Teaching And Home Schooling Ideas

We had some bits of paint left over after we painted our wooden birdbox. We decided to make some painted paper.  Paint sheets of paper using the left over paint.  Once the painted paper is dry you can save the coloured paper and use it for other art projects and card making. We always make our own cards do we can cut out numbers, letters or objects to make personalised cards. 

If like us you have lots of boxes lying around then why not use them for making some painted paper you can use as gift wrap or making into cards. What you need.  A box Paper Milk bottle tops, corks, marbles or baby food pouch tops.  Paint Cellotape What to do.  1) Line the box with white paper.  2) Squeeze different coloured paint in patches all over the box.  3) Add in bottle tops or small objects that will roll about and you don't mind getting covered in paint.  4) Close the lid on the box and Cellotape up.  5) This is the fun part. Shake the box from side to side so the loose parts spread the blobs of paint about.  6) Open up to have a look at the results. You can always add more blobs of paint and repeat the shaking of the box.  7) When you are happy with the results, leave to dry.  8) Use the painted paper to wrap a present for a family member or cut the paper up into squar...

Create a patterned picture. We have drawn pictures of our village canal and the local landscape.  Go over the pencil lines in black felt tip.  We drew our local canal but you can draw anything.  Using coloured felt tip pens create patterns in different sections of the picture. We tried to use different colours and patterns next to each other. I think these pictures are very effective. 

We have printed flower designs onto egg shaped card that we are sticking onto coloured card to make Easter cards. What you need.  Cotton buds - at least 7 buds White card or paper cut into an egg shape  Elastic bands Paint Glue Coloured card What to do. Put the 7 cotton buds together so they form a flower pattern at the end with one bud in the middle surrounded by the rest. Join together with an elastic band at either end. Cut out an egg shape on white card or paper. Dip one end of the cotton buds into a paint colour and print onto the card. Dip the other end of the cotton bud into another paint colour and print a pattern on the card. You can use more than one group of cotton buds, depending on his many colours you want. When the paint is dry. Glue the egg shape onto card to make the Easter card. 

Inspired by Nylah Khan on instagram we have made an egg carton animal picture. What you need. Egg carton Sharpie pens or paints Glue Cardboard What to do. Decide on animal to make - we chose an elephant.  Cut a square of cardboard. Cut up the egg carton. Colour or paint animal details onto the egg carton parts. Glue egg carton parts to the cardboard. Draw body of animal. Draw a border on the cardboard and colour it in. 

A few years ago we made a bug hotel. Materials Used Old wooden pallet Old clay tiles Clay pipes Twigs Straw Bricks Leaves Bamboo pieces from broken garden edging.  What to do Find an area in the garden big enough for your bug hotel. It can be as big or small as you like and the materials you use.  Gather all your materials together. Place the wooden pallet on the ground and fill compartments with bricks, clay pipes, leaves, twigs, straw and any materials you have that will make a good habitat for insects. We placed clay roof tiles on the top to cover the bug hotel and make it a darker habitat for the insects. 

Practise spellings with a fun Easter game.  Draw egg shapes onto a sheet of paper and label with a number.  However many spelling there are draw same amount of eggs.  Write each spelling word onto paper and fold up and place each spelling in a plastic egg.  Label each egg with a number.  Throw the dice (We have a 12 sided dice) and open the corresponding numbered egg.  Write the word onto the numbered egg on the sheet.  Write the word as many times as you like or write once and then again when you throw that number again. 

 Make wax crayon letters. I have lots of broken wax crayons so I decided to make some wax crayon letters. Peel the paper off the old wax crayons and break up into small pieces.  Place into a silicone alphabet mould.  Place in the oven until the wax melts.  Let cool and carefully peel back the mould to free the wax crayon letter. These make the perfect gift. You can arrange them into names. 

 Make salt dough Easter egg ornaments. We made these salt dough ornaments back in 2017. I'll look out the recipe.  We cut them out using an oval cookie cutter and pierced a hole through them whilst the dough was still soft using a pencil. When they had baked and cooled we painted them with patterns and glittery paint. When dry we varnished them with modge podge. We threaded some ribbon through the hole. They look lovely hanging on a branch.

Make birds from foil and kitchen roll. We have made a kingfisher and a robin.  You will need...  Foil Kitchen roll Felt tips or water colours Coloured card for beak and feet Glue Scissors Roll up some foil into a sausage shape and then shape into a bird shape.  Make one end the head and beak shape and one end the tail shape. On a piece of kitchen roll either felt tip or water colour paint the kitchen roll the colours of your chosen birds feathers.  If using watercolours wait for kitchen roll paper to dry and then tear up paper into small pieces.  Glue on the coloured pieces starting at the tail and working up the bird covering the foil.  The pieces can overlap and don't have to be completely glued down as this gives the impression of feathers. Cut out a diamond shape from coloured card for the beak and fold the diamond in half and glue in place. Cut out two black circles for the eyes and glue in place. Cut out leg and feet from coloured card and glue in pla...

