Leisure, learning and lock-down - FAMILIES

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We know these are challenging times for *Compass Card families, so we’re continuing to put together useful information to help you find things to do while Covid 19/Coronavirus is restricting our movements. We’ll be updating this page regularly as new information comes in.

*The Compass Card is a free leisure discount card run by the Sussex-based charity Amaze for disabled 0 to 25s living or going to school in Brighton & Hove or West Sussex. To find out more about the card and how to apply, click here. To find out more about Amaze, click here.

The Compass Team is still processing Compass Cards! Find out more here.

Getting outdoors

With the tiered system there are a number of restrictions in place and we recommend checking the restrictions in your local area before embarking on any trips out. You can find the government advice here.

If you’re not familiar with local parks, click this link for more information about spaces in Brighton & Hove, this link for East Sussex and this link for information about spaces in West Sussex.

Staying indoors

You may just feel like turning the TV on, streaming a movie and getting the popcorn out – but if you want more ideas, we’ve got plenty!

First, breathe…

Creating calm in a crisis. UK children’s charity Childline has created ‘Calm Zone’, a really useful online toolbox that’s designed to help children cope with the current crisis. It includes ways to cope videos, breathing exercises, activities and tools, yoga videos, games and more. Find out more here. Relax Kids, a company that specialises in child relaxation training, has produced a free ‘Calm Pack’ which includes relaxation exercise cards, affirmation cards and activities. You’ll find the Calm Pack here.

You might also find this free online book from Nosy Crow useful in explaining Coronavirus to children. Illustrated by Axel Scheffler who’s famous for The Gruffalo illustrations, ‘Coronavirus: A book for Children’, you can print it off or read it online here.

‘The Book of Hopes‘, a free online book, is awash with hopeful stories, poems and illustrations designed to entertain children at home during the current crisis.

Local libraries

If you’re not a member of Brighton & Hove or West Sussex library services, now’s the time to join! Find out more about the ‘order & collect’ service in Brighton & Hove here and the ‘select and collect’ service in West Sussex here. Libraries have a wealth of online resources too. Joining online is simple and membership will give you access to e-books, e-comics, e-audiobooks and more.

Brighton & Hove: see what the online library service offers here. To join the library service as a new member, click here. The library service is also running online storytelling – the best way to keep in the loop about that is to follow them on Facebook.

East Sussex: find out what’s available online here. Click here to join as a new member. You can follow the library service on Facebook here.

West Sussex: you can find out about all the library services you can access from home here. To join up as a new member, click here. Keep in touch with West Sussex libraries via their usual Facebook page, as well as their new Family Corner Facebook group.

Unexpected fun

There’s so much you can do online and off!

