Working with schools and listening to the feedback from staff around activities that they thought their pupils would be most engaged by, we produced 1,500 craft and activity packs which were delivered to over 40 schools across the borough.
The Crafty Creatives packs contained a Craft Bumper Pack filled with foam shapes, pom-poms, feathers, googly eyes, lolly sticks and pipe cleaners! A selection of coloured card, a glue stick, felt pens, colouring pencils and crayons, a colour your own bag set and balloons. All of these items were put into brightly coloured pump bags for the children to reuse.
We also produced an activity pack which complemented the items they received and enabled them to make things for Easter such as popsicle stick Easter Bunnies. We also wanted to include elements of wellbeing within the activities so included activities such as The H.A.P.P.Y Challenge! Where we asked them to:
H – Help. Help someone in your family with a small task. It could be washing up/hoovering/unpacking the shopping, to let them know you’re thankful.
A – Appreciate. Write down one thing you really appreciate and take a few minutes to become aware of how grateful you are for it. It could be your lovely dinner, a favourite toy, a friend, family member or pet, or even the fact you live close to a park! If it involves someone else – try to tell them, you are grateful and express your appreciation towards them.
P – Practice. Take a minimum of 10-15 minutes to practice something you think you can improve on. It could be your maths, an exercise, some cooking, a musical instrument.
P – Planet Plan. Make a plan of at least 3 things you can do this week to help our Planet. These could include: recycling and reusing in your home, picking up rubbish in the street or park, saving/reusing your water or planting in your garden.
Y – Yourself. Write down at least 3 things you love about yourself. It’s very important we learn to love who we are inside and out. This could be a physical or mental feature, a goal you have achieved, something you’re proud of or anything that makes you feel proud to be you.
The balloons were included so that they could play balloon volley ball or make a balloon stress ball! We also created a Facebook page to encourage them to share their ideas and creations and for other groups that were doing art and crafts to connect and inspire them. So far the feedback has been really positive, and as Maya Angelou always says “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.”
Each pack also contained a lifeline leaflet and an Early Help leaflet so that families have access to essential crisis information that they may need and so they know help and support from local trusted organisations is available.
