1.   Music and Singing

i) Wigmore Hall are screening their production of The Chimpanzees of Happytown, which is Music in the Round’s latest live concert for young children. Based on the book by Giles Andreae and Guy Parker-Rees and with original music by Children’s Composer, Paul Rissmann, and narration by Polly Ives, this captivating concert includes projected images from the book and irresistibly catchy songs: https://wigmore-hall.org.uk/live-streams/family-concert-the-chimpanzees-of-happytown.
 
ii) The award-winning Shining Cat duo have produced a gorgeous range of original musical stories, all based on one very special cat. So, what’s not to like? Each song takes children on a fantastical adventure in which they can become transformed with Orla the cat and explore the world through Orla’s amazing eyes. Join the adventure here:  https://www.shiningcat.com/.
 
iii) Join Big Top for their super musical adventures and activities, designed for children and young people with additional needs and their families! Join in with their weekly sessions on their YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyXShtCdi0nZ-DrJbUUIFvQ.


2.   Art, Design, Materials and Mixed Media

i) If you ever wondered how to create a Funky Flowers of Hope and Thanks sculpture to show appreciation to all our amazing teachers during Lockdown, then look no further! Simply using recycled drinks bottles, the wonderful Katrin Hall from Arts Generation and Waltham Forest Cultural Programme will help you create the most beautiful flowers to pin to your front door or garden gate as a message of thanks. To make your own Flower Power, watch Kat’s film here: https://www.artsgeneration.com/video-tutorials and on Instagram: @arts_generation_ .

ii) Leeds Art Gallery are offering some fabulous Under Fives Playground activities. Tune in to their twitter feed on 15^th May then once a month after that (at least!) for video activities such as this one on rainbow ice-sculptures: https://twitter.com/LeedsArtGallery/status/1253687969883586562.
 
iii) Bristol-based creative empowerment organisation, Unique Voice, have put together a Stay At Home activity pack full to bursting with free, simple and fun ideas from sock puppets to maracas. Try them out here: https://uniquevoice.org/theoffice2/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Home-Activity-Pack.pdf.
 
iv) The wonderful Birdhouse Adventures in Art have published their favourite resources on their YouTube channel, including a mesmerising demonstration of Magic Shadow Puppetry tricks, the making of Superhero Capes, and storytelling character and puppet making. Get your shadow puppet fingers limbered up here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ4CF3BiGfvosoy0Enx-Cqg or on their new site here: www.birdhousetheatre.co.uk.
 
v) The superb artist Paolo from Poplar Union, Lincoln’s favourite arts centre, is running a family art club where you can get lost in a wonderful world of making dinosaur heads, hand puppets and small worlds. Join Paolo every Tuesday here: https://www.facebook.com/poplarunion/ or watch previous videos here: https://poplarunion.com/family-art-club/.
 
vi) Our lovely friends at Cambridge Curiosity and Imagination have commissioned local artists to offer Creative Care Invitations – weekly ideas for different age groups and their families to explore the spaces we are in, especially the natural world on our doorsteps, using only the simplest of materials and everyday objects. No special art skills required. Download your own invitation to play creatively here: https://www.cambridgecandi.org.uk/projects/reimagine/events.


3.   Dance and Movement

i) Don’t miss the fantastic Saturday Superstars online streaming every Saturday from Yorkshire Dance. Saturday Superstars is a programme of dance classes for young people aged 0-16 encouraging young people to dance at home. Tune in or watch previous videos at https://yorkshiredance.com/project/saturday-superstars-online/.
 
ii) The lovely Louise Klarnett, a dancer with long experience working with children with special educational needs, has created a short film of her work in a nursery setting in East London. We thought the beautiful way in which one little boy’s body languages are carefully listened and responded to through touch, senses and without words was worth watching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VjJp9MtC28 .
 
iii) Collective Motion Dance are offering online classes to practice stretching, rolling, crawling, marching, jumping, skipping and a zillion other great actions inspired by well-known stories. Get grooving with whatever sensory props you can find (scarves, ribbons, feathers, maracas) and spark up your little ones’ confidence and imagination. FB live tasters free: https://collectivemotiondance.com/dance-for-toddlers-and-preschool-children/.


