I’m a teacher – 3 easy things to play with your kids over the school holiday which will help their learning
IT may be the Christmas holidays but that shouldn’t mean learning has to stop – especially when it can still be fun for little ones.
Government figures reveal that one in four primary school pupils have failed to reach expected standards in reading and numeracy following the pandemic.
If you think your child’s education has suffered, TV’s favourite headteacher Matthew Burton is here to help.
He caught the nation’s attention with his no-nonsense attitude to teaching on Channel 4 documentary series Educating Yorkshire.
Matthew, 38, headteacher at Thornhill Community Academy, says: “There are easy ways to help your kids learn at home.
“Applying learning and knowledge around the house keeps minds active.
“Here are three games that you can play with any primary-aged kids, which will have educational outcomes regardless of their key stage.”
SCIENCE: The exploding volcano
Matthew says: “A great way to increase scientific knowledge is with a project you can all get your teeth into – like bringing a working volcano to life using a few easy-to-find ingredients and an empty plastic bottle.”
YOU NEED:
- 10ml washing-up liquid
- 100ml water
- 450ml white vinegar
- Red food colouring
- 2 litre empty plastic bottle
- 250ml of baking powder, in a cup
- 250ml of water, in a cup
METHOD: Mix the first four ingredients together and pour into the plastic bottle.
Combine the baking powder and water in one cup and mix really well.
Once it’s all mixed up, pour it into the plastic bottle, step back, and watch the colourful lava spew out like a volcano.
KS1 (reception and year 1)
Matthew says: “This experiment helps develop your child’s confidence in raising questions like: ‘Why do the materials in the volcano react?’
“Talk about the texture of the ‘ingredients’, whether they’re dry, slimy, colourful or wet to help them engage with materials and how the world works.”
Lower KS2 (years 3 and 4)
Matthew says: “Ask kids in years 3 and 4 to report back on the outcome of the ‘eruption,’ with a pretend news report to the rest of the family – children will develop confidence in detailing their findings using scientific language.
“Helping them to repeat the experiment with different quantities of ingredients means they’ll be able to record the findings and identify and report what changes.”
Upper KS2 (years 5 and 6)
Matthew says: “Use the volcano erupting as the start of a research project into volcanoes, this will develop their knowledge of the natural world, materials and their properties.”
ENGLISH: The newspaper race
Matthew says: “The best way for primary-aged kids to get on top of English is reading.
“Reading anything works, from the Argos catalogue to the back of the cereal box.
“It is the gateway to everything your child will do in school.”
YOU NEED:
- A newspaper or magazine
METHOD: This game is great for children of any age.
If there are two or more kids you can split into two competing groups.
If you have just one child, you can set a timer and create a finish line.
Each group has two pages from a newspaper, brochure or magazine. Make sure the content is age appropriate.
The first page is put on the ground in front of the first player.
They stand on it and have to read aloud one thing from the sheet.
The child can only move once this has been read.
Very young children can recognise a letter, older children can recognise a word and those even older can recognise a sentence.
Once a word has been recognised they can then place the second page in front of them on the ground.
They then stand on that one instead, after correctly reading aloud a different word, then work their way forward, reaching back for the next page.
This continues until the player reaches a goal you’ve set where they then run back to the start and the next player on their team takes their turn.
The winner is the team to reach the goal twice, or an only child can keep trying to beat their own score.
Benefits:
KS1 (reception and year 1)
Matthew says: “Development of reading is crucially important for young children – even if it’s only recognising letters to start.”
Lower KS2 (years 3 and 4)
Matthew says: “This kind of reading game develops children’s pleasure in reading and also gives them the chance to play with language and increase their interest in it.”
Upper KS2 (years 5 and 6):
Matthew says: “Encourage older kids to try doing this game with sentences rather than words.
“When they nail that, try paragraphs.”
MATHS: The rainbow cake
Matthew says: “You might think there is no way to welcome Pythagoras and algebra into the house but so much knowledge that children learn in the maths curriculum is about shape and space.
“A way to get this working in real life is to get into the kitchen and get baking.
“Making a rainbow cake can put all the skills they will learn into real life.
“Why a rainbow cake?
“Because this cake is three-tiered, involves different colours and really gets the cogs in their mind whirring.”
YOU NEED:
- 9 medium eggs
- 400g unsalted butter
- 500g caster sugar
- 3 pinches of baking soda (one in each tier)
- 3 pinches of salt (one in each tier)
- 3 tablespoons of vanilla extract (one in each tier)
- Six food colourings of your choice
Topping:
- 1kg of a full fat soft cheese.
- 250g icing sugar
- Sprinkles
METHOD: Preheat the oven to 180C.
Mix together all the cake ingredients in a large bowl.
When all mixed together, split the mixture evenly into six cake tins and add a few drops of each colour to a different tin.
Bake for 20 minutes or until it’s cooked and a skewer comes out clean.
Let the cakes cool out of their tins, and mix the topping ingredients together.
Once cakes are cool, spread a layer on top of each cake and stack them on top of each other, leaving some topping behind.
Once stacked, cover with a thin layer of the leftover topping. Decorate with sprinkles.
TEACHINGS
KS1 (reception and year 1)
Matthew says: “Weighing the ingredients out means that kids are striving to recognise the numbers on the scales, which teaches them to count up and down.
“They could also practise writing numbers down by copying the instructions – this develops confidence in writing digits.
“Try to use vocabulary such as ‘more than’ and ‘less than’, as this will lead to an understanding of quantities.”
Lower KS2 (Years 3 and 4)
Matthew says: “Cutting the finished cake into parts, and deciding on what portion is being given out develops children’s knowledge of fractions.
“They also learn the value of weighing and measuring precisely. Have your little bakers keep an eye on the clock to recognise time.”
Upper KS2 (Years 5 and 6)
Matthew says: “Before they weigh and measure precisely, ask your kids to estimate how many spoonfuls it will take to get the right measurement.
“This allows children to convert values and solve problems around ratio.
“Develop their understanding of weights by playing with the measurements, turning them into kilograms rather than grams.
“Can they convert those weights themselves?
“To get their mind using fractions in real life, imagine that you’re going to provide a slice of cake for everyone you know.
“How many pieces would you need, and how many ingredients would you need to bake them all?”