The annual Screen-Free Week event might be almost over, but you can join the fun anytime! If your kids enjoy challenges, be sure to get my BINGO Board to make it even more fun to turn off those screens.
As much as we love reading in our home, I try to pair books with our activities as often as possible. I think it brings even more fun and learning (shh, don’t tell the kids!) to the day as well. I already shared some book recommendations for outdoor activities, but our weather hasn’t cooperated with us this week, so here are a few indoor activity pairings to go along with our Screen-Free Week BINGO Challenge.
I love having this list of activity ideas around for any time of the year – rain or shine!
We love the library! I’m far from the perfect parent, but I do love knowing my daughter has started learning early about how much the library has to offer. If your family loves the library too, you might enjoy these books: Luna Loves Library Day, At the Library Shine-a-Light (love the facts at the end too!), and The Children Who Loved Books
It can be hard to want to cook with your children, but it can be fun too! Save it for a day you have a little extra patience and you’ll love seeing their little faces so focused and concentrated on helping you in the kitchen. These are our go-to books when we talk about food: Children’s World Cookbook, Start to Cook, Children’s Baking Kit, Book of Growing Food, 100 Things to Know About Food, I’m a Hungry Dinosaur, Lift-the-Flap Questions and Answers about Food, My First Word Book about Food, and See Inside Where Food Comes From.
Bring the fun of water inside with our Magic Painting books! All you need is a little bowl of water, each book comes with its own paintbrush. If you have a younger kiddo and you’re worried about mess, you can soak a paper towel and place it in a bowl. They will love seeing the colors come to life like magic! If you’d like a story to read, I highly recommend Billie’s Underwater Adventure.
Bring the wonders of science to life and get your children learning while doing, it truly is the best way! We have many science books to choose from: 365 Science Activities, Science Activities Volume One, Volume Two, Volume Three, 50 Science Things to Make & Do (#1 choice for younger kids), Science with Plants, Science in the Kitchen, and 100 Science Experiments
Just because we’re focusing on indoor activities doesn’t mean we have to stay home! Getting out and exploring animals and other things children don’t see in everyday life can be really exciting for all ages. We still visit the rainforest part of the zoo through the winter and we love our local Nature Center’s animals. Take along one of the books from our 199 Series the next time you visit an exhibit and you’ll probably spend hours wandering around and identifying so many new things! These books are small in size, making them great for travel and a variety of ages. Our 1,000 Things books are an amazing resource and I learn something new every time we read them! We’re definitely taking our 1,000 Things in Nature on our next trip to the Botanical Gardens. If you have some small sticky notes laying around, take those too and mark the book as you find the items!
Which activity did you complete and what did you think? I’d love to hear about it!
If you’re working on our BINGO Challenge, be sure to join my Facebook group – Jaime’s Book Corner VIPs too! You can earn prizes for participating during Screen-Free Week or get daily activity ideas, along with lots more fun surrounding books and literacy.
Jaime's Book Corner 