Skills Challenges

Imagine you own a pet.

What animal is the pet?

What would it take to look after this pet?

What challenges might you face, when looking after this pet?

Write a guide to looking after your imaginary pet.

Find a friend or family member to play The Story Game.

Take it in turns to say one sentence at a time, to build up a narrative.

Use linking words such as 'then' and 'next' to connect your ideas.

Did the story end up as you expected?
What was most surprising or funny about the story?

Interview a friend or family member about their job.

What is their job title?
Where do they work?
What tasks do they do at work?
What other things are you curious to learn about their job?

Hold a Sports Day at home.

Make two teams and create different events.

You could try an egg and spoon race, a pillowcase sack race.

Cheer each other on and celebrate everyone's successes.

Each evening for the next week, consider how you have felt throughout the day. Share your thoughts with someone in your household.

Was it easy to explain your feelings to them?  How could you have explained it differently?  How did the other person react?

Reflect on an area you would like to get better at.

What can you already do well? What could you improve on?

Think of three things you could do in the next week to begin feeling more confident in this area.

To cheer someone up and to let them know you are thinking about them, send them a handwritten note or card.

You could include a picture you've drawn, a poem you've written or a story you could share.

Imagine the floor in your home has turned to jelly. How would this change the way you lived there?

Extension: design a gadget that would help you to live in a jelly home!

Consider this challenge: a charity wishes to organise a 'fun run' in your local area.

The course must be accessible to people of all ages and abilities. Draw different routes your 'fun run' could take.

Which one would be best so that everyone could be involved?

Imagine you are giving a presentation about your favourite music artist.

Who are they? What style of music do they create? Why do you like them more than other artists?

Talk about your favourite artist to a friend or family member.

Watch or listen to a news broadcast.

What is the news story about? Who is involved? What might happen next in this story?

Discuss the news story with a friend or family member. What do they think about it?

Work with your family to either play a well known piece of music or create your own brand new piece of music together.

You could use your voices, household objects, or real instruments if you have them to help you make your music.

Make decisions so that everyone knows what is going on and can be involved.

Practise before performing together.

Talk to to your family.  Find out about the things they feel they are good at (their strengths).

Create a picture together of your family which shows everyone and their strengths.  

Talk about the things that you all find more difficult (weaknesses).  

How might you help each other to feel more confident with these?

Think about something you would really like to be able to do.  It might be to learn a new skill, visit a new place, learn a new language or reach a fitness goal.

Carry out research to find out as much as you can about the thing you would like to be able to do.

You could talk to other people about your ideas to find out more, read about it and plan how you will reach your new goal.

Create a mood board to include words and pictures of things that make you feel positive.

Invite your family to make their own mood board too.

Take it in turns to talk about what you have each included and why these words and pictures make you feel more positive.

A paper clip is a useful item for holding pieces of paper together.

Use your imagination to come up with as many different ideas in 1 minute as you can for what else a paper clip could be used for.  

Make a list or draw your ideas. Challenge your family and friends to do the same.  

Did they come up with the same or different ideas?  

What was the most unusual idea you came up with?  

Can you combine your ideas and come up with even more together?

Consider the problem: you have been asked to design and make bird feeders for your local area, but you can only use recyclable materials as there is no extra money for making them.

Think about different designs for bird feeders and the household items you could reuse to make them.  

Draw 4 or 5 examples you can think of for bird feeders. Label them clearly to show the recyclable materials you would suggest the feeders were made from.  

Share your ideas with your family.  Ask for their feedback on your design ideas.  

Which one do they like best and why? Which one would you like to have a go at making?

Imagine a film (movie) has been made about your family.  

Prepare a 30 second voice over for the trailer to advertise the film.

Think about what you would say to advertise the film and how you would say it clearly.

You might want to record your voice over or perform it 'live' to the rest of your family.  

Challenge other family members to have a go too and then enjoy listening to each others trailers.

Sit or lie very still. Listen.  

Listen to the sounds you can hear around you - indoors, or outdoors, close by or from far away.  

