Learning Through Play - Primary Age Resources

This post includes PR Products

We have been learning from home on and off for nearly a year now and I am starting to see how hard the children are finding it.  The schools are setting the practical work but it is hard to bring it to life in the same way they do in a classroom.  I have been looking for practical ways to inspire a love of learning in my primary aged children and I want to share some products I have found that encourage them to learn without always realising that is what they are doing!

Dodo Puzzles

Not only are puzzles great for problem solving, they are a great way to build on a topic and open conversation.  As Cora has been learning about animals this term, this puzzle from Dodo (available from halilit) helps us talk about which animals are native to which countries.  As Finn has been learning about continents it is easy to look at locations and getting them to work together on it has been a great team building exercise.  There are a great range of Dodo puzzles and these 80 piece puzzles are aimed at 5 years+

Ultimate Gross Science

The boys aren't bothered about reading about science, they enjoy watching practical science but they engage completely when they get to do it themselves.  Ultimate Gross Science will appeal to any child that thinks a fart noise is the funniest thing ever and who has a curiosity about the world and how things work.  This box comes with 12 yucky experiments and is designed for children aged 8+

Got It Cards

Got it Cards are designed to make learning phonics fun and help improve reading and spelling.  There are different packs depending on the phonics level you are looking to build on, and 5 simple games for 2-4 players, all of which are explained in the box.  The games are designed to be short, much like young learner's attention levels and are designed by a teacher.  Neither of my younger two are enjoying phonics videos but when you make it into a game it is a different scenario completely!  We have played several rounds of this and they loved it.

Build Your Own

Build Your Own have an amazing range of eco friendly sets including  a telescope and a plane launcher and an amazing marble run which we were sent.  Fun for ages 8 - 95, you get everything you need to make a marble run, including the marbles, and all the packaging is carboard and easily recyclable.  I don't think marble runs ever stop being fun to play and the art of following instructions and building this is both educational and highly rewarding!. I will update the post with our finished marble run soon!

Botanical World 

For budding scientists, ToysandBears.com have a kit to build a fully functioning mini greenhouse with an innovative watering system.  It comes with everything you need to start growing your own plants and we can't wait to see how our lettuce and rocket comes along!  Aimed at children 7-12 this is a lovely gift for junior school children and it makes learning about science and healthy eating a lot more fun! I think a lot of children had an introduction to gardening and growing during lockdown 1 and this is a great way for them to take control and works even in a small space.

Busy Things App

There are some great online resources for making learning fun and I was so impressed with how well the Busy Things website and app has encouraged my children to learn as they play.  Finn loved a digging for worms game so much that he kept trying harder levels and Cora really enjoyed the word game pictured below.  I can create up to 5 child profiles for children aged 3-11 and I have spotted some great games to work alongside what me older two are covering in their lessons as well. They are currently offering the first month for £1!

Splashlearn App

Splashlearn is an app that focuses on maths games and works alongside the primary school curriculum.  You can choose focus areas and a variety of games for each one.  Anything that makes my children think they are getting gaming time whilst they are actually learning is a plus and for my smallest and more reluctant home learners, these games have been a great way to keep their brains working during this lockdown.  Splashlearn is great to keep them learning whilst they are not able to be in school and I hope it will help them maintain a love of learning when they are able to return to school.

Geomag Mechanics

Geomag is a great resource to support STEM learning and this Mechanics Challenge Goal! set is perfect for children aged 7+.  Magnets are a key part of the science curriculum and an endless source of entertainment for lots of children and this toy combines building with play, learning with fun. If this is a hit then there are loads more sets in this range which look brilliant fun!

I am always looking for creative ways to encourage a love of learning so please share any products or websites that you love too.

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Staying Home

I love going into London, I tried to go once a month when I could, sometimes for work and meetings, sometimes for visits and sometimes just because I love being in the big city, wandering the streets and people watching.  I love travelling to different countries, travel has always been a priority to us as a family and we spend so much time planning where to visit and what we want to see and do.  I love where I live, but I love getting away too.

