Image credit: Lisa Whiting
| ACTIVITY (A-Z) | CATEGORY |
|---|---|
| Add different Skittles to a white plate and add water to watch the diffusion of the colours. What happens when you play with different water temperatures? | Experiment |
| Ask a friend ten questions to get to know them better | Mindful |
| Ask an elderly neighbour if they know about the history of your street. When did they move there? Do they know what was there before? | Mindful |
| Bake something - perhaps a cake or some cookies - without using a recipe! How do they turn out? | Experiment |
| Boil red cabbage in water, strain and cool (save the water - you can eat the cabbage!). Then test the pH of household items (e.g. vinegar, bicarbonate of soda, washing up liquid) by adding a few drops to the cabbage water and watching the colour change | Experiment |
| Build a really tall tower or a bridge using marshmallows and spaghetti | Play |
| Build a really tall tower out of your recycling - make it a game, who can build the tallest? | Play |
| Build something that will float in water with materials around the house | Experiment |
| Can you hear temperature? Get three cups, one with hot water (the hotter the better, but be careful with boiling water), one with cold water, and one empty cup. Get a friend to pour one of the waters into the empty cup while you look away. Can you hear the difference? Why do you think they might sound different? | Experiment |
| Collect the odd socks in your home, make them into puppet characters with bits of rubbish, fabric, glue, googly eyes and put on a funny sock puppet show | Play |
| Create a homemade gift for someone you like from things you already own or can find in nature | Nature |
| Create a homemade lava lamp using a glass of oil, alka selzer and food colouring | Experiment |
| Create a treasure hunt in the garden or at your local park | Play |
| Create magic milk by dripping food colouring and dish soap into full fat milk and seeing how the molecules and colours get pushed around when they touch | Experiment |
| Decorate the pavement with chalk | Play |
| Design and make something that floats, flies or spins | Play |
| Design your own boardgame. If you have any games, you can borrow pieces from them, or you can make it by recycling old cereal boxes and other scrap | Play |
| Draw a made-up animal and give it a name | Play |
| Draw an invisible picture with a candle or white wax crayon on paper. To make it visible wash over it with watered down paint. How do you think this works? | Experiment |
| Draw around your silhouette on paper, then make an outfit for it | Play |
| Draw something with your non-dominant hand and your eyes closed, without taking your pencil off the paper. How does it feel to draw differently? | Experiment |
| Eat something you’ve never eaten before - go to a greengrocer and see if they have any unusual fruit or veggies. What do you think it will taste like? Where does it come from? | Experiment |
| Find out something you don't know about someone in your family | Mindful |
| Find somewhere with a beautiful view - what makes it beautiful to you? | Mindful |
| Fold paper airplanes - which shape goes the fastest? | Experiment |
| Freeze plastic toys into small bowls of ice and then using warm water slowly release them from the icebergs | Experiment |
| Get outside and find some insects; take photos, create drawings or make a collage of them. How do the the insects move, breathe and feel? How do they experience the world differently from us? | Nature |
| Get outside to your local park or woods and find some interestingly shaped leaves. Use a crayon and paper to do a rubbing of the leaves. Think about why they look like that, and what the veins do in our body compared to what do they do in the leaves? | Nature |
| Get your hands wet and soapy, put them flat together and then gently make an 'O' shape. Can you blow any bubbles? | Play |
| Go beachcombing - how many different items can you find in an hour? | Nature |
| Go for a nature walk and pick up fallen leaves or flowers, then use them to create an artwork | Nature |
| Go on a walk and look for exciting things on the floor, then go on a walk and look for exciting things in the sky | Nature |
| Go on a walk and write down all the sounds you hear and animals you see | Nature |
| Go to a random Wikipedia article and learn something new | Mindful |
| Go to the leisure centre and try a new sport or make up a new sport in your garden/at the park | Play |
| Have a no phone day - what’s it like to navigate the world without the tech in your pocket? | Mindful |
