99 Unschooling ideas and projects

We've been leaning more and more towards unschooling.  I love the idea of letting the children lead.

I have been thinking of all the ways my children learn naturally through life and play.  I was getting excited and didn't want to forget any of them so I thought if I was going to be writing it down I might was well jot the list down on the blog and that way you can all share in my ideas.

Suggestions are always appreciated!

I have my ideas organized by subject since that makes it easier for me (even though many of these subjects/ project/ game ideas would touch upon more than one subject).  I don't plan to make them cover all the subjects all the time but I want to encourage them to bring as many subjects into their everyday lives as they can.

I thought we'd start with this questionnaire called When I Learn...  that asks kids to think about how they learn best.  Not all questions will pertain to us since we're homeschoolers and unschooling at that but I figured it will help us all think of ideas that will work best if we know how each of them learn best. 

Reading/Spelling & Language arts: 

1. Books-- suggestions here, here, here
2. magazines
3. newspapers
4. playing computer games: Magic Tree House, grammar ninja, word monkey (on the kindle), Starfall, Grammar Bytes!, free rice, Spelling City, Zebra Reading
5. Playing games:  scrabble, spill and spell, words with friends, sight word bingo, Life,
6. Playing our made up games:  sight word slam, sight word musical chairs, sight word hopscotch, flyswatter sight words, throw the sight word, catch the sight word, stomp it game, twister sight word game, etc.
7. Tell or read a story to someone
8. Read a book and watch the movie to compare and contrast-- there's a huge list of books/ movies here, and here
9. Organize the family bookcase, by genre, by author, by whichever way you see fit. 
10. Listen to a book on the computer -- here or through the library's Tumblebooks account  
11. Read fairy tales
12. Plan a library adventure-- use these ideas or your own
13. Read in your room, under your bed, in a tent, in a fort, in mom's bed, behind the couch, outside, etc. 

Math:

1. McRuffy
2. Reading "math" stories and books-- lists here and here 
3. Playing games:  Uno, war, life, monopoly, Yahtzee,
4. Computer games :  Cyber Chase, math bingo (on the kindle), cool math, math is fun, Tangrams, bedtime math,  Sheppard Software games,  math playground,  etc..
5. "playing" with math manipulatives-- fraction tiles, toy clocks, blocks, pattern blocks, etc.
6. constructing houses out of blocks, sticks, sugar cubes-- playing with architecture using sticks and clay, toothpicks and mini marshmallows, skewers and gum drops, etc. 
7. Play "our" games-- flyswatter math, water bomb facts, Add it up, MADS
8. Do any of these activities
9. Build with Legos, try to see if a partner can build what you built just by listening to your instructions (don't let them see what you built until the end)
10. build a model car or airplane
11. Bake a snack by following a recipe
12. Dot- to- Dots, answer and color sheets, graph and color, FREE answer and color sheets
13. Make pictures with coin rubbing
14. work on jigsaw puzzles

Playing war

Science:

1. reading-- books about animals, plants, planets, dinosaurs, etc.
2. hands on experiments-- ideas here
3. making silly putty, goop, flubber, play dough, etc
4. Kitchen science-- cooking, baking, running experiments with common household items
5. build your own zoo, nature museum,
6. Watch science movies, videos and TV shows. 
7. Take a class at the Ecotarium, Science Museum, or zoo
8. Learn about plants, rocks, minerals, the moon & stars, the planets,
9. Learn about an inventor or scientists
10. try a new twist on a favorite recipe-- like this!
11. Make gummy candy, rock candy,
12. Make Fossils,
13. Build an earthquake proof building with Lego's, make a Lego Bridge. 
14. Learn even more about the season-- spring, fall, summer, winter.
15. Look at everything under a microscope, through binoculars, or with a magnifying glass
16. Play with shaving cream, goop, silly putty, adding toys, your body, bikes, etc and experiment with texture, cause and effect, etc. 
17. Make ice cream in a bag, make magic milk paint, make colored toast

Add shaving cream for more fun!

History and geography

1. learn about any of the wars-- weapons, where it took place, why were these people at war, etc. 
2. Pick a place on the map to learn about-- climate, food, clothing, animals and plants that make it their home, etc.  Australia books, Africa books
3. Ancient Greece
4. Roman Empire
5. Mayan ruins
6. Ancient Egypt
7. Knights and castles
8. colonial times
9. Pompeii
10. Using a blank world map label where all your favorite animal homes are found, where the factories are for construction equipment, or where gold has ever been found. 
11. Compare and contrast old world maps to new world maps.  Why have they changed?
12. Learn about the world fairs
13. Learn about the history and the story behind Walt Disney World, or any favorite place/area
14. Make a 3- d map out of clay, cake and icing, glue and recyclables, etc.
15. Design and "go on" an archeological dig
16. Learn about the 50 states (or your favorite state) -- 100 book ideas here
17. Learn about curses, myths and legends
18. A whole Pinterest board of world crafts, games, foods, languages, etc.
19. Learn about a new holiday-- Chinese New Year or little "weird" holidays like Bubble Wrap day
20. Visiting living history museums. 
21. Watch movies like Liberty's kids,
22. Create Craft ideas like those found on Teach Dear America

Try on real armor

Build a castle!

Writing:

1. on the computer-- write a blog entry, an e-mail letter to a friend or family member, write a story
2. Copywork
3. Learn cursive or practice printing and spelling on paper or white boards
4. write signs for a store, label something that you have cleaned and organized to keep it that way, pretend you are a waiter, a newspaper reporter or a veterinarian.
5. Write a story/ make a book-- a bird or butterfly one like the one shown here or a fun photo book 
6. Write about your Lego's
7. Write in shaving cream, with finger paint, in a baggie of hair gel, with sparklers
8. Musical chair writing (or reading!)
9. Write a story about a funny picture-- ideas here
10. Make name tags for all of your stuffed animals
11. Create a town complete with road signs, store signs, cars, building and people. 
12. Join Postcrossing-- send and receive postcards! 

Write your name with sparklers!

Arts & Crafts/ Music

1. canvas art
2. drawing
3. painting with watercolors, finger paints, watercolor crayons/ pencils
4. Weave a pot holder
5. Knot a bracelet
6. Learn to sew with needle and thread or with sewing machine
7. Make beaded jewelry
8. Make cards and/or scrapbooks
9. Paint and design t-shirts-- fabric art
10. Abstract watercolor idea
11. Take free art lessons on- line, or piano lessons on- line, guitar lessons on-line
12. Make a sun catcher-- like this one
13. Sun art-- ideas found here
14. Oil and water droplet painting
15. paint with frozen paint or frozen finger paints
16. Read book about famous artists and try to copy their work or technique
17. Fun art books-- here, here,
18. Look for fun crafts at : art projects for kids, fun art 4 kids, that artist woman,
19. On- line art & music games-- Sphinx Kids
20. Design your own Opera! 

4th of July T-shirt

Making woven pot holders