20-30 minutes

Independently read, or have someone read to you, a book of your choice

20 minutes

Draw a picture or write about what you read. Tell someone in your house about it.

30-60

minutes

Help to cook a recipe with an adult, repeating the directions & helping to find the correct measuring tools. 

20-30 minutes

Read poems. Choose a favorite one to orally recite or act out for a family member.

20-30 minutes

Sing your favorite song. Write down/have someone help you write down the words. Sing along while pointing to the words.

20-30 minutes

Draw a picture of your favorite food. Try to write/talk about 10 words that describe it.

20 minutes

Home scavenger hunt: Find one object for each letter in the alphabet in your home (ie: apple for A, book for B…)

20 minutes

Rhyming game: Find words that rhyme within the book

20 minutes

Book Talk: Pick up a book you’ve already read. Talk about the pictures in the book and what the book is about.

20 minutes

Read a book together.  Use a finger to track all of the words from left to right.  Discuss the book. Ask and answer questions about details of the story!

30 minutes

Write the capital and lower case letter A on a blank piece of paper. Draw and label as many things that start with A as you can. Repeat for B the next day and continue to make an ABC word book of all the words you know. Each day you add a page, read all the previous pages together with a family member.

30 minutes

Look at pictures of family/people you know and identify them, talk about them, what they like about them.

30 minutes

Make popsicle stick puppets of the characters in your favorite story. Use the puppets to retell the story for a friend or family member.

15 minutes

Look at a magazine, mail flyer, or other printed text. Highlight the words you know. Count how many there are.

10 minutes

Count to one hundred. Count by 2’s to 50. Counts by 10’s to 100. Count by 5’s.

(Or 10, or 20, 30, etc)

20 minutes

Draw a picture using squares, circles, rectangles, and triangles. Then count how many of each shape you used.

Or, draw and identify shapes.

20 minutes

Find a bag of beans, peas, raisins, seeds, pennies, beads (something small) and make ten piles of ten objects. Count by fives or tens to make one-hundred, or 10, 20, etc.

20 minutes

Write as many equations as you for the number 10. (1+9=10, 3+7=10, etc)

20 minutes

Create a number line that goes to 20. How would you use your number line to count by 5’s?  2’s? Point to the numbers as you skip count.

20-30 minutes

Roll two dice and use the two numbers to write an addition equation. (ie: 5+4=9) Keep rolling the dice. How many different equations can you make? What’s the highest sum you can make?

20-30 minutes

Find the spare change in the house. How many coins did you find? What kinds of coins do you have? How much money is it? Count it with a family member.

20-30 minutes

Make a calendar of this month and label it with the days of the week and dates. Write in things you’ve done or want to do on your calendar.

15 minutes

Count all the inside doors in your house.  Count all the outside doors in your house. How many doors do you have in all?  Write an equation to show this. Are there other equations you could write using household items?

15 minutes

Draw or trace all of the hands in your family. Count the fingers. Count again, counting by fives. Count them by tens!

15 minutes

Make a hundreds chart. (1-10 in the first row, 11-20, etc.) What patterns do you see? Color the multiples of ten a color. Color odd numbers a different color. Point to a random number. What is 5 more? How do you know?

15 minutes

List the months of the year. Find out how many days are in each month.

20-30 minutes

Do a puzzle. As you work on it, observe the different types of puzzle pieces. What are the different puzzle shapes? How many kinds are there? What are the most common colors?

15 min

Dice game to play with family members: Roll two dice. 

Identify the numbers, whose number is bigger? Whose is smaller?

30 minutes

Read the clocks at different times of the day. Write down a daily log. At what time do you wake up? Eat breakfast, lunch, etc.? Make a timeline of your day.

20 minutes

Use a ruler or tape measure to determine the length of a table. What is the width? Height? Measure other objects in your home. Are you using inches, centimeters?

30 minutes

Collect 5 different containers in your house. Order them with the one that holds the most first. How do you know it has the largest capacity? 

30 minutes

Sorting: Sort objects by color, shape, size, etc. 

30 minutes

Select an object from nature like a leaf,  tree you see from your window, etc. Day 1 draw a rough draft sketch, Day 2 add additional detail to your draft. Day 3 re-draw your draft into a final outline with black pen, Day 4, add color, Day 5, write about your drawing. Write about the object: “What details do you notice about your object? Why do you think the object has these qualities?”

30 minutes

Count the cars or birds you see outside your window in the morning. Make a hypothesis about whether you’ll see less or more cars or birds you’ll see in the afternoon. Test your hypothesis - count the cars or birds in the afternoon. Was your hypothesis correct? 

30 minutes

Invent something using items from the recycling bin. What is it? What does it do? Explain your invention to a family member.

20 minutes

Draw and design an insect with 6 legs, 3 body parts (head, thorax, and abdomen), and 2 compound eyes. Will your insect have antennae, wings, special mouthparts, or other features? Label and explain your insect to a family member. Where does it live? What does it eat? How does it survive?

20 minutes

Miracle robot: Design a robot...draw or make a prototype/model if possible.  Explain: What does your robot do? 

20 minutes

Discuss and draw/write about: “What is water for?”  Where does the water go?

20 minutes

Experiment in the sink or bathtub. Make a list of things that sink or float. Discuss why you think each object did what you observed.

15 minutes

Watch/find the weather report on the news/newspaper. Listen for the high and low temperatures for the day. Do you think it will be hot or cold?  What is a prediction? OR What was the weather like today? Draw a picture and write a sentence describing it. What do you think the weather will be like tomorrow?

15 minutes

Discuss what things are made of in your house. Which things are made of wood?  Which are made of plastic, metal, or stone? How are these things made?

20-30 minutes

Find 5-10 fresh plant-based foods from your kitchen. Which ones are fruits? Which ones are vegetables? A fruit develops from the flower of a plant, while the rest of a plant’s parts would be a vegetable. Fruits are often sweeter, while vegetables are more savory. What category are your foods in? Why do you think that?

20 minutes

What is your favorite season of the year? Spring, Summer, Winter, Fall? Why? Draw a picture of your season. What do people do, see, or feel in this season?

10 minutes

Look at the moon at night and draw it. Is it a circle, or a crescent? Repeat this each night for a week. What do you notice?

15 minutes

What matter do you have? Make a list of solids, liquids, and gases that are in your home.

20 minutes

Draw/write a letter to a friend. Tell them why you appreciate their friendship and work with an adult to address the letter and put it in the mail.

15 minutes

Look in the mirror and make the expression with your face for different feelings: happy, sad, angry, scared, worried, hopeful, wondering, tired. What other feelings and faces do you have? Do this with a family member together. How are your faces the same or different? 

15 minutes

What are things in your house that make you happy? Find three things and discuss them with a family member. Why does that object, place, or activity make you feel happy?

20 minutes

Look at a picture in a book, magazine, or newspaper of a place. Would you want to go there? Why or why not? Discuss or write about your thoughts.

15 minutes

Call a friend or relative to have a conversation with them. Work on listening attentively. Ask them some questions. Give them a compliment.

20 minutes

Draw a picture or write a few sentences about someone you admire. Why do you appreciate or admire this person?

15 minutes

What is something you can do that you are proud of? Tell someone about it. Ask them to tell you what they are proud about. 

10 minutes

Recall a time someone helped you. What did they do? How did that make you feel? What is something you can do to help someone else?

10 minutes

Listen to some music that you like. Sing along or dance. Why does this music make you happy?

10 minutes

Think of/make a list of 10 things that you can do. What is one more thing you want to be able to do? What will it take for you to be able to achieve that?

20 minutes

Make an award, badge, or certificate for another member in your family.

15 minutes

Make a doodle, or color a picture. Post it up in your house.

15 minutes

Think of a friend or someone you like to be around. What are 3 words that describe them? What do they do or say that makes you like them?

