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The Prince of Wales is setting a nature challenge every day this week. Keep an eye on the Clarence House instagram page for more details.

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The Prince of Wales encourages children to take a closer look at nature this Half Term with the #PoWNatureChallenge

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The Prince of Wales is encouraging children to look closer at nature this February Half Term by setting a series of nature-based challenges, in conjunction with his charities and Patronages.

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Miss Rose has put together some great ideas for some kitchen science in this folder. You could try making a rainbow using capillary action.

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Use play-dough or clay with the natural resources in your garden to create some lovely creepy crawlies and mini-beasts.

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Mr Timms enjoys quiet moments to let his imagination take over.  Watch his short film and let us know what games you can think of in a quiet moment.

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The WPA are running a virtual talent show and the extended half term is the perfect opportunity to perfect and record your talent.

The video entries will be judged by Mr Timms, Mrs Mudd and Mr Miell - they are looking forward to seeing your talents, whether that is singing, dancing, dog training, gymnastics, juggling, magic, the sky’s the limit!

For more details and the form to submit your entries, click here - closing date 12th March. Just £5 per family to enter.

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Here are instructions for making a mini pond in your garden. This is a great way to attract wildlife to your garden so keep an eye out for frog spawn.

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Big or small, water provides vital habitat for many species. Try making your own mini pond

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Tuesday 16th February is Shrove Tuesday, when we traditionally eat pancakes. Do you know why? Can you follow this recipe to make your pancakes?

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Buddy's one-cup pancakes

The simplest pancakes ever

Nutrition per serving

Of an adult's reference intake

Ingredients

Pancakes

1 cup of self-raising flour

1 cup of semi-skimmed milk

1 large free-range egg

unsalted butter or olive oil , for frying

Topping ideas

seasonal berries , such as raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, blackberries

banana , peeled and sliced

apple or pear , peeled and grated

runny honey or maple syrup

natural yoghurt

Method

1. Fill the cup with the flour and tip into a large bowl. Fill the same cup with milk and pour that into the bowl too, then crack in the egg. Whisk everything together until it's nice and smooth.

2. Place a large non-stick frying pan on a medium heat. Once hot, add a small knob of butter then, once the butter has melted and starts to sizzle, add large spoonfuls of batter to the pan - you'll need to cook your pancakes in batches.

3. Wait for little bubbles to form on the surface of the pancakes, about 1 to 2 minutes, then use a fish slice to flip them over to cook for another 1 to 2 minutes on the other side, or until golden again.

4. Carefully wipe out the pan with a ball of kitchen paper, then add another small knob of butter and cook the next batch.

5. Serve the pancakes right away with your favourite toppings - I like a bit of fruit and a drizzle of honey.

Tips

Jamie wholeheartedly believes that cooking is up there as one of the most valuable skills you can teach a child. Getting kids excited about food, where it comes from and how to cook it, will mean they're much healthier and happier in the long run. When cooking with kids, use your common sense to determine what jobs they can help you with, depending on their age and skill level. It's always good to start small, with jobs such as mixing and measuring, then progress to elements of a recipe, then go on to slightly trickier techniques over time. The more they cook, the better they'll get. Make sure you supervise them when using heat or sharp utensils like knives and box graters, and teach them about the importance of washing their hands before they start, and after handling raw meat and fish, as well as other basic hygiene rules. Most of all, have fun with it, and encourage them to give things a go.

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Buddy's one-cup pancakes | Jamie Oliver recipes

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The simplest pancakes ever Nutrition per serving Of an adult's reference intake Pancakes 1 cup of self-raising flour 1 cup of semi-skimmed milk 1 large free-range egg unsalted butter or olive oil , for frying Topping ideas seasonal berries , such as raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, blackberries banana , peeled and sliced apple or pear , peeled and grated runny honey or maple syrup natural yoghurt Fill the cup with the flour and tip into a large bowl.

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Our friends at the Honeypot Children's Charity have put together these great yoga sessions for young children.

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Yoga for children (for 4-8 years) | The Honeypot Children's Charity

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Support Us Corporate Partnerships Trusts and Foundations Become a Patron Schools & Groups Regular Donations Donate as you shop online Fundraising Volunteering Legacy Giving Ambassadors News The Hive Contact

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There are lots of stories read by the Pre-Prep teachers on the Google Classroom. Is there one you haven't listened to? Which is your favourite story for Mummy or Daddy to read to you?

