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St Francis Church of England Aided Junior School

"Let your light shine bright"

Our latest Ofsted report has been punblished please follow the link in Key Informtion / Ofsted and Performance Click on NEWS above (NEWSLETTERS below on phones) for the latest updates from school including what we have been learning, achievements, routines and dates for your diary. Thank you for your continued support, Mrs. Lakey and your St Francis' family.

Activities Zone

Welcome to the Activities Zone!

 

 

Whilst keeping up to date with our home learning is really important during the lock down, it is essential that we

find a balance between formal learning and having fun, keeping active and being creative. When you are finished with your home learning for the day, and want to do something else to occupy your time, but are struggling for ideas, this page is packed FULL with fun and imaginative ideas for keeping your children busy and making sure the words "I'm BORED!" are heard a little less often...

Keeping Fit and Active

 

Even though we are spending a lot more of our time at home right now, we can still find creative and fun ways to keep fit and active and get our daily exercise in. Going for a daily walk, run or bike ride is a great way to get moving and get some fresh air with the whole family, making sure we follow government guidelines of staying 2 meters apart from others. However, if you are needing a little bit more inspiration for other fun ways to keep fit and active, see the links and videos below!

PE With Joe Wicks

Joe Wicks is striving to keep the nation's children fit with a daily PE lesson streamed from his YouTube channel while schools are closed during the coronavirus lockdown. His YouTube channel is updated DAILY with new work outs for your children to try out at home.

Cosmic Kids Yoga

Cosmic Kids Yoga has a massive selection of child-friendly yoga videos to try at home on their YouTube channel, including interactive adventures (such as their "Frozen" yoga tutorials) which help to build strength, balance and confidence.

YOGA for Children - Aquatic Animals Yoga Poses - Yoga Practice Tutorial

Educational video for children to learn how to relax in a different way. Would you like to be as agile as aquatic animals? Learn the turtle pose, the crab pose and the starfish pose to strengthen your back, arms and tummy. Apart from practicing several yoga poses, you'll also relax a lot.

Just Dance 2018 - Waka Waka This Time For Africa

Just Dance videos on YouTube can be used as a fun and exciting way to get your daily exercise in. Great for all of the family to join in!

Just Dance 2018 - Blue (Da Ba Dee)

We do this one in breakfast club all of the time!

Sedgefield School Sports Partnership - Summer Sports Bingo

Nature and Being Outdoors 

 

As well as exercising outdoors, it is so important during the lock down that we spend sometime in the great outdoors. Children are innate scientists and love to experience the sights, scents, sounds, and textures of the outdoors. Nature provides countless opportunities for discovery, creativity, problem-solving, and STEM education. Interacting with natural environments allows children to learn by doing and experiment with ideas. It is really important that we set time aside for outdoor play and connecting with nature. See the videos and resources below for some inspiration on how we can do this from the comfort of our own gardens. Some simple ideas to get you started are:

 

  • Making daisy chains
  • Helping out with some gardening at home
  • Having a picnic in the garden
  • Leaf painting/printing 
  • Cloud watching 
  • Sketching in the garden
  • Creating a fort in the garden 
  • Feeding the birds

 

Nature Inspired Cctivities for Children

From catching bugs to painting with sticks, these activities will keep your little ones busy-and engaged with the great outdoors. Check out the video and see if there are any activities that you and your family might enjoy.

5 Nature Craft Ideas for Children

Here are 5 amazing ideas for exploring nature with your child through play and art.

See the images below for more inspiration on hands-on nature focused activities. From hunting insects to rock painting, these fantastic activities are a great way for your child to get a little closer to nature. Of course, due to the lock down, some of these ideas and activities might have to be modified slightly to suit current social distancing guidelines.

 

Underneath the images, we have also linked some websites which have even more ideas for nature based play and crafting which could be fun for the whole family to spend a little bit more time outdoors in your garden. 

 

* Click on the images below to enlarge them. 

Cooking & Baking 

 

The Corona Virus lock down is the perfect time to teach children how to cook - and fun, messy recipes are the ideal place to start. Experimenting with baking and cooking is an ideal opportunity to keep children busy for a few hours during lock down. Some simple ideas to start out with could be:

 

  • Home-made pizza
  • Scones
  • Banana bread
  • Chocolate chip cookies 
  • Home-made chilli 
  • Brownies 

 

Rainbows for Optimism and Key Workers - 

 

It seems we’ve embraced the rainbow as a tribute to our NHS key workers in our bakes – and if you want to have a go there’s plenty of inspiration. To show your appreciation, decorate cupcakes or buns with food colouring, icing, rainbow laces or edible rainbow rice paper toppers (which are available online).

