All entries for August 2018

Monday 6th August 2018

Another sunny day and another fun one here at The Holiday Scheme.

This morning the children tried their hand at rudimentary robotics, making moveable figures and robotic hands with straws, butterfly pins and paper and card.

All sorts of creatures made an appearance: ghostly penguins, cats and Canadian huskies, as well as princesses and heroes.

Later on, Dominique from Zoolab visited us with an array of animals - snakes 🐍 and rats 🐀 to name but two - to tell the children about their features, habits and habitats. Don’t worry, the snake wasn’t venomous!

Having said that, not everyone wanted to stroke the wild creatures, including the Leaders. 😬

The younger age group did animal yoga in the afternoon, which predictably, involved some barefoot stretching and twisting, followed by breathing and relaxation.

Meanwhile, the older age group practiced trust games with partners; turns out if you’ve been trained not to fall all your life, it’s hard to let your body fall backwards. Happy to report, all the pairs caught each other and all the children tried to create variations of other trust games to much amusement and surprise.

We come back tomorrow and we look forward to seeing you there.

Best wishes,

The Holiday Scheme Team

Rachael Snell : 06 Aug 2018 16:07 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Friday 3rd August 2018

We saw children’s sporty side at the Holiday Scheme today.

In the morning, the children created their own sporting equipment out of craft materials.

We had cardboard hockey sticks, paper footballs and even a tennis racquet constructed out of cardboard and string.

The groups also went outside to compete in relay races involving skipping ropes, tennis bats, cones and more.

In the afternoon, we learned how to play rugby 🏉 with coach Troy Perkins. Everybody had great fun practising their skills before taking part in a competitive game of touch rugby.

The children also designed and crated their own rugby shirts as a reminder of the day.

Cheerio...

Rachael Snell : 03 Aug 2018 16:22 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Thursday 2nd August 2018

This Thursday’s theme has been adventure and boy, did we have some!

Some children made their own cookie mixture while others played games and built obstacles courses outside. Watch out for a cookie jar with layered dry ingredients, including dried fruit 🍇 and rolled oats, that’s two of your five-a-day! Please see the recepie and cooking instructions using this link: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2389639/oaty-energy-cookies .

After lunch we were in for a treat: Lego workshop, with amazing creations - both in teams and as individual builders - and outdoor activities. On that note, we give you one word, ‘jumparoo’, and you get the picture, don’t you? We were so thankful for the beautiful sunshine so everyone dried off quickly.

All in all, another fun day with energy and excitement. Don’t forget the theme on Friday is ‘Sports’. Remember to bring a plain t-shirts if you’re with us tomorrow, as we’ll be decorating some these.

See you then 😎

Rachael Snell : 02 Aug 2018 16:05 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Wednesday 1st August 2018

It was a day for learning about warfare technology, admittedly, and thankfully, very rudimentary one at that.

The children split into age groups and our University’s resident scientists, Ian and Anna, led the fascinating workshop, where clay balls, silly explosives and various types of catapult featured to much delight. There was something called a ‘trebuchet’ as well as miniature cannons as well.

The children also had an opportunity to build lego balloon cars and bridges out of various resources. The leaders saw some very strong and sturdy bridges made by the children and some brilliant teamwork. Our younger group took part in a craft activity which involved making mini hot air balloons and lego cars and bridges which was so much fun! We all ended our day by playing parachute games, dodgeball and rounders.

Until next time...

Rachael Snell : 01 Aug 2018 17:25 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem