Are you a homeschooler looking for some unique and not too overdone projects? My favourite part about being homeschooled is being able to pick my own projects based on my interests. Here are some unique or fun projects for homeschoolers.
Some of my favourite of the projects are make a shelter in the forest with leaves, start a business, write and record a song, make a funny iMovie and invent a new sport. A lot of the projects on this list use creative skills because I think creativity is one of the most important things for kids and teens to develop.
Homeschooled kids who are older, have the chance to do project based learning, which can be a big part of homeschooling. Plus it is the most fun! Here are some project ideas for your kids.
Make a Shelter in the Forest with leaves
Most kids love learning what to do if they are ever stuck in the forest and need shelter. It is adventurous and fun for them, and could actually help them if they are ever in danger. I’m sure there are some YouTube videos showing how to make a shelter in the forest. Or your kids could get creative and try out different ways to make a shelter and see which one works best. You could also test if it is rainproof by bringing a watering can.
Design an Online Game
Gaming is becoming very popular for teens and kids…well it always has been, but now kids have the chance to create their own games online through certain sites. By designing an online game they will learn how to do a bit of coding, which might be a path of interest for your child career wise. Scratch is a great website for elementary (or older) aged kids to learn the basics of coding through an easy fun way to make games. On the site they can find games that other people have made and sometimes they will teach you how to make it.
Make a Halloween Costume
Making a Halloween costume is a basic project idea with lots of fun and creativity put into it. There are so many incredible and unique homemade costume ideas out there. You could dress up as a family and let your kids choose a theme and sew or cut fabric for their own costumes. (Duck Tape is another very valuable thing when it comes to making Halloween costumes.) You could even involve some lights on the costumes using circuits.
Start a Blog or Website
Starting a blog is a great way to learn about creative, informational and journal styled writing. You kids could start a website or blog about their experiences homeschooling, or make an informational website about something that interests them. Whether your child chooses a subject that they know well or not, it is a good way to do research projects and learn more about it. Blogs and websites are very popular too, they could incorporate a website and business idea by selling homemade things on their website.
Sewing Project
Make a stuffy, a shirt, pants, a hat or a robe. Sewing gives you lots of opportunity to make something, instead of going to buy it from the store. If you need a new article of clothing, why not sew it instead. You can find lots of patterns on the internet, or head over to a fabric store and let your kids pick out their own materials for their project.
Make up a Dance Routine
This is a fun physical activity and creative project that will get your kids moving. It may be better if your child can work on this project with a group, so they have more ideas and learn to work as a team. They can watch some videos, and learn to be in sync with the beat, and to choreograph it. There are endless dance moves to make up.
Cook a Meal
Want a night off cooking dinner? Teach your kids how to cook and then maybe they would cook something of their choice for you! It is very important to know how to cook especially if your kid is interested in it. They could set up restaurant nights and serve their creations to you, and get creative decorating and making the food look visually pleasing. Even if your kids are younger they could still whip up some breakfast
Make Bath Bombs
Why not create some bath bombs as a chemistry project? It is a great science project for older students interested in chemistry. If you can get together the ingredients, your kids can make a hypothesis on the chemical reactions behind bath bombs, them create it and see for themselves whether they were correct. They can try out different types of bath bombs, and you could try different recipes and see what works best.
Garden Math
What can you find in the garden that you could turn into a math project? Probably a lot of things. If you don’t have anything, your kids could grow something first. Two good plants for garden math I can think of are sunflowers and pumpkins. First off grow the plant, then you could get your child to estimate how many seeds there are in each flower, pumpkin or whatever plant. And then, since you have seeds you could help you child bake them and make them edible! So many uses to pumpkins and sunflowers!
Make something with circuits
Circuits is a science aspect that everyone learns at some point in their life. But unlike some other types of sciences, learning about circuits can be super fun with the right projects and equipment. Some ciruit projects include, making a robot, a boat, a car, something with lights, a costume or a music box. Last Christmas, I made a light up christmas sweater that played christmas music when I touched conductive threads together, but I got to decorate it and make it look like a fun sweater for the holiday! (Here is my post about “Making a Christmas sweater with Arduino“.) You could even buy a circuits kit that has tons of different parts used in a circuits.
Plan a Trip
Nowadays it is very common to plan a trip from your computer at home. Most people have done it yet it can be somewhat challenging when you are not used to organizing and managing everything. Planning a trip involves budgeting, using computers, researching, organizing and managing. These skills are important for everyone to have, and they are definitely useful for everyone. It doesn’t have to be a trip that you need to take a plane to get to. Your child could plan a trip that is nearby, maybe just a few hours to drive to. But maybe that area would still be cheaper to fly, so then they would have to compare the cost of flights and the cost of gas. See math is already involved!
Start a Business
One of the many perks of being homeschooled is having time to start your own business. This is a good project for teens who want tof ind a way to make money. I’m pretty sure a lot of homeschoolers have done this, and it is a great way to understand money managing and all the aspects of owning a business. Some business ideas are, make charms and sell them, make stuffies, well pretty much anything you make could be sold, or you could start a baking company or even start something online like a blog, website, or sell things on Etsy. There are endless possibilities for business ideas for teens and even kids.