Ready ... Set ... BAKE!

Super Easy No-Bake Lockdown Fridge Cake Recipe!

This is the PERFECT Lockdown treat! It's so simple, using just 3 main ingredients.

Pull-apart Pizza Roll

Cheese. Carbs. More cheese. Nothing wrong with that!

Super Simple Rainbow Shortbread Bites

Simple little cookie bites.

SUPER Easy 2-Ingredient Bagels.

These delicious bagels are SO easy to make and only require TWO ingredients!

How to make rainbow unicorn poop meringues! 🦄 🌈- BBC Good Food Kids

Juliet Sear shows us how to make these incredible rainbow unicorn poops out of meringue!! Full of colour and super easy.

Science Experiments 

 

Science activities and experiments will help entertain, excite and educate your child. Learn interesting science and technology facts by experimenting with different materials that react in surprising ways. You'll find many experiments can be done using simple ingredients found around the house. Basic materials can help you perform experiments that are simple, safe and perfect for kids. Enjoy fun science experiments, make cool projects, show friends & family what you've discovered and most importantly, have fun! (Parental guidance is advised.) 

 

Why not try ...

 

  • Floating Eggs : Eggs sink in normal water so what can you do to make them float? Adding salt can give some surprising results.
  • Melting Chocolate : Under what conditions does chocolate melt? Is it different for white and dark chocolate? Experiment to find out!
  • Oil & Water : What happens when you try mixing oil and water? Do they want to be mixed? Give it a go and find out!
  • Floating Ping Pong Balls : See some amazing forces in action when you combine a hair dryer with a ping pong ball.
  • Seed Germination : Plant seeds and learn about germination. Watch seedlings grow as you look after them with the right amount of light and water. 

SKITTLES + WATER = Fun Science Experiment

What will happen if you put Skittles in Water? Simple DIY Rainbow Magic with Skittles.

Whizz, Pop, BANG! | Interactive Science Quiz for Kids

This 20-question quiz on general science knowledge is ideal for kids to try at home. Play against your family or set up an online chat with your friends.

Make Cornflour Slime - An Fun, Easy Science Experiment For Children To Try At Home

If you're looking for fun science experiments that you can try at home with your kids, try this super-easy activity that's bound to delight! .

Fireworks in a Jar!

This simple fun science experiment can be done with items from your house! You will need : Empty jar, food colouring, warm water & oil.

Building & Creating 

 

Another way to stay busy and active during the lock down, is to put your children's imagination to the test by doing some building or creating. Building things increases children's fine and large motor skills, hand-eye co-ordination and visual and spatial awareness; skills that are essential in Early Years development. See our resources below on how you can incorporate building into your stay home play. Some simple ideas are:

 

  • Lego
  • Jenga 
  • K'Nex
  • Building a fort/den with cushions, sheets and furniture
  • Building something with cardboard boxes if you have had any deliveries 

EASY LEGO Ideas For Kids | LEGO DIY Home Activities

24 easy LEGO ideas & games for kids to build their skills and help their development with fun LEGO DUPLO home activities that anyone can do.

Save The Children | Den Building

How will you build yours? Will you use some sheets and upturned chairs? Maybe a clothes line and blankets can create the perfect pitch. Fairy lights? Cushions? So many options...so much time! No den is too big or small.

Arts & Crafts

 

  • Draw a self-portrait 
  • Finger painting
  • Colouring 

 

 

How To Make an Easy Origami Butterfly (IN 3 MINUTES!)

Follow this tutorial for making origami butterflies. See how many you can create and use your imagination to think about the ways they could be displayed.

Games to play at home 

 

  • Flatten out a box and draw a road in marker pens or sharpie pens. Add blocks, toy cars and other toys for children to build a city.

 

  • Find some recycled materials and let your children paint them to see what creations they can craft.

 

  • Hang up a target to test your children's paper airplane making and throwing abilities.

 

  • Play balloon ping-pong - all you need are paper plates, empty paper towel rolls (or ice lolly sticks) and a balloon!

 

 

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