| Hold paper on top of different surfaces and colour over it to create interesting patterns. Can you make a picture with the different patterns? | Experiment |
| How many coins can you balance on your finger? | Experiment |
| How many objects in your kitchen will roll? | Experiment |
| Invent a new game and play it with someone | Play |
| Invent a new musical instrument - what does it look like? What will it sound like? | Play |
| Invent a new silly walk. Try it out in public if you're feeling brave | Play |
| Learn as much as you can about something that scares you | Mindful |
| Look at an object, person or building for one minute, then look away and draw it from memory | Mindful |
| Look at the world from a different perspective - crouch or lie down on the ground, or climb (safely!) up to a high point. What new things do you see or notice? What looks and feels different from where you are? | Mindful |
| Make a bird feeder and see which species of birds visit it - what can you learn about them? | Experiment |
| Make a Mission Impossible style obstacle course. Try sticking paper strips or Sellotape across the room like laser beams. Can you go under/over it? | Play |
| Make a zipwire for your teddy from string and clothes pegs. If you make it steeper does it go faster? Try it on the stairs! | Experiment |
| Make an obstacle course out of household items | Play |
| Make something out of household or found objects that looks better in the mirror's reflection than it does to your eye | Experiment |
| Mix two tablespoons of vinegar and baking soda in a glass and put cling film over it to store the carbon dioxide created. When you next want to blow out a candle, pour the gas (not the liquid) over it and watch it extinguish | Experiment |
| Pick up the nearest object to you and make a list of all the questions you have about it. What's it made of? Where did it come from? Who owned it before you? Keep going until you have a really long list of questions and then try and see if you can answer them | Mindful |
| Play “will it float?” - fill a large, tall, clear container with water then guess what objects from around the house will float or sink. See if you’re right. Fruit and veg is great for this | Play |
| Put on a performance or show | Play |
| Put your phone away for at least two hours. Every time you reach for it, ask yourself "what do I want to do with this time instead?" | Mindful |
| Read or sing to your pet (or your friend's pet) and see their reaction | Nature |
| Rub a comb on a thick jumper, carpet or brush your hair a few times. Hold the comb close to a thin stream of water from a tap. What happens to the water? | Experiment |
| Run a bubble bath and spend some time soaking in it and day dreaming | Mindful |
| See how many animals you can make using a lamp to create shadows with your hands | Play |
| Sit and do nothing and see where your mind wanders. Take half an hour with no screens, nothing to occupy your mind, just be and see where you go with your creative, curious brain | Mindful |
| Take an old item of clothing that you don't like or don't wear any more and make it into something new! Inspect the seams and how it was stitched and then try and take it apart. When you're just left with the fabric, start playing and making shapes to see what you could turn it into - you could be the next Vivienne Westwood | Experiment |
| Take two random objects from around the house and see how you can combine them to make something new | Experiment |
| Teach your pet (or your friend's pet) a new trick | Nature |
| Tell someone a secret about yourself and ask them to share one too! | Mindful |
| Think of a piece of clothing or object you have, and imagine it in a museum - what the caption would say? | Mindful |
| Try a food that you don't think you like. Has your opinion changed? | Experiment |
| Try cooking something with an ingredient you've never used before | Experiment |
| Try paper chromatography at home and see all the different inks that make up your felt tip pens | Experiment |
| Try using toys to create different shadows and draw around them | Play |
| Walk to a place you normally drive, bus or bike to and really take notice of what you see on the route. If you normally get around on foot, try a different route | Mindful |
| Watch the sunrise or sunset on a clear day, and paint or draw what you see | Nature |
| Watch the world go by. Pick a busy spot, hang out for 15 minutes (no phones!) and observe all the different folks walking by | Mindful |
| Write a secret message by using a paint brush dipped in lemon juice and water. Let it dry, then reveal the message by warming it up on a radiator | Experiment |
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