For the next 3 weeks our Purple Patch Zoom sessions will be filled with fun accessible activities that will help us gather information that evaluates Purple Patch. This means all of our participants will be able to give their opinions and thoughts on what we do and how they feel about it. We’ve designed a host of fun accessible evaluation activities with support from Tom Bailey and Lloyds Bank Foundation which will be keeping us very busy.

While we’re busy carrying out this big evaluation project in our programmes we’ll be taking a 3 week break from posting our normal Purple Patch daily activities here on our website. In the meantime, check out some of these other wonderful activities below & we’ll be back on Monday 15th March!

Purple Colouring In:

Revisit our Colouring Pages. Are there any you’ve missed? Are there any you’d like to try again? There will be 3 special ones over the next 3 weeks linked to giving your own thoughts and opinions.

Purple Videos:

Check out these videos created by Purple Patch staff during the first lockdown in 2020.  You can try yoga and storytelling with Grace, movement with Chemaine, pen drumming with James, a theme tune quiz with Jessica, art with Lorna, Lola and Ailsa, drama games with Anna, and dance tutorials with Jess!

Art:

Mindful Art Online is a bi-weekly Zoom session that you can join from the comfort of your own home and peacefully draw along with Lorna and Lola. The sessions run on Mondays at 10am and 7pm on Thursdays. More information here.

The Art Doctors have created 15 wonderful (and at times very silly!) videos that you can join in with at home  – check out their Youtube Playlist filled with them!

Try a guided 5 Minute art Meditation with videos from The National Gallery.

Music:

Brush up on your Makaton, and try learning some new signs to some of your favourite songs, with Singing Hands.

Have fun with visual song making at the Chrome Music Lab.

Opera North have created 5 sound journeys to be listened to on headphones whilst walking.

Creative ideas & activities:

Learning Disability England have a list of things to get involved with online.

Mindwell have lots of creative resources and activities.

Mencap’s have written a guide on Ways to Keep Busy.

Arts and Minds have created a ‘Ways to Wellbeing’ resource packed with ideas to keep you busy and well.

Online activities:

The Leep1 Facebook group is the hub for Leep 1’s activities. Anyone with a learning disability can request to become a member of the group and access the classes and sessions they host via Zoom and Facebook Live. The group offers a safe and supportive place for members to stay connected and learn skills during the pandemic and so far it has been a huge success. More information about the Facebook Group and the online activities Leep 1 offer can be found here.

Love2meetU are offering lots of different online activities from quizzes to karaoke, relaxation to social clubs all for free until April. See their Facebook page for info on how to get involved.

Drama:

Dramatize theatre company have loads of great online Video Activities.

Sport/Movement:

Mencap’s Virtual Challenge week has passed, but you can still do the activities (movement, throwing, hitting and kicking) set by Mencap and Special Olympics GB.

Get moving! Try doing some exercise that gets your blood pumping a little bit, getting oxygen all around your body and to your brain. Try this workout to music, or there’s a 10 minute workout you could follow here. Or you could jog on the spot, or step up and down on your bottom couple of steps of your staircase.

Try dressing up for your workout, like in this superhero inspired workout! Kapow!

Try seated, lower intensity ‘Love To Move’ workouts here, here, and here.

If you’re feeling up to it, have a more strenuous Baked Beans workout here.

Try some stretching exercises here. Or chair Pilates here.

Singing:

Opera North are running ‘From Couch to Chorus: Sing into Spring’ a 4 week course for those who want to give singing a go.  Starting on Wednesday 24 February you’ll get to learn how to sing a harmonic line from the comfort of your own home, and on mute(!), get to sing along with pre-recorded videos of our very own Chorus of Opera North, and learn extracts from world-famous operas. From Couch to Chorus: Sing into Spring is a joyful and welcoming place for all, whether you already love to sing or have never uttered a note. Over 2000 people took part in the festive edition, and 90% said it improved their wellbeing! Here’s a special welcome video from the vocal coach on the course, Jenny.  More info here.

Also:

Check out activities linked by Through the Maze.