Listen to your own breathing.  Just listen very carefully for as long as you can.

Tell a family member or a friend what you have heard.

Challenge them to listen carefully too and listen carefully as they tell you what they heard.  

Did you hear the same things or different things?

How did you feel as you listened carefully? How did they feel as they listened carefully?

Work together in your family team to build the tallest tower you can.  

You can use anything you like to build your tower safely.

It must be free standing (not leaning against anything or fixed to anything to keep it upright).

You could use blocks, other toys, empty cereal boxes, cushions - anything really!  

Work as a team to try out different ideas and remember to measure your towers.  

What is the tallest tower your famliy team can build together?

Imagine you are your family's fitness coach and you need to lead their next exercise session.  

Plan a short exercise session with those who can join in by asking them what kind of exercises they enjoy or how they would like to improve their fitness.  

As you prepare for the session, think about including exercises you have done before or you might want to get some new ideas from other family members or different fitness websites. Remember to include a warm up and cool down.  Try to include something to stretch or strengthen different parts of the body (for example arms, legs, stomach). Remember to get some music ready that everyone will enjoy listening to as they work out.

Invite your famliy and friends to take part in your fitness session. Lead them through the planned exercises. As their fitness coach - the leader of the session - give your instructions clearly. Show them what to do safely. Encourage them to keep trying and have fun together.

Aim to learn the meaning of a new word every day this week and use the new words when you are talking and writing.

‍Doing this will help you develop a rich and interesting vocabulary.  

Where might you look for the new words?  Who might be able to make suggestions for you to try and include in your spoken and written words?

Challenge your family to do the same. Take a couple of minutes each day to see if you can guess each others new word.  

Make a list or a create a special family dictionary,  adding the new words and their meanings as the week goes on.

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Affirmations are positive statements that can help people to feel happier when they are having negative thoughts and feelings in tough times.  Challenge yourself to come up with 5 positive things (affirmations) you could say to yourself when you do not feel so happy.  

Some examples include: 'I am a friendly kind person.'  'I tell great jokes to cheer others up.' 'I am thoughtful and always remember my friends birthdays.'  

What affirmations would you come up with for other people in your family or your friends?  

Share your ideas and talk about how these might help you all to stay positive.

Think about your favourite book.  What does the front cover of the book look like?

If it is a fiction (story) book, does it show the characters, the setting or give a clue to the plot of the story?  

If it is non fiction book (full of facts) does it show just one image (picture or photograph)or more than one?  What else is on the cover?

Imagine you have been asked to come up with front cover ideas for another edition (printing) of the book.  

How would you redesign your favourite book's cover?

Come up with at least 3 different designs.  

You might want to draw, paint, collage or use technology to help you create different design ideas.

Share your design ideas with your family.  Which one do they like the best and why?  

Challenge them to redesign their favourite book cover too and talk about your designs together.

Think about the problem: a town has an area of land that is not being used for anything.  It has become untidy, littered waste land.  The people of the town want to improve this and make it a useable space. You have been asked to come up with design ideas of how this area of land could be used and improved.  

The people of the town would like it to be a useful, pleasant space for people of all ages to enjoy.

The town has voted to use only recycled materials for any improvements, so you need to make sure your designs are environmentally friendly.

Can you come up with at least 3 different design ideas to solve the problem?  

Label your design drawings to show the recylced materials you have included and other environmentally friendly features. Do you have a favourite design?

Share your design ideas with your family and friends. Which design idea do they like the look and sound of best to solve the problem for the town?

Imagine you are having a special party and you can invite just four very important special guests.

Your special guests could be real people you know, imaginary characters from a book or film,  or historcial figures from the past.

Think about who you would want to be your guests and why.  

Prepare a short speech to explain your thinking.

Ask your family to do the same and then take it in turns to present your speeches, clearly explaining who your special party guests would be and why.

Enjoy finding out who would be at this very special party!

Listen carefully to a song you know well. It might be one of your favourites.  Really concentrate on the lyrics (words).

