Activities and Ideas for all Ages
For Reception, Y1 and Y2 children
When the weather is good, try to make the learning outside as much as possible.
This video Sunflower House by Eve Bunting is great for inspiring you to spend time in the garden.
Maths: explore seeds, count them, sort them into different types. If you haven’t got seeds at home, take a walk in the woods, you will find seeds there.
Science: plant the seeds, talk about what conditions plants need to grow and take a look at Sanctuary Farm page where they are exploring seeds. Talk about maybe planting your own sunflower house.
Art : listen to the story. Draw a large yellow circle about 10cm across (diameter: so this could be a good maths challenge..you could then look at the radius : half the diameter!) and get your child to colour the circle in as many shades of yellow as they can. Then get them to draw individual petals to go round the flower. Make these large enough that you can write two or three letters on them. These can then be used to explore phonemes. Write different phonemes on the words depending on what your school says they need to focus on, then over the next week you can make up different words with the phonemes (unit of sound remember e.g. sh, th, ee, ck, a, p, etc.)
Now go outside if you have space, or into the woods and make your own shelter or house. Read a story in there if you can.
Now, have your child respond in writing however they want. They could: write a story about making a special shelter, a poem about a sunflower, instructions of how to build a shelter etc.
Museums and galleries
The British Library has recently launched a new section of their website called ‘Discovering Children’s Books’ and it is full of excellent resources. Have a look around here.
Hello Giggles has a list of 123 famous museums with virtual tours. Check it out here.
The Wind in the Willows production has been filmed and can be streamed here.
Artist in residence drawing sessions at the Kennedy centre are available here.
Draw alongside illustrators here.
Kew Gardens have some wonderful learning resources here.
Blogs to visit
Imaginate Blog: A curated list of inspirations for children of all ages here.
A Focus on Film Making
Filmmaking resources designed by Tom Barrance can be found here.
Free MOOC course from BFI and Futurelearn (approx. 4 hours study time a week) is available here.
The Film Space has also announced free resources, take a look here.
And the old UK Film Education site is free.
Into Film have launched a film making competition here.
Stories2Connect Narrated animations of stories created by, with and for young people with disabilities and/or other disadvantage. You can also view them on YouTube here.
Writing with Children
This flier provides lots of ideas on creating a conducive environment for writing with children at home, created by Literacy for Pleasure founders Ross Young and Felicity Ferguson.
Response to the National Literacy Trust’s survey of children’s writing under lockdown
