Virtual Picks for the week ahead 4th – 10th June 2020
It’s hard to keep up with everything that’s become available online. Fear not, we’ve done the hard work for you.
From the Wildlife Trust’s 30 day nature challenge to Peter Pan and Friday Challenges from Premier League stars, there is something for everyone.
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OUR TOP PICKS FOR THE WEEK AHEAD
National Theatre at Home: Coriolanus (From 7pm Thurs 4 June until 11 June)
Tom Hiddleston (Betrayal, The Avengers, The Night Manager) plays the title role in Shakespeare’s searing tragedy of political manipulation and revenge which was filmed at the Donmar Warehouse back in 2014.
Running time: 3 hours with short interval
BBFC rating 12A when released in cinema. Contains scenes featuring occasional gore and staged violence. Watch it here.
The BRIT School Festival (Fri 5th June, 6pm on Instargram)
Nile Rodgers, Imogen Heap, Leona Lewis, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Dan Gillespie Sells, DJ Ace and Raye will take part in The BRIT School Festival this Friday. Joined by current BRIT school students, this one-off festival, taking place live on Instagram at 6pm, will raise funds for the education and well-being of young artists.
Go to instagram here
Annie Leibovitz Online Exhibition (From Fri 5th June)
American photographer Annie Leibovitz – whose work has appeared in Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair and Vogue – has a new online exhibition that explores the importance of our sense of place and features images from a project completed by the artist before the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, alongside a suite of recent photographs made during lockdown. The exhibition showcases Leibovitz’s singular ability to combine portraiture and photojournalism with profound humanism and sly wit, and features photos of bird specimens preserved by Charles Darwin during a trip to England.
See more here
Wildlife Trust’s 30 Day Nature Challenge – for the month of June
Join thousands of people taking part in The Wildlife Trusts annual nature challenge, 30 Days Wild! They want you to do one wild thing a day throughout the whole month: for your health, wellbeing and for the planet. That’s 30 simple, fun and exciting Random Acts of Wildness.
You’ll get a free, downloadable pack of goodies to help you plan your wild month, plus lots of ideas to inspire you to stay wild all throughout June (and beyond!). For extra ‘bonus’ items, you can sign up to the newsletter to get additional, fun activities, from instructions for baking hedgehog cupcakes to a beginner’s guide to wildlife photography.
Sign up for the pack here.
The Show Must Go On – Peter Pan (Free from 7pm 5th June for 48 hours)
This Friday at 7pm BST, Peter Pan Live starring Christopher Walken and Allison Williams will be streamed for free.
The 2014 televised version of the 1954 Broadway musical will be available for 48 hours. It has music by Moose Charlap and Jule Styne, with lyrics by Carolyn Leigh, Betty Comden and Adolph Green. The 2014 production added new numbers and restored a song that had been cut from the show before its Broadway premiere.
You can watch it here from 5th June
A Monster Calls at The Old Vic (7pm, 5th -11th June)
The award-winning A Monster Calls will be the first show to air from The Old Vic in association with Bristol Old Vic. First seen on stage in 2018, Patrick Ness’ piercing novel, highly-acclaimed production, featuring the original cast, will go live at 7pm on Friday 5 June and will be available to watch until Thursday 11 June.
This adaptation is suitable for adults and children aged 10+.
Watch it here.
Friday Challenges from Premier League Primary Stars
Every week, Premier League Primary Stars are setting education-linked challenges that are a great way for families and schools to get involved in fun football-related activities that will inspire and engage. So far there’s been a create a character, a story, drawing and kindness challenges!
Why not have a go at this week’s challenge? Show them the characters you’ve created on Twitter at @PLCommunities using #PLPrimaryStars or drop them an email at PLPrimaryStars@premierleague.com. They’ll feature some of the best on their Premier League Primary Stars community page and on PremierLeague.com.
New York’s Lincoln Centre’s Carousel (available from 5 June 2020 at 8pm ET”)
NEW York Lincoln Center new portal enables families and communities to keep the performing arts front and center.”; Carousel stars Kelli O’Hara, Nathan Gunn, Stephanie Blythe, Shuler Hensley, Jason Danieley, Jessie Mueller, Kate Burton, John Cullum, Robert Fairchild and Tiler Peck, and is accompanied by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.
