OctopusKids: here to keep your little ones entertained!
Introducing our new OctoKids programme… Pulled together in the midst of the Coronavirus to help our Octo-parents keep their kids occupied and entertained, we’ve got activity sheets, boredom boxes, videos and all sorts of other recommendations to share with you and your little monsters!
As our entire team of energy specialists transition to working remotely, we wanted to do something to support parents who’ll be juggling work with looking after and home-schooling young children.
Lily, who runs our full-time remote ‘digiops’ team – made up mostly of mums – came up with a great idea. It all started when our team of parents got together in a new internal Slack channel – #homeschooliscool – to swap ideas, share jokes and commiserate about homeschooling for the next few weeks. Together, their ideas become the inspiration for OctoKids.
OctoKids – activity sheets, quizzes, colouring-in and boredom boxes...
Our wonderful graphic designers Amy and Monica have been busy designing daily activity sheets featuring colouring-in, puzzles, and quizzes (that can be brought up digitally or printed off), boredom boxes - with ideas for activities like scavenger hunts and origami, and even craft competitions (with a weekly prize!).
You can download our OctoKids packs free, here!
Week 1: Octopus Themed
Boredom Box instructions
Boredom Box Template
Colouring Book!
Crack the Code
Week 2: The Environment
Environmental Colouring Book!
Crack the Code (Week 2)
Eco-Bingo!
Scavenger Hunt!
Week 3: Woodlands
Colouring Book! (Week 3)
Help Sheet (Growing a Seed!)
What do we get from Trees?
Week 4: All about Food
Colouring Book! (Week 4)
Make Your Own Menu!
Easy Recipe!
Bingo! (Week 4)
Week 5: Dinosaurs
Dino Peg Puppets (Instructions)
Dino Peg Puppets (Cutouts)
Match the Dino
Hand Print Dino-Painting!
Crack the Code (Week 5)
Check back as we'll be adding more downloadables every week!
OctoKids TV: Daily kids’ entertainment broadcasts from pirate magic to princess parties
We’ve also set up OctokidsTV (led by Dom, our PR manager, turned self-appointed Head Producer). We’ve been using Zoom to broadcast interactive sessions led by children’s entertainers from Non-stop Kids Entertainment. They run twice a day, and are designed to entertain, occupy, and get the kids moving.
While they won't be quite as interactive as the live sessions, we'll be uploading all recorded sessions on our OctoKidsTV Youtube playlist, so anyone can watch along!
Our team can log their kids into a wide array of sessions with a whole host of activities! So far we’ve had:
Comedy award winning magic shows
Makaton lessons
High Energy Party Games
Princess Parties
Popstar Dance lessons
Pirate Magic shows
All the sessions from Week 1 are up now on our OctoKidsTV Youtube playlist – including Princess Academy...
(or allow optional cookies to play it right here)
Like many parents, you’ve probably scoured the entire internet for stuff - but in case it’s useful, here are some suggestions our team have shared in our #homeschooliscool forum:
Help keep active with these free online exercise and wellbeing resources
Check out this list of online education companies offering free resources
Scholastic has created a free learn-from-home site with 20+ days of learning and activities
Take a look at these free educational games for younger kids
Several parents have suggested making time capsules with pictures of the family as they are now, newspaper articles, and letters to yourselves and your family
BBC sounds will be publishing short, fun history podcasts for home schooled kids, created by the history adviser to 'Horrible Histories'!
Published on 26th March 2020 by:
Jackson Howarth
Senior Writer