If your kids are bouncing off the walls already, we’ve got a few ideas

TLDR: Keeping the kids busy during all this time indoors isn’t always easy — so these fun, yet educational options may just be the life-saver you need right now.

When men and women become parents, they don’t usually assume they’ll also need to be a full-time accredited education professional to get their youngster through their primary learning years. However, few of us foresaw anything quite like COVID-19, home sequestration and closed schools either.

With everyone in such close quarters, dumping the kids off in front of the PS4 and opening the floodgates to 12-hour Minecraft marathons is tempting. But eventually, the good parenting guilt is going to catch up with you. Instead, take a look at these four fun yet educational options to keep your kids engaged and learning during all this time inside.

The Complete Coding For Parents and Kids: Build Education Apps in One Course  – $13.99 (Orig $500)

Whether it’s the allure of getting your kids up to speed on essential life skills or just knowing this course will bolster your own programming skills, this jumpstart for first-time coders is a perfect blend of fun and function. With over 150 lessons, the training gently walks parents through the step-by-step process of using both coding abilities and artificial intelligence to create fun, but instructive games for your kids.

Using the Unity and Construct 3 platforms, you’ll assemble educational games that can go a long way to either teaching your child something new or helping them through a particularly tough learning area. The best part is that by cross-developing your apps in Flutter, they can be available in the Apple App Store and Google Play, so your work can also make you some passive income while it’s teaching your kid.

Babbel Language Learning: Lifetime Subscription (All Languages) – $159 (Orig. $399)

Learning a foreign language isn’t just another skill for a kid. We all know kids can soak up another language even faster than adults can, but knowing a foreign tongue also boosts test results in core subjects and even results in more active brains…literally.

With Babbel’s learning system developed by over 100 expert linguists, your child can learn up to 14 different languages at their own pace. With bite-sized 10-15 minute lessons, they can be get good enough to hold down a real conversation in their new language in about a month. Babbel even listens to their verbal skills, using speech recognition technology to help keep pronunciation on point.

DIY Robotic Art Kit for Ages 6 to 9 – $49.95 (Orig. $69)

If you can’t figure out whether to steer your kid toward a STEM career or a future in the arts, this kit for younger kids can feed both passions. The kit includes projects that introduce young creators to the basics of hardcore science and robotics like coding and electronics, but all as a means of constructing fun projects that will capture their attention.

The guidebook and materials lead kids through 10 different experiments creating all sorts of fun stuff like a confetti cannon, a robot-controlled spirograph, motorized color wheels and more. Robotic modules even work with other building systems like LEGO so the experimentation continues, arming kids with the knowledge to build from, no matter where their interests ultimately lie.

CuriosityStream: 2-Yr Subscription – $29.99 (Orig. $40)

Rather than zoning out on cartoons or endless YouTube videos, CuriosityStream is a video streaming option that offers kids an endless stream of quality educational programming. Created by the visionary behind the Discovery Channel, CuriosityStream features over 2,000 documentary features, series and original programs delving into science, nature, history, technology and every other question an inquisitive young mind will be asking.

CuriosityStream is endless content whenever you want it on virtually any screen, from mobile devices to your home TV.

Prices are subject to change