5 + 5 Activity Resource (No. 14) – 5 Independent & 5 Cooperative Learning Activities to Try

5+5 Activity Guide

Welcome to our 14th 5+5 Activity Guide. I am publishing this on Father’s Day so hoping all of you celebrating today have a very special day. Read right to the end of the post for a fun activity idea for dads and children to enjoy today.

As it’s Olympic Day on June 23rd, I’ve chosen this as a theme, so get ready for an action-packed week of fun, learning, laughter (and perhaps muscle ache!) Before scrolling further, a bit of trivia – can you think what colour the Olympics rings are? Do you know the symbolism behind them? Are you familiar with Olympic Day?

 

The idea of Olympic Day is to promote participation in sport. Olympic Day is based on the three pillars:

1. Move 

2. Learn 

3. Discover

 

With these pillars in mind, let’s see how much your child can move, learn and discover this week. To answer the questions above, the Olympic rings are blue, yellow, black, green and red on a white background. The rings are symbolic and represent the five continents that were present at the 1912 Games. These were: Africa, the Americas, Oceania, Asia, and Europe, united by Olympism. The six colours are those that appear on all the national flags of the world at the present time.

 

 

Independent

History

Does your child know the history of the Olympic Games?

• BBC Bitesize: How did the Olympic Games begin?

• History.com: The Olympic Games in ancient Greece

• Scholastic: This article compares the ancient Olympics to the modern games and explores how money, politics, and performance-enhancing drugs have become major influences, often causing controversy.

• Explore mythology 

• Explore these interesting Olympic facts.

 

Geography

Investigate the locations of the Olympic Games down through the years. A full list is available here. 

• Can your child find them on the map or globe?

• Print a blank map and have your child plot the locations on it.

• Choose one of the cities and create a travel guide for it.

 

 

Art and Design

• Take a look at the Olympic logos. Imagine the city you live in/closest to you wins a bid to host the Olympics.

• Can you design a logo for that event?

• On the topic of hosting an Olympics, use this game to explore the factors involved in sustainably designing an Olympic Games.

 

English – Reading and Writing

• Read this article about Eddie the Eagle. What are your thoughts? Did he make a mockery of the games or should we celebrate this plucky underdog?

• You may also enjoy this article asking ‘Whatever Happened to Eddie the Eagle’?

• Why not watch the Eddie the Eagle movie as a family this week?

• Who is your favourite Olympian?

• Who is the most successful Olympian of all time?

• Choose an Olympic athlete and create a biography of them. Here is Eddie the Eagle’s biography as an example.

 

Mazes

• Just for fun, can your child find their way through these mazes?

 

Co-operative

English – Vocabulary and Oral Language

• Play a family challenge game. Set a timer for 5 minutes. How many Olympic sports can each player think of in those 5 minutes?

• Write the sports on individual pieces of paper. Use these as a basis for a game of charades.

• Use the same resource to play 20 questions. Choose a card. Your child must ask yes/no questions in a bid to discover the sport on the card.

• Try playing ‘Just a Minute’. Can your child talk for one minute on the topic of the Olympics or on one of the sports? 

 

Olympic-themed Party Games and Challenges

• Why not try some of the party games from this blog post?

• Find more fun activities requiring little equipment from the PE Specialist.

• Here are many more videos of games and challenges.

• Try some of the Move Crew Missions.

• I found the following sock-based challenge activities from Miss Graham on Twitter.

 

 

P.E.

• I shared PE at Home resources previously. Since then, many more have been uploaded. Use their cards to learn the skills for a range of sports.

• PE Scholar provides daily challenges and various other resource cards.

• There are very many videos on The PE Spot.

• Try some of the PHYS ED activities from Mike Morris.

• Sportdiddy has 10 pre-school and 10 primary school challenges available for free.

• Ensure peak fitness levels with these superhero, movie and game-themed resources.

• Readers in the UK, please check Youth Sport Trust who are running National School Sport Week at Home 2020. They offer lots of Activity Cards and 60 second challenges.

• In last week’s 5+5 Activity Guide, I shared the following recommendations for International Yoga Day (Sunday 21st June). I am adding them again here so that all your PE and movement activities are in one place. Refer back to last week’s post (linked) to read more about the benefits of yoga for children.

  • 5 Fun Kids Yoga Videos on Youtube

  • Sesame Street is Teaching Kids Belly Breathing and Other Calming Techniques

  • 58 Fun and Easy Yoga Poses for Kids (Printable Posters)

  • 5 Kid-Friendly Animal Poses to Introduce Children to Yoga

  • 7 Fun Breathing Exercises for Kids That Actually Work!

• This older post, We Like to Move it, Move it, has lots more outdoor activity ideas and movement games.

• You may wish to bookmark this post so that you can refer to it throughout the holidays when you hear the words, “I’m bored!”.

 

SPHE/PSHE

• Explore the Olympic Values and Fair Play.

• Angel or Demon is another useful resource for exploring the topic of fair play.

• Use this Heroes booklet to explore the notion of heroes and to introduce some Olympic heroes.

 

Communication – Pictograms

• Encourage your child to explore pictograms with this really useful pictograms booklet. Can (s)he figure out the sports depicted?

 

 

So that’s 10 activities that I hope will bring lots of fun and learning to your home this week. And as a bonus…

 

Drawing and Writing 

I discovered Jarrett Lerner this week who has been busy throughout lockdown producing wonderful writing and drawing prompts for children. I implore you to check them out as they are fantastic. He has lots of ‘How to Draw’ tutorials and many ‘Finish this Comic’ tasks. With something already on the page, it is often less intimidating than being confronted with a blank sheet of paper.

 

 

CardEd and Conversation

As always, I will upload daily CardEd challenges and many conversation starters. Follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to get further teaching activities and ideas throughout the week. 

 

 

Father’s Day

As promised, here is a fun activity to for dads and children to play today. 

 

Take care and stay safe!