Stop the (Brain) Rot

11 Things To Do With Your Kids To Keep Their Brains From Rotting When They’re Not At School:

I kept thinking about this all morning, and couldn't get it off of my mind, so I made a list of things that parents can do to keep their kids of any age engaged in some sort of learning while they are not physically at school. I'm sure there are a LOT of other suggestions as well, but here's eleven that immediately came to mind. 

1. Read a book. Seriously, READ A BOOK. Maybe more than one. If you have more than one kid, have a competition to see who can read the most books out of the entire family. After your child finishes a book, ask them about it. How did it make them feel? What were their favorite and least favorite parts? Where and when did the book take place? What did they learn from reading it? There are tons of free online books, and you can always venture to your local public library to pick out a hard copy of something. You can also check the online library catalog and call ahead first to reserve a book so that it’s a quick trip in and out if you are concerned about being out in public spaces for too long. Amazon Kindle also has a free app for your phone or computer where in addition to books available for purchase, there is a decent catalog of free books you can download.

2. Go for a nature walk. Fresh air and exercise are both good for you, and you can turn a simple walk in the park into a nature walk by asking your kids to point out any plants or animals that catch their eyes. Take a picture of them and then try to identify the species when you get back home. Some parks even have identification signs set up around the area to help point out any native species that are commonly found there. If you want to take it a step further, have your kids create a food chain with the native plants and animals that you identified, talk about how organisms get energy, and discuss the circle of life.

3. Cook something together. Let your kids pick out a recipe (that you already have the ingredients for) and follow the directions together. Help them with any vocabulary words they might not know, and explain why the order or timing of some of the steps matters (e.g. bread dough needs time to rise because of the yeast producing air bubbles that will make the bread light and fluffy). Kids can practice fractions by measuring out ingredients with measuring spoons and cups. If the recipe calls for a cup and a half of something, give your kids a ¼ cup and ask them to figure out how many times they need to use it to have enough of the ingredient. You can talk about nutrition and what food groups the recipe uses. Bonus points if the recipe is a family recipe or a traditional dish where you can talk about its significance.

4. Get musical. If your kids play a musical instrument, have them practice it. If you want to make sure they are still learning new skills and techniques, hire a musician for private lessons. A lot of freelance musicians have had some of their gigs cancelled due to Coronavirus concerns, and many of them also offer private lessons. If your kids are in a music class at school, they definitely have warm ups and drills that they can practice at the very least.

5. Watch a movie. The catch is you have to talk to your kids about it afterwards. Ask them about the theme. Talk with them about the setting and any history related to it. Ask them about how the protagonists were able to problem solve. Talk about any important issues that are prevalent in the film. A great example is Frozen 2 (which Disney+ is going to make available for streaming this Sunday) and the environmental impacts of building a dam. If you don’t know where to get started, many teachers have already developed questions and activities to go with tons of movies, and some of them are available for free online.

6. Watch a TV show. See above and ask similar questions. If your kids are younger, show them some of the older PBS shows with an educational purpose like Reading Rainbow, Between the Lions, Cyberchase, or Wishbone. Older kids can watch other documentaries or series that explore the world, like travel or cooking shows.

7. Go a virtual tour. Travel and Leisure’s website has a list of 12 museums and galleries that offer virtual tours online. You can do a scavenger hunt for certain pieces of art at the Van Gogh museum, or browse through historical artifacts with the British Museum. Here’s the link to the Travel and Leisure article:
https://www.travelandleisure.com/…/museums-with-virtual-tou…

8. Plan your next vacation. With a lot of events, activities, and travel being cancelled, now is a great time to start planning for your next family vacation. Have your kids research important landmarks or historical monuments that they want to see some day. Maybe give them a challenge of finding the most interesting thing to do within an hour drive of your home. Some places such as State or National Parks may even still be open at this time, and might give you something else to do during this time. If you live in Texas, My Curly Adventures has a fantastic Texas travel series that shows you some places to go and things to do all within a day’s drive, so you and your kids can pick out somewhere to go or something to do next time you have a family vacation.

9. Practice Journaling. Writing and self-reflection are both incredibly powerful tools that kids need to develop, so why not have your kids spend a few minutes at the least each day journaling. Have them write about what they did and learned each day. Have them write about their dreams and goals for the future. They can write about the books, movies and TV shows they watched and how they felt about each of them. Like most of the other items on this list, there are a ton of resources and prompts available for journaling online.

10. Play a game. No, not like a video game; a family board game. Have your kids take turns picking out a game to play together. It’s important that you play too so you can model how to win or lose respectfully, and how to behave when things might not be going your way. Bonus points if the game has some form of physical currency where your kids have to practice adding and subtracting. Cooperative games are also great for modeling how to work as a team.

11. Try learning a new language. Any other skill or hobby might work too, but learning a new language is especially important. There are lots of free online tools for language learning, and Duolingo is a free app that has a wide variety of languages to choose from, including some endangered languages. I'm currently learning German myself, but I also use Duolingo to practice my Spanish from time to time. If you've ever done some ancestry research, maybe have your kids try to learn a few words or phrases of a language your ancestors used to speak, and talk about your family history at the same time.

12. Here's a bonus: Do some actual schoolwork. Chances are your kid's school will be making some resources available online so it can be accessed from home. Go through it with them. Ask your kids to tell you what they've been learning about or have them explain the steps to solve a problem. It's OK if your kids are learning things that you don't know or don't remember, but showing an interest tells your kids that learning is important. You might even learn something yourself.