I spend far too much time looking at holidays we will be unlikely to take, planning days out that may not be what we want to do once we are actually able to do it.  Trying to change the attitude of feeling trapped at home is hard work but it is the challenge I am facing.  We are limited to exploring only places within walking distance of our house and with some members of the family having littler legs than others, that doesn't take us far.  We need to get out though, we need to walk and breath the outside air and feel a part of something bigger than our household so we are getting out, mostly to the same place but it is out and it is beautiful.

This is where I live, a tiny corner of the UK surrounded by coastline.  Sandy beaches, colourful beach huts, chalk cliffs, little harbours, dramatic skies.  We can walk to several different beaches from our house, we all have our favourites and they aren't all the same. Whichever one we end up at though, I feel better for seeing the sea.  The children love climbing on the sand that is piled up to protect the buildings, they love throwing stones in the sea, they love planning which boat they would choose in the harbour if they had enough money to buy one.  They love having a hot chocolate in their tin mugs and stopping for a cone of chips to accompany us on the way home.  The beach provides their imaginations with a holiday, with a day out, with a different backdrop to normal and different possibilities.

  I love the smell of the sea, the feel of the sand under my feet, the sound of the waves, the warmth of a hot drink in my hands on a cold day, the sight of the sun setting behind the boats as we walk up the hill back home.  I love staring into the sea on a good day, thinking I could be almost anywhere looking out at the same view, I love shouting into it on a bad day, wondering where my words will end up.

This post is a way for me to try and write down a little bit of how I feel and share the beauty of where I live, because all in all, staying home is a good place to be. 

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Lockdown 3.0

This lockdown was hardly unexpected, in fact I asked for new pyjamas and loungewear for Christmas in anticipation of a long winter spent mostly at home.  Expected doesn't mean easy though and I think the government's insistence that schools are safe even on the first day of term gave me a false sense of hope that schools would remain open.  I struggled heavily with the news that home learning is resuming and the first day was incredibly challenging balancing the needs of four children, three whom can't complete school work independently and the eldest who still needed lots of clarification.  It all felt too much and I hastily sent emails to teachers asking them to lower their expectations of us. 

The second day involved less tears from all of us, a little compromise and intelligent use of the tin of Christmas chocolates I hadn't brought out yet, and over the week we are slowly slotting into a routine where most of the set work is completed, and there is less guilt for the pieces that are not.  I imagine much like the first lockdown which I documented weekly, this is an attitude that will change daily for the entire course of home schooling but I am hopeful that we can find a balance that helps us get through this long winter.

We are lucky to live near the seaside so we always have somewhere beautiful to walk for our allowed exercise, although the children have been complaining that they would rather find a forest or something different once in a while.  I have invested some Christmas money in a giant insulated bottle so we never again have to leave the house without hot chocolate and I am trying to get outdoors every day as I know my sanity needs it!  This lockdown is going to be harder, we are missing the sun and we have some idea how long this is going to last rather than taking it week by week.  I know there will be days I am overwhelmed by it all and that is just something we will have to deal with.  I hope the start of Lockdown 3 hasn't been too tough on you.

We finished all our work before lunch today, a combination of starting earlier and less being set on Friday, and they are all relieved that the first week is over and they can relax.  I am trying to catch up on all the things I have missed this week; emails, writing and perspective.  I know in some ways I have it easier, we are lucky to have enough devices for the children to work on, a warm house and plenty of food and my job is very flexible.  In other ways they have it hard, getting only 1/5th of my attention.  I believe it is ok to feel it hard even if your circumstances are ideal.  I am thinking of all those that have it hard, and those that are struggling in any way.

The children were sent these Serkku coats as part of an ongoing collaboration with Reima, our favourite outdoor brand and I love how easy they are to spot on a dark winter day and how cheerful they look.  They are all wearing Reima trainers or boots here which keep their feet roast warm. 

