Smart ideas for learning at home

Running the school of mum and dad isn't easy. If you're struggling to keep your kids engaged, we can help, with some smart ideas for teaching key concepts.

 Lego fractions for maths

The only way to combat fraction confusion is to provide your kids with opportunities to experience fractions with tangible objects. LEGO is brilliant for this being able to demonstrate ½, 1/3 aptly. ¼, 1/8, and of course, a whole with different pieces. Look here for more on how to use Lego fractions.

Create sugar crystals 

This is an entertaining recipe for kids to try by blogger GrowingAJeweledRose. This recipe aims to create a supersaturated sugar solution or a solution in which no more sugar can dissolve. You then place a stick in the solution, add colour and wait and watch your rock candy grow. The rock candy crystals grow molecule by molecule, by the end the candy will be made of about a quadrillion molecules.

Play board games for all subjects

Board games give you infinite ways to get some learning into your children's lives.

· For spelling and words – Scrabble and Boggle

· For money and maths - Game of Life and Monopoly

· For general knowledge – Trivial Pursuit

· For Geography – Globe Runner

· For literacy – Articulate

Bring history alive for your children

Aside from Horrible Histories, there is a multitude of ways to bring history alive for your kids right now from home. Get them to research and create a family tree. Ask them to call grandparents and relatives and build a tree. While looking through old photos of family members, take some time to tell your children the stories behind the pictures. Include as much detail as you recall. Such as who the people are in the photos, where the photo was taken, and what year it was.

Do COVID-19 fieldwork for Geography

There's nothing like fieldwork for Geography learning. Now is the perfect time for KS3 children to look at what's happening in the physical world and talk about how humans affect, change, and move within it. Use newspaper reports to study COVID-19 and what it means for primary, secondary and tertiary economies and people.

Experiment at home

Spring is a great time to teach your kids about the physical world and life cycles. Why not plant bee-friendly flowers and see what pollinators it attracts or learn about local habitats and what animals live there.

For older kids, check out James Dyson's website for experiments you can do at home. Dyson engineers have designed these challenges to help children get excited about engineering. Make and race a balloon-powered car using just a balloon, a plastic cup, straws, thread and rubber bands.

Build a spaghetti bridge that's strong enough to hold a bag of sugar and turn a shoebox into an ingenious device for seeing around corners.