Ask yourself what the song is about?  Why do you like it? Do the lyrics tell a story? Which words stand out to you and are memorable?  

After you have listened to the song, tell someone else about it. Say why you like it.

Have a go at explaining what you think the song is about.  

Can you summarise it or rephrase it? Maybe you can sing it.

Ask them to tell you about one of their favourite songs too.

Work with your family this week to get any household chores done together.

Draw up a plan of action so that everyone knows what chores they need to do.  

Talk to each other about how you can get your chores done quickly (and well) so that you can then enjoy relaxing together.

Organise a family quiz or games night.

Choose a theme for your quiz or a game your family will enjoy.

Make sure everyone has a job as you get ready for the quiz or game.

You may need someone to set the questions for the quiz, to ask the questions and to keep the scores.

You may want someone to set the game up, explain the rules to everyone - and remember someone will  need to sort out drinks and snacks!  

As a leader think about everyone's strengths - what job would they be best at to help you set up and run the quiz or game so that you all have fun?

Take a moment. Pause. Think of all the many things you can do. What do you find easy? What do you find more difficult?

You may want to write or draw as you think.

What else would you like to be able to do? Learn a new language, run faster, get more sleep, solve a crossword puzzle in record time, juggle?

What can you do in the next few weeks to work towards your goal?

Share your ideas with someone else - they might be able to help you achieve your goal.

Take 5 minutes for this calming activity today:

Step 1: Find a quiet space where you can look out of the window.

Step 2: Look at everything there is to see - try to notice the colours, the patterns, the textures.

Step 3: Pay attention to any movements such as traffic passing by, people walking or running by, raindrops falling or leaves blowing around in the breeze.

Step 4: Notice the many different shapes you can see from where you sit quietly.

Step 5: If you become distracted, gently bring your thoughts back to what you can see through the window.

Ask a family member or friend to try this calming activity too. Afterwards, talk about how it made you feel.

Imagine you are a designer for a greetings card company. You have been asked to come up with ideas for a brand new range of cards.

Design 3 different types of cards for different occasions that are important to you and your family.

You might want to draw or make the card to show your favourite ideas.

Ask a family member which card they like best and why.

You could challenge them to come up with ideas for your new range of cards too.

Consider the problem: a local charity wishes to organise a 'fun run' in your local area which people of all ages can join in.

The course should be approximately 5 kilometres in length and must be accessible to people of all ages to either run, walk, wheelchair, skip, scoot etc.

Draw different routes your 'fun run' could take.

Which one would be best so that everyone could be involved?

How could you make sure everyone was safe on the route?

Challenge your family to follow your route with you.

You have been challenged to tell a group of people up to 5 'fascinating facts' about yourself.

Think about what they already know. What might you share with them which will be new and interesting?

Prepare a short speech to share in person or by recording.

Encourage other family members to have a go to and ask each other questions about the fascinating facts.

Think of someone in your family who has a talent that you admire.

It could be they are great at baking delicious cakes, or they seem to have green fingers and their plants always grow really well. They may know lots of card tricks or they have fun ideas of things do on rainy days.

Ask them to help you learn something they know - to share their talent with you.

Listen carefully as they explain and ask questions to help you understand more.

Plan a special family meal to have at home. Talk together to decide about what you are going to cook and when.

Share jobs out between you. Someone might want to take responsibility for making sure you have the ingredients, someone might be able to lead on making the food, setting the table, even making menus.

Enjoy celebrating your great teamwork by enjoying the meal together.

Think of someone you know who you think is good at something - it could be cooking delicious meals, being a helpful friend, making you smile - anything you think they are good at.  

Draw them a picture, make them a card, send them a message or give them a call to let them know you think they are great at whatever it is you have thought of.

Let them know you recognise their strength.

Consider a goal that you would like to achieve in the next few weeks or months of the year. What are the steps your will need to take to reach your goal?

Draw these as stepping stones and write down 3 actions you should take to help your reach your goal.  

Share your drawing with a family member and talk about what you are going to do.  

They may have some great ideas and encouragement to help you.

