grabbing all the rolls of purple, green, pink, blue, white, yellow, and black tape, he began to stack them up to make a huge tower. After he ran out of rolls, he used a marker as his sword watching the tape disperse all over the table (and his brother’s schoolwork).

This went on for a good 40 minutes!

Then after that activity, he proceeded to dig through the costume bin to find a Viking helmet. Instead of becoming a Viking, he took one of the horns out, turned the helmet around, and became a rhino!

This post may contain affiliate links. I will make a small commission if you make a purchase through one of these links, at no extra cost to you. See my disclosure policy here.

I couldn’t help but start to think about creative kids, what creativity is, how parents can cultivate creativity at home, what hinders creativity, and how useful creativity is in life.

Also, I’m a huge proponent of maker spaces and STEM projects so I figured I’d kick off a Creative Kids Series of projects we have been working on with this post on creative children.

What is Creativity?

Before learning about child and brain development, when I heard the word creativity, I thought of drawing, painting, writing, making music, and making crafts. However, it’s so much more than crayons, markers, and glue when you look at different disciplines that study it.

By definition, creativity means, “the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, etc.; originality, progressiveness, or imagination.

Wowzas! That’s loaded.

I’m a visual person so this infographic made it easier for me to grasp.

Cognitive science defines creativity as a characteristic that produces new and useful ideas. The kicker is for it to ascend from imaginative to creative means that the idea isn’t just thought of but acted upon. Creativity is both thinking and producing.

Positive Psychology views creativity as a core character strength and synonymous with originality and ingenuity. The definition is similar to what I stated above in which it says that creativity is the ability to come up with novel and productive ideas to conceptualize and achieve goals.

When it comes to creative kids, the way I think about it is perfectly stated in this quote by Maria Montessori,

“Nothing should be given to the brain that is not first given to the hand.”

When kids can take an idea and touch it, mold it, and explore it deeper, creativity begins to emerge.

Why Creativity is Imperative

Hands down, creativity is important for children whether they are born creative or not because it helps with self-expression and supports emotional and mental health.

Being able to tap into creativity increases the quality of a child’s life all the way into adulthood. It is actually proven to increase longevity as well.

Kathryn Haydon, author of “Creativity For Everybody” says, “Creativity as a strength is fail-safe because everybody is creative. To be human is to be creative. Creative strengths are human qualities that support creative thinking. Every person has unique strengths in creativity even if a person knows they have them or not.”

Creativity gives all people young and old confidence and tools to live a fulfilling life. If I asked you right now what you want for your child as he or she becomes an adult, I’m sure the answer would be something along the lines of “be happy.”

Creativity is the gateway to that happiness if used in a positive way.

The Importance of Creative Kids

Kids are either born creative with divergent, imaginative, out-of-the-box thinking or they are not. However, children can learn how to be creative even if they are not naturally wired that way.

Characteristics of Creative Kids:

Creative kids tend to have:

Creativity awareness
Independent thought and the need to do things differently
Insight (a-ha moments)
Significant and detailed imagination
More open-minded thoughts toward the opposition
Self-actualized abilities
A love for abstract objects and thoughts
Strong work ethic
Innocence
The ability to make unusual connections between unrelated ideas
The ability to rearrange ideas to create new ideas or things
Endless amount of ideas or solutions
Unusual sense of humor
An inquisitive mind
A need to challenge adults

Allow your creative kids to push boundaries but remember to set limits! Provide environments that allow for the positive expression of those qualities.

Creativity can manifest both in positive and negative ways. When kids are creative in a negative way, redirect that into a positive.

One example of negative creativity is drawing on the walls. Redirect that behavior by painting a walk with chalk paint so they can use chalk (only on that wall, of course!) or dry-erase paint to use markers (which may be a little riskier).

How to Cultivate Creativity At Home

Creativity cannot be taught, but we parents sure can cultivate it in our kids!

To start, we need to be aware of creativity. Hopefully, you are now if you’ve gotten this far. We also need to embrace novelty and new ideas, ways of thinking, messes, and projects.

Offer Choices and Opportunities

Any chance you get, offer your child a choice. This can be from what your toddler wants to wear for the day or what activity your elementary child wants to do if they are bored. Kids thrive on being autonomous so let them run free within the limits and values you have set for your family.

