Looking for fun ideas to keep the kids learning during the circuit breaker? Try these 5 engaging kids activities from the CIS Open Minds Programme!

If you’re feeling as desperate as we are for some new inspiring activities to do at home with your kids during the circuit breaker, check out these five engaging suggestions by Christa Craats, Open Minds coordinator at Canadian International School (CIS). These activities are examples of some of the fun kids have in CIS’ Open Minds Programme. This unique and highly acclaimed programme has been carefully designed to offer children a deeper understanding of concepts through personal experience and observation. You’ll see how kids will start thinking critically, questioning ideas, becoming more creative and ultimately start getting excited about “learning”. We love how these indoor and outdoor activities move learning out of the classroom and are easy enough to implement at home.

5 Indoor and outdoor Open Minds activities that you can try with your kids at home:

1. Magical Bedroom: Imagine everything in your bedroom or garden has a magical power. What would its magic power be? How and when would you use it? For example, the lamp on your table has the magical power to transport you to the sun…

2. What if…. What if everything around you could be changed or altered? What funny or unusual things would happen? Make up your own “What if…” questions, or get started with some of these….
*What if people had necks like giraffes?
*What if dogs could talk and people could only bark?
*What if all flowers became green?
*What if toothpaste was bubblegum?
*What if plants and trees could walk?
*What if kids were in charge of their parents?
*What if ice cream never melted?
*What if people could only sing and not talk?

3. Building Power: Collect items that can be used as building materials (pebbles, cards, shoes, chopsticks, pillows). What is the tallest tower you can build using one material or a combination of materials?

4. Secret base: Draw a detailed map of your home or garden. Imagine it has become a secret base where you can go to hide and escape. Where would the secret portals and tunnels be? Where would they lead to? What secret potential do the items in your secret base have?

5. The Web of Life: You’re going to need some rolls of string for this one. How many things in your home or garden are connected in their use or purpose to something else? For example, my socks are connected to the washing machine, the washing machine is connected to water from the faucet, the water faucet is connected to the ice cubes in the freezer, the freezer is connected to… Using your roll of string, connect the items to each other. How many connections can you make?

What do kids like most about the CIS Open Minds Programme?

Canadian Christa Craats has been teaching in Singapore at CIS for 13 years. As the Open Minds coordinator at CIS, Christa has seen first-first hand the success of the Open Minds Programme. “The programme is unique amongst schools in Singapore. We were the first school here to offer anything like it. It uses innovative and authentic learning experiences in settings outside the classroom. All students in Grades 1 to 6 get to participate. Kids can learn by reading text books or watching videos, but personal experience makes abstract concepts more concrete. Plus, learning this way slows down the learning, allowing for deeper observation and questioning. It also encourages creativity and imagination and connects kids’ knowledge learnt in the classroom to the outside world. Ultimately, the kids learn to develop observation skills, look at things from a different perspective, think critically and solve problems in open minded ways.”

Christa says that kids at CIS just love the challenge that comes with thinking outside the box and answering critical thinking questions. The kids like that it’s completely different from a normal day in class. For Christa, the most rewarding part of the programme is seeing students get excited about learning. “It has been wonderful to see children take their learning outside of the school setting into their everyday life. I really enjoy hearing the questions and curiosities that kids have about things around them. It’s also really gratifying to be able to have in-depth conversations with students that lead to deeper level thinking and questioning.”

If you’d like more information about CIS and their Open Minds programme, call the CIS Admissions Team on (+65) 6734 8088 or visit their website here.

www.cis.edu.sg