Try Out These Games and Art Projects!
Word Games & Puzzles
Are you ready to challenge yourself to some smart fun? Download and print these:
Word Searches
Great Friend
Catchy Phrase
Classic TMH
Feelings
Games and Snacks
Feeling & Emotions
Crosswords
Word Scrambles
Coloring Printouts
iSpy Coloring Templates
Mindfullness
Super Hero
Activity Printouts
Social Emotional, Mindfulness & Movement Suggested Apps by Meghan Corridan, OTR/L
I think that we are all looking for tools to help our children get through this crazy time. Making sure our kids get opportunities for movement, mindfulness and social emotional learning on a daily basis is very important, not only for them but for all the grownups too. There has never been a more critical time to focus on social emotional learning. Here are some great apps, including some recommendations by my colleague Dr. Chelsea Deng from Milestones Psychology.
See our app list below.
Art Activity Videos
Vin Buchan shows you fun art ideas to create at home using simple supplies.
CLICK HERE for a treasure trove of more art projects to explore with Vin!
NEW FEATURES:
Make a Colorful Personal Book for Yourself!
The Magic Message Card
Random Thoughts
The Meeting House List of Interesting Interactive Arts Based Activities for a kids, families and educators. (click)
PBS… A great source here for kid’s online games! (click here)
Poetry Month Poems for Kids (click)
This is National Poetry month. Click the link for a selection of poems that are curated around specific themes and are appropriate for young readers.
Social Emotional and Mindfulness Movement Apps
Super Stretch Yoga - I've used this one over the years and the kids really enjoy it and are able to follow along with it pretty independently. Move, play and breathe as Super Stretch introduces you to his friends and their yoga poses. Using storytelling, animation and video examples, kids move through 12 yoga poses and earn a star after each one. Yoga is a great way to help kids work on building overall body strength and motor planning, encourages healthy habits and is a quick and easy way to help them focus and attend to other tasks.
GoNoodle Kids - This app is intended for classroom use and offers a tremendous resource of brain and body breaks during the school day. Now that your children will be working/learning from home and the amount of time we spend outside is drastically limited, it's important for not only them, but you as their grownups, to have these scheduled breaks. I highly encourage parents to engage in some of these movement activities as they are working from home as well.
Daniel Tiger's Grr-ific Feelings (available only on tablets) - Daniel the Tiger is a big hit with many of my younger children and I have been a fan of the PBS Kids app for a long time. Right now, kids are experiencing a lot of feelings and emotions but may not be able to express that effectively and this app is perfect to help them. Kids can also improve their fine motor, graphomotor, visual motor, visual perception and hand-eye coordination skills while using this app.
Here are 4 great games to try:
• Trolley Game - drive the trolley to discover more than a dozen mini-games about feelings.
• Sing-Along - choose from 18 of your favorite Daniel Tiger songs, each one fully animated.
• Drawing Easel - use paints, crayons, stickers and more to express yourself.
• Feelings Photo Booth - take pictures of yourself that show lots of different feelings.
Daniel will help you pose!
Breathe, Think, Do - This fabulous app from Sesame Street in Communities program is a great way to teach kids strategies on how to calm down, identify their feelings and work through their problems. Big feelings are totally normal but they can also make kids feel scared. Children can laugh and learn as they help a Sesame Street monster friend calm down through a variety of relatable situations: putting on shoes, saying goodbye to parents/caregivers, fixing a knocked down block tower, waiting in line or going to sleep. They play an active role in helping them choose what strategy would be best for the monster and then get to see the plan in action through a little video.
Headspace for Kids - This subscription based app is a really good investment, especially if your child is feeling overly anxious or worried right now. There are several free videos to start with though and the company is also offering free membership to all public health providers! Headspace for Kids focuses on the following areas: Calm, Focus, Kindness, Sleep and Wake Up. For each area, there are three age groups to choose from (5 and under, 6-8 years and 9-12 years). Kids can practice breathing exercises, visualizations and even try some focus-based meditation. Quirky cartoons engage the kids while the calming voice offers guidance throughout.
Stop, Breathe & Think - Here is another great app for younger children that works on self-regulation and teaches them about feelings and emotions and appropriate meditation strategies to help them work through different situations. Kids pick a mission to find a guided mindfulness activity based on how they are currently feeling (they can choose up to three emojis to express their emotions). Missions are between two and seven minutes and made up of expressive narration, sometimes with quiet background music and simple animations. Missions demonstrated by different characters will lead you through different mindful movements.
Balloonimals - I've been using this app for a while with my younger kids, particularly when they have a whole lot of energy or when they might be feeling anxious. Kids blow into the microphone of the iPhone and watch a variety of balloon animals come to life. Once the balloon is fully inflated (about 3 deep breathes), they shake the phone a couple of times and then watch the animal come to life. Once this is done, they can interact with the animal and see what kinds of tricks they can do. When they are finished interacting with that animal, they tap it a few times and the balloon will pop.
Pinterest Fun
Kim McGarvey has curated a great collection of games for kids!
Pinterest Playground (Pinterest account needed)