In addition to choice, present creative opportunities as often as you can such as:

Have materials on hand in an easy-to-reach spot (as long as your child is responsible enough to use those materials).
Include creative time into your daily routine or summer schedule.
Help your child learn how to play a musical instrument by choosing a school that teaches it, signing him or her up for lessons, or teaching it yourself. You can also try Piano For All or Rocket Ukulele).
Take your child to museums or makerspaces.
Choose a school that celebrates creativity.
Sign your child up for (free or paid) art lessons (check out Creative Bug), coding classes (like UCode), or robotics classes.
Take your child to the library to pick out books on creative mediums he or she is interested in.
And more!

Embrace the Mess and Ambiguity!

Just like with, “First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a baby with a baby carriage”, with creativity, it’s, “First comes creativity then comes exploration and invention, next comes a huge mess in a chaotic environment.” I know it doesn’t rhyme but you get the point. Ha!

In all honesty, exploration, inventive thinking, and creation come with messes that we should embrace.

An important part of this is to make sure you give your creative child the tools to clean up when appropriate. Cleaning and organization require executive function skills which many creative kids typically are developmentally delayed in acquiring.

That doesn’t mean they should leave messes everywhere though! Instead, work with and teach your disorganized creative child the skills he or she needs to organize and clean up after him or herself!

My creative child cannot organize his thoughts let alone organize a room so instead of getting frustrated, we have come up with a system to work together. Because honestly, it would be way easier if I just did it myself.

Related: 4 Easy Steps For Teaching Life Skills to Kids

Provide a Workspace or Area For Creative Time

My sister-in-law and brother-in-law transformed their formal dining room into a process art studio. It is the coolest space I’ve ever seen in a home. They have incredibly gifted and creative children who FLOURISH and stay busy for hours in that room.

Unfortunately, we don’t have space in our home, but we do have a way to turn our kitchen table into a little creative space.

Back Off!

Of course, I’m saying that in the most loving way from a friend to a friend.

To foster creativity in our kids, we need to give them the space to be creative.

Have you ever found yourself correcting a piece of art they are making to look exactly like the protocol or telling your kids what they are doing wrong? With creativity, there is no right or wrong, and the more we interfere with the process, the less creative our kids can be.

Creative Kids Have Special Strengths

Another reason why creative kids are important and why we should be celebrating them instead of sending them to the back of the room in a classroom or getting frustrated is because of the strengths that lie within their souls.

I recently connected with Kathryn Haydon of “The Non-Obvious Guide to Being Creative” who also fights for people’s strengths in this deficit-focused world. She has a Creative Strengths Spotter using Gary Davis’s extensive research on creative characteristics.

I wanted to include it in this post so you can find out what your child’s superpower is!

Often times creative characteristics can be seen as a problem or challenge (especially in a traditional classroom!). Instead, help your child figure out what strengths he or she beholds and you will see confidence, new ideas, more adaptability to change, and you will watch your child rise above the status quo.

When kids feel understood and heard, the unwanted behaviors dissolve and the good choices rise.

The 16 Creative Strengths

As you can see, the characteristics of creative kids are also mostly core creative strengths.

Creative Kids Can Change The World

When creativity is harnessed and fostered in a way that celebrates instead of alienates kids, magical things can really happen.

Children can use their powers for good and be a big bright shining light in the darkest parts of the world we live in.

What Are You Doing To Foster Creativity In Your Child’s Life?

I would love to know how creativity is released in your home. And as always, I’m incredibly thankful if you share this with your mom groups or on social media. Thank you!!!

Check Out These Other Posts In The Creative Kids Series:

Process Art: Paint Rockets Activity
Engineering: Engineering Inflatable Project For Kids
Art & Engineering: Super Simple Kaleidoscope For Kids

June 9, 2020 By Adriane (Raising Kids With Purpose) 16 Comments

10 Ways To Avoid Raising Racist Kids

Inside: Being silent does not raise children who value all people and races, instead it can encourage racism. Here are 10 ways to encourage parents to avoid raising racist kids.

Growing up with friends from different races and cultures, I was ignorant about the adversity they had to face. It wasn’t until my first college English Writing class that my eyes opened a bit more.