When inventing the lightbulb Thomas Edison tried and failed many times. He is quoted as saying, ‘I have not failed. I have just found 10,000 ways that do not work’.

Talk to a family member about this quote.  

Share your feelings about a time when you have experienced a sense of failure and how you kept going.

Take a look at a map of the world. Choose a country that interests you. Find out about the food of that country.  

Imagine you have been asked to design a menu which includes food from that country.  

Which foods might you include on that menu?  

How many different ideas can you come up with?

Create an example menu and include pictures of the dishes to show your family.

You may want to challenge them to choose another country and do the same.

Consider the problem: You need to pack as many things as you can into a container, such as a shoe box, a suitcase or another container of some kind.

How will you go about this?

Try different arrangements to see the maximum number of items you can get into the container space.

You might want to challenge a family member to to see if they can match or better your total.

Make the challenge harder by making it so some irregular shaped items have to be included.

Imagine you have been asked to speak on a podcast about things to do in your local area.

‍Prepare a short speech detailing all the things you enjoy doing in your community.

Practise what you will say and then you could record your presentation to share afterwards or do a live performance!

Invite your 'Listeners' to ask you questions about your speech.

Make it your mission to listen carefully all day today.

You could listen to a story, a podcast, the lyrics of a song, a news report on the TV or radio or a conversation.

Choose one thing you have listened carefully to and tell someone else about it, making sure you include the important information.

Think about what you would like to achieve in the coming weeks and months.

Maybe you could try a new activity or learn something new.

Talk to someone about what you hope to achieve and begin to plan how you can reach that goal.

Think about what will success look like and how you feel when you achieve your goal.

Create a simple collage of images that make you feel calm.

You can use photos, images from magazines or draw pictures.

Share your calm collage with your family and friends.

Tell them why you chose each of the images.

Does it make them feel calm too?

When you are out in the garden, at the park, woods or the seaside with your family, work together to create a piece of natural art.

‍Encourage everyone to join in and decide together where to make the art, what to use and what it will look like.

Work as a team to gather natural resources such as sticks, leaves, stones or shells to create your art.

Can you share ideas and come to an agreement about the design?

Can you help each other creating it?

Plan a picnic for all of the family to enjoy - it could be at home or out and about.

What do you need to prepare beforehand?

Can you share out the jobs that need to be done with others in your household and let everyone know their role and responsibility?

Think about who would be best at which jobs and why.

Design a new item of clothing that could be worn whatever the weather.

Think about how it could be adapted to keep you warm and dry if needed on colder, wetter days, or cool and comfortable when it is hot outside.

Consider the problem: A family have planned to have a picnic in the park today but the forecast shows there will be heavy rain.

‍They have all the picnic food ready and are really looking forward it, but don't want to get soaking wet!

Can you come up with three different solutions to help them to solve the problem.

You could draw, write or talk about your ideas.

Which solution do you think is the best and why?

Challenge yourself to give someone in your household clear directions to get to a local place, maybe a relative or friend's house, the park, library or a shop.  

They will need to listen carefully and follow your directions as you travel with them.  

Think about the order you are giving the instructions and speak clearly so that you and they can arrive together safely at your destination.

What happens if the directions you are sharing get jumbled up?

With a member of your household, each make a decision to listen very carefully to a different TV programme, radio show, podcast or similar.

‍Think about what you will need to do to really listen so that you are able to summarise and tell others what you've heard.

What is the most important information you will need to share with them?

Then listen to their summary of what they have listened too.

Can you identify from what you've heard what the most important parts were?

Create an outdoor challenge for your family or friends in a garden or local park.

‍You could set up an obstacle course, a circuits workout or plan a running route.

Explain the rules clearly and set everyone, including yourself, a target or goal to achieve.

Encourage others to have a go and to aim high!

Create a happy list. Spend just 5 minutes writing down as many things as you can that make you smile and feel good when you think of them.

This could be anything from your favourite food, music or place to visit, a special family member or pet, or watching your favourite footballer score a goal!