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Christmas 2020

I decided against a round up post for last year, I feel like there isn't much to say.  We mostly stayed home, our adventures were smaller, our stories fewer, our anxiety higher.  I placed too much importance on Christmas day, thinking that a day of normality would somehow make up for nine months of not being able to hug our family or meet in the same house.  I took the children out of school a week early to minimise the risk of having to miss out on the family Christmas we had planned, persuading them that missing the Christmas lunch, play and parties would be worth it for this one day together.  It didn't happen though, a last minute decision by the government to plunge all of Kent into tier 4 just days before Christmas meant a last minute dash to the supermarket (along with everyone else who hadn't planned to cook that day) and the opportunity to plan our first Christmas at home.

Christmas is always magical with young children and all four are still fierce believers.  Father Christmas was going to bring them presents much longed for, that they had given up hope of receiving and I managed to pick up all the important parts of a great Christmas meal.  It was wonderful, calmer, quieter and more relaxed in some ways, but more stressful in others (I have never hosted or cooked Christmas dinner before).  We were all glad to be safe at home, to have time and space to play with new gifts without time constraints and enjoy our comforts, but we all felt like something big was missing - the family we weren't able to spend time with.

I wanted to take some candid shots of what this day looked like for us, hopefully the first and last Christmas we spend like this.  The house which had been tidied in preparation for the big day soon took on the appearance of a bomb site, children decided wrapping in blankets was better than wearing actual clothes and there was way more screen time than I would have liked.  We were so lucky to be safe at home, surrounded by comfort and love. Being woken up to the sound of siblings waking each other with calls of 'Santa's been' will always be a favourite memory and it will certainly be a Christmas we remember.  

I tried to take photographs honestly, not erasing the carnage but embracing it.  I want to look back at this year not with rose tinted glasses, or thoughts of sadness at what was missed, but with the knowledge that we made amazing memories, that we grew so much together, that we laughed but that we felt sadness and loss as well.  It wasn't all doom and gloom, it wasn't all looking for the bright side, it was a complex mix of everything.

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Lockdown 2.0

We knew this lockdown was coming, it was inevitable and in all honesty I am not convinced it will be the last one.  It feels so different to the first though, probably because the schools have remained open throughout which gives us all a sense of normality, a structure to our day and week and some time apart - all things I struggled with a lot over the first lockdown.  Today it was announced that next week it will end as planned, but my county will be going into tier 3, the highest restrictions. I expected it, I have seen the local case numbers rising and it makes sense, but I know the older children who have been counting down to the end of lockdown because they want to see their friends, are going to be disappointed. 

Our life isn't going to change so much for the next month, our weekends will still be spent outdoors in our own family group, the children will (fingers crossed) stay in school and Ed and I work from home anyway.  Hopefully if we are careful in the lead up to Christmas, we can keep some normality there for the children as they are so excited to be able to go to Grandma and Grandpa's house again! I am considering the idea of pulling them from school a few days early so we can self isolate in the lead up .

The situation hasn't been all negative for us and one thing I will take from it all is how enjoyable it can be to slow down the pace a bit.  After school lazy afternoons with no clubs to run around to and weekends with zero plans where we walk and play it by ear have been enjoyable.  We don't need to be busy all the time to feel content, we can do less and still be happy.  Our weekends are for walks in the woods or hours spent playing in the sand at the local beach, warm baths and onesies, family games and movie nights in Mummy and Daddy's bed.  Sometimes they play on their consoles whilst I can sit and read, not feeling the pressure to be anywhere.  There is definitely something to be said for appreciating what is all around us and what we have.  We are privileged to be able to retreat to our little bubble and feel safe. I know our situation isn't everyone's and we are the lucky ones, I feel that every day.

This is more a rambling brain spill than a blog post, but this is my story to look back on when these days seem so far behind us, and so I am writing it down. 

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