Keeping them busy all day

Just before Ramadan, during a phone call with a sister with whom I had not spoken in a long time, the topic of keeping home educated children busy came up. The sister commented that when home education is going well the children should be busy all day long. I do agree with this. I don't think this means their every last second has to be planned and organised for them, I don't think that is what the other sister meant either, but it means that most of the day should be spent in useful, meaningful and stimulating activities. That could mean all sorts of things, from structured academic work, sports or outdoor play, the children's own projects. But it shouldn't be the same old every day.
What is the ideal? A household where the children dutifully complete their textbook type work in the mornings, then go off and do chemistry experiments, make model battery powered vehicles, produce beautiful pieces of artwork. All busy, busy with amazing projects and not a computer screen in sight (unless it goes with a computer they built themselves of course.)
If those households exist, I congratulate them.
As for the house of Always Learning.... Well, I do try. I really want them to be busy all day long. I'm certainly busy all day long. I really don't like to see any child waiting around for what to do next, or drifting off and messing about. If they go off and do something else productive, that is fine. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't.
I'm frustratingly slow in the mornings. The first hour after waking is very non-productive for me. My brain does not seem ready to go. In Ramadan we get up later, having gone back to sleep after Fajr. Alhamdulillah, my energy levels rise throughout the day of fasting, so I try to make up for lost time in the afternoon. However I should be doing more to keep everyone productive. (Don't worry, I think imaginative play for under sevens is very productive.)
This morning Ia wanted to make a playground model. (Kitchen foil type box supported by toilet roll tubes for the slide, roundabout from half a toilet roll tube supporting a disc of card with a lolly stick through it. etc) Then I got her through some workbooks before the boys got up. And so it goes on, throughout the day, completing the lists. Now it is shortly before Iftar time and Ia still needs to do her reading. The other evening she read to J, while I was praying, maashAllah.
And today everyone has got sweets as Ia, R and J all memorised a surah they had not known before. Alhamdulillah. R and J have not had their sweets yet, they have managed to keep most of the fasts so far, alhamdulillah.