Starting with AStarting with BStarting with CStarting with DStarting with EStarting with FStarting with GStarting with HStarting with IStarting with JStarting with KStarting with LStarting with MStarting with NStarting with OStarting with PStarting with QStarting with RStarting with SStarting with TStarting with UStarting with VStarting with WStarting with XStarting with YStarting with Z
Oops!
We're sorry we can't find what you're looking for but check out our top posts below.
Arts & Entertainment
All Ages
National Color Day
National Color Day is celebrated in the USA by all the artists, painters, and individuals who are interested in the meaning of colors.
Arts, Crafts & Design
All Ages
How To Make Paint With Crayons
No craft box is complete without paint - but if your kid is anything like mine and they love to paint, you'd be bankrupt trying to keep up with demand.
But we've found an easy way to make use of those old crayons that get ignored. Did you know you could paint with melted crayons? Us neither, until we tried it!
Kids will love this activity especially if you get them involved with the actual melted crayon part too. Once the crayons have been turned into paint the kids can make their own crayon painting art using the wax colours.
Not only will you get a unique texture with this form of painting but you also get the satisfaction of clearing out unloved crayons and giving them a second life!
We recommend using cheap brushes for this because crayon painting will leave your brushes looking less than lovely.
Give them a clean as soon as the kids are finished painting - stand them in a jar of boiling water, give them a thorough swirl and then dab dry with paper towels before leaving them to air dry. If they still have pieces of crayons stuck to them they should pick off easily once fully dried out.
We used a silicone muffin tray because it can handle the heat better - metal bun tins will stay hotter for longer so you'll need to be more cautious with younger children. Regardless, you should still remind kids that the silicone tray can still be hot.
And it goes without saying that this tin should remain firmly in your craft collection and not be used for any food cooking.
Finally, remember that the melted crayon will also make your paper more brittle and stiff so don't attempt to roll it or be too rough with it. It will need about 30 minutes for the wax to fully harden, then their artwork is ready to be displayed.
Are you ready to make paint from crayons? Grab your paper, a fistful of old crayons and try this easy technique.
You will need:
- Old crayons
- Silicone muffin tin
- Paintbrushes - the cheaper the better
- Paper or canvas
- Access to an oven
Method
1: Preheat the oven to 140C ( 275F/120C fan or gas mark 1).
2: Collect all of those odd ends of crayons together. You can get the kids involved by asking them to sort them into colour groups. You could also challenge older kids to group together individual colours to make new shades - such as blue and yellow for green.
3: Next you need to pick off the crayon wrappers and break the crayons up into smaller pieces. Pop each colour group into a separate section of your muffin tin.
4: Place your silicon tin carefully into the oven - it will take around 15-20 minutes for the heat to completely melt the. If they're not quite melted then leave them for a little longer but do keep checking on them.
5: Remove from the oven and set aside for a minute to allow the tin to cool. Now they can have fun with the painting - the wax liquid should stay useable for around 15 minutes, but after this, the melted crayon mix will start to cool and harden.
Get them to sweep the colours across their paper for an easy artwork that they'll love to show off.
Variations:
Older children will also be able to use a glue gun to create a unique crayon painting. Do bear in mind that you will need a dedicated glue gun so it may be worth investing in a cheap one just for this activity.
All you need to do is insert unwrapped crayons instead of the glue sticks and then paint directly on to the paper.
Another great idea which will allow kids more control over what their finished art looks like is to pop a baking tray in the oven and heat to a high temperature.
When it's ready (5 minutes, if the oven is pre-heated, should be enough) place a piece of tin foil on top of it and let kids draw directly on to it with their crayons. The heat will gently melt them giving a paint-like quality to the finished piece.
It's best to ensure arms are well covered for this and that children are well supervised.
The final crayon painting will have raised sections of coloured waxy substance on - you could have more fun with this activity by showing children how to 'pop' off the crayon paint which will reveal a pretty translucent colour behind.
If toddlers want to join in then give them a variety of tools to paint with - look for items that are easy for them to grasp such as sponges. Do make sure that little fingers are kept away from the hot crayons.
If you want something more long-lasting why not switch your paper for canvas which can be displayed at home to show off artwork?
Parenting Tips
All Ages
Most Popular Online Word Games For Kids In KS1
While your kids may no longer be physically attending school, there are still plenty of educational KS1 games that your little ones can access online.
Whether your kids are screen time addicts or just can't seem to let go of their iPads, introducing these types of games is a really great way to get them doing something educational and to keep them busy - all whilst they're having heaps of fun.
We've rounded up our top 10 word games for some valuable learning - check them out!
Karate Cats
Fill in the missing words, choose the correct spellings, complete sentences with punctuation, and more - all with the help of the Karate Cats!
This exciting KS1 game will have your kids chopping and fly-kicking their way to a better understanding of grammar, spelling, and sentence structures.
The aim of the game is to win treats that you can swap in to get more cats. The more you train and the more answers you get right, the more cats will join you - with the goal being to make it through levels all the way up to earning a black belt.
Karate Cats is a great game to improve your kids' word skills whilst they're having the time of their little lives.
Ready to earn your black belt? Begin playing here.
Pirate Treasure Hunt
Help Pirate Jack find the island's hidden treasure! Pirate Treasure Hunt is a fun and diverse word game in which your mini adventurers have to complete eight different word related challenges in order to discover the buried treasure.
Begin the game by creating words out of letters to rescue Pirate Jack from a tree, and then use his trusty map to choose where you start your adventure.