If your child enjoys art and drawing. Why not enter the York Walls in Spring competition by Little Vikings. Here is the picture I did whilst my son and some of his friends on zoom had a go at drawing, colouring and painting their pictures. Send a photo of your child's art work to hello@little-vikings.co.uk. Include their name and age.  The competition will close on Sunday 21st March 2021. Visit the Little Viking's website for more information. 

 Rainbow Spellings Write a set of words for spelling practise in different colours then write each word in an arch shape in a rainbow colour to create a rainbow. Looks pretty and they get to practise writing out their spellings in felt tip or gel pen colours. 

Mandala art uses dots in circular patterns which have a spiritual and religious connection as the circular patterns can  represent the cyclical nature of life. You will need...  Black paper Paint or acrylic pens Cotton buds Cocktail sticks/ pencils Starting in the centre of the pages, make patterns using dots and colours working outwards.  Cotton buds make larger dots and cocktail sticks or pencil point make smaller dots. You can also create smaller pictures which can be turned into cards with mandala dots. We look forward to seeing your mandala art. 

One of the lovely teachers at my son's school had done a video lesson on mental health and well being for the mental health week which was at the start of February. The activity that went with it was the scribble game. Draw a scribble and then see what objects you can see in the lines and shapes. We loved this and both had a go. I had to turn my sheet around a few times before I saw a duck and a penguin! My son found a dog, ufo, hamster, a beaver's tail and an egg timer. Why not have a go and post your picture's here, we'd love to see them.

We love watching the birds from our kitchen window feeding from the bird feeders.  We made a feeder from a plastic milk carton in first lockdown.  We spotted lots of birds in the garden this morning - robins, sparrows, blackbirds, pigeons, great tits.  This inspired us to make another bird feeder.  Today we have made a recycled milk carton bird feeder. You need...  Milk carton Paper String Felt tips Glue Scissors Wooden lolly stick Bird seed How to make....  Cover the carton with paper.  Decorate the outside.  Cut hole in front.  Add a lolly stick for the perch. We put a hole in the front and back and pushed the lolly stick through both to keep it in place.  Put a hole through the top and thread the string through.  Fill with bird seed.  Hang outside and wait for the birds to find it.  Let us know which birds you see in your garden. 

Looking for Animal Tracks. We are lucky to live in the countryside and as we live on a farm we have fields to explore. Recently we managed to spot a number of animal tracks.  Next time you go for a walk in the countryside see if you can spot some animal tracks.  In the meantime, why not see if you can identify the animals we spotted from these photographs.  We'd love to know what you think. 

 Happy Valentine's Day. Create secret valentines messages or affirmation hearts to make any day special. Cut out a heart shape. Write a message in white wax crayon. Use water colour paints or watery paint to discover the message.

Everyday we do a zoom call with a group of friends in the village and we do an activity together.  As it was Friday before half term and the children have all worked so hard these last six weeks and I think they are all stars. We drew a 5 star hand.  Draw around your hand. Go over the outline in felt tip. Draw a star on each finger. Write your name on the hand. On each finger write one thing you are good at.  I wrote reading, art, looking after pets, cooking and my son wrote kind on my hand, which was lovely.  This is a lovely well being activity, giving the children the chance to think about things they are good at. 

Have you had some snow and managed to build a snowman? Finally we have had enough snow to build Bob the Snowman! You could get the children to draw a snowman and write an acrostic poem about the snowman. An acrostic poem is when you use the initial letter from the word to start the sentences.  Snowman Steve stands slightly sloping!  Nose pointing towards the house.  On the grass he stands majestically.  With eyes searching for the warm enemy!  Melting fast in the sun.  Away he goes.  Not back until it snows again.  If you have named your snowman you could use the name of your snowman for the poem. Think about what your snowman looks like - tall, short, wide, smiling, what is your snowman wearing, how have you made the face, arms, buttons etc think about snowy words - icy, melts, white, frosty, frozen, icicles, snow crystals, snow flakes, thaws, powdery snow, wet....  Have fun. 

Get the children to decorate a box with stickers, photos, paper, wrapping paper, drawings of things they like. We lined the box inside with tissue paper to make it special.  Then put in the box things they can use to make themselves feel happy. Eg dvd, book, paper to write a letter/card to a loved one, colouring book, paints, soft toy, fidget spinner, game, jigsaw etc We did this activity at virtual cubs , then we showed some of our friends on zoom and made another one, I joined in too and made one for myself, everyone's well being is important. It was lots of fun.  If the children are feeling sad, unhappy or overwhelmed they can look in their well being box for comfort.