By Bev, Indi and Lachie
Bev is Fun Palaces’ Ambassador in Sheffield, working with Sheffield Theatres. She and her sons made a family mini Fun Palace. Here’s what they did, in case you want to make your own …
Like many other parents across the world, being suddenly thrust in to a lockdown scenario with my two kids was probably the last thing I expected to be doing this spring. But, here we all are, and as the days and weeks pass and we slowly adjust, I’ve started to spot the opportunities presented by being at home with just one another for company.
We’re thinking more about what we like to do with our ‘spare’ time, we’re being creative with what we have in the house to entertain ourselves, thinking about what we might be good at and what we can learn from each other. All the Fun Palaces principles in action on an almost daily basis!
We decided to make our own mini Fun Palace.
We started by making a list of the things we all feel we’re good at which we’d be willing to share and think about how we’d do this. Some were easier than others due to limited space and resources…without a garden and goal posts we weren’t able to showcase penalty skills. Or build an epic water slide for surfing down using just a hill, cardboard boxes and a bar of soap! Some ideas (all mine) were considered painfully dull and thrown quickly in the bin.
Our list – or ‘programme’ – included:
Indi (12):
- How to play FIFA on the PS4
- How to make cool YouTube videos using video editing apps
- A 15 minute Ultimate Fitness football training session
- Trivia Quiz Top Tips
- How to play chess
Lachie (9):
- How to play Fortnite on the PS4
- How to draw cute cartoon animals and cool bubble writing
- Make and eat his awesome pitta bread pizzas
- Football Keepy Uppies
- Twerking masterclass (yes, really)
Bev (41):
- Grow flowers and veggies from seed
- Nanna’s Scotch pancakes recipe
- Upcycle old furniture
- The ‘perfect plank’ challenge
- Feng Shui
Over the course of a week we tried to do an activity every day, taking it turns to be ‘the expert’. Some ideas were brilliant and had everyone engaged and having fun, some didn’t work quite so well!
The boys were hugely unimpressed by my poor gaming ability but thrilled by my willingness to give it a go and we all enjoyed pretending that maybe one day, if I practice hard enough, I could smash them at FIFA.
I can’t wait to get going with Indi’s video editing app and there may even be plans to launch my own YouTube channel…watch this space. Definitely no more twerking until my back recovers though.
We spent hours poring over my late Grandmothers recipe book, painstakingly handwritten and liberally covered in old sauce splatters and stains, the boys finding much hilarity and delight in some of the contents. Eighteenth Century Potted Cheese or Savoury Kidneys anyone…?
Throughout lockdown we’re planning to carry on trying new things from the list and sharing all of our skills as much as possible which is great practice for Fun Palaces weekend in October.
We’re getting to know one another in different ways (newfound respect and kudos for me as the family planking champion), keeping busy and having fun! Now that the weather’s brightening up we’ll also be asking our neighbours to join in from a safe distance.
Maybe we can inspire other families or flatmates and house-sharers to join in too? The more the merrier – make your own Fun Palace!
See what secret skills and talents your family members or flatmates have and ask what they could teach you. We are all experts of something, now could be your time to shine. We’d love to hear what you get up to and see the photos or videos of your Lockdown Fun Palace.