15 minutes

Close your eyes and take five deep breaths. Say three affirmations. (ie: I am strong. I am caring. I am smart.) Open your eyes and feel the strengths within you. You are a gift to the world.

15 min

Take Walk with your parent

15 min

Visit GoNoodle.com - Physical Education Activities

https://www.gonoodle.com

15 min

Play music and dance 

15 min

Visit PE Activities - Pintrest

bit.ly/PE4kids

15 min

Exercise

• 5-10 Pushups
• 5-10 Sit ups
• 5-10 Burpees
• 5-10 Jumping Jacks
• Rest 
• Repeat

15 min

Yoga 

https://www.kidsyogastories.com/yoga-in-the-classroom/

Movement Breaks

Provide your child with a chance to move before or after learning activities. 

Video

Visit GoNoodle.com -

https://www.gonoodle.com

Obstacle Course

Set up a simple obstacle course in your home. You can use bright duck tape or masking tape to define a “balance beam” on the floor; place pillows on the floor for your child to leap onto; have them crawl under chairs and toss bean bags or small balls into a bucket. Get creative and have fun!

Game

Play “Don’t step in the Lava” - Set down placemats or pillows down on the floor to represent “rocks”  and encourage your student to jump from rock to rock and avoid the floor (or lava)  

Animal Walks

Play a game pretending to be animals. Animal walks challenge a child’s motor planning and provide important sensory input to the vestibular and proprioceptive systems. Check out Animal Walks 

Kid Yoga

Yoga 

https://www.kidsyogastories.com/yoga-in-the-classroom/

Music

Head Shoulders, Knees and Toes! Sing and dance.

Music

Tune into Jack Hartman’s Kids’ Music Channel on YouTube

Jack Hartmann

Outdoor Fun

Give your student plenty of time outdoors- climb trees, play in the dirt, ride bikes, play hide and seek, explore your home’s immediate surroundings.

Sensory Play

Allow your child opportunities for exploration and exposure to different textures and experiences

PlayDoh

Get BOTH hands busy with PlayDo- roll out a long snake; roll it into a big ball and flatten it by pushing down to make a pancake, use a cookie cutter to cut out your favorite shape. Try rolling it into a snake, then use child friendly scissors to cut it into many small chunks. 

Shaving Cream

Squirt a little onto the kitchen table and let your child explore it’s tactile and scent properties. Make designs in the cream, practice making letters or draw pictures. You can make bath time fun with this too- just put the shave cream on the wall and let your child paint!

Water play

Fill a sink or tub with water and grab a few cups, spoons, pitchers and go to town! 

Kinetic or Regular Sand

Build a sandcastle or anything else with either kind of sand! If you don’t have kinetic sand, try wetting regular sand to make it more dense and similar to kinetic sand. 

Outdoor Fun

Go outside and explore all the different textures the world has to offer! Getting messy and dirty in the grass, mud, and dirt awakens the senses as well as the hands! 

Finger paint

Mix, squish and spread colorful paints and make a beautiful painting. If finger painting sounds too messy, add some paint into a ziploc bag and let your student squish  and mix the paint around 

Visual 

Make a visual sensory bottle. Use a clean clear plastic water bottle and create a calming visual tool. Add glitter, colored sand, beads and sequins or feathers . Now add water and maybe a few drops of food coloring. Seal it back up. Tip back and forth to watch the show!

Fine Motor/ Visual Motor 

Expose your child to opportunities to strengthen their hands and fingers. Children also need strong visual motor skills to copy and produce visual information in the form of drawing and writing. 

Stickers

Peel off stickers off the sheet and create a beautiful scene of stickers. Create little targets on a piece of paper for your child to “aim” their sticker on

Legos/ Blocks

Pull apart and push together Legos to activate those finger muscles! Stack a high tower of blocks and see how high you can go! 

Painting

Paint with paints on a piece of paper or “paint” with water on the sidewalk or on a brick wall outside. Outside, to create large murals, encourage your child to activate their  whole arm and make big strokes side to side as big as them!