Free inclusive art activities. A Line Art, an interactive theatre and art company, has a great range of inclusive art projects for children and families and their online videos are BSL interpreted. Learn how to juggle, how to make a paper city and lots more. See their make and do videos here.
SEND space in Brighton & Hove parks. The PaCC in Brighton & Hove has worked with the council’s Parks Service to provide exclusive outdoor space for SEND families in East Hill Park Secret Garden, St Ann’s Well scented garden and the ballpark area at East Brighton Park from 10am to 12pm daily.
Stay active with Sustrans. The walking and cycling charity Sustrans has a free four week programme of videos, games, weekly challenges and themed activities called Outside In. Just register online to receive the weekly activity packs.
Music therapy online. Belltree Music Therapy has some great music therapy sessions you can watch online. They’re aimed at 3 to 7s and will also be suitable for older children with special educational needs. You can see them here.
Get creative with CFT. Chichester Festival Theatre has pulled out all the stops to provide creative resources for children and young people during the crisis. We love the 12 online tutorials from the theatre’s Learning, Education and Participation (LEAP) team, which include Stage Combat with Freddie, Dance the Jitterbug with Lauren, Paper Puppets with Hannah and Darcy and making a Bug Hotel. You can find the LEAP tutorials and lots more here.
Sundae Club for 3 to 9s is online. Komedia’s wonderful Sundae Club has gone online and is a real treat every month with its music, activities and children’s show. You can see it for free via Komedia Kids on YouTube.
Free online activities from DAISY. DAiSY (Disability Arts in Surrey) has launched free online activities to get your creative juices flowing, keep you fit and bring you a whole lot of fun! The programme includes art activities, creative writing and dance fitness. Click here to find out more.
Quarantine Kids Storytime. The brainwave of Brighton mums Alice Crouch and Sascha Cooper, kids can listen to very short stories and poems through to much longer books broken down into chapters. Just head to the Quarantine Kids Storytime YouTube channel.
Resources for young readers. There are some lovely resources for young readers on the Brighton Festival website – from Liam Hackett’s guide to help young people be their best selves, to storytime readings and a draw-along. Check it out here.
Create a Covid 19 time capsule. Kids can create a time capsule to record their experiences of the crisis using this Word document. Great fun, but also good for documenting feelings and getting a bit of perspective! We can thank Natalie Long from Long Creations in Canada for this inspired idea.
30 day Life Skills Challenge for kids. There must be lots of parent carers who could do with a hand with the chores, so the 30 day Kids Life Skills Challenge could be a start! Download the pdf to get started.
My Lockdown Diary. This printable diary is a great way of getting kids to think creatively about the strange times we live in and there are four weeks of activities from doing a self portrait to sending a virtual note to someone you miss.
Get creative with Tate Kids. London’s Tate Gallery has some great art-themed activities for children including making a robot or a friendship bracelet, games and quizzes and much more. Find out more here.
Online beatboxing with SK Shlomo. Record breaking beatboxer SK Shlomo ran free weekly online tutorials for aspiring beatboxers and their parents in aid of the NHS Together COVID-19 Appeal. The lessons have finished now, but you can still watch them here.
Go Kid Music: Compass Card holders can learn to play the ukulele for free with Al Start’s online tuition. Find out more here. Other children who love a good sing-song can sing and sign with Go Kid Music Club, Al’s online subscription-based service. Compass Card families pay just £3.96 a month and you also get two downloadable albums of Al’s children’s songs. Find out more here.
National Geographic adventures. National Geographic magazine and Persil have joined forces to provide loads of indoor activities for children – from games, quizzes and daily challenges like making a pirates’ map, to exploring the planet and going on a river adventure. Find out more here.
Drama and storytelling for 0 to 7s. Little Hoglets, a York-based company, is running free Zoom drama and storytelling classes for 0 to 7s and there are fun daily challenges and craft ideas on their Facebook page too. You can find out more about the online classes here and see their Facebook page here.
Puppet making activities. The award-winning Beverley Puppet Festival finished on 12 July, but the 25 puppet making activities are still online here. Make puppets from socks, food, plant pots, paper, card, or your own two hands.
Roald Dahl website comes up trumps
If you love Roald Dahl tales, the Roald Dahl website has come up with some great resources to help with fun and home schooling indoors. You’ll find short excerpts from favourite stories (many signed), quizzes, puzzles, lesson plans, craft activities, drawing lessons and much more.
Music with Mike for primary school children. Local musician Mike Hayhurst does regular online music sessions on his Facebook page and you can see all his online content on his YouTube channel anytime here.
Creative writing with Little Green Pig. Kids who are into writing stories will love the writing prompts from Sussex charity Little Green Pig every Monday on Facebook and Instagram.
The 30 Day Lego Challenge. If you’ve got some Lego lying around, this one’s a lifesaver. Imaginative daily challenges include building a new tardis for Dr Who and constructing a rocket for NASA. Click here.
Inspirational art activities from Firstsite. Firstsite, an award-winning gallery in Colchester, aims to empower people to be creative together and is producing free ‘Art is Where the Home is‘ activity packs in partnership with artists like Antony Gormley and Annie Morris. They’re imaginative and fun and you need to register online to access them.
Getting up close at the Museum. Compass Card Partner Brighton Museums has virtual tours of the Royal Pavilion, Booth Museum of Natural History and Preston Manor, along with jigsaw puzzles, daily distractions and home schooling resources here. And Fishbourne Roman Palace is full of surprises, including Roman recipes and mosaic bingo! See here for info.

All the fun of the farm. Check out ‘Bocketts Farmyard Classroom’ where you can learn all about the inner workings of the farm. Aimed at five to seven year olds, you can find out more via their YouTube channel. The fun videos are linked to worksheets, which you can download on the Bocketts Farm website here. Log in with the user name educationatbocketts and the password farming.
The World of David Walliams. Fans of David Walliams books for children will love this website. There are readings from David and lots of free activities too.
Take a trip in the virtual world. Fancy a webcam at San Diego Zoo, or a virtual tour of the Sistine Chapel? You can take a virtual trip to places you can only dream of visiting in the real world. This link shows you a fuller range of options. Compass Card Partner Marwell Zoo also has live webcams.
Ideas for the great indoors. The Scouts have provided some ideas for stuff you can do indoors, mainly with primary age children. Find out more here
Free kids’ audiobooks. Audible, a part of Amazon, is providing free streaming of children’s audiobooks. You can listen to these on your phone, desktop computer, laptop or tablet. Find out more here.

Exercising at home

Joe Wicks (aka ‘The Body Coach’). Joe, already well known for his YouTube workouts, cookbooks and C4 TV show, became the nation’s PE teacher throughout the first lock-down by running free 30 minute live workouts for kids (and their grown-ups!) and you can still catch them now on his YouTube channel ‘The Body Coach TV’. Find out more and subscribe for free here.
Jump Start Jonny. Aimed at primary school children, there are lots of free workouts to choose from, as well as printable downloads and a bit of mindfulness thrown in for good measure! Click here for more info.
Exercise with a local OT. Sophie Thwaites, a local parent carer and Occupational Therapist is providing regular free online exercise videos on her Facebook page. Sophie has lots of experience working with children with additional needs, so well worth a look.
Cosmic Kids Yoga. Yoga and mindfulness is great for wellbeing, so here’s some online yoga for younger children. Cosmic kids has a YouTube channel and you can dip into the sessions as and when. You can subscribe for free here.
Brighton Ballet School: this Compass Card Partner is running online dance lessons you can do from home. Check out Brighton Ballet School’s Facebook page for more info.

