100 things to do with your kids during coronavirus closures

It’s going to be a challenging few weeks for parents. We’re here for you! Below are some things you might want to look into for your kids.
- Contact your local school district for free meals for students while schools are closed
- Restaurant dining rooms are closing but many local favorites are offering to-go options
- Hot Mess Burgers plans to serve free lunches to kids out of school
- Gyms have shut down but some are offering “work-ins“- check with your gym for a similar option
- Create a daily schedule as a family; take turns being the one who decides what activity to do during certain blocks of time
- Have a family meeting; talk with everyone about what they want out of this break
- Dino Drop-In daycare is offering “Dino on the GO!” at-home daycare for Tri-Cities families
- Khan Academy offers online learning and has partnered with Pixar on Imagineering in a Box, a theme-park design program for kids
- Outschool.com has live, online classes for ages 3-18
- Try these Brain Breaks to keep kids moving and grooving
- Go to a sparsely-populated/empty park rather than a playground — a little fresh air may do you good
- Watch Washington state astronaut Anne McClain read a book from space!
- Make origami animals and objects
- Hold a paper boat race in your tub or at a pond
- Explore the arts, history, and foreign places with Google Arts & Culture
- The Amazing Educational Resources Facebook page offers just that
- Check out Too Cool for School, a virtual kids camp
- Scholastic provides learn-at-home resources
- Break out the board games
- Teach each other card games with a standard deck of cards; make up your own games
- Hold a contest to see who can pick up the most dishes/clothes/socks; winner gets to pick the next board/card game
- Do a 30-day Lego Challenge
- Save the boxes from your package deliveries and use them to make towers or forts
- Watch pandas, beluga whales, and other animals on live cams at San Diego Zoo, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Houston Zoo and more
- Take a virtual field trip to Yellowstone National Park or even Mars
- Discovery Education offers a number of virtual field trips
- Watch cooking videos for kids and cook/bake together
- Go tent camping in your yard
- Start a home garden (indoor or outdoor)
- Go fishing (just stay six feet from others)
- Try a household or road-trip scavenger hunt
- Play hide-and-seek with objects (one person hides them, others have to find them)
- Make your own musical instruments
- Use FaceTime, Skype, Google Hangouts or another platform to video chat with a friend or family member
- Learn how to draw at Art for Kids Hub
- Brainstorm and start your own YouTube channel
- Play dress-up
- Mystery Doug helps answer young students’ questions
- Program your own interactive stories, games, and animations with Scratch
- GoNoodle provides free movement and mindfulness videos created by child development experts
- Learn how long viruses live on surfaces (timely, eh?) and more at How Stuff Works
- Explore “The Earth’s most detailed globe” at Google Earth
- The Happy Scientist helps kids explore Life, Earth, Chemical, Space and Physical Science
- Discovery, create, share and learn at the Smithsonian Learning Lab
- Hang out with the Cat in the Hat at Seussville
- Check out the games, videos and art on Sesame Street
- Here are some Ted Talks you can watch with kids
- Try a science project courtesy of San Francisco’s Exploratorium
- PBS Kids hosts educational videos and games
- Starfall is a free public service to teach children to read
- The Old Farmers Almanac for Kids is fun for animal lovers and night-sky watchers
- Not spaced-out enough yet? Join the NASA Kids’ Club
- Fuel the Brain provides free and inexpensive resources to educators — and parents can benefit, too
- Remember Highlights Kids? They’ve got activities, jokes, recipes and more
- Scholastic is offering free online courses so your kids can keep learning while schools are closed
- BBC History for Kids has a wide selection of historical games and activities
- BrainPOP prides itself on making rigorous learning experiences accessible and engaging for all
- Mystery Science provides School Closure Planning lessons
- GregTangMath.com features a number of teaching games
- Illuminations (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics) has a bunch of bright ideas
- Math.com has games and resources for keeping young brains active
- Prodigy offers a math game
- You can browse by grade for books and enter the Math Zone at Funbrain.com
- National Geographic Kids has educational games, quizzes and more
- Write a letter or make thank you cards for a community hero
- Duolingo can help you learn any language
- If you need a study break, Disney+ is now streaming ‘Frozen II’ for housebound families
- Farm Food 360 offers 11 virtual tours of pig, cow, sheep, grain, apple, and egg farms, among others.
- These 12 famous museums offer virtual tours you can enjoy from home
- Join a local coronavirus closure-related Facebook group to share new ideas
- Learn how to improve your chances against coronavirus
- Science Mom is offering live, weekday science and math lessons, crafts, and games
- Turn lemons into lemonade; learn how to create positive outcomes for kids during this situation
- Montessori Northwest is sharing resources and ideas:
- Create a booklet that summarizes content from research or lessons
- Create a poster
- Create a diorama
- Make a paper-mâché model
- Write a play or a script
- Create a puppet show
- Design a board game
- Write a song
- Complete a drawing or a painting
- Design/create a timeline
- Create a dance
- Make a comic strip
- Create a collage
- Create a sculpture
- Direct a cell-phone-produced movie
- Write a story
- Write a poem
- Construct a mobile
- Create some jokes
- Produce a PowerPoint
- Construct a Venn diagram
- Interview an expert
- Make a sewing activity
- Create a slideshow
- Create a scrapbook
- WASH YOUR HANDS!
Here are 100 more indoor ideas from The Best Ideas for Kids Facebook page:
Is your business being affected? The Governor’s Office for the State of Washington has put together a list of resources to support Washington businesses impacted by COVID-19, including information related to financial, export, employer and employee, and insurance assistance. Member care line: 509-777-2727 | membercare@aiin.com.
*Note: If your business has had to change these plans, please contact the author for removal