DRIVING QUESTION:

How can we design and share a set of activities for kids to do at home while their parents are working?

Overview

Today, children will review the selected activities from the day before and see if they need to add or make any changes to their list. Then, they will come up with a brand new activity or game to add to their list. They will design that activity and draw it. 

Key Questions

• Are my recommended choices still right? 

• Are there any activities that are missing?

• Do I have all the activities I want? 

• What type of activity can I make up to suggest to kids? 

• How should I describe or teach that activity? 

Project Work Time: Science/Design and Engineering

Ask children to spend some time thinking about what else they like to do and add those activity cards to the collection.  Now it’s time to make up a whole new activity. For inspiration, consider these ideas: 

Large motor movement activities. 

More large motor activities

Fine motor skill activities

Design Challenge:  Making a cup tower

Design Challenge:  Making a catapult

Design Challenge:  Making a boat

Lego Challenge cards

Project Work Time: Reading

Your child/ren might enjoy investigating or exploring books and online resources on their own. Perhaps you have some craft magazines or activity books on hand. You might consider bookmarking some family approved websites or taking a few minutes to identify some websites specific to the ideas your child/ren generated earlier in the project. Beginning readers can use these opportunities to "read the pictures" of the books or websites even if they aren't able to read the text yet.  

Project Work Time: Writing and Drawing/Engineering Design

Children begin to design one brand new idea that they want to develop over the next few days and add to their resource list. They can draw it on a large sheet of paper and add labels and/or descriptions when necessary.  Children might create a new game, an activity, or a model toy. They might also use a game they already have and invent new rules or come up with some type of adaptation. Remember that their new idea must also fit into the approved criteria - it must be fun, be able to be sustained for 30 minutes, and be done mostly independently.

Checking for Understanding

Look at the design for the child’s newly created activity. Is it clear? Does it meet all three criteria? Use this checklist to find out! If not, take note for the following day in order to provide feedback and revision opportunities. 

Share Your Progress

Take a photo of your child’s original activity and post on Facebook.