Kids will win items after every challenge to help them along the way. The game is super easy to use, a great tool for improving vocabulary and spelling, and is also tablet-friendly.
Start your Pirate Adventure here.
Help a Hedgehog
A great way to make learning fun, Help a Hedgehog is an exciting, interactive game that parents can get involved in too! Kids have 90 seconds to read and say as many words as they can before the timer runs out.
Select a category such as mixed vowel phonemes, or enter your own choice of words for your kids to read out. Press the egg timer to begin, and see how many words they can manage within the time limit.
At the end of the game, your kids can view their high scores, which are recorded each and every time they play.
Help a Hedgehog is also great for if you have more than one child, is there anything kids love more than competing with each other? If you're looking to improve your children's reading and word pronunciation - then this is the one for you!
Ready, set, go! Get reading here.
Small Town Superheroes
With a whopping 18 different mini games to play, Small Town Superheroes is a fantastic way for the kids to improve on their word and English skills.
Solve problems and mysteries with superheroes such as Evergreen Ena and Sporty Steve by perfecting your compound words, punctuation, grammar and spelling. For superhero lovers, there's no better way to play and learn at the same time than saving a Small Town!
The game is perfect for KS1-aged children and is a valuable educational tool that your little ones will enjoy interacting with - and one that will keep them occupied for a while.
Get started by heading over to HQ and suiting up.
DJ Cow's Phonics Finder Word Search
A great way to re-enforce the learning of phonics, DJ Cow's Phonics Finder allows parents to select a set of phonics from a wide selection such as 'Sh', 'Th' or 'Ch' all the way to the 'Ee-Ea's.
A word search will then be generated around your chosen phonics in which kids can look for and pick out a list of words including those sounds.
The game is a wonderful way to improve spellings and sounding out, and it helps children to read, discover, and maybe even learn a few new words.
Take your time going through the various different versions with your kids for a well-rounded learning experience. Who doesn't love a word search?
Begin your search here.
Spooky Spellings
Spooky Spellings is no ordinary spelling game.
All of the words used are listed in the UK National Curriculum as 'Common Exception Words' - in simpler terms, they're a little bit tricky for your little ones to grasp.
The game allows you to choose a year group, a book from the dusty old shelf, and then get started with a fun drag and drop spelling game led by a Skull Teacher and helped out by lots of little bats who'll come and take the letters away when your kids have spelt a word correctly.
Each correct word helps players to fill up the five stars you need with colour to help you finish the game.
Spooky Spellings is a simple but great way for kids to improve their spelling skills and their vocabulary - perfect for at home learning.
With some pretty cool sound effects and spooky puns, it also makes for a fun teaching environment!
Ready to get spelling? Enter the spooky game here.
Words and Pictures: Beginning Letters
Can you help Di with her paintings? Words and Pictures is an interactive game lead by Di, a painter who loves to create pictures of things beginning with the same two letters - like a shark in a shirt, for example.
Kids can select a canvas and help Di come up with new ideas to paint by choosing words with the same two beginning letters.
There are options to hear the words out loud if kids need extra help picking their answers, and each pair correctly selected is rewarded with a cute painting of whatever was chosen.
Complete all three canvases to finish the game, and play again to try out new word combinations! If you're after a word game to help your little ones with their phonics, spelling, and vocabulary skills - this is the one for you.
Begin painting with Di by playing here.
Letter Blocks
Keep your kids on their toes with this exciting word game. Letter Blocks is sort of a funny mix of the games Boggle and Tetris, in that players have to find words and make blocks disappear so that no block reaches the top of the screen.
How does it work? Words have to comprise of three or more letters, either in a row or diagonally.
You can't use the same letter more than once, but must click on each block, clicking on the last letter of each word twice to make it disappear.
When blocks disappear, more letters fall down from the top of the screen - making for a fun, high-pressure learning environment in which children can work on their spelling and vocabulary, as well as their ability to get creative and spot words. It's certainly addictive - so watch out!
Ready to play Letter Blocks? Begin here.
Does It Make Sense?
Help Zara make sense of her dreams without waking her up! Kids are tasked with selecting which of the displayed sentences is correct in terms of spelling and grammar.
If you choose the correct sentence, you won't disturb the sleeping Zara and you'll earn a piece of the rocket you need to build to win.
If your answer is wrong, you'll wake Zara up from her dream and the game is over - but don't worry, you can keep playing until you make it to the end!
Does It Make Sense is the perfect educational game to help children learn how similar sounding words are correctly spelt, and to work on their sentence structuring. Not to mention, it's plenty of fun too.
Help Zara figure out her dreams here.
Alphabetical Order
Little Mo has discovered a Word Plant - can you help him put all of the words into alphabetical order?
Pluck each of the five words from the word plant and place them in alphabetical order to win. Your kids can play over and over again with different words each time to practice their word ordering, and there's even an alphabet listed along the bottom to help out those who need it.
Alphabetical Order is a great learning tool and an easy to use game for those looking to work on and practice their alphabet skills!
Ready to get started? Play here.
Arts, Crafts & Design
All Ages
5 Quick And Easy Face Paint Ideas
Face painting is a great rainy-day activity - and it is also a brilliant way to have fun as a family during lockdown.
Rather than saving face-painting only for birthday parties and Halloween - why don't you get your paints out and start experimenting with new face painting ideas? We have gathered together a list of quick and easy face paint ideas, which could be done by an older sibling, or even parents who have no artistic ability.
Loading