15 Ideas, Activities, and Resources to Explore during School Closures

These are strange times. Many of us are juggling concerns about our own physical or mental health, the health of our loved ones who may be high-risk, and the well-being of our communities and countries in general. Meanwhile, our days are filled with challenges to our routines, work life, social life, and more.

Personally I’ve found it tough to stay focused on creative work, with news of the public health situation changing constantly. But, we must adapt—and we will. We’ll get through these days, supporting one another in appropriately socially-distant ways!

Already I’m seeing loads of support being offered in the form of free resources for those of you self-isolating or being “socially distant” at home with school-age kids. Today I’m sharing a collection of these links, ideas, and activities that I hope you’ll find useful.

1. Bonus reading time! Free reading—whatever you want, as much as you want. Can’t get to a library? Perfect time to try e-books and audiobooks.
2. Check out the Middle Grade at Heart book club archives for author interviews, discussion questions, and activities for their monthly picks.
3. Write to an Author – we’ll write back! Check out the #writetoanauthor hashtag on twitter (initiated by Laura Shovan) to find mailing addresses for participating authors.
4. Poetry activities from author and poet Laura Shovan 
5. Sharing Our Notebooks – new notebooking video each weekday with author Amy Ludwig VanDerwater
6. Read-alouds and interviews with Canadian authors, from Canadian Children’s Book Centre 
7. Read-alouds and resources, collected by Kate Messner 
8. Read-alouds, activities, and more from KidLit TV
9. Imagination-boosting activities from author/illustrator Jarrett Lerner 
10. Daily sketch diary with author/illustrator Remy Lai on instagram
11. Free online cartooning classes 
12. Virtual museum tours 
13. Educational videos on YouTube, such as Crash Course Kids 
14. Video games such as Minecraft that promote creativity, collaboration, and problem-solving
15. Hands-on brain-boosting activities such as Lego and play-dough

The list could go on and on, of course. Got a good idea? Please share in the comments!

However you spend the challenging weeks ahead, may you discover unexpected joys as you experience community in new ways. Stay well, my friends.