Things you will need&nbsp;Just the thinking ability of your minds. How to:Introduce your child to the concept of compound words. Here is a definition to help you - Compound words are formed when two or more words are joined together to create a new word with an entirely new meaning.&nbsp;Example of such words are:<ul><li>Butterfly</li><li>Treehouse</li><li>Fireman</li><li>Rainbow</li><li>Grandmother</li><li>Ice cream</li><li>Video game</li><li>Peanut butter</li><li>Roller coaster</li><li>Full moon</li><li>North-east</li><li>Part-time</li><li>Sun-dried</li><li>Left-handed</li><li>High-tech</li></ul> Ask your child to come up with more such words. There are 3 types of Compound words:<ul><li>Closed compound words:&nbsp;Compound words written as a single word without space or a hyphen. Examples - football, haircut, sunflower.</li><li>Open compound words:&nbsp;Compound words that are written as separate words with space. Examples - high school, living room, school bus.</li><li>Hyphenated Compound words:&nbsp;Compound words that have a hyphen between two words. Example - over-the-counter, merry-go-round</li></ul> You can introduce these different types of compound words depending on the age and vocabulary of your child. Teaching compound words:<ol><li>Visual learning:&nbsp;You can create flashcards of the compound words and the corresponding 2 images. Children can then match the two images with the compound words that they form. Example - draw 'tree' and 'house' on two different flashcards and write 'treehouse' on one flashcard; ask your child to match these then.</li><li>Kinesthetic learning:&nbsp;Give your child a compound word and ask them to draw the 2 parts of that word. Example - fireman; your kid would draw 'fire' and 'man' separately.</li><li>You can prepare a worksheet of compound words, and your child can write the answers. Make sure to instruct them on which kind of compound words exercise you are giving to them. This will make them notice the different types of compound words.&nbsp;</li></ol>Example:fire + man = firemanice + cream = ice creamover + the + counter = over-the-counter Fun fact:&nbsp;You can also give this an entire week’s task and observe how excited your child gets. Happy Gaming!

Significance:This will enhance your child’s vocabulary.

Compound Word Game

Ravina Sewani

Things you will need: small ball which a child can carry, plastic bottles or cups as pins How to:<ol><li>You will have to create enough space before planning out this game.</li><li>Lay down the bottles or the cups at one end.</li><li>From the opposite end, ask your child to roll the ball towards the bottles.</li><li>Encourage your child to hit the bottles in such a way that all of them fall.</li><li>This game can also be played in teams if there are more number of children.</li><li>You can also buy the indoor bowling set from the market. Keep a track of points the children score after their turn. At the end of the game, the child with maximum score wins the game.</li></ol> Happy Gaming!

Significance:This game will improve your child’s motor and coordination skills.

Indoor bowling

Things you will need: Inflated balloon(s) How to:This activity can be done in groups, pairs, or just by a single child. <ol><li>If it is groups or pairs, ask the children to stand at a sufficient distance. Give one inflated balloon to each child. Start the timer and ask them to hold the balloon on their palms without the support of their fingers. The child who can hold the balloon on the palm the longest, wins the game. You can also do 'best of the three' to make it a fair game. Moreover, if your child does not have a sibling and his/her friends can't come over, you can do this activity with your child.</li><li>If it is only a single child doing this activity, make him/her hold the balloon on their palm against the timer. Every time, push your child to hold the balloon longer than the previous round.</li></ol> Happy Gaming!

Significance:This activity will improve your child's concentration and hand-eye coordination.

Balloon on Palm

Things you will need:Water colours, water, brushes, white crayon, chart paper, water colour tray. How to:Make sure that all the steps are carried out by your children. You can keep an eye on them for protection.<ol><li>On a white chart paper, write/draw with the white crayon.</li><li>Place different coloured drops in water colour tray.</li><li>Dip a paint brush first in colour and then in water.&nbsp;</li><li>Paint on the chart paper and observe the words/drawing come alive.</li></ol> Happy Gaming!

