Emmarentia Residents Association info@era.org.za (000) 111-1111

Resources for kids during lockdown – 28 April 2020

We were thrilled to see the stories that Grade 2s from Emmarentia Primary School wrote to President Cyril Ramaphosa to thank him for keeping them safe during lockdown. Find their delightful stories and drawings here. https://www.parent24.com/Child_7-12/Fun/mr-president-youve-got-mail-grade-2-pupils-voice-their-appreciation-in-cute-letters-20200424 And if your children are writing stories, poetry or drawing/painting, and they’re happy for us to put them up on our website and Facebook page, please send them.

It seems school education is not going to get back to normal for a long time. We have drawn up a list of some educational/entertainment resources especially for kids.

If you have other resources, please feel free to share with us on info@era.org.za or on our Facebook page: Emmarentia Residents Association (Emmarentia is a multi-faith community, please be aware of this when you share links. ERA also reserves the right not to add a resource that we feel does not adhere to the Bill of Rights in the South African Constitution)

Jozi Kids https://www.jozikids.co.za/

  • Ideas on how to entertain small babies up to teens including story time and a mini circus.
    • Online classes on drawing cartoons, virtual cooking class, fitness, dancing and drama (some free because of Covid-19, others you’ll have to pay. Please support them – these small businesses are struggling to stay afloat like everyone else.)
    • Ideas for virtual birthday parties including magicians.

Textbook stuff:

Department of Basic Education. https://www.education.gov.za/

  • links to fun books to read for both primary school kids https://nalibali.org/ (in many of the official languages)
  • and teens (also in many official languages) https://live.fundza.mobi/.
  • Both sites are encouraging young readers to write in and submit to the websites.

Other free learning sites:

https://stories.audible.com/start-listen

https://www.starfall.com/h

www.abcya.com

www.funbrain.com

www.splashlearn.com

www.funbrain.com

www.storylineonline.net

www.pbskids.org

www.highlightskids.com

www.kids.nationalgeographic.com

www.coolmath4kids.com

www.mathgametime.com

www.uniteforliteracy.com

www.literactive.com/home/index.asp

www.sciencekids.co.nz

Virtual tour of these 12 famous museums – https://www.travelandleisure.com/attractions/museums-galleries/museums-with-virtual-tours

Market Theatre is running an online career expo from 28-30 April about options for Arts career choices. Directed at primary and high school kids, it will also advise on assistance for tertiary education applications. Join them live on Facebook @TheMarketTheatre

Civic Theatre – Never seen the annual pantomime at the Civic? Now’s your chance. Watch Janice Honeyman’s South African take on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs here…  https://www.joburgtheatre.com/video-stream/#

Update March 2021: ERA received this e-mail from Kellytown, Georgia, US

Hi folks,

We wanted to give the ERA family a big thumbs up from our youth ministry group! They needed ideas for activities and virtual field trips that can be watched from home so your recommendations for kiddos here are awesome- https://era.org.za/resources-for-kids-during-lockdown
Sadly we can’t meet in person because of the pandemic, a few of our members (Joshua, Meg, Aubree, and Skylar) have been meeting virtually to make newsletters with activity ideas for our congregation- I’m totally amazed by their wonderful efforts! Right now they are putting together a list of virtual tours for families still stuck at home. That’s how Joshua discovered your website which gave us a lot of material to include! They wanted me to pass along their gratitude :).

If you have any other helpful tips feel free to share. Aubree is our art-guru and has been sharing a lot of museum gallery tours which are a lot of fun too! She also sent us this list of field trips that has a bunch of good ones: https://www.titlemax.com/articles/road-trip-from-home-virtual-field-trips/
Hopefully you can get some enjoyment from it too. She noticed you didn’t have that one on your resources page, Sky thought it would be a good addition maybe you would consider adding it? I would love to surprise her at our Zoom meeting this week!

Thanks again, it’s very cool to make this connection during these hectic times. Please take care!

Andrea, Josh, Meg, Aubree, and Skylar
The St. Paul’s family

Hi Andrea, Josh, Meg, Aubree and Skylar

Thank you for taking the time to write to us. It’s always so exciting when some little story that one puts up on the website gets a response! Thank you Aubree for finding the additional resource.

All the best to you all to continue your good work in these challenging times.

Warm regards

ERA