One of the topics of discussion we had towards the beginning of the semester was racism. The class was predominantly filled with white students. A (white) girl who raised her hand ignorantly said something along the lines of, “The first time I saw a black person, I didn’t know what to do.”

My face immediately felt hot with anger and my heart filled with sadness. I typically run away from controversy but at this moment, I was overcome with a feeling of wanting to jump over her desk and shake her. I couldn’t sit there listening to her ramble about how unsafe she felt although the person was just walking down the street.

I spoke up and asked, “What in the world do you mean you didn’t know what to do? What if I walked in here with a paper bag on my head and you couldn’t tell what my skin looked like? Would you be scared?”

This post contains affiliate links, see disclosure policy for details.

I was so confused.

It made absolutely no sense to me why one person would be judged so harshly only because of what they looked like or who their ancestors were.

I was confused but also so naive. And I was ignorant for not realizing what this country was founded on. My knowledge was only based on what I learned in school, which hasn’t been the whole truth, right? I was never shaken to the core with the truth.

Although I had these feelings of wanting to stand up for my fellow human beings of different races, I really didn’t know how to. I was taught to be kind to all people but didn’t know a lot about racism or how to fight against it.

Now that I have children of my own and they are old enough to use their voices to make a difference, I am learning how to teach anti-racism and how to educate my children about what some of their friends have to face that they most likely never will. I don’t want to raise racist kids who inadvertently grow up with unintentional or intentional racist thoughts or actions.

We have also been focusing a lot on developing empathy. What it is, how to put ourselves in other’s shoes, and why it matters.

In our city where we are raising our kids, 84.2% of the population is white, almost 6% black, 3.5% other, 2.6% Asian, 3% more than one race, and less than 1% Native American. The surrounding cities’ demographics are also similar to ours.

So basically, we are raising white boys in a predominantly white area.

I have been cognizant about partaking in our city’s MLK Day Celebration and listening to black preachers and speakers talk about equality and the work of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Additionally, although I didn’t realize it the first time we went, I often take my boys to a barbershop where most of the barbers are black. Any time we have been, we are the only white people waiting and I’m usually the only female. But…

Is making an effort to be around people of color enough?

No! It’s not.

This is why I need to figure out what my role is in raising anti-racist kids. I need to stop only giving the message of, “love all people and kindness wins” as I have been doing.

I need to stop being afraid of not saying the right thing or offending someone for fighting too hard or not fighting hard enough.

I need to stop feeling like I can’t do anything because I am white.

I need to stop (unintentionally) being colorblind.

I need to stop being fearful of everyone’s opinion and instead, live out what I know to be true and love all people in addition to standing up and fighting for what is right.

What Does It Mean To Be An Anti-Racist?

In order to understand what an anti-racist is, let’s look at what the dictionary says a racist is.

A racist is “a person who believes in racism, the doctrine that one’s own racial group is superior or that a particular racial group is inferior to the others.” Racism is defined as “hatred or intolerance of another race or other races.”

Even though I claim to not be a racist, I have had thoughts of racism without even realizing it. My eyes filled with tears as I reread that sentence.

I have to work hard to uncover where those thoughts are coming from and refrain from letting them manifest into something bigger.

Culture is a huge culprit as well as media exposure and honestly, policies in this country. I didn’t even realize how much I make general assumptions instead of focusing on individual behavior. Worst yet, I’m modeling that for my children.

To be an anti-racist is much more than just saying, “I’m not a racist.”

I recently listened to Brene Brown’s interview with Dr. Ibram X. Kendi about his book, “How to Be An Antiracist.” Much of what they both talked about really resonated and opened my eyes to the difference of not being a racist and being an anti-racist. What I gathered is there is no in-between. No gray area. Either you are or you aren’t and it takes hard work to rise above and distinguish racist idealogy and thoughts.

To be anti-racist means to move beyond saying you’re not racist and instead adopting and acting on antiracist views and beliefs. Kendi says, “What an anti-racist does first and foremost is identify racial inequities.”

Lastly, to be an anti-racist means that you need to let go of any racist thoughts and take action.

How To Avoid Raising Racist Kids

Before I get into the resources that will help our family practice anti-racism and not only focus on not being racist, I want to mention that I am working on being as authentically real as my soul will allow with every word.

