Watch a video on a topic that you are interested in. After watching the video, take time a moment to think about what you heard and note down the key points covered.

Extension: watch the video again while reading your summary of the key points. Did you note down all of the most important information? If you missed something, add in that information.

Listen to the people around you talking to each other - perhaps your friends or family. Observe the conversation and listen for when someone interrupts.

Extension: Why did they interrupt? Was it for a positive or negative reason? How do you know?

Listen to an audio book or ask a family member to read a book to you.

Write a review of the book, including a summary of characters and main events. Share your review with a friend or family member.

Listen to a new song, paying particular attention to the lyrics (words) in the chorus.

Listen carefully twice and then try to write down the lyrics by singing the song in your head.

Extension: What is the song about? What is the main message behind the song?

How can you tell you have really understood what someone has told you?

One way to do this is to repeat back exactly what you have heard.
Another is to rephrase what you heard.
A third way is to ask questions to check your understanding. (You can use who, what, when, where, why and how questions, but make sure they are linked to what the person was speaking about).

Over the next week, have a go at using all three of these strategies to check you have understood what someone has said to you.

Which one worked best? Did the situation make a difference as to which strategy you used?

Ask a member of your family or friend to tell you about their day in detail. Ask them to include details like what time they got up, when and what they had for lunch, who they talked to and what activities they did.

Write down what you can remember. Read your notes back to the family member / friend. Could you remember the key parts of their day?

Try again with another family member or friend. Did you remember any more this time?

Try taking notes as they are talking instead of afterwards. Does this help you remember more?

Are there any tactics you can use to help you remember the important information you hear?

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?

Think about a person you admire. This could be someone that you know, someone that you’ve learnt about or someone from a story/movie. Imagine you could invite this person to your birthday party.

Plan how you could encourage the person to come to your birthday party by using facts and examples to support why you would like them to join your party.

What tone might you use? What might you say to convince them to come?

Extension: Pretend a family member or a friend is the person you would like to invite and try to convince them to come.

Think of an activity that you enjoy doing. This might be something you do at home or at school.

Imagine that you are a teacher and you need to teach your friend how to complete this activity in a series of steps.

Plan how you would explain the activity clearly and put the steps in a logical order.

How might you use your hand gestures and body language to teach this activity more effectively?

Think of your favourite place, this could be your house, a relative's house, a park, a museum or anywhere else you have been.

Imagine that you are giving someone a video tour of your favourite place.  

Plan where you would take them and how you could talk about the different parts or features of it. Role-play giving the tour, or write yourself a script with descriptive language.

Organise a game of 'What Am I' with your family. Each member of the family writes an agreed number of objects on small pieces of paper to put in a bowl. Take it in turns to pick an object, describe the object clearly without saying its name and see if your family can guess what it is. You could use a timer to see how many objects people can guess in one minute.

Extension - to make this harder you could also write down one word that you are not allowed to use when describing your object.

Prepare a short speech to present to your family.

Suggested topic: My favourite season / time of year.

In your speech explain why this season or time of year is your favourite. Ask your family to close their eyes as you describe a scene from your favourite season. Can your family picture what you are telling them?

Think of a story where something exciting happens. Think about how you speak when you are talking about something exciting.

What happens to your voice?

Do you use your hands?

Does anything happen to your face or expression?

Tell this story to your family, try to make sure you emphasise the exciting parts.

Ask your family to give you feedback on how you spoke about the exciting parts of the story. Tell the story again and try a different way of expressing the exciting parts.

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?

Imagine that you are going on a trip to a place that you have never visited.

What information do you need to know to successfully plan the trip and make it as fun as possible?

Make a list of the questions that you need to answer and where you might be able to find the information you need.

Many people are concerned about the amount of plastic littering the streets, parks, rivers and beaches. Some common household items are now being made out of a different material. For example in the UK, drinks companies have to use paper straws instead of plastic.

Have a look around your home - which items are made of plastic? Can you come up with alternative materials these items could be made out of? What are the pros and cons of using an alternative material?

Share your ideas with another member of your household - can they think of others?

A bridge is a great way to get from one place to another especially when there is something you can't walk on or across.

But do all bridges look the same? As you go to different places this week look out for any bridges you see.

In what ways are they the same? How are they different? Why do you think they are not all the same? Can you compare them? Do you have a favourite?

Extension: Can you draw the different bridges you have seen?

Read a story or watch a film.

Pause when a character experiences a problem. Ask yourself, is this problem...

• a simple problem? (it has one solution)
• a complicated problem? (there are a few different solutions)
• a complex problem? (there is no ‘correct solution’)

Write and/or draw how you would solve this problem, if you were the character.

Continuing reading or watching: how did the character solve the problem?

Design a scavenger or treasure hunt for your family. To do this you need to hide treasure (for example a toy or prize) somewhere in your house or garden. You then need to write out and hide clues to help your family find the treasure.

Think about the places you want your family to visit as part of the treasure hunt. What question will you ask them in order to get them there?

Write your first clue out, then hide the next clue in the place that is the answer to the first. Do this four or five times so that the answer to the last clue is the place where the treasure is hidden.

Consider the different ways you can write your clues. How can you make them harder or easier?

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?

Think of your favourite meals and foods. Create a cookbook to show others how they can make these meals.

How could you explain the recipes to others? Could you use words, pictures or videos?

Extension: imagine a brand new meal that you would like to eat and add the recipe to your cookbook.

With a family member or friend, listen to your favourite piece of music. Now each of you create a piece of artwork to describe how the piece of music made you feel?