Discuss your list with others in your household. What would they put on their happy list?

As a household discuss the chores that need to be done this week.  

As a team make sure everyone has a task they can help with.  

Then crack on and do your job!

Celebrate as a team together when all the chores are done by doing something fun together.

Consider who you think of as a good leader - it could be a friend, a family member, someone in your community or someone you have seen on television or read about.

‍What strengths do you consider they have?

Ask family and trusted friends who they think of as a good leader.  

Listen carefully to the way they speak about the person they have chosen.

What strengths do they mention this admired leader has?  

Now think about whether you have any of the same strengths?

Imagine the local council have asked you to design a poster to attract tourists to your local area.

What would you include in the design?

Consider images of local landmarks you might use and plan some alternative designs.

Share your initial ideas with members of your household and discuss which is the strongest design to develop further.

Consider the problem: You are stranded on a desert island and you find a pile of wood.

What do you use the wood for and why?

Think through the different options and consider the pros and cons of each idea.

Talk to others at home about what they would do with the wood and why.

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Write a persuasive speech about an issue you feel passionately about and deliver the speech to members of your family.

You might first research other well known speeches for inspiration, for example, one of Greta Thunberg's speeches on climate change.

Think carefully about how you use tone, body language and gesture to engage the listener and how you communicate the issue effectively and persuasively.

Think of a person you admire who speaks out on issues that matter to them and search online for a speech or interview they have made to persuade others.

‍For example, it could be Emma Watson speaking about gender issues or Marcus Rashford speaking about child poverty.

Listen carefully to their speech or interview, and observe how they use tone, body language and specific wording to persuade the listener.

Extension: Summarise the key points of the speech.

At the start of the week, get together with everyone at home to share ideas for challenges you can all take part in.

You could try a new food, reduce your screen time, work to improve your personal best in a game, recycle instead of buying something new, start a new book, or try a new craft.

Choose challenges for each other that will stretch - but not be so hard you stand no chance of succeeding.

Sit quietly for 5 minutes to think and make a list of all the things you can do that make you feel happy and positive, even if something has gone wrong.

Share your list with others in your household.  

You may have ideas that would help and support them in difficult times.

Work together to create a story.

‍You need to come to a group decision on what the theme of the story will be and choose one person to write or tell everyone how the story begins.

Take in turns to then add to the story, building on each others' ideas.

Keep it positive and encourage everyone to contribute and have fun!

Organise an outdoor game that everyone in your household can take part in.

Ask all members of the household to contribute their ideas of what to play, where and when.

It could be hide and seek in the garden, football in the park or rounders in a field.

Support everyone to reach a group decision that you are all happy with and organise what you need for the game.

Design a new protective face mask for young teenagers.

Think about the shape, the attachments, materials and the theme for the mask.

It needs to be effective at protecting against Covid 19, but also appealing to wear.

Develop a range of different ideas and then work with a family member to choose one design to draw up and label in more detail.

Consider the problem: Too many cars on the road can cause air pollution.

Discuss this issue with a member of your household.

What different solutions can you think of to address this problem where you live?

Write down or talk about your ideas.

Extension: Discuss the pros and cons of your different solutions.

Prepare a short presentation for your family about your favourite season.

‍This could be delivered as a poem, or with accompanying drawings or photos.

Talk about how the season makes you feel and what you enjoy most about this particular time of the year.

Ask a family member which is their favourite season and why.

Listen carefully to their answer and summarise what they have told you, asking any questions to further your understanding.

Set yourself a challenge for the coming weeks.

It could be to create and stick to a new revision plan for your school work, to set a new target for a hobby or activity or to teach yourself a new skill.

Be clear about what you want to achieve and by when.

Do something nice for someone else today.

It could be a simple thing like clearing the table after dinner, reading a younger sibling a story or offering to sort the recycling.

How does this good deed make the other person feel?

Organise a family photo shoot.

Talk to members of your household to decide when and where you will take the photos, which of you will be the photographer and if there is a special theme for the photo shoot.

Encourage everyone to join in (perhaps including pets) and share the photos with your family afterwards.

