What to do with your kindergartner when school is cancelled

Are you trying to figure out what to do with your kindergartner when you’re stuck at home due to school cancellations?

I’m here to help!

Isn’t it strange to feel a kinship with the rest of the world as we navigate school closings, social distancing, and (in some cases) self-quarantining?

As we seek to stop the spread, many of us find ourselves home with our kids without anywhere to go.

I’m one of those parents, as we have six kiddos (ages 4-12) at home for an indefinite period of time. This is very interesting, as there’s a good reason I am not a homeschooling mama. ?

I put this together for myself (and my little kindergartner) as well as for you.

As you figure out how to fill the days with your child who is home from kindergarten, I hope this post helps!

What to do with your kindergartener

I recommend having a small portion every day when you do “school.” This does not need to be long, and you can break it into several sessions throughout the day. I recommend 60-90 minutes a day for kindergarten.

What you work on will depend on where your child is at developmentally.

Remember … 60-90 minutes a day is plenty! You can break it up into 2-3 sessions if needed.

A suggested schedule (you don’t need to do all of these every day, and please do take breaks instead of doing it all in a row):

• 20 minutes pre-reading or reading practice
• 15 minutes math
• 5-10 minutes handwriting
• 15 minutes writing
• 20 minutes+ of you reading to your child

*Only free resources are included in this post, but you are always welcome to check out my shop and online membership.

Pre-Reading

If your child is still learning letter sounds …

• Focus on one letter at a time using these free letter sound cover pages. 

• Create a simple game with letters whose sounds your child needs to work on (here’s a free resource).   Include just a few letters at a time, and start with the easier sounds: /b/, /d/, /f/, /j/, /k/, /m/, /n/, /p/, /s/, /t/, /v/, and /z/. Move on to harder sounds: /c/, /g/, /h/, /q/, /l/, /r/, /w/, /x/, and /y/. Conclude with the short vowel sounds.

Practice RHYMING …

• Here are some fun, low-prep rhyming printables on my site:
  • Rhyming matching game
  • Rhyming pinch cards
  • “I can rhyme” board game
  • Rhyming clip cards
  • Roll-a-Rhyme (this one is more advanced)

Build PHONEMIC AWARENESS …

• Phonemic awareness is the ability to play with sounds in words. Start by watching this video to understand what phonemic awareness is.

• Play these phonemic awareness games to help your child isolate beginning sounds in words.

• Print these cards, and have your child identify which picture starts with a different sound.

• If your child is ready for something more advanced, use these elkonin boxes to help him/her separate sounds in words.

Reading

Practice reading CVC words.

CVC stands for consonant-vowel-consonant. These are the first words we teach kids to sound out (words like cat and bug), and I have loads of freebies on my site. Check them out below:

• Try this word building mat with cards.
• Print and use these CVC word board games.
• Check out all my printables for short vowel words … including simple games and worksheets. Start here and scroll to see them all.

Move on to words with beginning digraphs and blends.

If your child is fluent with CVC words, it’s time to move on to the next step.

A digraph is two letters that make one sound (sh, ch, th, wh, kn, wr). A blend is two letters that appear together but make their own sounds (fl, st, etc.).

• Here are some single player digraph games.
• Here are some 2-player games for digraphs and blends.
• More advanced learners can play my fast and fluent games for words with beginning blends.

If your child is ready, practice reading silent e words.

Many kindergartners will not be able to do this before first grade, but if your child’s reading ability is advancing quickly, move on to silent e words (cake, game, etc.)

• Start with these games that help children hear long vowel sounds in words.
• Here are some fold and read cards. 
• Try a silent e four in a row game.

Find books your child can read on his/her own.

Check out my ultimate guide to decodable books here.

Handwriting

This is something that can quickly fall apart without daily practice. It’s a good idea to have your child fill out a short handwriting page several times a week.

• Free level 1 handwriting pages (super easy and more for preschool)
• Free level 2 handwriting pages
• Free level 3 handwriting pages
• Free level 4 handwriting pages

Writing

Creative writing is important even for kindergarten! It just looks different. If you’re interested in learning more about this, get some paper, pencils, and markers – and follow the tips in my free blog series about teaching writing in preschool and kindergarten. 