Education and learning

If you want to encourage children and young people to learn at home, there are absolutely loads of free resources. See above for online services from local library services.

Help for children with Dyslexia. Specialist publisher Barrington Stoke has created ‘The Homeschooling for Lockdown Pack‘, a free digital pack of advice, information and resources to support dyslexic children.
The Sensory Project. There’s lot of free resources here, including ways of explaining Covid 19/Coronavirus to children and young people with additional needs and a range of content suitable for those with PMLD too. Click here.
Learning for disabled children and young people. HelpKidzLearn is offering a 14 day free trial during the current crisis. There are lots of apps and computer programmes. Click here to find out more.
Bag Books storytelling. If you have a child with Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities (PMLD), you’ll be pleased to know that Bag Books, which publishes multi-sensory stories for people with PMLD, is sharing stories on its Facebook page here.
Free learning packs. Orchard Toys is a toy retailer for young children, but they have lots of free learning packs too and they can work well for older children and young people with learning disabilities. Find out more here.
Learn with the BBC. The BBC’s ‘BBC Bitesize Daily’ for years 1 to 10 features presenters including Oti Mabuse and Karim Zeroual and you can access the six 20 minute daily programmes via the BBC iPlayer, red button, BBC Four and BBC Sounds. Find out more here.
Learn to code for free. Kids can build their own games using drag and drop coding. You just need to register on the site to get the two free lesson plans. Click here to find out more.
Teach Your Monster to Read. The computer version of this reading game is free. It’s for kids who are in the early stages of learning to read as well as older children who need more practice. Find it here.
Chatterpack. This website has learning tools specifically for children and young people with additional needs. Some content is paid for, but scroll down the page to see free resources. Click here.
Primary school maths online. Carol Vorderman’s Maths Factor for 4 to 12s follows the National Curriculum and was free during the crisis until 5 July, but is now available half price at £4.99 a month, although you can trial it free of charge for 21 days. Find it here .
Secondary school maths online. A London maths teacher, Colin Hegarty, was shortlisted for the international Varkey Foundation teacher prize earlier this year, but number geeks might be more interested in his free online tuition at Hegarty Maths.

And there’s more. Ok, breathe. If you’re up for it, this US mum’s website reckons they’ve got a list of all the education companies offering free subscriptions while schools are closed. There certainly are a lot here – and there’s some fun stuff at the end too. Click here for more info.

Other educational resources we’ve found

This list, which came from an education professional via the excellent Facebook group Brighton Covid 19 Mutual Aid, is described as ‘a non-exhaustive list that might help those affected by school closures, compiled by home educators’. Thank you to Ruthanne Mofidi Croall Garrett who shared it!

Khan Academy
Especially good for maths and computing for all ages but other subjects at Secondary level. Note this uses the U.S. grade system but it’s mostly common material.
Futurelearn
Free to access 100s of courses, only pay to upgrade if you need a certificate in your name (own account from age 14+ but younger learners can use a parent account).
Seneca
For those revising at GCSE or A level. Tons of free revision content. Paid access to higher level material.
Openlearn
Free taster courses aimed at those considering Open University but everyone can access it. Adult level, but some e.g. nature and environment courses could well be of interest to young people.
Blockly
Learn computer programming skills – fun and free.
Scratch
Creative computer programming
Ted Ed
All sorts of engaging educational videos
National Geographic Kids
Activities and quizzes for younger kids.
Duolingo
Learn languages for free. Web or app.
Mystery Science
Free science lessons
The Kids Should See This
Wide range of cool educational videos
Crash Course
You Tube videos on many subjects
Crash Course Kids
As above for a younger audience
Crest Awards
Science awards you can complete from home.
iDEA Awards
Digital enterprise award scheme you can complete online.
Paw Print Badges
Free challenge packs and other downloads. Many activities can be completed indoors. Badges cost but are optional.
Tinkercad
All kinds of making.
Prodigy Maths
Is in U.S. grades, but good for UK Primary age.
Cbeebies Radio
Listening activities for the younger ones.
Nature Detectives
A lot of these can be done in a garden, or if you can get to a remote forest location!
British Council
Resources for English language learning
Oxford Owl for Home
Lots of free resources for Primary age
Big History Project
Aimed at Secondary age. Multi disciplinary activities.
Geography Games
Geography gaming!
Blue Peter Badges
If you have a stamp and a nearby post box.
The Artful Parent
Good, free art activities linked to from this Facebook page
Red Ted Art
Easy arts and crafts for little ones
The Imagination Tree
Creative art and craft activities for the very youngest.
Toy Theater
Educational online games
DK Find Out
Activities and quizzes
Twinkl
This is more for printouts, and usually at a fee, but they are offering a month of free access to parents in the event of school closures.

More information about the Covid 19/Coronavirus for Amaze families

Amaze has put together some useful resources for families in Brighton & Hove and East Sussex. There’s information on health, mental health, education, support from Amaze, social care, appointments and meetings, money and more. Find out more here. In West Sussex, Reaching Families and the West Sussex Parent Carer Forum have joined forces to provide information on care, education, health, wellbeing and more here.