Ask a family member to read you a new story (or one you have not read for quite some time). Close your eyes as they read, then draw a picture of what is happening in the story.

How can you tell what the characters look like and what happens to them?
What type of details are you listening for?

Ask a family member to read you their favourite story.
As you listen, think about what is happening in the story.
Who are the characters?
What do you think might happen next?

Go into different rooms in your house.
What sounds can you hear?
How do these sounds make you feel?
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Extension:
What conversations can you hear?
Can you summarise what was said?

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?

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?

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?

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.

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.

Think of a day, event or activity that you really enjoyed. Close your eyes and describe this day to a member of your family. Ask them to draw what they think it looked like.

How accurate is their drawing?
What else could you tell them to help them improve their drawing?

Create a sock puppet, using an old sock and spare buttons.
Tell a story using your puppet.
What voice might the puppet have?
What sort of story might they tell?

Talk to a friend or family member about your favourite fictional character.
Describe the character's appearance and personality.
Explain why you like them.
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Extension:
If you lived as this character for a day, how would you spend the time?

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?

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.

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.

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!

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.

Consider the problem: do we need to throw away old or broken things?

With the help of a family member pick an old or broken item in your house. Should you throw it away or can you fix or re-purpose it?

Try to come up with a few different ideas of different ways you could use this item. What other equipment or resources might you need?

Which idea is the best? Why is this? If you can, pick an idea and make it.

Consider the problem: some people don't put their litter in the bin or recycling.
With the help of an adult, go on a litter picking trail in your local area.
How is this helping to solve the problem?
How can you do your litter picking safely?

Go on a Shape Hunt.
How many different shapes can you spot in your house?
Record examples of the same shape in different places. For example, a rectangular door and a rectangular window.
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Extension:
What problems would emerge if every shape in your house was the same? For example, circular doors, walls and windows?

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.

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?

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?

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?

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.

Create a dance routine for you and your family.

Think about what music you will use, will it be fast or slow? What dance moves do you know? Can you ask another family member to show you some of their best dance moves?

If you can, perform the dance routine together in front of some friends.

Design a comic book, where the characters are members of your family.
What could happen in the story?
How might the characters interact with each other?
Share the comic with your family and ask them what they enjoyed about it.

Make a musical instrument using items in your kitchen.
Can you create different rhythms using your musical instrument?
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Extension:
Decorate your musical instrument.

Create a piece of artwork using items from nature.

For example, you could find fallen leaves, twigs or pine cones in a local park.

Extension: before you stick anything down, arrange the nature items in different ways.
How many different pieces of artwork can you make from the same set of items?

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!

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?

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.

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.

Think of an activity, task or situation that you find challenging.

What would success look like for you in this situation?

Draw how your success would look (or write it down).

What steps could you take to make this success real?

Design a 'safe space' in your house.
This can be somewhere you go if you need to let out your emotions and calm yourself down.
Fill the space with positive phrases and objects that make you feel happy.
How will this space help you when you need to stay positive?

Create a Positivity Jar.

Save an empty jar.
Fill it with 'happy notes' and messages.

People in your household can take a message from the jar when they are facing a setback.

Create a list of daily affirmations.

For example, 'I can be whatever I want to be' or 'I am getting better and better every day'.

Display the affirmations in your bedroom, to wake up feeling positive each day.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Think about three things you have achieved this year.

What did you do to make sure you were successful? Is there anything you could have done differently?

Can you build on these successes in 2023? How will you do this?

Physical Challenge

How many times can you catch a ball in 60 seconds?
Can you beat this score tomorrow?
What will your score be by the end of the week?

Extension: Think of another area where you could improve your skills each day for the next week.

Dictionary Challenge!

For the next week, find the meaning of a new word each day.
Try to use the word in at least 3 sentences throughout the day.

Extension: are there any other learning areas you could practise daily?

What do you want to be when you are older?

Perhaps you have a dream job, or an industry you would love to work in.

Research to find out more information about routes into this career and what is involved day-to-day.

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.

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.

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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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.

Invite everyone in your household to make a suggestion for a meal to cook one evening this week.

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?

Extension: Can you organise who will do what task to make the meal a success?

Think of a job in your house or garden that needs doing (maybe cleaning up leaves or tidying a room).

Write down the different tasks that need to be done to complete this job.
Now assign each of these tasks to a person in your house.
Explain to each person why you have given them that job.

Does dividing up a job into smaller tasks make it easier for people to work together?  Do you think each person will do their task? What might happen if they don't?

Think of a friend or family member you know well.

Draw them in the middle of a piece of paper.

Around the edge, write all of things this person is good at.

Share it with them and see if they agree.

Imagine your friend is feeling upset.
How would you cheer them up?
What could you say or do?
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Extension:
In what situations would these strategies not work?

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?

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?

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.

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?

Think about a time you when have seen someone struggle with a task or activity they were doing.

If this situation happens again, is there anything you can do to support that person?

Now think of a time when you were struggling to complete a task or activity, what could someone have done to support you?

How would this support make you feel?

Paint or draw an Autumn picture with someone else in your family. Work together to come up with an idea for the picture. Discuss each other's strengths and see if you can support each other to make the best picture possible.

How did you decide what the picture would look like and who did what?
Would the picture have looked different if you had done it by yourself?

Play a board game with your household.
(If you don't own a board game, find an idea for a game online).
As you play, think about how you can support and encourage others.
Extension: try teaming up and playing cooperatively.

Imagine a new neighbour has moved into your area.
Who would you take with you to greet them?
What could you do to make them feel welcome?
How could you find out more about them?
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Extension:
Imagine you were going to throw them a party.
What roles would each of your family members do, to help prepare the party?

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.

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.

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?

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.