This week’s theme:
Mysterious News. This week In History
This week’s colouring in sheet:
Download and print this week’s colouring sheet here.
Activities for the week:
Monday 10th August
Daily activity 101: Jack Haley
Fact of the day:
On 10th August 1898 American Actor Jack Haley was born
Activity 1:
You might not know his name, but Jack Haley played the famous part of the Tin Man in the original Wizard of Oz film.
Make foil coverings for your shoes and hands, or a tin foil hat so that you can become more like the tin man. Make metal sounds like Dorothy did when she first finds the Tin Man – you could tap together spoons, pans, tin cans, tap a radiator – what other metal objects can you find in your house? Which metal objects do magnets stick to?
Act out being a tin man, rusted solid and frozen stiff, try walking with locked knees and waving with locked elbows. Slowly imagine oiling yourself from your head to toes… use imaginary oil to unlock your neck, unlock your shoulders, unlock your arms, unlock your wrists, unlock your fingers. Then unlock your waist, unlock your hips, unlock your knees, your ankles, and your toes. When you’re rust-free and flexible, dance like a well oiled tin man!
Activity 2:
Make yourself a tin foil tin man sculpture. You could shine a torch on it, and draw it’s shadow too.
Activity 3:
The Tin Man visits the Wizard as he doesn’t have a heart.
In the song, ‘If I only had a heart’ the Tin Man lists why he’d like a heart: ‘I’d be tender, I’d be gentle, and awful sentimental regarding love and art. I would be friends with the sparrows. Just to register emotion – jealousy, devotion, and really feel the part.’
Show others that you have a kind heart and do thoughtful, gentle and kind things for the people that you live with today. Show them your emotions.
Create some heart paint prints using a cardboard tube. See if you can print in the rhythm of a heart beat. Or, you could make a rainbow heart hanging.
Add on activity:
Learn some of the signs to ‘Somewhere over the Rainbow’ from The Wizard of Oz
Tuesday 11th August
Daily activity 102: The Beatles
Fact of the day:
11th August is a popular day in the history of The Beatles
Activity 1:
On this day in 1964 the Beatles’ “A Hard Days Night” film opened in New York and on this day in 1965 the Beatles movie “Help” opened in New York.
The adverts for ‘Help’ show the Beatles using semaphore to spell out ‘Help’. However, according to the photographer, “I had the idea of semaphore spelling out the letters “HELP”. But when we came to do the shot, the arrangement of the arms with those letters didn’t look good. So we decided to improvise and ended up with the best graphic positioning of the arms.” So, what they’re actually spelling is a jibbersih madeup word, not ‘Help’ at all.
Can you spell out the correct spelling of H.E.L.P using semaphore with either just your arms, or with flags (pillow cases/tea towels).
Activity 2:
On this day in 1966 the last ever Beatles concert tour of US began. Imagine you’re going on a tour of the USA, what would you pack? Draw it all in your suitcase or backpack.
Recreate your own concert. Make yourself a microphone, grab your air guitar (or make a cardboard guitar), put on your best rock star costume and imagine you’re on stage at a music venue in America, people are cheering for you, girls are screaming for you, people are applauding, there’s a spotlight just on you, the band kick in behind you as you take to the microphone. Perform a karaoke Beatles song, or dance as if you were a Beatle!
Activity 3:
On this day in 1968, the Beatles launched their own “Apple Records” record label.
Make yourself a tasty apple treat! You can make apple crisps by coring apples, slicing them into circles, tossing with cinnamon and sugar, then baking until quite dry.
Add on activity:
Play along with James’s Beatles song:
Wednesday 12th August
Daily activity 103: The Quagga
Fact of the day:
On August 12 1883 the last known Quagga (a type of zebra) died at a zoo in Amsterdam.
Activity 1:
A Quagga was a type of Zebra that became extinct, which means that there are no more of them in the world. Search your house for stripy things – it could be clothes, sheets, blankets, etc. Use them to disguise yourself as a mysterious Quagga. Little is known about the Quagga’s behaviour before it died out – what do you think you would eat? Act out where would you sleep, what would you do during the day, and how you would move.
Apparently the Quagga’s name was derived from the sound of its call which sounded like “Qwah Ha Ha”. Can you practice sounding like a Quagga. Common Zebras make sounds like this, can you practice that too?
Activity 2:
Make some stripy Quagga artwork by laying strips of masking tape onto a page in any direction. Paint or draw, covering the whole page in colour, and when the tape is removed it will leave a stripy pattern.
Activity 3:
Other animals that once lived but have now become extinct include the Dodo (a flightless bird), the Tasmanian Tiger (a dog with a wolf’s head), and the Megaloceros (a giant deer).
Make up some mysterious, wonderful creatures that may once have lived, but scientists never got a chance to study before they became extinct. You could draw or make models of them. Or, you could collage together different creatures from pictures in magazines. What would your creatures be called?
Add on activity:
Look back at our activities about The Black Mambas who help to protect wild animals and save species from being hunted to extinction.
Thursday 13th August
Daily activity 104: Sridevi Kapoor
Fact of the day:
On August 13th 1963, Indian actress Sridevi Kapoor was born. She was referred to as Indian cinema’s “first female superstar”.
Activity 1:
Sridevi Kapoor’s films included some amazing dancing. Try out some Bollywood dancing of your own with Jess’s video below.
Activity 2:
Sridevi’s films feature many expressive and melodramatic facial expressions to convey the high emotions in the films. In front of a mirror try and make your face act angry, happy, sad, frightened, awake, shocked, confused, disgusted. What else can you show with just your face?
Activity 3:
Sridevi appeared in many glamourous and romantic films, wearing wonderful jewellery. Make yourself some beads that you can wear as a necklace, bracelet, headdress, in your hair, around your hands, or anywhere that Sridevi would wear them! You can make some paper beads of your own from old magazines.
Friday 14th August
Daily activity 105: Oasis vs. Blur
Fact of the day:
August 14th 1995 was labelled the “Battle of Brit Pop” when rival bands Oasis and Blur released singles on the same day.
Activity 1:
The Oasis single released on this day in 1995 was ‘Roll With It’. Listen to the song and watch the band in the music video here [warning the video contains flashing lights, see here for a version without watching the band]. Try to act like singer Liam Gallagher in the video – reach to sing into an imaginary microphone a bit higher than your mouth, keep your arms behind your back, wear a big jacket, make yourself a rice shaker to act as your tambourine, create some big eyebrows for yourself, turn your back to the audience, be a bit ‘rock n roll’! You could try playing an air guitar in time with Noel Gallagher too. Or jump up and down in time with the audience at the Oasis gig.
Activity 2:
The Blur song released on this day in 1995 was ‘Country house’ – listen to the song here. Design an imaginary big grand country house and garden for yourself. How many doors and windows would you have? Would you have turrets? Would you have big lawns? Water features? Animals? Stables? Flower beds? Statues? Vegetables? Room for your posh car (or two!)?
Activity 3:
Oasis and Blur were both competing to get to number 1 in the charts. Which is your favourite of the 2 songs? Who do you think went to number 1? Make banners of support for your winning side of the battle.
Sing a song that you think you’d get to number 1 in the charts with. Make your own music video for it!
Why not take photos of any of the activities you’ve tried this week and share them with us? You can share it on our Facebook, Instagram or Twitter or send it to melanie@purplepatcharts.org and we’ll put it online for you!