If I pose a question or seem ignorant, it’s because I am and I want to learn more.

My OCD causes me to digest as much information as possible, but in this instance, there is so much of “I don’t know what I don’t know“.

Please feel free to comment below this post and add whatever other information that will help me and other parents become more purposeful in how we teach our kids about racism.

If you are in the same boat and don’t even know where to start, here are 10 ways to avoid raising racist kids. Also included are ways to teach your kids about anti-racism to empower them to stand up for what’s right.

1. Educate Yourself

This is it!

We must start with US!

The work begins in us before we even open our mouths to speak to our kids. This goes for everything in parenting. Not only do we have nothing to give when our emotional cup is empty, but we also have nothing to give if we lack knowledge or wisdom.

For me, I first start by diving deep into God’s word and praying for my brothers and sisters.

Because of current events happening in our country around racial injustice, there is an abundant amount of resources helping parents navigate this topic.

Out of all the articles and videos I watched, the one that I found the most valuable place to start is from Dr. Jazmine of the Mom Psychologist.

She strongly suggests that we parents put on our own oxygen masks first. She says, “We need to work on unlearning and relearning what we need to know because we cannot start this conversation about race until we have first started it with ourselves.”

In her video on How to Be a White Ally: How White Shame is Getting In the Way, she talks about sitting in discomfort and then using those emotions and feelings to take action. Don’t allow the discomfort or shame of not doing something in the past to keep you in that same place. Instead, rise up and do the work.

Being a highly sensitive and empathic person, this work is extra difficult for me. I can’t help but feel intense emotions as I digest the information. The tears don’t stop. But instead of allowing myself to flee from those uncomfortable feelings, I’m making a conscious decision to be gloriously ruined so I can grow through the pain.

Also, remember to give yourself time. Unpacking your mental model of what race is and what you do about racism took years to develop so it may take years to unravel enough to do something about it.

This is an ongoing process. Never stop learning.

Here are some people and resources that have been helpful for me so far on my journey to be an antiracist:

EmbraceRace
The Children’s Community School – Social Justice Resources
How to Be an Antiracist by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi
Real American by Julie Lithcott-Haims (I also highly recommend her book, How To Raise An Adult)
Latasha Morrison
What Does The Bible Say About Racism?
The Mom Psychologist
ADL
Candace Owens
Anti-racism Resources For White People Google Doc
The Labouring Mom
Becoming Mamas Together has a post with great resources

2. Talk About Race and Racism

Start early and do it often.

Having “the talk” one time about difficult topics isn’t effective. Only one conversation negates the importance or makes it seem taboo.

Many white parents neglect to talk about race. The reason is that they probably don’t even think about it or they don’t find it necessary.

Look around. It’s a conversation that can not be nor should be avoided.

How To Talk About Racism to Kids

When talking to your kids about race, be direct and specific. Point out differences in a positive light. Celebrate the differences of others that you see when reading books, while out in public, at school, or even watching a show.

Parents Magazine has a great age-by-age guide that walks you through how to talk to kids about racism starting very young.

Ages 0-6: Expose your child to other races and cultures. If you don’t live in a diverse area, study other cultures together. If a need for conversation around racism or bigotry arises, do it but in a developmentally appropriate way by labeling emotions and giving basic facts. Remember silence is worse than saying too much.
Ages 6-8: Conversations around racism may be a little easier at this age. Give your child the space to ask questions and express their curiosity. It is suggested that you use simple language, are honest, and don’t overdo it.
Ages 9-11: Don’t allow kids to hear about scary events from TV or the internet. Instead, be the person that informs them what is going on. When discussing racism with this age group, keep the language neutral.
Teens: Say something if you observe your teenagers engaging in racist thoughts or acts. Be cautious to keep the conversation open and help your teen think about concepts he or she has never thought about before.

Go with your gut and attune to where your child is in his or her understanding. The main point is to speak up instead of staying silent.

3. Read Books Together

As soon as I realized that I needed to step up my game in raising anti-racist kids, I logged onto the city’s library portal to request some books so we could start reading together.

I also added Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You: A Remix of the National Book Award-winning Stamped from the Beginning to my Amazon cart since there were so many pending requests from the library.

We have some others from this list we are wanting to add to our bookshelf as well.

