Activity ideas
Stuck for what to do? Here are over 50 tried-and-tested activities from Makers across the UK. Most cost next to nothing, lots work Tiny or online, and 37 come with a printable how-to sheet. Take inspiration or mix them up, make them yours!
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Hands on
Make and craft
Simple makes with things you probably already have.
- Pom-pom revolution · printable sheet PDF
Make pom-poms and hang them on a railing for neighbours to take. - Lantern jars · printable sheet PDF
Turn old jam jars into glowing lanterns. - Recycling bunting · printable sheet PDF
Bunting from empty flour bags and scrap paper. - Kitchen creatures · printable sheet PDF
Playful creatures made from tins, jars and odds and ends. - Make seed papers · printable sheet PDF
Handmade paper with seeds in it that you can plant. - Make a mini zine · printable sheet PDF
A step-by-step guide to a fold-up magazine about your area. - Community quilt
Everyone makes a square, then you stitch them all together. - Visual community blanket · printable sheet PDF
A patchwork of drawings, words and textures from your community. - Little box of friendship · printable sheet PDF
Fill a small box with kindness to give to a stranger.
Outdoors
Nature and growing
Get outside, grow things and notice what’s around you.
- Organise a seed swap · printable sheet PDF
Swap seeds, cuttings and growing tips with your neighbours. - Build a bug hotel · printable sheet PDF
A home for minibeasts made from found materials. - Adopt a plant · printable sheet PDF
Bring neighbours together to care for a bare patch of ground. - Nature rainbow · printable sheet PDF
Collect natural things in every colour of the rainbow. - Frozen flowers · printable sheet PDF
Freeze flowers and leaves into ice sculptures. - Unexpected nature montage · printable sheet PDF
Spot and photograph nature in surprising places. - Rewild a patch
Grow a little wild space together, like Farnham Fun Palace did. - Listen to the trees and the birds
Slow down and listen: the heartbeat of a tree, or the birdsong outside. - Fairy doors · printable sheet PDF
Tiny wooden doors tucked into trees and walls for people to discover.
Words
Words, stories and languages
Writing, reading, storytelling and sharing a language.
- Write a story with your neighbours · printable sheet PDF
Pass a story from door to door, a few lines at a time. - Make the Museum of You · printable sheet PDF
Which three objects would represent you best? - Message in a bottle
Leave messages for friends and neighbours who aren’t online. - Share a poem
Read, write or perform a poem in a public space. - A Manifesto of Tiny Commitments · printable sheet PDF
Workshop ideas for writing a shared manifesto together. - Pop-up book stall
Collect unwanted books and set up a stall for a local cause. - Teach a few words of a language
Try Welsh, Scots Gaelic or counting to 20 in Irish – or share a language you speak.
Connection
Neighbours and kindness
Small ways to say hello, thank you and I’m here.
- Doorstep teas · printable sheet PDF
Everyone has a cuppa on their doorstep at the same time. - Mobile coffee mornings · printable sheet PDF
Run a regular coffee morning on a video call. - A window gallery · printable sheet PDF
Turn your front window into a gallery for people walking past. - Front of house · printable sheet PDF
Change your window display every week and watch people stop and smile. - Vegetable characters · printable sheet PDF
Make characters out of vegetables to entertain people passing by. - Rocks of kindness · printable sheet PDF
Paint rocks with kind messages and leave them for people to find. - Chalk messages and discovery trails
Friendly messages on the pavement and trails to find in green spaces. - Home-made hero awards · printable sheet PDF
Make awards for the people who have helped you out. - Playing with gratitude · printable sheet PDF
Simple gratitude ideas for all ages.
Creative riots
Make a statement
Creative ways to speak up together about the things that matter to you.
- Tiny protest · printable sheet PDF
Make tiny placards and put them on display. - Stitch up for change · printable sheet PDF
Embroider a message, one stitch at a time. - Stained glass solidarity · printable sheet PDF
A window display that shows your support. - Fly the flag all year round · printable sheet PDF
Make flags to celebrate LGBTQ+ people and history all year. - Protest songs
Sing together about what matters to you. - Don’t leave me in the cold
A simple shared message about living costs as winter comes. - Letters to tomorrow
Write letters to the future about the climate.
Get moving
Play, move and perform
Games, dance, drama and a bit of silliness.
- Drama challenges · printable sheet PDF
Quick, fun drama games to try with anyone. - Postcards of dance · printable sheet PDF
Send handmade postcards that get people dancing. - Go parachuting (sort of) · printable sheet PDF
Make mini parachutes and see which floats best. - Home-made table tennis
Make your own table tennis game. - Games for all ages
Games and creative things to do with neighbours, from Sheffield. - Walking better
An osteopath’s ideas for walking well – try it as a group walk.
Wellbeing
Slow down and look after yourself
Gentle ideas for days when you need to take it easy.
- Dress how you feel · printable sheet PDF
Put together an outfit that shows how you feel today. - Make a shrine · printable sheet PDF
Arrange objects that mean something to you. - Low-spoon meals
Share easy, low-effort meals and snacks with each other. - Cook something together · printable sheet PDF
A simple soup recipe and other ideas from a shielder’s perspective.
Where it all began
From the very first Fun Palaces
In October 2014, 138 communities made the first ever Fun Palaces. These ideas from that first weekend are just as brilliant today.
- Joke swap
Bring a joke, take a joke – on cards, on a wall or out loud. In Whitstable it “led to some hilarious conversations and got the sharing idea across straight away”. - Cardboard town
Build your neighbourhood out of boxes, together. Whitstable’s “Museum of Fun” ran 11 workshops in the run-up – even the local estate agent joined in. - Happiness tree
Hang luggage labels on a tree, or a branch in a pot, saying what made people happy today. From Northern Stage’s “Happy as Larry” Fun Palace. - Sandwich competition
Who can make the most surprising sandwich? Simple, silly and delicious. - Book swap
Bring a book, take a book. The Whitstable Maker who ran theirs went on to start a writers’ night. - Five-line plays
Write tiny plays together, then invite everyone watching to act one out. One 2014 Fun Palace had plays written by “people aged 5 to 105”. - International breakfast
Everyone brings a breakfast dish from their family or culture to share – a lovely way to start the day. - Human chess
Chalk or tape a giant board on the ground and let people be the pieces. - Pigeon post
Set up a message station so people can send notes to friends, neighbours and strangers around your Fun Palace.
“I certainly haven’t experienced anything that had such a great feeling of warmth, community spirit and sheer happiness in a very long time.”
Whitstable Fun Palace Maker, 2014