5 creative ideas for distance learning early finishers during virtual learning, remote learning, blended learning and hybrid learning

What do you do when your students have finished their distance learning tasks? Remote learning can be challenging as you try to ensure all your students are learning, progressing and occupied. It can be difficult to find suitable and fun virtual learning activities to issue as extension work for your early finishers. In this article, you will find 5 ideas for your early finishers during distance, hybrid or blended learning classroom; you can also watch the video below!

Distance learning is challenging enough without adding extra unnecessary pressure and stress to students. If your students are completing their work well, then great, why not let them have some free time to unwind! However, if you find your hybrid or blended learning students are keen to have more structure and direction in their virtual learning, then check out some of the following sites below:

Here are 5 options you can give early finisher students during distance learning:​

1. Web-Decks.com - digital colouring pages on any screen
Teachers have always loved to issue colouring activities during downtime or as extension work for early finishers, as it is a calming and creative task for students. But what about your early finishers during distance learning? Fortunately you can assign digital colouring pages for your students too at
web-decks.com! The web-deck colouring pages are the exact same experience as colouring physically, and they work on any device with a finger or pen. So if you want to offer your hybrid early finishers colouring options without the worries of printing and needing resources, then this option is for you.
​You can also get 1 week free with a monthly or annual membership to web-decks.com!

2. VirtualVacation.us - travel the world from your couch
​This free site is wonderful for extension work for your virtual early finishers! It allows your remote students to take a virtual tour of various cities around the world. This is especially wonderful right now as travel is limited, and this enables all students to widen their horizons and experience cities around the globe. There are walking tours, driving tours, airplane tours and even a city guesser game! Your early finishers will enjoy taking a virtual vacation once they have finished all their distance learning tasks.

3. Radio.Garden - listen to any radio station around the world
Ever wanted to listen to any radio station around the world? Well now you can! This is such an incredible free tool - you can spin around the globe and listen to the radio stations from any country. What a wonderful way to use extension work for your distance learning students to widen their horizons. They can find the most remote places on earth and listen to the radio there, or countries they have visited or wish to visit. A fun activity would be to ask your remote learning students to compare the differences in the type of music or advertisements that they hear on radio stations!

4. FreeRice.com - answer questions and help donate rice
This free site is an educational trivia game with a humanitarian twist! Every time students get a correct answer to a question, they are helping to donate rice for people in need around the world. “100% of all funds generated on FreeRice go to the World Food Programme. They are the world’s largest humanitarian organization, delivering life-saving food assistance in emergencies and working with vulnerable communities to improve nutrition and build resilience.” So by encouraging your distance learning early finishers to play educational games on FreeRice, they can feel empowered knowing that they are helping feed hungry people. What a wonderful way to give back while learning!

5. DuoLingo.com - a gamified way to learn a language 
​This is a fantastic free tool to use as early finishers work for your virtual learning students, to help them learn a new language! It gamifies learning a new language and encourages students to maintain their streak by practising every day. If they decide to make a profile, they can earn “lingos” which they can spend in store, and keep a record of their progress in all the languages they want to learn. They can even send invites to friends and have a group leaderboard. This site does a great job at gamifying learning a language!

To conclude:

Distance learning and blended learning can certainly be a challenge. You may be struggling managing a group of students who are working at very different paces: some might be barely completing any assignments while others race ahead and finish work early. It is helpful to have an arsenal of fun and engaging websites to keep on hand as extension tasks for you to assign your virtual learning early finisher students. I hope you find these sites helpful!

​Try digital colouring pages for free:

​If you want to try out digital colouring pages to see how they work, as they are quite a new thing, then if you sign up with web-decks.com today, you can get one week for free!

​There are different options for you depending on how many students you have, but your virtual, hybrid and face to face students can choose whichever colouring pages they like, or you can assign ones you would like them to use. Oh, and there are way more than just digital colouring page decks for your students on that site too, check web-decks out here!