Affirmations are positive statements that can help people feel better when they are having negative thoughts or are feeling negative emotions.

Think about a challenge that you are facing and write down five affirmations (positive statements) that help you to think about this challenge positively. Your statements (or affirmations) can help you stay positive more generally and can be as simple as: 'I can do hard things' or 'I am a good friend'.

You should:

• Write down your affirmations.
• Say your affirmations aloud to yourself or a friend or a family member.

Extension:
Create a poster with your affirmations on to remind you of them regularly.

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Imagine you are a designer for a car company. You have been asked to come up with ideas for a brand new range of cars/vehicles that are environmentally friendly. You should generate ideas and design at least two different types of car (for example, a sports car, pick-up truck, luxury car, convertible, electric car).

You could:

• Draw the different cars, making sure the drawings include specific features
• Label the features of the car
• Highlight what makes these cars better for the environment.

Extension: Write down why you think your designs make great cars – how are they different from what already exists?

Consider this problem: a town has an area of land that is abandoned and is no longer being used for anything. It has become untidy, littered wasteland. You have been chosen to completely change the space and design something that will make the town a better place.

You should:

• Consider the options, come up with three different ideas to solve the problem
• Choose the best option - this should be the one you think the most people will like
• Design the new area, this could be written, drawn, typed.
• Pitch the idea to your friends and family

Extension: Go back to your design, look at the resources that you will need to create it and decide how you can do this in the most environmentally friendly way.

You are the new radio host of the brand new radio show Skills Builder FM. Your role is to host the first session live in front of either family members or friends.

Decide:

• If you would like to host the show with anyone else.
• What the topic of the show is going to be – it can be anything you're interested in, such as sports, fashion, celebrities, news, science, art, a hidden talent... anything!
• If you want any special guests to talk on your show.

Consider:

• How you are going to engage listeners using your tone and expression.

Extension: Ask your listeners for feedback. For example, what did they like about your show? Is there anything you could improve for next time?

It is your 'secret' mission to find out three new facts about a family member or a friend. To do this you will need to listen very carefully and ask open questions to understand what they are saying and find out more.

You should think about:

• who you want to find out more about (it could be more than one person);
• how you can use eye contact and your body language to show you are paying full attention to what they are saying;
• what questions to ask, to show you have understood what they have said or to help you find out more information.

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

Extension: Ask those involved how your careful listening made them feel. Share your thoughts about what you noticed too.

Create a piece of collaborative artwork with members of your family or your friends.

You should:

• Have a group discussion to agree on a form (e.g. sketch, paint, digital art or sculpture)
• Agree on a theme and a design
• Assign each person a different task or piece of the art to complete.
• Finally, work together to make the artwork!

Extension: Work together to present the artwork to anyone who hasn't been involved in designing and creating it.

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Think about something you can do really well. It could be a dance, singing, a sport, storytelling - anything you like. Your task is to teach this talent to a family member or a friend.

To do this, you should:

• consider who you want to learn this talent
• consider how long it will take to teach this talent
• consider if the talent will need to be taught in different stages
• consider what activities will help you to teach the talent

Extension: Ask the person you are teaching for feedback on what you did well and how you could improve your teaching.

Write or draw your dream career in the middle of a piece of paper. Around the writing or drawing, note down everything you need to achieve your dream.

You could include:

• What you will need to learn to have that career
• How you need to behave to succeed in that career
• What different jobs that career might involve

Extension: Write down why this is your dream career and why you think that you would be good at it.