A few of us on the Lone Cone team have kids at home and have found ourselves trying to find balance between working from home and suddenly homeschooling our kiddos. We realized that we needed some ideas that allow our kids some independent play and learning throughout the day. We all need to stay sane during these times, and giving each other a little freedom has to be a good thing! Below is a list of ten ideas we came up with for independent play. Feel free to share and comment with any ideas you’ve seen or tried! We’re all in this together (virtual hugs).

1. If your kids love Mo Willems books they will LOVE this. He's doing daily lunch drawing sessions for all the kids stuck at home right now.

2. Get them active with GoNoodle! A lot of elementary schools incorporate GoNoodle into classrooms and curriculum - so this is a great one to do while school's out. Might help bring a little bit of school fun home for your kiddos!

3. Let them hold their own Science Fair! With all the ideas on Science Buddies, your kids are sure to come up with something interesting!

4. This is a full list of children's authors who have been creating virtual story times and educational guides! From Pete the Cat readings to a Harry Potter discussion guide.

5. Rock painting - this started as a kindness project so it’s a great project with everything going on. Let the kids find their own rocks and hand them some paint in the backyard to keep your house mess-free. You can paint them now and have them ready to spread the kindness later this year.

6. Legos offer countless hours of fun for kids of any age. Check out this video with 50 different ways to play with legos that will spark your kids creativity!

7. Let THEM make a backyard obstacle course and then time each other doing it!

8. If you’re looking for some help with common core, look no further! Commoncoresheets.com has plenty of printable worksheets to help keep your kids on track.

9. Being an outdoor company we just love this printable booklet for Bryce Canyon Country. It’s got beautiful National and State Park coloring pages, a crossword puzzle, word search and ideas for creating hoodoos right at home!

10. And if all else fails give them a shipping box and some crayons, colored paper and glue! See what they come up with – a rocket ship, race car, or maybe a nice spot to take a nap :)