FUN THINGS TO DO At home with Kids

With the weather still relatively warm and fine, its a great time to spend in your garden at home - whether it be garden beds or a potted balcony garden. We have heard about lots of families getting inventive with ways to keep the kids entertained - old fashioned board games, puzzles, reading and some time on media can help us keep connected to the wider community or be entertained. Below are also some great ideas and resources from around the world that you might find useful (this list gets updated regularly so do pop back here every now and then...):

Primary School Artwork for Aotea Station
City Rail Link is calling on all primary school-aged kids (ages of 5 to 11) from across New Zealand to paint and draw images that will then be fired onto ceramic tiles and used to decorate the CRL Aotea underground station. 
CRL is looking for artwork from kids showing where they'd want to go on a train once the new underground rail project is built. They have some awesome pictures already – from taking a journey to a neighbourhood dairy, to under the sea, to the moon, and even the Eiffel tower. Watch the video below for some inspiration:
https://youtu.be/T9H7P5CK5js

​Free Educational Online Magazine for Kids
This free educational resource from Aquila is full of fun and engaging topics to keep kids busy, entertained and thinking clever clouds! Homeschooling might not seem so scary after all is it? :-)
Visit the online magazine here

​New Zealand Geographic - "Together at Home"
Every day of the lock-down New Zealand Geographic will post a story or video that can be shared among your family and with them some talking points to fill your days at home together. Enjoy! www.nzgeo.com/together-at-home/

​Auckland Libraries Online
Enjoy streaming films via "Beamafilm"( ww.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/Pages/streaming-films.aspx), Australasia’s premiere streaming channel for true stories and independent voices, online courses and browse the latest eCollections and podcasts all from the comfort of home. Read an eBook, learn a new skill, travel around the world (virtually) or simply curl up with an old classic. Check out what Auckland Libraries have to offer here, it's all completely free with your library membership! 
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​OLogy: a Science Website for Kids from the American Museum of Natural History:
www.amnh.org/explore/ology
Learn about Anthropology, Archaeology, Astronomy, Biodiversity, Brain, Climate Change, Earth, Genetics, Marine Biology, Microbiology, PalentOlogy, Physics, Water, Zoology. Something to suit everyone's interest! 
Online jigsaw puzzles using Te Papa's Collection. 

Online jigsaw puzzles
Take a moment or two to relax with online jigsaw puzzles using Te Papa Museum collections. Choose a puzzle here, then select your difficulty (the number of pieces) once it has opened. Keep visiting this website – you may find some new ones.

Virtual Gardens
Nine free virtual garden tours, from all over the world, that can help beat the self-isolation blues: gardenillustrated.com

Free Printables 
Colouring has the ability to relax the fear centre of your brain, the amygdala. It induces the same state as meditating by reducing the thoughts of a restless mind. This generates mindfulness and quietness, which allows your mind to get some rest after a long day at work. Sign up here for a weekly update through lockdown for new printables, and to access previous uploads from illustrator/designer Tania Hassounia from Drawer Full of Giants:
www.drawerfullofgiants.com/covid19fun

Meet a life- sized tiger up close
With Google's new 3D Augmented Reality (AR) objects.
Just go to google.com and search for “tiger”, which will bring up a Google Search Knowledge Panel. These panels are often shown for movies, famous celebrities, and other subjects. In the case of a 3D animal through Google, you’ll see an overview of what the animal is, a few images of it, and a section which says “Meet a life-sized tiger up close” and a “View in 3D” button. That button launches the AR experience. Give it a go, try: Alligator, Brown bear, Cat, Cheetah, Dog for example. So much fun to do with kids!

Scouting From Home Programme
As a result of the Covid-19 lockdown and the current absence of face-to-face Scouting, Scouts NZ has launched a new Scouting From Home programme which is now available to ANYONE in New Zealand, not just the scouting youth! It is FREE, FUN and FLEXIBLE, meaning that each week you will get a programme of three fun activities by email for your young people to do, for free. These are ranked “easy”, “moderate”, and “advanced” so you can adapt the programme to the needs of your young people if you have more than one young person at home. Click on the link below for further information and to join the other 13,000 young people Scouting From Home!: http://scouts.nz/join-scouting-from-home/

Lockdown Diary 
"Stephen McCarthy was relaxing in his lounge on Sunday, looking out over the sea from his Sumner home, when he had an idea. It was day four of the nationwide Coronavirus lockdown, and the director of Christchurch design studio, McCarthy, decided to make his idea reality. To create My Lockdown Diary he immediately started sketching the 28 pages of the diary, added detail and quickly made a website. The diary is a "printable tool" which offers daily activities for children and is a way, McCarthy said, for families to keep a positive record of their experiences during the month-long lockdown." Read full article here and  Download and print diary from here.

Some more ideas and handy resources: