Home Activities: Grade School

Our librarians have gathered resources and suggestions for keeping boredom at bay!

Don’t forget, our Digital Branch is always open for borrowing ebooks, listening to music, learning a new hobby, and more.

Creativebug – Learn a new craft or art form with this resource from our Digital Branch.
Ed Emberley’s Drawing Pages—Learn drawing techniques from these practice sheets by professional illustrator Ed Emberley.
Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems – Draw, doodle, and explore new ways of writing by visiting Mo’s studio virtually.
Writing Tips for Tweens – Get advice and tips from bestselling and award-winning authors to help you get started writing a story of your own.
Help your grownups make dinner! Look for a recipe that sounds tasty and work together to make the meal.
Bake a cake, cupcakes, or cookies, and get creative with your decorating. Share pictures with family and friends!
Chalk the walk! Decorate your sidewalk with inspirational quotes or colorful pictures to bring a smile to anyone who walks by.

Set up an obstacle course in your house or your yard. Time family members as they make their way through the course to see who is the fastest. Change up the course and do it again!
Go for a walk, a run, or ride your bike. Download music or an audiobook to listen while you exercise.
Make a conditioning plan for yourself – write down each exercise and how many repetitions you want to try. Mix it up each day so you don’t get bored!
Put on your favorite music and dance!

Play charades! Write down the names of animals on slips of paper. Then write actions on another set of papers. Draw one slip of each type of paper and act it out. For example, a whale riding a bicycle.
Play a board game with your family.
Build a fort with blankets and furniture and read a book inside.
Alphabet Scavenger Hunt – pick any letter of the alphabet. Go into any room of your house and find all the objects you can that start with that letter. Change it up with different combinations of letters and rooms.
NASA Kids’ Club – space themed games and activities for pre-K – grade 4
DuPage Forest Preserve – Get outside to explore one of the many forest preserves in our area.
ShelfStuff Games – HarperCollins publisher offers a variety of book-related online games for kids 8-12.

Digital Citizenship – This curriculum from Common Sense Media explores online safety and literacy for students in K-12.
Lizzadro Museum of Lapidary Art – Virtual tours, games, videos, and DIY geology experiments from a local museum.
Carnegie Hall – Activities that encourage musical discovery, learning, and play.
NASA STEM @ home – Fun Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math activities for students and the whole family.
Reading Rockets – Activities for reading and writing fun.
Exploratorium – Hands-on museum in San Francisco, CA provides hundreds of videos and activities to keep you busy at home.
Smithsonian Kids – Information and activities on a variety of topics, from animal live cams to outer space.
Virtual Museum Tours – Tour some of the world’s most famous museums with a virtual tour.

Digital Branch – check out ebooks and audiobooks from Hoopla and Overdrive.
TumbleBooks – animated ebooks with read-along narration and sound, on our Digital Branch.
ALA Book and Media Awards – Caldecott, Newbery, and many more award lists from the American Library Association.
Monarch Award nominees – Illinois K-3 readers’ choice award.
Bluestem Award nominees – Illinois Grades 3-5 readers’ choice award.
Rebecca Caudill Award nominees – Illinois Grades 4-8 readers’ choice award.
International Children’s Digital Library – The best of children’s literature from around the world, in many languages.
KidLitTV – explore the world of children’s literature with author/illustrator interviews, drawing lessons, and author storytimes.

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