As children all over Dartmouth head into their sixth week of school closures — which Governor Baker announced on April 21 will continue through the end of the current school year — creativity continues to come out in an online competition started by a group of parents.

Organizer Mary Waite came up with the idea for the “Dartmouth Parents 14.0” Facebook group, of which she is a member, to provide kids with a variety of activities.

The group lists daily challenges online for kids to complete while stuck at home due to the coronavirus pandemic. Last week, kids made silly hats, developed exercise routines, and cooked and served meals to their family members, among other activities.

Waite said that membership of the Facebook group has grown since the start of the competition, as parents are looking for ways to keep their children entertained.

Parents can submit photographs or video to the group (after joining it) or by emailing maryewaite@gmail.com. Guest judges — high school and middle school students who aren’t taking part in the competition themselves — will look over the submissions and choose categories and winners.

Waite came up with the idea for the competition in part from her experience teaching high school and working in curriculum development. 

The activities are designed to be accessible to all ages, and can be done indoors or outdoors. All of them also come with extension resources, like Bill Nye the Science Guy videos, and questions to get the students thinking in depth about each activity.

This week’s challenges included a Marathon Monday/Patriots Day activity in which kids dressed up in red, white and blue and ran laps around the house before trying to estimate how far they ran. Other challenges included an International Day on Tuesday, Wacky Wednesday for kids to dress up in the wackiest outfit they can, and Heroes’ Day on Thursday. The challenge for Friday is to plan something special for the whole family, such as game night, a family walk, or a scavenger hunt.