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This is a great activity to inspire creativity.

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There are also some fantastic video stories by Julia Donaldson and other classic authors here.

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We think you may enjoy these wonderfully animated readings of the Anansi the Spider stories.
https://www.unicorntheatre.com/anansi-respun

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The Pre-Prep staff have put together a selection of activity sheets and colouring projects to gently help extend the children's learning this term. Click here to access the folder.

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The BBC has some great home learning resources. We think you might enjoy the Celebrity Supply Teacher series. Try learning some basic sign language with Rachel Shenton and Maisie Sly, who starred in the Oscar-winning short film The Silent Child.

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series 1: 19. rachel shenton and maise sly - bsl

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Celebrity Supply Teacher - Series 1: 19. Rachel Shenton and Maise Sly - BSL

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Rachel Shenton and Maisie Sly give a fascinating introduction to British sign language.

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Use these ideas to make winter walks extra fun.

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Head out into the fresh air and get inspired by our ideas for family winter walks. Go a scavenger hunt, pack a winter picnic, spot wildlife and more.

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How many different kinds of worms can you find in your garden?

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Museum scientist and champion of earthworms Emma Sherlock shares her passion for these vital invertebrates.

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Can you touch every wall in your home? How long will it take you? How many walls are there?

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A great skill to learn this half term is tying your own shoe laces. It might make it easier if you make some cardboard shoes to practice on.

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Can you make your own lunch using foods that are healthy for you? What will you include?
Perhaps you could try making this healthy pizza.

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Spread the canned tomatoes over the dough to within 2cm of the edges. Arrange the cherry tomatoes and courgettes over the top, then scatter with the mozzarella. Mix the capers, olives and garlic, then scatter over the top. Drizzle evenly with the oil. Leave to rise for 20 mins. Heat oven to 240C/ fan 220C/gas 9 or the highest setting.

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Spread the canned tomatoes over the dough to within 2cm of the edges. Arrange the cherry tomatoes and courgettes over the top, then scatter with the mozzarella. Mix the capers, olives and garlic, then scatter over the top. Drizzle evenly with the oil. Leave to rise for 20 mins.

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There are some lovely ideas in this pack as we start to think about Spring.

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And here is a similar pack for our Early Years children.

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Early Years Download - Spring into Spring

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Play a board game you haven't tried before

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Play a board game you haven't tried before

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Do you have any games or jigsaws that you haven't tried before?  Or could you create your own idea for a board game to play with your family?

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What could you create with chocolate? Younger children could make swirls - older children could try making letters or pictures.

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This is a great idea to keep active and to practice your phonics. You could add an extra challenge by thinking of categories for each letter - for example a fruit beginning with P.

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We all need a break from screens so why not print off these ideas for simple screen-free activities and see how many you can do this week.

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Hi there! 👋🏽

This page has moved. You can find all six of our printable non-screen activity sheets here.

Pobble provides award-winning digital tools for teaching writing. Teachers, sign up now to receive exciting lessons full of writing activities to engage your children each day!

Sign up for Pobble here!

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Simple and fun non-screen activities that children can do at home

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What can teachers and parents do when there's no school? Online learning from home is great and offers children opportunities to develop...

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Hopefully it won't be too long until we can celebrate birthdays with our friends.  But until then, what could be nicer than a present wrapped in homemade paper? You could also use vegetables, sponges or anything else you can find as stamps.

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CBeebies has some lovely creative ideas on their website. We liked this solar system picture. What else could you use to make the planets if you don't have a sponge?

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First we are going to make the stars in our solar system. For this you need to dip a dry paintbrush in to white paint, and using your finger, flick the paintbrush, so that the paint goes all over the black card.

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CBeebies House - Make a solar system picture

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First we are going to make the stars in our solar system. For this you need to dip a dry paintbrush in to white paint, and using your finger, flick the paintbrush, so that the paint goes all over the black card.

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Our younger children may enjoy this online performance of a play called 'Huddle'.
https://www.unicorntheatre.com/huddle_2020

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One of the National Trust's '50 things to do before you're 11 3/4' is 'welly wandering'.  You could also tick off 'making a mud creation' and possibly 'having a snail race'. How many other things have you already done on their list?

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Visitors at Nostell Priory, West Yorkshire ©National Trust Images/Arnhel de Serra

When it's pouring with rain, what could be better than chucking on your wellies and waterproofs and zooming around in the puddles, soaking up all the watery fun? Going welly wandering is No. 6 of our '50 things to do before you're 11¾'.

You don't need any instructions for this challenge, it's exactly what it says on the tin.

What do you need:

You just need rain, some waterproof clothing, wellies and yourself.

What will you do in the rain?

If you're running around, you could jump in puddles, squelch in mud, jump over puddles, splash through paths and bounce across pavements, splish round your garden or splosh around the park.

You might even be able to convince some grown-ups to join in too once they realise how much fun it is.

Get involved in more 50 things activities

The rain makes everything fresh again, and the more you jump around on grass, the more chance you have of enjoying another challenge afterwards - No. 13 Make a mud creation.

It's also perfect weather for having a go at one more of the activities, No. 17 Set up a snail race.

So, if you're the sort of person that doesn't like rainy days then these activities might just change your mind.

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When it's pouring with rain, what could be better than chucking on your wellies and waterproofs and zooming around in the puddles, soaking up all the watery fun? Going welly wandering is No. 6 of our '50 things to do before you're 11¾'.

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St Barbe's museum is running a craft-along session on Thursday 18th February. Email learning@stbarbe-museum.org.uk to book a free place.

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A great way to relax is colouring a lovely picture. The Pre-Prep staff have put lots of colouring sheets in this folder.

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There are lots of other free colouring resources available.  We like the letters and animals here.

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This is a really lovely way to discuss positive affirmations with your children.

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The Five Minute Mum has some lovely ideas for games that help with learning without your children noticing. Here's a few of her ideas for a rainy day.

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Oh yes. The rainy days are back. Remember that spell in summer where it didn't rain for about 2 months? Seems like a distant memory now doesn't it? During those hot, hazy days I wrote a blog post with five quick ideas for fun in the sun. Well, here's the return. Things you can do indoors on those LONG wet days when you're stuck inside with the wee ones, wondering how on earth it is only half past bastard one.

1. Masking tape...I've featured this on my social media pages a few times but never immortalised it on the actual blog so here it is. One of my FAVOURITE tools for games. It's easy to peel, it rips, you can write and draw on it and it peels off easily again. It's ace for kids. When you next see some in a supermarket or DIY shop chuck it in the trolley. We write out letters and numbers on the floor. Use it to make a road by drawing little lines down the middle. Use it to mark out 'long jumps' in the living room using a measuring tape to count how far they jumped afterwards. Write numbers on the carpet then get a foam sword and a ball to hit around the numbers and walk along them. The possibilities are endless.

2. Party Games...who says these have to just be for parties. And besides, they take practice don't they? So wrap up a puzzle into a pass the parcel. I used foil and the free newspaper that comes through the door. My two LOVED this. Or make a 'Pin the Tail on the Donkey' but with funny faces or the letters of their names. See what funny faces they make or words they spell. Just a blind-fold (scarf), pen and paper and blue tack will do. PARTY in da HOUSE!

3. Mark Making...but in a different way. Let them draw on banana skins with a biro. Or collect some leaves and petals out of the garden and write the letters of their name on them. Get an old tea towel or bit of fabric and see if they can make patterns on that. Or best of all, try upside down writing. Tape some paper to the underside of a low table or chair. Pop some pens on the floor, then lie down and draw. It's amazing how much more fun just drawing can be upside down!

4. Sink or Float...again, another game I've popped on social media before but decided to share here too for the blog devotees. Get something that can contain water but you can see through. We cut up a plastic milk bottle. Fill it with water on a tray then gather random objects from about the house that will fit in your container. Your kiddy has to guess if they will sink or float and then sort them into two piles once you see which it is. Ewan then bombed around the house finding other objects to test out their floatation!

5. Make it Dark...this is one of my favourite things to do. Shut the curtains, turn out the lights, then give the kids a torch, glow sticks (I always have some in the house - a brilliant object for such days as these) or anything that glows or lights up. We use night lights and glow in the dark stickers. It's amazing how much more fun everything seems in the dark. Do a puzzle, read a story, dance to music. The darkness brings it alive.

So now, I very much hope that the next time it rains, instead of dreading the long day at home you might think, yay...time to play some games! And if not, splashing in puddles them coming in to watch TV under the blanket with a hot chocolate is always fun too!

I'm signing off now for two weeks for my weddings! So no social media posts or blogs for a couple of weeks, but I'll be back in October with LOTS more games and five minute fun! Cheerio.

p.s. If you would like to wish us well for our wedding day, there is a way you can! I usually host an annual Macmillan Coffee morning, however this year it is the day before our wedding. So I am donating our Favours money to this cause and popping a contributions box next to our wedding cake. If you would like to, you can donate too by popping here. Thank you!

I am a Mum to two children - Florence, 2 and Ewan, 4. I am a qualified Primary School L3 Teaching Assistant with HLTA experience and specialist training in Speech and Language and supporting children with Dyslexia. But I am currently a Stay at Home Mum #SAHMLife! I really love to think up games and activities for kids that encourage learning in a fun way - but I am also a busy (tired) Mum so I don't want to spend 45 minutes setting up a pretty Pintrest idea only for my kids to not give two shits about it. I like to do fast, silly games that can be done using everyday stuff, so that if my idea totally bombs, it doesn't matter. #easywin - oh and I'm on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter too! View all posts by fiveminutemum

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Oh yes. The rainy days are back. Remember that spell in summer where it didn't rain for about 2 months? Seems like a distant memory now doesn't it? During those hot, hazy days I wrote a blog post with five quick ideas for fun in the sun. Well, here's the return.

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How many of these have you done this week?

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How many of these have you done this week?

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Join Cosmic Kids Yoga to launch into space.

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Kids Yoga All About Rockets! 🚀 Yoga Club (Week 23) | Cosmic Kids

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With just four items, you can make your own t-shirt design...

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There are some more things from the National Trust's list here - things you can do in your garden.

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Your garden can be an amazing place to discover wildlife and experience nature. There's so much for you to do on your doorstep: look for shooting stars, make a wild crown, get to know colourful birds or watch furry caterpillars. You can even help the animals who come to visit by building them a new home. Here are our top '50 things to do before you're 11¾' ideas for embracing nature in your own back garden.

No. 3 Camp outdoors

Your back garden can become a place for a wild adventure when you pitch a tent and stay overnight. Camping in your back garden means that you can sleep under the stars and try and spot a constellation, or listen out for hooting owls. Sleep under the stars

No. 16 Wear a wild crown

Your imagination's the limit when you make a wild crown. Twigs, daisy chains, leaves, flowers, blossom, grass and other wild materials found in your garden can be used to create a masterpiece. You could even create one that an imaginary character would wear. Create a wild crown

No. 25 Join nature's band

A couple of stones and a tree stump can double up as drum. A blade of grass makes an amazing noise when you know what to do with it. Birds singing make a beautiful dawn chorus, and even footsteps can make great percussion noises when you dance around. Make music with nature

'50 things to do before you're 11¾'

Have fun exploring nature and the great outdoors with our list of '50 things to do before you're 11¾'.

Article

We've compiled a selection of items from the '50 things to do before you're 11¾' list that are perfect for rainy days, so grab your waterproofs and get involved.

Article

Try out the '50 things to do before you're 11¾' activities children can enjoy by the sea, from paddling or swimming, to catching crabs and skimming stones.

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'50 things' activities to do in the garden

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Your garden can be an amazing place to discover wildlife and experience nature. There's so much for you to do on your doorstep: look for shooting stars, make a wild crown, get to know colourful birds or watch furry caterpillars. You can even help the animals who come to visit by building them a new home.

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How many activities did you do? Can you do your surname too?

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This project from Place2Be helps children explore colour in relation to their experiences. We can use colour to help us make sense of how we're feeling, who we are and the world we live in.

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The Tate has a great painting app on their website.

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Paint like an artist in this painting game. Play cool free art games, digital painting, quizzes and puzzles on Tate Kids

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Lots of drawing ideas with author Rob Biddulph. We like this puffin, which is your favourite?

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Use this video guide to help you build a bug hotel. What other materials could you use?

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How to build a Bug Hotel - Wildlife Connections

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Maintain good fitness habits for your children by doing a daily mile - you can run, walk, jog or a mix of all three.  Here are three challenges to complete this week and look out for another three next week.

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There are lots more ideas for supporting our children's wellbeing on this board...