It’s been a while since I posted one of these so I thought it would be fun to do another. Here are some fun ways to work in all sorts of subjects with a bit of fun…
- Spit ball geography: Get a big world map and play a different game with it every day this week. For today, try launching spit balls at countries that other people call out! Here’s how to make spitballs, or you could also use a dart gun.
- Balloon challenges: There are all different variations to try with this one. Blow up a balloon and bop it with family members as you take turns calling out math problems. Kids have to answer before they bop it back up in the air, and everybody works as a team to try to keep it from hitting the ground. Or take turns calling out items in a group (for instance, elements from the periodic table, states, words that start with M….).
- Sistine Chapel Art: Lots of folks have done this classic art idea. Tape coloring pages of the Sistine Chapel on the underside of your table and let the kids color them on their backs as Michaelangelo did. Here are coloring pages to print out if they want to use those (or they can create their own masterpieces) and here’s information on how Michaelangelo created the Sistine Chapel.
- Lego homeschooling: Here is a compilation of all sorts of Lego lesson plans, from Lego chemical reactions (complete with printables) from MIT to a Lego balloon-powered car to plans for building the Nile River from Legos to a subscription to the free Lego Magazine and more.
- DIY flash cards: Give the kids index cards and art supplies to make some really fun flashcards to teach any math facts they have trouble remembering.
- Famous person Who Am I: Gather the kids and put a sign on each one’s back with a famous person written on it. Have them go around the room asking questions to figure out who they are. You can use historic figures, artists, authors, you name it. You can also use elements for older kids (Am I a gas? Am I poisonous?).
- Make an educational video: Challenge the kids to give a 2 minute report on any subject they want to research and record it as a video. If they like, they can use fun editing apps to add text and music. If they get excited about the project, you can even start a family blog with a new video every week.
- Use window markers to do math problems: Enough said.
![:)]()
- Photography Challenges: Let the kids use a digital camera and agree on some fun challenges such as taking a picture of something for each letter of the alphabet, 3 kinds of clouds, each state of matter, etc.
- Do the purple cabbage pH experiment: This is one of our all time favorite science experiments. Even I have fun mixing and matching to make the cabbage water turn colors (and even turn it back!).
Anna is off in Arizona visiting one of her best friends, so I have one less child to occupy and educate for the week. Now I’m off to find some Lego fun to play with Jack, and then I have a small girl who’d like to “eed yots of books!,” a boy who’d like to play a phonics game, a teen who wants to do some poetry exercises and a house that could use several hundred hours of cleaning (let’s be honest, it’ll be lucky to get one!). 
