School activities for young children

Form a Children's Day project team

Invite children from different classes to form a Children's Day project team. This group can brainstorm activities for the school to celebrate Children's Day, talk at community forums, or discuss ways to get the whole community involved in the celebrations. Then make it happen!

Penpals in 'sister schools'

Ask another school in New Zealand that is different from yours (e.g if you are from a country school find a city school) to be your ‘sister school'. Match every student with a penpal the same age so they can write to each other and compare lifestyles.

Family mobile

Get the student to illustrate a picture of each member of the family. Tell them to include their pet/s if they have one. Cut out each family member. Glue each picture on strong paper or cardboard. Hang pictures on a hanger with wool or string to make a mobile. Print the last name on a piece of paper and fasten it to the hanger. Hang mobiles in the classroom.

Time capsule

Ask each child to bring along a container with a lid. Explain to them that this is their ‘time capsule'. Encourage them to fill the container with personal items such as a picture of themselves, a drawing, something they've made, etc, with a special emphasis on things they like, what they like doing with their family, etc. Replace the lids and get them to decorate paper to cover the container so that it is ‘sealed'. Ask the child's parents to hide the time capsule away and save it up to open on Children's Day the following year or store them at your school.

Family handprint project

Send home a piece of paper along with a note asking for each member of the family to trace or have their handprint traced on the paper. Each family member is encouraged to decorate their own handprint any way they like. The students take their family's handprints back to school and tell the class about them. Hang them around the classroom when finished.

School intergenerational games day

Have a school games day where parents, grandparents and children learn the games that each generation played as children.