Make a play
Lights! Camera! Action! Making a play involves a lot of different learning aspects. Your kids will learn about writing a script which involves writing and grammar, different types of characters and parts in a story, and they can do a bit of acting and managing. It doesn’t have to be a big play, but they could do the project with some other homeschool friends to have a few more members and more ideas and help. The play could have a protagonist, antagonist and a narrator, not many characters but a good story line could be built for even just one actor.
Write and Record Song
If one of your kids is into music, a great project for them is to write and record a song. They could look into the different parts in a song, and if it is a song with lyrics they want to write, they look up some rhymes and learn about different types of rhyming. For the recording part, maybe they want to record their vocals, a couple instruments and a beat, in a free online software like garageband.
30 Day Minimalism Challenge
The 30 day minimalism challenge is a great way to clean out your kid’s room and your house. There are different types of 30 day minimalism challenges, and one is where your child packs up every toy and thing in their room besides clothing, and puts it away for 1 month. Over the month they will track what they have missed most out of all their things. Then when the month is up, they will go through their stuff, and anything that they didn’t want during the time it was packed away, they can give away. They could write a paper on what they learned, or you could simply ask them.
Bake and Decorate a Cake
The chemistry behind baking is very interested, and actually baking a cake is the perfect way to learn about it. Let your child pick out a recipe and help you buy the ingredients, they could add up how much it will all cost as a math aspect of the project. Then you can teach them about the chemistry behind baking as they are making the cake. And of course to add an art aspect to the project, do some decorating with icing, fondant or sprinkles.
Make a Map of Trees
Another unique project for homeschoolers is to learn how to identify different types of trees or plants in their area. You can use an identification app or ask around and try to find people who know a lot about trees. Then a project your kids can do is to identify the types of trees in a nearby forest or your backyard. They could pick an area and draw and colour a map of all the trees or plants in that area, and label them. Along with that, they could make a sheet of how to identify the trees and have a few pictures of each type with it.
Paint a Mural
With a couple paint brushes, some paints and maybe a roller, your kid could make a unique masterpiece. A wall might be the hardest thing to find, but maybe you have a place in your house that could be paintable. If not you could always stick to a canvas. I recently did a project like this one, where I got to paint our carport wall and it was a really fun experience. Have you child chose a theme and draw out what they want their mural to look like. They can plan out the design and maybe draw on the wall before they paint. By doing this your child will learn how to scale a drawing and learn about using colours that match.
Do a STEM Project
There are so so many of STEM projects out there. Stem projects are Science, technology, engineering, or math sometimes joined together, normally in a hands on learning project. In a way it is kind of like a science fair project but with technology added in. Here are a couple examples of fun STEM projects you could do; Build a volcano, build a rubber band helicopter, build a pulley machine, growing crystals, making slime, and making a catapult.
Do a Photography Project
Photography is an amazing way to express emotions and feelings. Nowadays everyone takes pictures everywhere, so it wouldn’t hurt for your child to learn about it and how to use a camera. Plus being the photographer of the group is pretty fun. You could do any type of photography picture from nature to indoor portraits. They can learn how to use a camera in manual mode and learn how to adjust focal points when taking a picture.
Daily Doodles
This is a great way for homeschool kids to get creative. Set them up with a notebook for them to draw in once a day, they could have a drawing theme each day, maybe draw a different person everyday or just make some stuff up. After a few months of doing this, put all the pictures together and look at how drawings have changed over the months.
Make a Funny iMovie
Making an iMovie or any type of filming project are super fun for all ages. On the iMovie app though, they have trailer that you can film over, and basically create your own movie trailer with a template. Making trailers are so funny and will lead to a lot of good laughs. Your kids can create their own movie and make the trailer for it. Overall it is pretty simple to do. Some other filming project ideas that I think would be fun for homeschoolers are, they could make their own short movies or make an ad for a product that they love!
Put on a performance
Whether it is a play or a magic performance, this is a great way for kids to present something. Maybe with friends or siblings they can work together to perform something. Someone can adjust the lights, someone can make props, and the others can present their performance.
Invent a New Sport
I feel like every kid has invented a new sport at some point in their life, why not turn it into a project? This type of project is mainly creativity based and it is a lot of fun. The kids will invent it, then get a bunch of other friends to come over and your kids can explain the game to the other kids. Then they can all play together or maybe make a tournament!
Pick Up Garbage use litterati app
It might not sound like that much fun, but with this app it is a great way for kids to learn about the amount and effect of waste in our world. Litterati is an app that people use to take pictures and pick up garbage around their street, and upload the pictures onto the app. Once you have uploaded it you have to put the location and type of garbage on the app. Then you can track and see what types of garbage are found all over the world.
Go Shopping
Yes, going shopping counts as a project when you are homeschooled! Your kids could make a list of everything they would like to eat over the week, and then in the store add up the costs of everything, before going to the checkout. They could also estimate how much it will cost and do multiplication depending on how many of each fruit you buy.