Show your artwork to each other. Are they similar? Did the piece of music make you both feel the same way? Could you combine them to make one piece of artwork?

Think about your favourite food or ingredient. Now think about a member of your family or a friend's favourite food. Can you imagine a meal or dish that could include both these foods or ingredients?  What other ingredients would you need to use?

What would you call this dish? What would it look like? Can you draw it? How do you think it would taste? Can you describe this dish to your family member or friend, would they eat it?

Create your own animal by merging two animals together: e.g. Head of a Zebra, body of a Bear.

Can you draw it? What will you call your new animal? Where will it live? What is it like?

Extension - now create a new animal by merging three or four different animals.

Think of a game you like playing, it can be any type of game for example a board game, a card or a game that uses your imagination.

How can you make this game better? What could you change to make it more exciting or more interesting or so that more people can play?

Share your ideas with a friend or member of your family. What do they think? Do they have any suggestions?

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.

Choose a character from a book you have read or a film you have watched. Did the character feel positive or negative? How did you know? Think about what they may have said or done to show you how they were feeling.

Think about how their mood may have changed throughout the book or film. Did they continue to feel positive or negative? If their mood changed, why did it change?

Think about 3 things you are grateful for today, that brighten your day and make you feel happy. They can be small things or big things.

Extension: Discuss your choices with members of your household and talk about other things that have brightened their day today too.

‘Every cloud has a silver lining’ or ‘look on the bright side’ are phrases you may have heard your teachers, family members or friends say when something has gone wrong. What do you think these phrases mean?

Talk to a family member or friend about them.

Share your feelings about a time when something positive has come from a mistake or from something going wrong.

Create a Positivity Poster to display at home.

1. Write words and phrases to help people stay positive.
2. Draw pictures to illustrate each phrase.

Think of your favourite place. How does this place make you feel?

Can you describe your favourite place? Think about what makes it special for you.

What is in your favourite place? Are there any people or animals in your favourite place? What can you smell or hear?  

What do you think would happen if you thought about your favourite place when you were feeling angry or sad? Is this something you could try?

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.

Think of a task that you do on a regular basis. For example, brushing your teeth or reading a book. What do you need to do this task really well? For example, to concentrate on reading, you might need to remove distractions or find a quiet place in the house.

Once you have completed this task, how do you know that you have completed it well? How does it feel when you have done something well?

Pick something that you have completed or been successful at recently. It could be something you did at school or in a club, or something from home like cleaning your room or finishing a book. It can be a big success or something small that you are proud of.

Make an award or certificate for yourself to celebrate your success. Share your success with a family member or friend.

Think about a journey that you make quite regularly, for example the walk or ride to school or home or to a club you go to. How much attention do you pay to the details of the journey? Try to draw or write down every step of the journey.

Next time you do this journey, check what you have remembered. How much attention did you pay to the smaller details, did you remember colours or writings on signs?

Next time you are carrying out a task, stop and think about any details you may need to pay attention to. What difference will taking the time to do this have on how you complete your task?

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
• try a new sport or exercise
• get up (or go to bed) earlier
• cook something new
• start a new book by an author you've never read before
• reduce your screen time

or something else totally different and new!

How does it feel to be out of your comfort zone? Will you keep up this new activity?

Think of two or three tasks you have completed successfully in the last few weeks.  

How did you know you were successful?

What did it feel like when you succeeded? Did you take time to recognise and celebrate your success?

How does it feel now when you are thinking about it?

Over the next week try and take the time to recognise your successes (no matter how small they may seem). You might try just stopping for a moment and feeling proud of what you have achieved.

Extension:
Do you ever celebrate other people's successes? Take a moment this week to celebrate somebody else's success. It might be as simple as telling someone 'well done' or 'great job'. How did this make 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?

Draw a picture or cut out pictures of three people. Imagine they are all on the way to play a sport. Draw a thought bubble to show how each person feels. Make each person have a different emotion. How might they show that emotion? How might the other people react?

Create a feelings chart to describe how you are feeling each day this week. You can pick the theme of the chart - for example, you could make a feelings weather chart which describes how you feel by linking it to different types of weather (sunny = happy; cloudy = ... ) Pick a theme that makes sense to you.

Try to complete the chart every morning and evening this week. At the end of the week, take a look back and see if there are any patterns to how you have felt this week. Did you always feel the same way every morning? Did this feeling stay with you until the evening or did it change? You could ask a member of your household to do this with you.

Draw a picture of yourself as a leader. Around your drawing write down your leadership strengths (the things that make you a good leader). Now ask a family member or friend to do the same thing. Compare your drawings. Did you both identify the same strengths?

Work together to identify 3 more strengths to add to your own list. Over the next week, complete 3 tasks at home to apply your strengths.

Each evening for the next week, consider how you have felt throughout the day.

How can you express this to someone in your household? You could write it down or draw how you feel. Or would it be easier to talk about it?

Throughout the week try a few different ways of expressing how you have felt that day. Which way was the easiest method for you to explain your feelings? How did the other person react?

What do you think makes a good leader? Draw this person. Can you tell they are good leader from your drawing?

Now think of a person you know, or have seen on the TV or a book, who is a good leader. Draw them. Do they look like your first drawing? What is it that makes this person a good leader? What qualities do they have?

Extension:
Ask a friend or family member to think of someone they think is a good leader and to draw them.What qualities do they think a good leader has? Now think about whether you have any of the same qualities? What could you do to develop these qualities further?

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.