4.   Museums and Galleries

i) If the weeding in my garden is anything to go by, it is hard to imagine how much work will be involved in restoring a 500 acre, 18^th century outdoor gallery space like the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. But the great news is that you don’t have to wait to interact with its amazing exhibitions, as you can experience them in their almost full glory (sadly, minus wind and mud) and read the fascinating stories behind them and their creators here: https://ysp.org.uk/.
 
ii) The Museum of London have produced a superb Early Years Toolkit aimed at early educators but just as interesting for parents and carers. Watch a captivating film showing children’s learning in action, find top tips for supporting young children’s creativity, articles by early years specialists and a sample of practical resources to download. Earlyarts has contributed our own research into the role of culture and creativity in early brain development. Have a look for yourself here: https://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/toolkits/early-years-toolkit
 
iii) Inspired by contemporary artists exhibiting at the National Gallery of Scotland, Home Is Where The Art Is brings five wonderful activities every week to help children and families make their own discoveries about art. Supporting problem solving, imagination, curiosity and open-mindedness, these activities require no materials - just a bit of imagination! The last activity is designed especially for the wee-est members of the family. So roll your sleeves up and get creative! https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/features/home-where-art-creative-curriculum-kids
 
iv) The awesome Turner Contemporary is featuring a whole new bank of resources for children and young people to help stay creative. Check out the new Art Rebel Workshops for families delivered by local artists, download unique arts and crafts resources or join hundreds of others taking part in their Portfolio Art Competition.  All inspirational creative resources available here: https://turnercontemporary.org/learn-and-engage-with-us-during-covid-19/
 
v) If you need a little inspiration for your youngsters, why not delve into the Guggenheim Museum’s Archive? Amazingly, they have made 200 of their art books free for reading online or downloading as PDFs. So whether your little ones like the alluring shapes of Picasso and Kandinsky or the bold colours and ideas of Klee and Ernst, there’s something here that will stimulate even the youngest of artists: https://archive.org/details/guggenheimmuseum. Or check out their teaching materials for a more educational context: https://www.guggenheim.org/teaching-materials/.


5.   Story and Theatre

i) Gather round for Storytime, connecting our homes and our little ones with children’s stories to make us laugh, gasp and sing. The Lawrence Batley Theatre presents a brand new, online channel with regular updates and new content, starting with storytime featuring Giraffes Can’t Dance and Peace At Last (hopefully!) here: https://www.thelbt.org/whats-on/lbtv/.
 
ii) The fabulous M6 Theatre Company are streaming A Tiger’s Tale written by Olivier award-winning Mike Kenny and directed by the lovely Gilly Baskeyfield to tell the unbelievable true story of a family of acrobats and their adopted tiger cub, Fenella. Amazingly this true story actually happened in Earlyarts’ home village of Holmfirth! Watch the ramshackle travelling troupe perform a high spirited balancing act of circus, puppetry, live music and song (and download their resource pack) until 24^th May here: https://m6theatre.co.uk/latest/tt/.
 
iii) Tune in to a new podcast series, Lockdown Tales, sending stories to children separated from loved ones by Covid-19. A fantastic array of story tellers – both familiar and new voices - will be bringing together families across the universe on the enchantment of a story. Available on Spotify, Soundcloud and the Wonderful Beast website, the podcast will feature new episodes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and can be found here: https://www.wonderfulbeast.co.uk/lockdowntales.
 
iv) London Bubble patron, Mark Rylance, beautifully performs two Speech Bubbles stories specifically created by children: youtu.be/h2C1wx4SZpg. Sit back with a cuppa and enjoy!
 
v) Hay Festival have made their huge schools education offer online for free, including interviews and stories by magnificent authors such as Michael Rosen, Ade Adepitan, Chitra Soundar and Kate DiCamillo: https://www.hayfestival.com/c-209-archive-hay-player.aspx.
 
vi)  Polka Theatre, the UK’s No.1 children’s theatre, has opened its new online channel around the theme of Lions, Gorillas and Everywhere Bears exploring some of the much-loved children’s books that the theatre has adapted for stage, providing online story time, workshops and activities to help families stay creative. Explore your animal world here: https://polkatheatre.com/polka-online/.

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Don’t forget you can download a free pack on Den Making from Earlyarts’ Nurturing Young Children’s Learning series by signing up to the quarterly Earlyarts Ebulletin, along with our pack on Ten Techniques for Creative Teaching (also great for families!). This way you’ll get notified of each new Creative Care Package as it is published.

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