Reception: Summer Holiday Activities

Please look at the Summer holiday activity ideas. Try and encourage the children to take part in the different

activities. There are lots of other themed ideas on the school website. The most valuable daily activities are to

read and share stories and rhymes with children. Practise learning letter sounds, read tricky words and begin to use

in early writing. Take part in daily practical number activities including counting, adding, subtracting, doubling and

halving numbers of objects.

Practice singing the alphabet song to learn names of the letters.

Practice reading the common exception words which can also be found on the school website. https://www.hampnurseryandinfantschool.co.uk/newsletters/2020/Year-1-Common-

Exception-Words.pdf

Reading books and sharing stories with an adult is great practice to encourage their reading skills.

https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/help-child-learn-age-4-5/

Practice writing their names.

Practice early handwriting skills: to develop letter formation e.g.

Long legged giraffe letter shapes; l i t u j y

One armed robot letter shapes; r b n h m k p

Curly caterpillar letter shapes; c a d o s g q e f Zig zag monster letter shapes; z v w x

Literacy: Share and read favourite stories with an

adult. Read stories about the Summer e.g. ‘Lucy and

Tom at the Seaside’ by Shirley Hughes. https://youtu.be/ww5FPkawJdg Practise learning of

letters and sounds. Read tricky words from list. Write

captions/sentences.

Invent your own story characters/stories. Draw story

pictures/story maps. Make your own story books.

Draw pictures of the places you gave visited and the

things you have seen e.g. mini beasts that you find on

your bug hunt!

Physical: Go outside and play! Play throwing and catching

using a Ball/Frisbee, explore different ways of moving your

body e.g. skipping, jumping, hopping, star jumps, dancing;

make up your own dance routine. Play garden games; skittles,

hopscotch, football, hula hoop, mini golf, badminton, tennis...

Splash and have fun in the paddling pool with adult

supervision. Play with water balloons and toys.

Visit the local park with an adult. Go on a nature walk;

collect a list of natural objects with an adult. Help with

gardening jobs.

Build dens in the garden/inside the house.

Visit the beach; build sandcastles, dig holes in the sand,

write your names/letter shapes/draw pictures in the sand.

Play a game of rounder’s, cricket, or football with your

family on the beach.

Practise hand co-ordination skills: use the playdough to

explore making models. Practise letter formation skills: use a

pencil carefully to form letter shapes.

Communication and Language: Retell your favourite

stories using dressing up clothes and props. Make up

own plays/performances for your grown-ups to watch.

Role-play stories using masks, small world toys e.g.

doll’s house, castle set, dinosaurs, farm.

Recite ‘Summer’ themed poems/rhymes. Ask your

grown-up questions about a topic. Research topic

together.

Understanding the World: Go on a ‘Mini beast’ hunt in the garden or on a

local area walk. What creatures can you find? Where are the creatures

hiding?

Bird watching: What birds can you see? Name the different birds with an

adult. Make a bird feeder.

Take part in cooking activities, e.g. chop fruits to make fruit caterpillars!

Make sandwiches for a picnic.

Make own ice lollies using fruits. Explore ice cubes; how long do they take

to melt? Make a pizza; choose different healthy toppings. Make

homemade slime/potion to explore with an adult!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/makes/the-lets-go-club-robo-slime

Go outside at night with an adult and look up at the night sky. Can you

see the moon and stars?

Collect daisies, dandelions, buttercups during a walk. Stick on to card

with double sided tape to make a pattern. Press the flowers; leave to

flatten and dry out to create a picture.

Take photographs of places and features that you have seen.

Expressive Arts and Design:Create ‘Summer’

themed collage pictures, use sand, shells,

different textured materials.

Paint a picture on a pebble.

Make a moving boat in the sea picture!

Painting: Explore colour mixing to create

different shades of blue for the sea water.

Make sun catchers for the window. https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/makes/cbeebies-

house-suncatcher

Play find my shadow outside.

Junk modelling: Make boats to sail in the water!

Investigate which materials are waterproof?

Make a kite using different materials or a paper

airplane. Fly it outside on a windy day!

https://youtu.be/iG91XrEHfGY

Sing your favourite songs; make up your own

songs to sing. Use junk materials to create a

musical instrument. Make up own rhythms.

Mathematics: Practise daily counting to 20 forwards and

backwards. Find one more or less than a given number. Add sets

of objects to find totals to 10 and 20.

Count how many bugs, birds you can see on a Mini beast/Bird

hunt? https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/media/48349/minibeast-

hunt.pdf

Set up a toy shop with toys/price labels. Use the 1p coins to pay

for items in the shop and make totals.

Play number bingo game, snakes and ladders.

Practise doubling and finding halves of numbers of objects.

Play a game of hide the teddy and the child is to describe the

position using vocabulary e.g. under the chair, behind the sofa.

Learn the names of 2D flat shapes. Go on a shape walk to name

Personal, Social and Emotional: Enjoy special times with your family

and friends, e.g. have a teddy bears picnic, go on a day out, play a

board game e.g. snakes and ladders, matching pairs, share stories

together, play hide and seek, prepare food to eat. Think about how

we can be kind to each other? Remember to be helpful at home with

your family. Talk about how you are feeling and tell grown-ups. Keep

yourself safe; sun safety: wear a sun hat and sun cream, drink water,

stay in the shade. Stay with a grown up, road safety, water safety at

the swimming pool/beach.

Seaside Songs

Oh! I do like to be beside the seaside

Oh! I do like to be beside the seaside

I do like to be beside the sea!

I do like to stroll upon the

Prom, Prom, Prom!

Where the brass bands play:

"Tiddely-om-pom-pom!"

So just let me be beside the seaside

I'll be beside myself with glee

And there's lots of girls beside,

I should like to be beside

Beside the seaside!

Beside the sea!

The big ship sails on the ally-ally-oh,

The big ship sails on the ally-ally-oh, the ally-ally-oh, the ally-ally-oh,

Oh, the big ship sails on the ally-ally-oh, on the last day of September.

The captain said it will never, never do, never, never do, never, never do,

The captain said it will never, never do, on the last day of September.

The big ship sank to the bottom of the sea, the bottom of the sea, the bottom of the sea,

The big ship sank to the bottom of the sea, on the last day of September.

We all dip our hands in the deep blue sea, the deep blue sea, the deep blue sea,

We all dip our hands in the deep blue sea, on the last day of September.

Five little fish swimming by the shore (To the tune of London Bridge.)

Five little fish swimming by the shore

By the shore, By the shore

One got caught then there were

four , Four little fish

Four little fish swimming in the sea

In the sea, In the sea

One got caught then there were three, Three little fish

Three little fish swimming in the blue

In the blue , In the blue

One got caught then there were

two , Two little fish

Two little fish swimming in the sun

In the sun, In the sun

One got caught then there was one,

One little fish

One little fish swimming straight for home Decided he would never roam

Smart little fishy.

Straight for home, Straight for home

A sailor went to sea, sea, sea

A sailor went to sea, sea, sea

To see what he could see, see, see

But all that he could see, see, see

Was the deep, dark bottom of the sea, sea, sea.

A sailor went to chop, chop, chop.....

A sailor went to knee, knee, knee.....

A sailor went to sea, chop, knee…