Free Spelling Tutorials with SirLinkalot (Monday – Friday at 2pm)
Sir Linkalot’s app helps children spell hundreds of tricky words all the way from was to onomatopoeia. The animations, along with Sir Linkalot’s quirky voiceovers, ensure they get lodged in the long-term memory bank. Other material includes homophones, punctuation, grammar, rules, patterns and etymology (narrated by Lady Lexicographer aka Countdown’s Susie Dent). Go to www.sirlinkalot.org to get free access, across all platforms, during lockdown.
Sir Linkalot’s free spelling tutorials with Sirlinkalot that drop daily Monday – Friday at 2pm. Tune in here.
World Ocean Day – For schools (Monday 8th June)
A festival celebrating our ocean connection. On Monday 8th June the folks at World Ocean Day are bringing the wonder of the ocean from the deep blue to wherever you are.
Their interactive line up of ocean advocates will unfold with live ocean films, science lessons, music performances, yoga, breath-work, storytelling and much more!
Dress up in blue on the day to get in the mood for the festival world ocean day for schools.
Its live streaming all day https://worldoceanday.school/
Kids Week at the West End!
Kids Week is back from 1 – 31 August 2020! Participating shows will be announced on 2 June, and tickets will go on sale on Tuesday 9 June. Sign up here.
Barnes Kids Literature Festival (9th – 14th June)
The Barnes Kids Literature Festival will bring all the fun of London’s biggest kids’ books party free to your place using our old pal the internet. From Tuesday 9 to Sunday 14 June they’re going to get together with all your favourite authors online to share the love. Programme to be announced. See more here.
Online Poetry Workshops for 5-8 and 8-11 year olds
Anyone can join Simon Mole’s workshops for 5-8 year olds and 8-11 year olds which run online every Tuesday, visit here
Anytime…..
Sadlers Wels Dance Workshops for 2-6 year olds
Take part in fun family dance workshops designed for children aged 2 to 6 years (and big kids too!)
What’s your favourite animal? In this creative workshop we walk like a penguin, wiggle like a snake, hop like a bunny, creep like a lion and stamp like an elephant…
The sessions are designed for children aged 2 to 6 years but many of the activities offer a fun challenge for older primary school children too.
Southbank Centre’s News Reporter Club and Challenge
Are your children future reporters, or budding news anchors? If the answer is yes, then the News News News Reporters Club is sure to be right up their street.
This is a five day project for 8-12 year olds. To take part you won’t need any fancy materials. The creators of the project Andy Field and Beckie Darlington, have tried to make sure the project only requires things that you’d find in almost any house – a pen, some paper and a mobile phone. They have created an activity pack that you can either read on the computer, or print off at home.
The pack has five days worth of games and exercises in, and each day you make a different part of your radio programme. They’ve made five audio tracks ourselves – one for each day – where we introduce that day’s activities and do them ourselves, to give you an idea what it might sound like. And they’ve included some news jingles, so your news reports can sound as authentic as possible.
See the pack here. This project is offered on a pay what you can afford basis.
Royal Parks Crystal Palace Virtual Tour – THE GREAT EXHIBITION 1851
The Great Exhibition in Hyde Park was the first World’s Fair, attended by a third of Great Britain’s population.
The south side of Hyde Park was the site of the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations in 1851. Organised by Prince Albert, the event lasted only five and a half months but during this time it showcased the industrial and cultural advances that characterised Victoria’s reign, and welcomed over six million visitors. The exhibition and its exhibits were housed in an enormous temporary glass structure which became known as the “Crystal Palace”.
Thanks to today’s technology, you can now take a virtual tour of the Crystal Palace to get a feel for the scale of it, admire its beautiful and innovative design, and discover amazing facts about the exhibition it housed. Take the tour here.
JK Rowling publishes free new children’s book The Ickabog
JK Rowling has unveiled a new non Harry Potter story called The Ickabog. The story is going to be published in instalments for free. The original story was written over ten years ago for JK Rowling’s own children. However since the lockdown started she felt it would help children during these unsettling times. Read The Ickabog here
There is also The Ickabog Illustration competition open to seven to twelve year olds. Find out how to enter here
All royalties are going to be donated to help victims of the Coronavirus.