Organise a fun activity for your household for the weekend.

‍Encourage everyone to come up with different ideas for the activity and when it might take place.

It could be anything you all enjoy, from a pizza night to a walk to your favourite park, but everyone needs to take part.

You might need to organise a vote to decide. Manage disagreements carefully and most importantly, have fun!

Extension: Consider what resources you might need to organise in advance of the activity.

Look around the room you are in.  

Choose an object.  

Take 2 minutes to think about how that object could be improved.  

What would you change?

Add to it? Take away from it?

Challenge someone else in your household to do the same.  

Did they come up with the same ideas or totally different ideas?

Consider the problem: Many people are concerned about the amount of plastic littering the streets, parks, rivers and beaches.

Some florists are now wrapping flowers in recycled paper rather than cellophane, and some drinks companies have switched from plastic to card drinks containers.

Have a look around your home - see how many alternative ideas you an come up with to use something other than plastic.

Share your ideas with your family - can they think of other ideas too?

Imagine you are providing the voice over for a documentary about life in your household.

‍Go from room to room and talk about who and what is in the room as if you were the narrator of a television programme.

You might be able to record your ideas and play it back to your family to make them smile.

Listen to a weather report on the radio or TV.

Listen carefully to the forecast for today and for the days and week ahead.

Summarise what you heard and share with members of your household, so they can plan ahead and dress appropriately for the weather.

Think of something that happens many times during the day in your household - like boiling the kettle to make a hot drink, or opening the fridge door.

‍Each time it happens, challenge yourself to have what has become known as an 'exercise snack'.  

Do a quick exercise like 10 star jumps or sit ups - whatever you fancy.  The idea is to get your body moving.

Set yourself a goal of having maybe 3 exercise snacks in the day.  

Extension: Can you keep this going for a week or longer? Could you ask others to join you in your 'exercise snacking'?

At the end of the day ask yourself - have I felt more positive or more negative today?  

Share your thoughts with someone in your household.  

Ask them how they have felt too?

Can you come up with a plan of action for tomorrow so you both can stay positive together?

You might plan to do some exercise, make a nice meal together or arrange a family film night.

Work with members of your household to create a short dance routine, perhaps inspired by a dance on TikTok.

‍As a group, decide on the music and work together to choreograph a set of dance moves.

Extension: Record a video of your dance to share with other family and friends and encourage them to join in too.

Organise a paper plane competition with your family.

Give everyone paper and pens and show them how to fold the piece of paper to make a simple paper plane (you might need to research a simple design).

Come to a group decision on where to play the game and what the rules will be.

Take it in turns to throw the planes as far as you can.

Who can get the furthest?

Think of a favourite story, film or TV programme you have enjoyed recently with a family member.  

Can you create another character who would fit into the story.  

Write, draw or tell the person/people you watched it with about your ideas.

Consider the problem: Many people all over the world have needed and continue to need to wear a face mask to help reduce the spread of Covid-19.  

People are dropping and losing these masks everyday both outdoors and in their own homes, meaning they can't find a mask when they need one.  

Can you think of ways to prevent masks getting lost?

Imagine you are meeting a small group of people for the first time and you have been asked to introduce yourself in just 30 seconds.

Think carefully about what you might say?

How you might say it.

Practice in front of the mirror or with a member of your household.

What tone of voice will you use?

What might your facial expression be?

Are there any appropriate gestures you might make as you speak?

Throughout the day make it your 'secret' mission to show the people around you that you are really listening to them.

‍Think about how you can use eye contact and your body language to show you are paying full attention to what they are saying.

What questions can you ask to show you have understood what they have said or that you wish to find out more?

At the end of the day talk with them about your mission - did they notice you were listening carefully to them?  

How did your careful listening make them feel?

Share your thoughts about what you noticed too.

When spring is in the air...it's a great time of year to think of the future.  

What would you like to achieve in the coming months?

Write down a goal you have and begin to plan how you can reach that goal.  

Think about what will success look like?

How will you feel when you reach that goal?

