About Children's University Challenges

Our Children's University Challenges provide CU Learners with learning activities and experiences which can be completed at home. We have a range of Challenges to suit all ages and interests.

Each activity has an allocated number of Learning Credits. These Learning Credits will be awarded by either:  the CU Membership School your child attends; or the Suffolk Children's University Manager.

You will be asked to submit evidence of the challenge that your child has completed (in our experience photographs of all learning activities works best).  

If your child has a Provisional Passport to Learning and you are looking for additional pages, please click here:

Looking for a fun learning challenge to do?

 

Autumn - Perfect for October Half Term

BBC 500 Words, OotiBOO!, Happy Apple Day, Leafy Lab, Go Sketch, Children's University Trust Challenges, Dr Jo Science, Hand Grab Pattern.

You can find the challenge sheet on this link:

Spring Break Challenge

Easter all around the World; Science Sparks, Egg Challenges; Cotton Bud Painting; Take Notice of Nature; Baking - Cupcakes; Draw with Rob, Steam Engine Challenge. 

You can find the challenges on this link.

 

Winter Challenge Ideas:  Join your local library; make a Picasso Fortune Teller and create a Picasso inspired artwork; Explore your character traits; Build a hedgehog home; Spiders; Howard Carter - Pawprint Family.

You can find the challenges on this link.

Autumn Challenge 2022:  Sticky Pinecone Bird Feeder; 3D Paper Pumpkin; Autumn Hapa Zome; Optical Illusion; Essex Libraries (Love your Library Day); Rock Paper Scissors Hirakemi and Diorama; Save the Planet - Plant Power; Leafy Lab

You can find the challenges on this link

 
 

 

Challenges for 2022

Summer Challenge 2022 You can download the challenge from this link.  Garden design template download here

May/June and July  Cultural experiences review; Focal Point Gallery Southend; Summer Reading Challenge; A Criminally Good Day; Charlotte's Wonderful Stories; Platinum Jubilee Celebrations; Build a twig nest; Marble maze; Carve your own wooden stamps; Grid drawing

Click here to download.

April (Easter) Holiday 2022  Poo Clues and Tracking Challenge; Suffolk Libraries; Secret Mission; Countryside Savvy; Every Drop Counts; Frame It! It's a bugs life! Coal mine detectives.

February Half Term 2022:  Nature weaving. Rain sticks. Be a Space Dust Hunter. Make a Spectacular Paper Plane. Getting out and about. National Horse Racing Museum. Suffolk Wildlife Trust and Suffolk Owl Sanctuary.

New Year New Challenges - January 2022 Song Lyrics, Martin Luther King Day, RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch, Road Safety, What's On, Astronomy, Minute Moves, Collage, 3D Art, Archaeology, Design a Plant.

Our Seasonal Challenge for November and December Winter Reading Challenge, Problem Solving, Speaking, Skills and Talents, Draw with Rob, The Canal and Rivers Trust (seasonal wreath and amazing reindeer), ice wreath, greetings card designer.

October Half Term Challenge

Apple Sculptures, Packing, Leafy Lab, Write a Drabble. Get out and about at your local forest/woodland, visit your local library and how about trying a Learning Destination you've not visited before. 

Bumper Summer Challenge - 2021 Summer Reading Challenge; Taste tests, value for money; Full time meals with Marcus Rashford and Tom Kerridge; Mindapples; My future: My design; Become a story hunter; Birds eye view; Sweaty science; Toilet Timeline Challenge; Head in the Clouds; London South Bank University (help them with their research); Build a mud wall, Cereal box challenge;Make a nature raft and sail it; Pin number; Water balloon tennis.

 

 

 

June 2021:   Design a Sensory Blanket; The Bank of England; Coins; My Place with the World; Write your own song; Foosball

12th April 2021:  Radar - How does it work?; Egg flowers (good enough to eat); #DrawwithRob with YouTubeKids; Family photo shoot.

19th April 2021 Listen; How do humans hear; Make a journey stick.

26th April 2021: Local heroes; Mindfulness word search with vocabulary extension. 

 

Learning Destination Trails and Challenges:

Felixstowe Museum:  Activity Trail 1 and Activity Trail 2

Bumper Spring Challenge 2021

Exercise snacking, jigsaw puzzles, family pebble portraits, let's be mindful, postive or negative, chocolate truffles, voice over, self portrait, secret mission, The Countryside Code, be prepared, your own town design.  Everything you need to know and a bit more if you click through to the challenge on this link.  

March 2021:  With the opportunity to become a Maths Magician with a Countdown style challenge; improve baking skills with an eye on becoming the next Junior Baker; science with Dr Jo exploring Hand Grab - pattern seeking or the Optical Illusion of the Thaumatrope; or stepping outside for the RSPB Wild Challenge, Rub Rub, there's plenty to grab the attention of a curious Children's University Learners.

