Professor Jackie Marsh’s team at MakerFutures have developed a range of resources to foster creativity and enhance learning in children in the form of fun activities that parents and carers can encourage.
From making a cardboard guitar to a spaghetti bridge, or even building a bot, there’s a vast range of activities to suit every child and encourage play with whatever materials parents and carers have available.
The activities are available as downloadable pdfs and include easy-to-follow resource lists and instructions. The team will continue to release a few activities per week whilst schools are in lockdown.
Professor Jackie Marsh said: ‘Parents and carers who are able to, have been doing a brilliant job in supporting children’s learning whilst in lockdown. We hope that these resources will help make it easier by fostering science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) learning in a fun and engaging way.’
Dr Alison Buxton, who leads the MakerFutures programme, said: ‘Making involves hands-on activities, which are important for learning. Learning-by-doing involves experimentation, risk-taking and problem-solving, all of which are important skills for children to develop.’
Alongside Professor Marsh’s work on the MakerFutures project, she also chaired a Department of Education panel to identify good quality educational apps for children. Head to the Department of Education’s Hungry Little Minds site to find the apps and for more information.