Homeschooling during Covid19 week eight - creative activities

We're here to help you through another week of home-schooling! To get you started for the week, here's quite a big resource. Fantastic for Families have updated their website to include lots of online participatory activities for all ages: https://fantasticforfamilies.com/

Dance

Have you got small people in your life who love the ballet? Then check out the Royal Opera House creative learning resource packs! Alongside the class activities, there are plenty of digital resources that you can use from home: https://learning-platform.roh.org.uk/ballet

Drama

We are delighted to see ACA Members Little Angel Theatre getting this publicity! Have you seen their lockdown content yet? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/video_and_audio/headlines/52583126/making-puppet-theatres-from-lockdown-parcel-packaging

Music

Do your kids need a goal during lockdown? Glyndebourne has launched Arts Award at Home - a new opportunity for young people to engage with the arts during lockdown and earn a nationally recognised qualification: http://glyndebourne.com/artsaward

Why not have a play in Google Chrome's Music Lab? Get your creative juices flowing and then send us the results! https://musiclab.chromeexperiments.com/Experiments?dm_i=5HR0,6JZR,2XJGH5,OTBM,1

Museums

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, you and your family can join in with a bit of Time Travel TV courtesy of the National Archives: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/students/time-travel-tv/

If you are enjoying any of this content, please consider making a donation to the organisation who is producing it! Arts organisations are facing up to 100% revenue loss due to Covid19 and need all the help they can get right now.

Home-schooling during Covid19 week two - creative activities

To support parents home-schooling their children during Covid-19, we will be sharing daily resources to help continue your children's creative education. If you enjoy a particular organisation's free activities, please consider making a donation directly to them so that they can continue doing their fantastic work out the other side of lockdown - small arts organisations are under huge strain right now and every penny helps. We are sharing stories of organisations in particular need over on our Twitter page.

Here is a list of our resources for week two:

Craft: Learn how to make a tambourine from... Macaroni! (If you can spare the pasta, that is). Check out Sound Connections' YouTube channel for more fun instrument-making activities.

Dance: Strictly star Oti Mabuse is running daily dance classes at 11.30am over on her Facebook page! We hear this week's theme is musicals... https://www.facebook.com/OtiMabuse/

Literature: ACA Critical Friend, author and illustrator James Mayhew has started #StoryTime4HomeTime, the perfect way to end your day! Follow the link to find out a little more, and make sure to subscribe to James' YouTube channel: https://www.jamesmayhew.co.uk/2020/03/storytime4hometime.html

Music: Why not try incorporating the Voices Foundation Virtual Singing Assembly into your daily lunchtime routine? https://www.pscp.tv/Voices_Found/1vAxRBddAPgxl

Another week of home-schooling done! And for some, it's the start of the Easter holidays... Why not wind down with some free meditation from Calm? https://blog.calm.com/take-a-deep-breath

Other things we've loved...

The egg, Theatre Royal Bath are sharing some fantastic family-friendly plays online, including I wish I was a mountain: https://vimeo.com/401349317

Usborne has launched a Play and Learn at Home digital hub, which includes all their e-books for a reduced price of 99p each: https://www.thebookseller.com/news/usborne-launches-play-and-learn-home-digital-hub-1198269

First News, the schools' newspaper, are making some of their editions available free online: https://subscribe.firstnews.co.uk/free-downloadable-issue/

We will continue to provide ideas for fun stay-at-home activities throughout the holidays, so watch this space!

Co-working spaces in London

Since the appointment of interim CEO Janet Robertson, we have been making the most of co-working spaces across London. As we prepare to move into a slightly more permanent base, here are some of our findings.

The Barbican Centre

The ground floor space (pictured above) is a bit touch-and-go, depending on what exhibitions and events are taking place. However, on a good day there are nice long tables and reliable Cloud-based WiFi. Plug sockets are  slightly harder to come by. There are further working areas on the first floor, and if you are looking for a quiet space - there is an excellent room at the back of the Barbican Library on the second floor (in the Music Library).

Convenient food and drink is available from Barbican Kitchen, the Benugo café, or - if you're feeling fancy - one of the restaurants near Lakeside. On the subject of Lakeside, this is a lovely spot to enjoy some natural light and time away from your computer screen!

The Roundhouse, Camden

This is a lovely, quiet spot to get some work done less than half an hour from Waterloo, King's Cross and Paddington. The WiFi is excellent, and the café is light and airy. There are lots of small tables at the front of the café, and longer ones around the back, which you can apparently reserve!

The food options are rather limited (toastie, anyone?) but tasty nonetheless, and there are plenty of naughty snacks to enjoy on the go. We spotted a number of plug sockets around the place and it never seemed so busy that you couldn't get to one. Well worth the journey to the edge of zone 1.

The Royal Society of Arts

If you happen to be a member (or know someone who can let you in), the home of the RSA just round the corner from Embankment tube is an oasis of calm in central London. With plenty of nooks and crannies for small meetings, excellent WiFi and a lovely café, you are sure to find everything you need here.

Crypt at St Martin in the Fields

A nice cool underground space for a hot summer's day... And we imagine a cosy space on a winter one! If you don't mind the company of a few brass-rubbers, this is one of the quieter co-working spots in London.

That said, it lacks phone signal and the WiFi is also rather unreliable. We can vouch for the excellent food however. A good place to work offline, or maybe catch up on some emails. Not so good for uploading or working in the Cloud.

The Young Vic

An ACA favourite for many years, this café boasts tonnes of natural light, a roof terrace, and a brilliant range of food and drink on offer at a number of price points. With this excellence comes popularity, and unfortunately the WiFi suffers somewhat for this. There are also no plug sockets on the ground floor, and only two or three upstairs (they're on the ceiling!) so if you need a charge you have to be stealthy.

A very convenient central London location and a great place to bump into other arts and culture professionals.

Pret a Manger

We couldn't really write this article without a short tribute to Pret a Manger - host to many ACA meetings over the years. The WiFi is invariably excellent, the chairs are comfortable, and the food is reliable. Getting a password for the bathroom is mildly inconvenient but we'll forgive them this.

What's more, they seem to be popping up everywhere - meaning you can be sure to find a reliable co-working space, wherever you may be.

(As an aside, if you have a lovely local café with good WiFi, we strongly encourage you to support them!)