Activities for Home – Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Home-learning

‘Suzy Shares’

Suzy is a familiar face for many tenants, she has been a part of our community engagement team for the last three years. Suzy led on the award-winning Steel Remembered project and her work is often in partnership with primary schools; through interactive workshops, writing and performing plays or even creating a history-based activity booklet.

More recently, Suzy has overseen a joint project with the Open University in Blaenau Gwent, several vintage themes days in the extra care schemes. She is often found being stuck into arts and crafts or creating new exciting displays and activities that we can learn from.

This section of the website is where Suzy will be sharing some fun resources, along with competitions!

If you have suggestions of what you would like to learn more about, please drop us an email. For now, take a look at what Suzy Shares…

Suzy Shares History

Suzy Shares Nature

Under the sea

Keep an eye out on our Facebook page where Suzy takes over each week to share home-learning tips on different topics.

Other useful resources

Children’s guide to coronavirus – www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/cco-childrens-guide-to-coronavirus.pdf
Children’s animation to explain coronavirus – www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGYD1A5Vn4I
Well-known children’s book illustrator Axel Scheffler has illustrated a book for children to understand coronavirus – Coronavirus – A Book for Children
Simple, fun activities for kids from 0 to 5 – https://hungrylittleminds.campaign.gov.uk
Free teaching and revision material for primary, secondary and post-16 students, including advice on studying at home during the pandemic – www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize
Thousands of free curriculum-mapped videos arranged by age group and subject – www.bbc.co.uk/teach
Free resources and lessons to teach your child to code, from ages 5+ – www.tynker.com/
BrainPop are offering their animated movies on topics in maths, science and English completely free to parents – https://go.brainpop.com/COVID19?utm_source=bp-com&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=coronavirus&utm_content=free-access

Exercise

PE with Joe – Every Monday to Friday at 9am, body coach Joe Wicks hosts a free workout aimed at kids live on his YouTube channel. The workouts are fun and suitable for all ages and even adults can get involved. You don’t need equipment, just tune in at 9am each morning for a 30-minute fun workout – www.youtube.com/thebodycoachtv

Move It or Lose It has lots of line exercise tips for older people, and you can also request a free Covid-19 support pack.

Home workout videos from the NHS are available here –

www.nhs.uk/oneyou/for-your-body/move-more/home-workout-videos/
www.nhs.uk/conditions/nhs-fitness-studio/
www.nhs.uk/live-well/exercise/10-minute-workouts/

Mindfulness exercises can help you to relax and unwind. Building these exercises into your day can be really beneficial especially if you are prone to anxiety or restlessness. Mental Health charity Mind has some really useful information and exercises to try – www.mind.org.uk/information-support/drugs-and-treatments/mindfulness/mindfulness-exercises-tips/

Arts, craft and creativity

Virtual sewing

U.K business Sew Confident are hosting online classes, from teaching people how to knit chunky blankets to how to make their own dress or jumpsuit, all via Zoom – www.sewconfident.co.uk/online-classes

Online learning resources

My Modern Met has a whole host of creative learning resources on their website. You can watch videos on how to draw and paint, or learn how to crochet, knit or embroider. They also have information on photography classes – https://mymodernmet.com/learn-during-coronavirus-lockdown/

Music

From keen beginners to fun seeking families, Classic FM have pulled together the best online music lessons available – www.classicfm.com/music-news/coronavirus/best-online-classical-music-lessons-quarantine/

Outdoors

Whether you have the luxury of an outdoor garden, or a small balcony or window ledge, there are lots of way to create a small space for nature by making the most out of every available surface.

There are known health benefits to gardening, even indoor gardening, especially at a time where you might be feeling stressed from the lack of human contact, or your struggling to juggle working from home and childcare or just the anxiety of everything going on.

Growing your own at home

You don’t need an allotment or garden vegetable patch to be able to grow some tasty things from home. You also don’t need to spend lots of money on pots and seeds. Scraps of old vegetables can be reused for growing. Take a look at the following sites for tips on growing vegetables from scraps:

www.goodtoknow.co.uk/food/vegetables-grow-from-scraps-538440
www.ruralsprout.com/regrow-vegetables/
www.housebeautiful.com/uk/garden/plants/a32077188/vegetables-regrow-kitchen-scraps/

Keep your toilet roll tubes to make easy, biodegradable seedling pots – follow this how to guide. Or use empty egg boxes and egg shells to grow cress – this is a perfect activity for children as they can decorate the boxes or shells then watch their seeds grow.

Balcony Garden

If you have a small balcony, check out the following sites for tips on how to use your space to grow flower and vegetables:

https://www.saga.co.uk/magazine/home-garden/gardening/ideas/small-gardens/big-ideas-for-small-spaces
https://balconygardenweb.com/balcony-flower-garden-balcony-garden-design/
https://urbangardenersrepublic.com/starting-a-balcony-garden-tips/ https://balconygardenweb.com/balcony-vegetable-garden/

Windowsill herb garden

The following sites will show you how to make space on your windowsill to grow herbs:

https://imaginacres.com/windowsill-herb-garden/
https://www.thespruce.com/how-to-grow-herbs-indoors-on-a-sunny-windowsill-1403425
https://myhappysimpleliving.com/egg-carton-greenhouse-starting-seeds-indoors/

Easy plants to grow indoors and lift mood

If you don’t have the outdoor space, don’t let this stop you from bringing a bit of green indoors. Take a look at the following sites for ideas:

https://graziadaily.co.uk/life/home/houseplants-easy-to-grow-diy/
https://mashable.com/uk/roundup/best-indoor-plants-easy-uk/?europe=true

Free learning platforms

Learn My Way is a website of free online courses for beginners, designed to help to develop digital skills to make the most of the online world. Some resources that might be particularly useful at the moment could be Improving Your Health Online, Online Shopping, and Online Safety, among many more.

Make It Click is a free collection of online learning resources to help build digital skills. It’s designed if you have some digital skills but want to keep learning and build on these.