Skills Challenges
Imagine you are asked to design a community garden. There is a limited amount of space, and you need to decide what sort of plants you would like to grow. For example, what colour are the plants? Would you like to grow fruit and vegetables? Do you want to include any other features in your garden?
Draw a picture of your community garden.
Getting Started: What are the instructions?
Intermediate: How can you come up with lots of possible solutions?
Advanced: Why is it important to consider a range of solutions for problems?
Mastery: How might you choose between different solutions to a complex problem?
Think of your favourite story, perhaps a fairytale or a story you invented. Tell that story to a family member or friend and try to make the story exciting by using different tones of voice, facial expressions, and hand gestures.
Getting Started: How do we know if we are speaking clearly?
Intermediate: As you speak how can put your points into a logical order so you can be easily understood?
Advanced: How can you use tone, expression and gesture to make your speaking engaging?
Mastery: How can you adapt the content of what you are saying, in response to listeners?
Listen carefully as someone tells you a short story or reads one out loud. Now, try to put the events of the story in the correct order, or retell the story in your own words.
Challenge: Can you add more details or remember specific quotes from the story?
Getting Started: How can you make sure you are listening carefully?
Intermediate: What does it mean to summarise what you have heard?
Advanced: Why is summarising or rephrasing what you have heard useful sometimes?
Mastery: How might changing the language (words) used affect how you feel about something?
Work with your family to plan a fun outing or adventure for everyone. Together, decide where you’ll go, what you’ll need to bring, and how you’ll get there.
Try to ensure that everyone contributes to the planning of your adventure.
Getting Started: When do you find it easier (or more difficult) to work with others in a positive way?
Intermediate: Have you helped make decisions with others?
Advanced: How can you encourage others to help out too?
Mastery: What is an 'unhelpful conflict'? How can you avoid this when working with others?
When you are speaking with a friend or family member, listen carefully to what they are saying. Think about how they are feeling when they are speaking to you. Reflect on how you know this.
Getting Started: How can you find out about how others are feeling about something?
Intermediate: How can you find out more about strengths and weaknesses in others?
Advanced: How might you be able to motivate others to improve their weaknesses?
Mastery: What kind of leader would you like to be?
Pick one task you do often, like organising your school bag or doing a chore. Aim to do it better than ever before! Think about steps you can take to make it your "personal best," such as doing it faster, more neatly, or with more focus.
Extension: once you have completed your task, think about how it felt to do this activity in a different way.
Getting Started: How do you know if something is too difficult for you?
Intermediate: Why is it important to be willing to take on new challenges?
Advanced: What resources might you need to achieve your goals?
Mastery: What steps do you need to put in place to make your goals happen?
Think of one person each day you can say something kind to, perhaps you could give them a compliment, say thank you or give them some encouragement.
Think about how you will deliver this message. Will you tell them in person or write it down?
Extension: Keep a journal of all the kind words you’ve shared throughout the week and how they were received.
Getting Started: How does this activity make you feel?
Intermediate: How could you use this activity to feel more positive when something goes wrong?
Advanced: How could this help you to look on the bright side of something?
Mastery: When might you have to support others to stay positive?
Imagine you can have any pet in the world, even if it does not exist: what pet would you have? Draw your pet and describe it. What does it eat? Where does it live?
Extension: Write a story about an adventure that your imaginary pet goes on.
Getting Started: How can you share what you imagine?
Intermediate: How can you come up with lots of different ideas?
Advanced: How can you combine different ideas to create new ones?
Mastery: How can you help someone else to be creative?