My tots are forever eager to try their hands in ‘anything but studies’ after school (read: their homeschooling lessons)! I involve them in educational kids’ games and activities that will not only engage them but teach them a few skills too.
Playing with rainbow foam
Involve kids in this fun sensory activity and have a blast with rainbow foam! Mix 2 tablespoons dish soap and 1/4 cup of water in a mixer tub. Add food coloring to the mix. Run the mixer on the highest possible setting for 1-2 minutes and you will have firm foam that will form stiff conical shapes! Scoop it out and rerun the mixer for another measure of the rainbow foam, this time with another color. The foam game for kids will be such a fun activity that they will wait eagerly to be back home from school!
Jewel crayons
Playing with rainbow foam
Involve kids in this fun sensory activity and have a blast with rainbow foam! Mix 2 tablespoons dish soap and 1/4 cup of water in a mixer tub. Add food coloring to the mix. Run the mixer on the highest possible setting for 1-2 minutes and you will have firm foam that will form stiff conical shapes! Scoop it out and rerun the mixer for another measure of the rainbow foam, this time with another color. The foam game for kids will be such a fun activity that they will wait eagerly to be back home from school!
Jewel crayons
Pick up couple of boxes of 24-crayons during the back-to-school discount season and put them good use! We can never speak enough of the uses of crayons in a child’s life. They go a long way in developing hand-eye coordination and other fine motor skills in their lives. Here’s a way you can involve the children in this after-school activity and avoid spending unnecessarily on fancy shaped crayons. Remove the papers from the crayons and sort the colors so kids can help with this process. Put the oven on to 160C and put similar crayons in a paper cup each. Put my paper cups on a baking sheet and put the baking sheet in. Turn on the oven and melt the crayons. In the meantime, line a candy baking tray that has crystallized molds and spray a non-stick spray. As soon as the crayons melt, pour them into the candy molds and let them cool. Once they’ve cooled, set them harder in a refrigerator. Take them out after 4 hours and your jewel crayons shall be ready!
Magic dough
Magic dough
This is called magic dough for a new reason! When the kids are back from school, hand them over a tub of the magic dough and have them in splits when they find out how the dough changes texture with usage! Mix corn starch and tempera paint in a bowl. Mix well with a fork and gradually start using your hands. Slowly mix in more paint until you reach the desired consistency. After a point, the dough and the color will start sticking on to your palms. Wash your hands when the dough starts sticking and start kneading afresh. Knead till you have the right consistency. Use play-cookie-cutters with the kids and embark on a great round of after school game!
Vegetable printed wrappers
Vegetable printed wrappers
Making vegetable printed wrappers may not be as messy as the ‘rainbow foam’ activity, but it is definitely a power packed game for kids that they’ll love to indulge in after school! Besides getting them to develop their aesthetic and creative skills with this activity, use this fun kids’ game to teach them a few lessons on recycling and reusing. Get old newspapers, okras, and poster colors. Spread the newspaper on a flat surface and pin it down on all the four corners with heavy weights. Cut a piece of okra into 4 parts and press one part against a water color and print it on the newspaper. Use the other side to print another color. In a similar way, use the several cut okras to print colorful impressions on the old newspaper. Let the paper dry and your eco-friendly wrapping paper is ready for the next birthday party in town!
Hope these games for kids are useful enough to engage the bundles of energy in the most fruitful way after school hours!
Hope these games for kids are useful enough to engage the bundles of energy in the most fruitful way after school hours!