Here are some fun challenges for you to have a go at!

100 Challenge Learning Ideas for at Home

English

• Think of some questions that you could use in an interview with a family member. What would you like to ask them? Write down their answers or (with their permission) record them using a mobile device.
• Write a letter to a friend or family member. What would you like to tell them about?
• Read your favourite book to your toys. Make sure they’re listening nicely!
• Write a postcard to your favourite author.
• Practise your phonics skills by playing ‘I Spy’.
• Make up a story with other people. Each person is only allowed to say one sentence before moving on to the next person.
• Create a menu for today’s meal.
• Choose a toy, a household object or something in your food cupboard and make an advert to encourage people to buy it!
• Write a set of instructions to teach people how to play a simple game.
• Write a news report about something that has happened to you recently.
• Write a book review of the book you are reading. What is it about? Who would you recommend it to?
• Make some “top ten” lists. What are your top ten book characters, or books made into films, for example?
• Make a stop motion animation that tells a story. We like Stop Motion Studio on the App Store, but others are available to download too.
• Create a comic strip that shows what you did yesterday, or what you would love to do tomorrow.
• Read the dictionary (or another book in your home) and make a note of some words that you have not seen before. What do they mean?
• Write a letter to your teacher. What would you like to tell them?
• Choose characters from different books and imagine that they came together in a new story. Imagine what they might do together.
• Think of an alternative ending to one of your favourite books.

Maths

• Look around your home for different shapes. Can you use tallies to count how many of each shape you can find?
• Go on a pattern hunt. Can you find any patterns on your floor / walls or on objects around your home?
• Choose some of your toys and measure them with a ruler or tape measure. Can you order them according to their size?
• Choose some household objects or toys and make a shop. Add prices and invite a customer (or a cuddly toy) to buy items. How much will they spend? How much change will they receive?
• Choose a multiplication table that you’re not sure about and learn it off by heart. Practise, practise, practise!
• Design a board game that uses a number track. You can make it as simple or as complex as you like!
• Play ‘noughts and crosses’ (or ‘tic tac toe’). Try adding more spaces to the board. How does that change the game?
• Look at the TV guide and make up some problems using the information on it, e.g. What program is on channel 3 at 9.30 am? If Paw Patrol starts at 10.05 am and ends at 10.12 am, how long does it last for?
• Start a number pattern (e.g. doubling, adding five) and continue it as long as possible. How far can you go?
• Make a Maths quiz to test a member of your family. Don’t forget to work out the answers so that you can check their work!

Science

• Investigate which objects float in a bowl or sink filled with water. Check with an adult before you test the objects in the water!
• Draw pictures of a healthy meal and an unhealthy meal.
• Design an imaginary creature. Where does it live? What does it eat? How is it adapted to living in its environment? Could you make a food chain that includes your creature?
• Use yoghurt pots and string to make a telephone.
• Write a set of instructions to show people how to look after a plant.
• Place ice cubes in bowls in different places (for example by a window, in the fridge, in a cupboard). Which one will melt the fastest?
• Set up a simple Science experiment. Science Bob has some great suggestions.
• Blow some bubbles. Can you blow small bubbles? Could you make a giant bubble?
• Write some secret messages using invisible ink (you only need lemon juice for this activity).
• Choose your favourite animal and find out more about them using books or information online. Can you present the information in different ways (e.g. a poster, a written report or a video)?

Geography

• Make a poster to teach people about different things that they can do to protect the environment.
• Draw a map showing a route from your home to a favourite place.
• Draw a picture to show the weather outside. Repeat this activity each day to show how the weather changes.
• Draw a bird’s eye view of a building you know well. Make sure you include all the doors and windows!
• Have a look at some of the items of food in your cupboard or clothes in your wardrobe. Check the labels and find out which countries they have come from. Which has travelled the furthest to get to you?
• Make a map of your bedroom, showing where everything is.
• Make a simple rain gauge by cutting the top off a plastic bottle, and marking the side in centimetres. Stand it outside and record how much rain it collects.
• Hide a small toy in a secret place and create a ‘treasure map’ to help somebody else find it.
• Travel around the world by going on a virtual field trip. This page has some great links to explore!