4. Teach Your Child How to Listen

Being a good listener is stinking hard. We are wired to voice our opinions, maybe offer help, and be heard. Listening takes more work.

The best way to teach our kids to listen well is to be a good listener ourselves. Use eye contact, and positive body language, and be fully present. Then point out those traits of being a good listener when trying to understand other people.

Have discussions about how much can be learned simply from listening without making judgments. Wyoming Early Childhood Network has a great infographic that teaches kids how to become good listeners.

5. Support People of Color and Other Races

Buy books from authors of all races, watch movies with diverse casts and/or directed by people of color, listen to music from other cultures, and attend plays or concerts with diverse casts or artists.

>> Looking for books to read with your kids or encourage them to read? Check out these lists of books I curated on parenting and teaching kids about diversity and race on Bookshop.

6. Diversify Your Friend Group

If you live in an area like we do, this is harder to do. It would be awkward and rude to go searching specifically for moms of different races simply because of the color of their skin. However, don’t just stick to your bubble. Join mom or parent groups, get involved in your child’s school, or get your child involved in sports so they can meet new people.

In addition to diversifying your friend group, speak up in your current circle of influence. I’ll keep saying this, but silence reinforces racism.

7. Guide Your Children’s Curiosity About Race

Psychological research has discovered that kids as young as three years old start assigning meaning to race and other people’s color of skin.

There are a few reasons for this.

First, they engage in essentialist reasoning which is when they begin to categorize people.

They also notice class-race patterns.

Last, children (and people of all ages) experience biases that cause them to navigate towards people who look and act like them. This ingroup bias can start as young as three. Another bias called “high-status bias” starts to develop around age four or five, which is when they show preferences for people who are of higher-status groups.

Having this understanding, we need to guide our kids’ experiences with people from other social groups, races, and cultures by teaching them to celebrate similarities AND differences.

When your child asks you an honest question about the color of their friend’s skin or the texture of their hair because it’s different than his or hers, don’t shut down the conversation. Instead, use your child’s curiosity to teach and ask questions that engage him or her in a deeper conversation.

Figure out what’s underneath the surface of the question or spark of curiosity. Ask yourself,

“What is my child noticing about race?”
“What is making him or her think in that way?”
“What are they really saying or asking?”
“What did they mean by that?”
“Where did they hear that?”
You can also ask your child to explain what they mean and see if they have the words to express their thoughts. You may be surprised.

While writing this, my eight-year-old was asking why I was reading so many articles and watching many videos. He was truly shocked that people would be treated differently because of the color of their skin. He also had a ton of questions about where the color comes from and if he could become black because he prefers that skin tone. So we started by looking up diagrams of skin to learn about melanin. Just with those two questions, we were able to unveil what racism is, how to spot it, and what to do about it. I was able to take his curiosity and guide him to learn more in an unbiased way.

8. Make Visual and Tactile Connections That Empower Change

A brain is an association machine. This is why stories and analogies resonate better with people than straight-up facts. Find ways to visually demonstrate what racism does and why it’s important to fight against it.

One visual I came across was to have kids unravel a ball of yarn to create a tangled spider web. Once they are finished, the kids untangle the web. This visual illustration is then used to explain how much harder it is to untangle a web than it is to make which is very similar to how much harder it is to fix the unfairness that has been in this country for so long.

9. Teach Empathy

Empathy, empathy, empathy.

Empathy is declining in youth today making it even more important that we take the time to teach it.

Many well-intended parents talk about racial inequity as if people like Martin Luther King Jr, Rosa Parks, and other civil rights activists fixed it, making everything right again. Racial inequity is sometimes talked about as if it only happened in the past. Although things are different today, racism still exists. Biases are still embedded in our culture. Racist policies still exist and people are still not treated equally or as if their culture matters. We must keep all of this in mind as we teach empathy, self-awareness, and gratitude.

Ask your kids what they think it would be like to be judged for how they look. Point out how others are feeling based on what they say and the expressions on their faces.

We love the podcast, Imagine Neighborhood. It’s written specifically for kids to help them grow their social-emotional skills. I often reference some of their episodes when discussing empathy to help my kids understand better.

10. Advocate & Take Action

We often tell our kids we are all equal, but stop the conversation there. Instead, we need to model and show how to be an advocate. Take a stand against racism. our children have the power to be agents of change for all cultures.

