Tips and Tricks: Here's how to tackle homeschooling

Schools remain closed in our country for most students and it's not yet clear when school routines will get back to normal. Until that point, it means that children are being taught at home. This means that parents of school-aged children are facing a special challenge. After their own work in the home office, they also have to be available as a learning companion for their children and their first point of contact for all questions regarding their studies and homework. For this reason, it's often helpful to explore the content to be learned in a playful way.

How does teaching at home work the best?

It's easiest when the morning is well-structured and filled with lessons at home. Create set learning and break times and make sure that the children aren't completely worn down by the lesson materials. Homeschooling is not meant to replace the school learning completely. It's much more about using the newly gained free time sensibly and filling the gaps left by the closures of kindergartens and schools with pedagogically valuable activities.

But how do we motivate the children to do their work?

Solid structures and processes are important when it comes to handling the everyday routines between working from home, homeschooling, and childcare. Waking up on time every morning, replacing the common relaxation outfits of home office with normal clothes and eating breakfast - this is how you can start the days normally at home. Then, when it's time to learn and study, it can also be helpful to have some kind of bell sound to start and end the "school time", just like in real school. That may sound strange, but "imitating" the familiar school situations can give children security and make their start to the school day easier. The end of the school day should also be at a set time so children can adjust to it. Child-friendly weekly and daily planners such as the Magnetic Weekly Planner from "Educate" (11460) or the printable small foot Planner can help with this.

How can parents best support their children with their learning?

Age-appropriate wooden learning toys can be sensible learning aids and support children during their learning development and preparation for school. With ABC games, geometry puzzles, or classics like slide rules, study content can be taught playfully and vividly. The small foot learning toy series "Educate" stands for play, fun, and the desire to learn, and can support children with a total of 23 games and toys in all kinds of areas. The games are manufactured from high-quality, brightly coloured wood, and offer learning aids with various difficulty levels to every age group starting at age 3. These wooden toys are sensible activities for children with which they'll always learn something. Playing, discovering, and learning are guaranteed!

The best homeschooling learning toys

The "Educate" product series covers the preschool and primary school time excellently: understanding numbers and amounts, learning to tell time, and collecting their first experiences with English as a foreign language are only a few examples. Products like the Slide Rule (11326), Abacus (11324) and Maths Tiles (11369) will train preschoolers and children in primary school with addition and subtraction while games such as the Geometry Puzzle (11100), the Fractions Circle Puzzle (11102) and the Maths Sticks (11167) train older children's understanding of quantities. Students who are already learning multiplication and division in school can be optimally supported with the learning games Fractions "Educate" (11166) and Colourful 1 x 1 "Educate" (11163). But learning toys support parents and children in more areas than just mathematics. "Educate" toys can also train the ABCs, telling time on a clock, dexterity, and logical thinking.

Fractions "Educate"

$12.99

Fractions "Educate"

from 6 years
Logic Labyrinth "Educate"

$19.99

Logic Labyrinth "Educate"

from 3 years
Abacus "Educate"

$22.99

Abacus "Educate"

from 4 years
Counting Sticks "Educate"

$12.99

Counting Sticks "Educate"

from 6 years

School first, then pleasure!

Once all the school assignments have been completed, it's time for free time. When that times, outdoor and exercise toys as well as parlour games are always a good idea in these times of the coronavirus because they offer the perfect balance to homeschooling. Also great: Shut the Box (2116), which is the perfect combo of a parlour game and maths training.

at small foot since

Lena, Marketing Manager

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2 Children, A girl (5 years), and a boy (2 years)
Why do you like working for small foot?
I like the informal, personal atmosphere. The individual departments work together like big gears and use teamwork to create a wide range of high-quality products which have been accompanying children for now over 30 years.
What's something you particularly like about small foot toys?
The focus on wood as a material, the loving details (e.g. the graffiti on product 11377 (Freight Train Station with Accessories), the exclusive designs.
What is your favorite small foot toy?
The Houses of Locks! Kids loves keys, and their first attempts to open different kinds of locks playfully trains their fine motor skills. I'm impressed by the high level of long-lasting playtime value and the possbility to lock up little treasures!

After the birth of my first baby, I placed a lot of value on sustainable materials. The wooden Balls of Fun Rattle unites two things: sustainable material and a child-friendly baby toy. The noises that the rattle makes really made my baby grin and laugh. I especially like the fact that the rattle fit well in the hand and is saliva-proof. In their first months, babies really like putting toys in their mouths and experiencing them with all their senses.