Try incorporating some form of writing (as described in the above blog series) this into your day a couple of times a week – more if you and your child love it!

Math

Practice counting and number recognition.

• Try these one-player counting games, which come in a variety of levels of difficulty.
• Try these hands-on number worksheets for practice with numbers 11-20.
• Play this fun teen number BINGO.
• If your child is solid with the teen numbers, do a lot of work with numbers up to 100. I recommend doing activities with a 100 chart. Here’s a free 100 chart and ten ways to use it.

Do simple addition and subtraction.

• I know we’re moving into spring, but these winter roll and color games are fun.

• Here are some other activities:
  • Make 10 addition games
  • Ladybug addition mat
  • Monster missing addends (these take some time to put together)
  • Subtraction Race board game using flash cards

• Practice writing addition number sentences with these printables:

  • Addition with 2 color counters (you don’t need 2-color counters; just use two types of manipulatives – they can be coins, caps, etc.).
  • Do this bugs in a jar addition game if you have some toy bugs at home.

• Do simple addition and subtraction word problems with sums up to 10 (or subtracting from numbers up to 10).

  • You don’t need any printable for this. Simply make up some simple word problems using toys, silverware, etc. Have your child use physical objects to solve the problems if needed. I recommend including a few of these in your math practice each day (or simply fit them into your playtime naturally).
    • “If I have 5 forks and you give me 4 more, how many do I have now?”
    • “If you have 3 dimes and 3 quarters, how many total coins do you have?”
    • “If you have 10 crackers and you eat 3, how many are left?”

Practice identifying 3-D shapes …

Go on a hunt around your house. Can you find examples of the common 3-D shapes? (cylinder, cone, cube, triangular prism, rectangular prism, and sphere)

• Try these simple one-player games.
• Play these 2-player 3-D shape games.

Those are the academic skills I recommend working on, but you have a whole day ahead of you. What else should you do?

• Read, read, read to your child. Do this as often as possible – for as long as both you and your child are enjoying it. Normally I’d tell you to choose to check out my book lists and head to your library. I realize that may not be an option now. Do the best with what you have.  Be sure to talk about books as you read. Here are my tips for doing that.

• • Need books to read but you can’t get to the library?
    • Get a free one month trial of the app Skybrary (with LeVar Burton from Reading Rainbow) – we used this in the past and loved it.
    • Get a free one month trial of Epic!, a great digital library for ages 12 and under. We use it and love it.

• Get moving. If possible, get outside.If you’re stuck indoors, here are some indoor gross motor activities.

• Pull out things that will keep your child busy. 

• • Make homemade play dough, or buy it online.

• • Order kinetic sand. This stuff keeps my preschooler and kindergartner busy for 30 minutes at a time – or more! Plus, it’s easy to clean up.

• • Do simple art projects. Browse Pinterest and you’ll find some easy activities you can do at home. Here are a bunch of ideas from Happiness is Homemade. I also recommend creating small cards/crafts that you can mail to family and friends.

• • If you can, Facetime grandparents and other relatives.

• • Cook together. Here are a bunch of fun ideas.

• • Do simple science projects, like these.

• • Play with building toys – Duplos, Legos, Magna Tiles, etc.

• • Play board games. Games my kindergartner currently loves are UNO, Sequence for Kids, Mancala, Qwirkle, and Penny Drop.

• • Find some free drawing tutorials on YouTube. We absolutely love Art for Kids Hub and use it all the time. Here’s a playlist of the easier drawing projects.

• • Give them screen time. Yes, I said it. I recommend planning this for specific times in the day – as late in the day as possible so you save it for when you really need it. Here’s a list of free education sites for kids.

I hope this helps as you plan for several weeks at home. Please feel free to reach out to me through my email: anna(at)themeasuredmom(dot)com.

My inbox is bursting these days, but I do my best to answer every message.

Hugs to you!

Anna

Check out the full series here

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