On NBC’s Parent Toolkit, the author states, “An important part of being an advocate is not just saying people are equal, but acting in a way that reflects that thinking.”

Here are some practical ways you can be an advocate and in turn, teach your children how to advocate and take action:

Look for organizations in the area doing anti-racist justice work and partner with them.
Donate money to organizations like Mothering Justice.
Go to your local library with titles of books written by people of color that you want them to purchase. Encourage them to buy more than one copy as well. I wanted to check out Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You: A Remix of the National Book Award-winning Stamped from the Beginning, and there were 24 requests for only one copy.
Silence reinforces racial prejudices so learn when to listen and when to speak up and teach your kids the same.
If you have older kids or teens, read through resources like this Justice Begins At Home guide from Racial Equity Tools to see how you can take action.

Join Me In Raising Anti-Racist Kids

My eyes have been opened so much wider as I devoured everything I read and saw in researching for this post.

We can’t stay silent.

Instead, we need to talk and talk often to our kids about fighting for what’s right. Saying, “everyone should be equal or love all people,” is no longer enough. If a fire has been lit in your heart like mine, I encourage you to share this post or comment on your thoughts below.

How to Use This Resource (Free Download)

Tips For Doing School At Home

Home Education Resources for Families

1. School At (Or Someone Else’s) Home

2. Home School Resources

Elementary

Early Learners

3. Virtual Classes

4. Online Education/Supplemental Classroom Websites

All Subjects (English Language Arts, Math, Science & More)

Scholastic (Grades K-9)

Center For Interactive Learning and Collaboration (Grades K-6)

IXL (Grades K-12)

BrainPop (Grades K-12)

Khan Academy (Grades K-8)

Actively Learn (Grades 6-12)

PBS LearningMedia (Grades PreK – 12)

3D Bear (Grades Pre-K – 12)

Teachers Pay Teachers (All)

Education.com (Grades K-5)

Achieve 3000 Literacy at Home (Grades 2-12)

Great Minds (Grades K-12)

Circletime (Grades PreK – K)

Fluency & Fitness® (Grades K-2)

Curriculum Associates (Grades K-8)

Izzit (Grades K-12)

Lakeshore Learning Free Resource Library (Grades PreK – 5)

MobyMax (Grades PreK-8)

Outschool (Grades PreK – 12)

E-Learning For Kids (Grades K-6)

Reading, Writing & Grammar

Lalilo (Grades K – 2)

NoRedInk (Grades 4-12)

Rockin Resources – Rockstar Writers (Grades 3-5)

Litfilmfest (Grades K-12)

Readtheory (Grades K-12)

ReadWorks (Grades K-12)

Institute For Excellence in Writing (IEW) (Grades 3-12)

Squiggle Park & Dreamscape (Grades PreK – 10)

Math & Science and/or STEM

The Tech Interactive (Grades K-12)

cK-12 (Grades K-12)

Cignition (Grades 3-6)

Defined Learning (Grades K-12)

DreamBox (Grades K-8)

Prodigy (Grades K-8)

Learning Blade (Grades K-12)

Teaching Garage (Grades 2-5)

National Integrated Cyber Education Research Center (NICERC) (Grades K-12)

The PAST Foundation – Maker Mania (Grades 4 – 12)

Population Education (Grades K-12)

Science and/or Coding

Mystery Science (Grades K-5)

American Chemical Society Inquiry in Action (Grades K-5)

Generation Genius (Grades K-5+)

Create & Learn (Grades K-12)

Creosity Space (Grades K-5)

Steve Spangler Science (All)

Quark Academy (Grades 6-12)

Social Studies & Economics

Kids Discover (Grades K-8)

Discover the World Education (Grades K-12)

Academy 4SC (Grades 6-12)

C-Span Classroom (Grades 5-12)

Social-Emotional Learning

5. Educational Videos

6. Learning Websites

7. Educational Subscription Services

Groovy Lab In A Box (in partnership with Popular Mechanics)

8. Screen-Free Activity Ideas

Activity Pinterest Boards

9. Books – Digital and Audio

Epic!

10. Virtual Field Trips

Live Cameras

11. Videos with Children’s Book Authors

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