History

• Create a timeline showing the main events in your life, from the day you were born to today.
• Choose a famous person from the past and write a diary from their point of view.
• Find some fascinating facts about your favourite period from history and make a poster to share them.
• Think of some questions that you could ask a member of your family about their own life. What memories do they have? What are the key events in their life?

Art

• Look in the mirror and draw a self-portrait.
• Create a portrait of a different person or a pet. You can use a picture of them if they won’t sit still for long enough.
• Draw or paint a landscape picture (showing the view out of your window).
• Produce a ‘still life’ picture that shows a bowl of fruit, a collection of your favourite toys or some other objects.
• Think about your favourite book and design a new cover for it.
• Design a superhero. What special powers will they have and how might they help people?
• Create some pictures of animals using fingerprint painting!
• Use objects from nature to create a picture. Could you take a photo of your work?
• Find some rocks and paint them!
• Play ‘Pictionary’. Draw a picture that represents your favourite book or movie (without using any words) and ask somebody else to guess what you are drawing.
• Draw a picture without taking your pencil off the page.
• Draw a new illustration for a book. Will you keep it in the same style, or try something else?
• Make a doodle drawing. Doodle a random shape onto a page, then turn it into an animal or object.
• Make your own card game. This could be a simple game of ‘Snap’, ‘Matching Pairs’ or a ‘Top Trumps’ style game.

DT

• Use construction materials to make a model of a famous building (e.g. the Eiffel Tower, the Colosseum or an Egyptian pyramid.).
• Use folded paper or card to make a bridge that spans a gap. How much weight will it be able to hold?
• Use junk materials to build a car that could transport a small toy from one place to another.
• Make some shadow puppets and use them to tell a story.
• Use craft items or construction toys to make a vehicle that can travel along the floor or down a slope. Challenge a friend to a race!
• Build a den and have a picnic or read a story inside it!
• Design some clothes for your favourite toy. Could you sew together a costume for them?
• Design a home for your favourite movie or book character.
• Invent a machine that would improve your life in some way.

Music

• Practise singing some nursery rhymes.
• Learn the lyrics to your favourite song. Could you perform it to your family when you have learned them all?
• Use household objects to make some musical instruments. Could you make a song using them?
• Listen to a piece of classical music and draw whatever it makes you think of. What do you imagine while you listen to it?
• Choose one of your favourite books and make up a simple melody that could be used as part of an animated version of the book.

PE

• Create a simple exercise routine for younger children. Write, draw or perform the sequences of movements.
• Learn the dance moves for different songs and then perform them. Some of our favourites are Superman (by Black Lace), Macarena (by Los del Río) and Baby Shark.
• Try some yoga exercises using Cosmic Kids Yoga videos.
• Make a training circuit around the house or garden. At each station, complete a different exercise for 30 seconds, for example; bunny hops, star jumps, lunges, stepping on and off a step. Then move on to the next.
• Practise jumping from a standing start in a hallway or in the garden. Put something down to mark where you land. Can you jump past it next time?

More

• Write thank you notes to people who help you. Surprise them by leaving the notes where they might be discovered.
• Offer to help with some household chores.
• Tell somebody why you love them.
• Try learning a language. There are lots of free apps, Youtube videos and online resources (e.g. French-Games.net)
• Make a poster that shows all of the people and things that make you smile.
• Think of some jokes and perform a comedy routine to your family.
• Help to make a meal. Remember to wash your hands first!
• Play ‘Charades’. Act like an animal, a book or a movie and ask people to guess what you are pretending to be.
• Close your eyes and listen carefully. Think about the different sounds that you can hear.
• Create a quiz about your favourite topic and test other people’s knowledge of it!
• Record a video that teaches people how to wash their hands properly.
• Play the alphabet game. Choose a few categories (for example, an animal, a country, a fruit) and go through the alphabet, thinking of an example that begins with every letter. Some of the letters are quite tricky!
• Play the yes/no game with someone else. Take it in turns to ask each other questions. The person being asked is out if they answer “yes” or “no”. How creative can you make your answers?
• Play “Would you rather?” Give each player a choice of two options (for example, “Would you rather go for a walk in the snow, or on the beach? “. They have to choose one and say why. The ideas can be as silly as you like!
• What hopes and dreams do you have for the future? Draw a picture to show what you hope life will be like in 10, 20 or even 50 years!
• Be bored! Sometimes, our best ideas come to us when we are feeling bored!