You will find all the details here.

 

February Half Term Challenges

We are going as screen free as possible for our half term challenges.  It's time to: explore the post boxes in your local community; make a mechanical hand; celebrate Pancake Day with a range of challenges which we hope will appeal to all.

Click here for the challenge sheet

We have set two challenges for this half term and with a little more online engagement with this second activity sheet we are challenging our learners to: Enter a Photo Competition from the University of Essex; Explore The Medical Mavericks Academy; Make a note to take part in Science Farm LIVE from 5th to 14th March; Explore the Iron Age; Take part in a beginners guide to 3D modelling with TinkerCad, and learn how to code visuals with Hydra.  Finally, there's an opportunity for your children to be a part of the Essex Babylab research study exploring how children learn.

You'll find all the details here

February 2021:  Week 1 Challenge 3rd February 

This week we take our inspiration from the Artist Henry Fraser and learn more about his story.  We explore the Chinese New Year and the Zodiac,  Exploring how we use our Left and Right sides we explore brain training and brainy breaths.

Click here for the challenge. 

January 2021 Challenge 1: Drive in movie; Mud, mud glorious mud; Time to relax; Dig in and plant a bulb; Make a twig star.  

Remember to click on the Activity Topic & Link to see the Challenge.

Please complete a Learning Reflection Sheet, which you will find here, for the activities you complete. You can include more than one activity on each Learning Reflection Sheet. 

We will be adding new challenges each week.

Activity Topic & Link to resources         Description
Harry Potter The wizarding world of Harry Potter, Arithmancy, Spells, Magic Wands and Invisible Ink
Create  your own musical instruments Create your own musical instruments using items from home.
Skeleton challenge Your skeleton is an amazing thing, so learn all about the bones in your body
Create a Jar of Joy Collect a jar and use it as a place to store down notes of positive things. 
Tornado in a Bottle Follow our instructions and make your very own Tornado in a Bottle!
Making your own Wind Vane Make your own Wind Vane and make a diary of which way the wind blows each day.  Does the wind change direction in a day? 
Recycled Outfits

It doesn't matter whether you LOVE fashion and clothes, or whether you would rather stay in your pyjamas all day. We can't wait to see your fashion creations from this challenge!

Autumn Challenge, October Half Term. Create an Autumn Rainbow, Conker Creatures or Hedgehog Rolls. If you've ever wondered how tall the tree are, we show you how to measure them. With Pumpkin Mathematics and other Pumpkin things, and a spot of Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious too, there's something for all interests.
Winter Challenge Winter Scavenger Hunt, Science with Dr Jo, Crafty Challenge, Tiny Treasure Hunt, RSPB Big Garden Watch 2021, Winter Biscuits, Winter Mini Challenge and Stargazer.  We hope your Children's University learners enjoy this Winter Challenge and of course we hope you do too!

 

Discover Arts Award - May 2020

Taking part in Discover Arts Award will earn 4 Learning Stamps for the Passport to Learning and CU Learners will also be presented with an Arts Award Certificate.

With thanks to Emma Jenkins at Kent Children's University and Julie Neville at Arts Award for all their support in developing this.

You will find all the details here.

Arts Award Discover Part A

Arts Award Discover Part B

Arts Award Discover Part C

 

Learning Destination Partner Challenges - click on the link below. 

More Learning Challenges, this time from our Learning Destinations.

Our Learning Destinations have been busy creating home learning challenges which are eligible for Children's University Learning Stamps.

With challenges from Woodbridge Tide Mill, Invisible Cities, Essex Police Museum and Firstsite we think there's something for everybody.  

 

 

Lorem initius...

Lorem initius...

Keeping Safe Online

As a CEOP Ambassador I am able to share with you resources and home learning sheets which, in times when children are likely to be spending more time online, I thought would be a great way for them to learn more about ways to keep themselves and all of their personal information safe.

For parents there are also helpful guides. 

We often don't know as much as we think.

As with all the information with you, none of this is compulsory, but all activities completed will receive Learning Stamps in the usual way.

For each of these completed challenges CU Learners will receive 1.5 hours of Learning Stamp credit.

 

 

 

Bumper Challenge 

We are living in slightly unusual times and CU Learners will be spending more time at home.

We have created this Bumper Children's University Challenge which we hope will give you ideas for activities.

More Challenges will be created and posted here over the coming weeks.


Debbie

 

 

Autumn Challenge

Ideas to inspire

Winter Challenge 2019

To entertain

Spring Challenge 2020

Perfect for February half term