And just like that, it’s Easter! The strange way time has been behaving this year has meant that many of us have forgotten this holiday was almost upon us. As most of you will be spending more time together as a family over the next few days, rather than as workers and students, I’ve pulled together some activities that can be done as a group – some of them even virtually – rather than as individuals.

Given the lack of flour, yeast and eggs currently available in the supermarkets, it seems that many of us have the means to do a LOT of baking! Cooking is an important life skill, but sometimes it’s not one we have a lot of time to really spend time on with children. Perhaps this could be your silver lining – learning new cooking skills with the kids! Jamie Oliver is not only a great cook, who generally uses commonly found ingredients and easy techniques, but he also has five children – so who better to teach us how to cook with children? This link will take you to a video on his YouTube channel where he makes pizza dough with two of his children. There are lots of other videos on the channel where he cooks with and for kids, so I’m sure you can find something to please everyone this long weekend.

Lots of teachers and children will already be familiar with Kahoot. This online platform allows people to both make and play games (normally in a trivia-style format). There are lots of games hosted on the site, which cover topics as diverse as Disney characters, world history and climate change. Perhaps you could play some of these as a family and find the family champion! Alternatively, you could try making a game to be shared with friends and family, about a topic, event or person that everyone knows and the challenge could become even greater!

Given the amount of chocolate that’s likely to be consumed over the coming weekend, and the fact that we can’t go outside as much as we’d like, exercise might be something we all need to make more of an effort with. Joe Wicks wants to help. While most famous for his at home YouTube workouts, he also works with schools in the UK to get kids moving, and as part of this there is a Kids section to his YouTube Channel. Amazingly, he has also committed to running live classes every morning at 9am (UK time) while schools are closed so that kids and their parents can stay active. These workouts, called P.E. with Joe, are also saved on his YouTube Channel.

Science experiments are one of those things that are often best left to school. However, there are a few which you do at home, with adult supervision or involvement, and preferably outdoors. Making an erupting volcano is one such activity. Making use of reasonably easy to find household products this is a messy, but not necessarily difficult, project. There is lots of information online about performing this experiment, but this page of the British Natural History Museum’s website provides a great combination of video, text and images, as well as some interesting information about volcanoes.

While this Easter long weekend will certainly be different from usual, I wish you and your loved ones all the best with making it fun in its own way – perhaps you could even start some traditions to be continued in coming years (pizza for Easter lunch anyone?). I look forward to seeing you all on the other side of the food coma.

Regards,

Jemma

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