Significance:This activity can be very exciting because you can ask them to find out hidden message. They learn the difference between the textures and results of different colour mediums.

Resist Painting

Things you will need: skittles candies (use can use M&amp;M or Gems as well), water, plate or bowl How to:Pour some water into a dish or a bowl and add a couple of candies to this dish. You will immediately observe a few changes. If you are using skittles candies, you will see that the 'ss' part of the candy quickly dissolves and starts to float on the water. The colours dissolve slowly and begin to mix with the water in the dish. You can make this experiment fun by placing several candies in different shapes and see the colours dissipating in various shapes. Why does this happen?Candies are made of sugar hence they dissolve in water. Sugar dissolves in water because both water and sugar are polar compounds. It is known that "like dissolves like" hence sugar dissolves in water. Happy Exploring!

Significance:This activity will introduce your child to the concept of solute and solvent and is also a fun and attractive experiment for kids.

Skittle Candy Experiment

Things you will need: 5 cups, one jug (which a child can easily lift), watercolours (optional) How to:Fill up a small jug with water. Place 5 cups in a row on a table. Remember that the table’s height should be such that if your child stands, (s)he can reach the table.Next, demonstrate the activity by filling the water in the cups from the jug. Empty the cups in the jug again. Now, ask your child to do the same. Let your child do it on its own. For the first few times, your child might spill the water but with time will master it. Then ask your child to empty the water from the cups into the jug again.You can make this activity interesting by adding colours in the water to make it attractive. You can use transparent cups so it’s visually appealing to your child. Happy Gaming!

Significance:This activity will help improve your child’s motor skills and hand-to-eye coordination.

Pour water in cups

Things you will need: shaving cream, glue, ziplock bag, food colouring, white cardboard, pencil, eraser How to:<ul><li>Mix equal parts of shaving cream and glue into a ziplock bag and add your desired food colouring.</li><li>Seal the bag and squish the bag together until all ingredients are mixed together.</li><li>On a rigid material like white cardboard, ask your child to draw the layout of their art.</li><li>Once the foam is ready, cut off a corner at the bottom of the bag and ask your child to pour the foam on their art layout like piping icing.</li><li>Once the art has been completed, set it aside so the foam can dry and solidify overnight.</li></ul> Happy Painting!

Significance:This activity will enhance your child's motor and creativity skills.

DIY Foam Painting

How to:Hundreds and Thousands of templates for Sudoku are available online. You can get them printed of the required difficulty level depending on your child’s age. The goal of the game is to fill a 9*9 grid with numbers from 1-9. Numbers should be filled in such a way that each row, each column, and each 3*3 sub-grids should have all the numbers once without getting repeated. The templates available come with partially completed grid depending on the difficulty level of the game. Fun fact:You can level up the game by setting a timer during which your child has to complete the game. This can be done only when is very well accustomed to playing the game without a timer. Happy Gaming!

Significance:This activity will enhance your child’s logical thinking skills.

Sudoku

Things you will need: paper and pencil How to:You will have to write these words down on a piece of paper for your child to do this activity. Here is the list to get you started with the activity: <ol><li>Can you unscramble this word to the vegetable that is round and brown? - TOPOTA</li><li>Can you unscramble this word to the vegetable that is round and red? - MATOTO</li><li>Can you unscramble this word to the vegetable that rabbit likes? - RROTCA</li><li>Can you unscramble this word to the king of fruits? - GOMAN</li><li>Can you unscramble this word to the fruit that is small and green in colour? - PESGRA</li><li>Can you unscramble this word to the thing you eat on a birthday? - KECA</li><li>Can you unscramble this word to the thing you drink in the morning? - LIKM</li><li>Can you unscramble this word to the thing that is small and white in colour? - CERI</li><li>Can you unscramble this word to the fruit that is big, round, and green? - LEMONTERWA</li><li>Can you unscramble this word to the thing that comes in packets? - FERWA</li></ol> You can think of more such words depending on your child's vocabulary. Happy Gaming!

single player activities

Activities are an interesting way to teach important life skills to children. Here are a few suggestions for you.