What will you need to do to be successful?

Who might be able to help you?

Take some time to walk with a member of your household and talk about a time when something has gone wrong for you.

‍Share your thoughts about what happened and how you can prevent the same thing happening again.

Organise a time when you and your household can get together and focus on a jigsaw puzzle, a board or card game.

Decide which game you will play and when.

Make sure you are all there on time when you have arranged to play.

Extension: Encourage all family members to join in and look for ways to avoid any unhelpful conflicts.

Invite everyone in your household to make a suggestion for an activity you can all do together indoors or outdoors.  

Can you manage the discussion so that everyone gets a chance to share their ideas and opinions in a fair way and come up with a way of making a group decision together?

Think about where you would like to be in 10 years time.  

What would you like to be doing?

Imagine different scenarios and share your ideas with members of your household?  

You could write or draw about what you imagine to help you share these ideas.  

Extension: Can you encourage a friend or family member to do the same.

Are your ideas similar or totally different?

Consider the problem:  Sometimes, some people can find themselves struggling to get enough sleep.  

It might be because they are super busy or because they are worried about something.  

It might even be because they are actually over tired.  

With a family member see if you can come up with as many different ideas which might be useful to help someone who is feeling very tired at the moment, then chose your top three tips for a good night's sleep.

Tell a friend/family member/teacher what what you have been doing today.

Make sure you go through your day's activities in a logical order so they can understand when you did each thing.  

They may want to ask you some questions to find out more - can you give more detail?

Extension: Can you deliver this information as a formal presentation using visual aids to engage the listener?

Sit or lie very still. Listen to the sounds you can hear indoors, or outdoors.  

Listen to the noises you can hear close by and far away.  

Listen to your own breathing.  

Just listen very carefully for as long as you can.  

Ask a family member to join you to listen carefully too.

Tell each other what you can hear.

At home and school, you will encounter challenges as you learn.  What are your top tips for having a positive approach to new challenges?  

Can you think of a great way to share these ideas with others?

Set yourself some simple goals to challenge yourself and aim high.

Try this mindfulness activity. Choose a natural object - a flower, plant or tree.

‍Take some slow deep breaths and really look at the object.

Explore every detail like you've never seen it before and feel yourself relax as you do so. Concentrate on this object for as long as you can.  

Ask a family member to join you for this mindfulness exercise.

Plan an indoor picnic.

‍Work with members of your household to decide when and where you will have the picnic, what food you will need to prepare and what you will sit on.

Make sure everyone has a job as you prepare for the picnic.

Enjoy your picnic together!

Organise a family nature hunt.

Work together to decide on 5 different types of wildlife or nature you would like to look out for in a garden, local field or park and see how many of them you can spot.

Think about what you need to organise and who should do which job - someone could create a spotters chart, someone arrange the route, someone else can get some snacks to take.

Look up at the sky.

‍Can you see any birds or planes?

Imagine you can fly. Where would you go and who would you meet?

Ask members of your family where in the world they would fly if they could.

Have a go at designing and drawing a new type (mode) of transport you could use to fly through the sky.

Consider the problem: While in lockdown there are concerns that many of us are spending too much time looking at screens on electronic devices like phones, laptops and televisions.

Think of different solutions to this problem. What might you do to reduce your screen time?

Explain the problem to someone else and see if together you can come up with lots of different ideas of how to reduce the time spent on an electronic device.

Imagine you are the prime minister and are going to deliver a speech at a press conference about schools reopening after a closure.

What would you say? Think carefully about making your points in a logical order and being clear so your audience will understand your message.

Challenge your family to do the same - would you all say something similar?

Call a friend or family member and ask them how they are doing.  

Ask them about any books they have read recently or television programmes they have been watching.

Really listen to their answers and ask some follow up questions to show you are interested and understand what they say.

This week, set yourself a new challenge.

It might be to learn the rules of a new game, learn how to play a new piece of music, get up (or go to bed) earlier, start a new book by an author you've never read before, reduce your screen time or something else totally different and new!

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