Coloring

Scribbling, coloring and engaging with crayons, pastels, chalk, etc. is all great! Remind your student to hold down their paper with their opposite hand! 

Beading

On a shoelace, string small beads, wooden beads, pasta, etc.  Stick some dried spaghetti noodles upright in styrofoam, and carefully aim beads onto them. 

Puzzles

Foam puzzles give little fingers a workout and provide lots of sensory feedback too. Some wooden puzzles with small Pick-up knobs are great for developing a tripod grasp.

Clothespins

Use a Sharpie Marker to add letters, numbers or shapes to the top of wooden clothespins. Then have your child match those symbols on another surface (try a paper plate or large tongue depressor). Your child can practice spelling their name. Counting in order, or continuing a pattern while strengthening their pinch and coordinating both hands.

Coins

Kids love playing with pennies. Find a small container with a soft plastic lid such as a yogurt container. Make a slit in the lid just big enough for a penny to be pushed through. Have your child pick up several pennies, one at a time, and push the penny through the slot to fill up their “bank”. Shake the bank to hear the jingle!

Nuts and Bolts

If you have nuts and bolts in the toolbox, have your child match the nut to the bolt and twist it all the way on. You can have a race with your child...see who can unscrew the nut first.

Pre-Writing

Provide your child with opportunities to grasp a writing tool and control it to make marks. 

Multi-Surface Writing

Experiment with writing tools and surfaces. Dry erase markers are smooth, chalk is more bumpy, short stubby crayons promote a functional grasp. Try using a cotton ball to erase a white board or chalkboard...this also promotes a functional grasp. 

Vertical Surfaces

As often as possible, allow your child to draw or write on a vertical surface. Tape paper to the wall, use an easel, or place paper on a large 3-ring binder with the spine facing away from the child. This position encourages functional wrist and hand position.  

Dot to Dots

Very simple Dot to Dots challenge visual motor skills and motor planning.

Coloring

Provide your child with SMALL shapes to color within. This encourages them to use finer movements with their fingers. Broken crayons are a great tool. They encourage functional grasp patterns. 

Letter Formation

If your child already forms their letters, be sure to give them time for practice. 

Letter Alignment

If your child already forms their letters, provide them with guidelines to write on. You may also want to use a bright highlighter to enhance the guideline.

Passing the parcel.

Entire family can participate. This game offers some recreational break along with upper extremities movement, coordination and trunk balance. A child may be sitting cross legged on the floor or sitting in a regular chair / wheelchair or even standing depending upon your child’s needs. The participants in this group may pass an object, like a small toy or a ball till music is playing and stop when music is stopped. 

Picking up objects from floor

Involve your kids in safe and appropriate home cleaning / organizing. Let them pick up objects from the floor and stack them on a shelf. This activity promotes balance and coordination. 

Stretching for the wheelchair bound

If your child is in a manual or power wheelchair all day, then it is critical for your child to get scheduled time out of the wheelchair and gentle upper and lower extremity stretches. The stretches could be active / active assisted and or passive customized to your child’s needs. 

Kicking the ball

A simple activity such as kicking a ball is a great activity to improve strength, balance and coordination. 

Tossing and catching a balloon

Ask your child to toss a balloon towards you and vice versa. Child may choose to either catch it or tap on it in another player’s direction.

Walking on different terrains.

Walking on different terrains at home such as carpet, floor, backyard grass, concrete on driveway.

Standing on one leg

Challenge your child to stand on one leg for up to 10 seconds and repeat 3-5 times on each side. Your child may need you to hold her or his hand.  Do not attempt this exercise if your child is unable to stand on two feet without support.

Sit to Stand from floor or chair

Encourage your child to stand up from the floor or chair for 5-7 repetitions.

Literacy (Recommended 20-30 minutes / day)

Math (Recommended: 20-30 minutes / day)

Science /  Technology / Engineering / Art (Recommended: 20 - 30 min / day)

Date

Description

Social / Emotional (Recommended: 15 - 20 mins / day)

Physical Education (Recommended: 15 - 20 mins / day) 

Date

Description