Thank You notes
Focus on the good things that are happening around you and put your gratitude into kind words for strangers. Write a thank you note or letter to an essential worker, and drop them off or post them away. Our essential workers are working tirelessly to ensure everyone is safe, healthy and happy.
Ask your family members to pick out an essential worker they are grateful for, and ask them to write a letter to that person eg nurse, doctor, supermarket worker, cleaner or garbage man! There’s many essential roles right who would love a note of kindness.
Make a time capsule
Write letters, draw and paint pictures, collect old photos and favourite items to put into a time capsule. Collect things that will bring you happy memories and help you reflect back on the past. You can create an airtight time capsule to bury in the backyard, or find old jam or sauce jars and repurpose them into mini time capsules that you can hide somewhere inside the house.
If you don’t have the resources to create a physical time capsule, make an electronic one! Record videos of each family member, with a message that will be secretly saved somewhere special for the future! Pick a date to come back and look at your electronic time capsule eg in 5, 10 or 20 years, and hide the videos away somewhere safe on a usb or send it to yourself in an email.
See here: www.personalcreations.com/blog/time-capsule-ideas
Record your family hisory
While face to face visits may be difficult right now, there’s heaps of online ways to connect and communicate with our family members, both young and old. Connect with your elders and older family members by recording your family history through voice or video recordings.
Have meaningful, intergenerational Skype catch-ups, with a series of reflective questions such as these twenty questions to ask the elderly. Brainstorm your own questions, or google more tips for capturing oral family histories.
Think about investing in an online platform that can allow your family to record the catch ups, so you can rewatch the videos in the future, and positively reflect back on your time in isolation.
Letter of Happiness - Symbio Zoo
The animals at Symbio Zoo are using their free to brush up on their reading and writing skills! Write an online letter to one of our animals, and we’ll get them to write you a letter back.
You can write to our koalas, red pandas, wombats, meerkats, or cheetahs! Send a Letter of Happiness to some of our fluffy friends and their zoo keepers, and brighten up their day.
https://symbiozoo.com.au/letter-of-happiness/
Ask a Zoo Keeper - Mogo Zoo
Mogo Wildlife Park are bringing the wonder of wildlife to you! To support educators and parents in providing engaging wildlife content while many children in Australia and across the world are home-learning, Zookeeper Chad, is encouraging kids and the community to send in their questions to learn more about the different animals who call Mogo Wildlife Park home.
Zookeeper Chad will pick questions to answer to provide education, as well as fun, for those watching at home. “While our doors are shut, we want to ensure everyone at home can still experience the animals and this is an exciting way for everyone to get involved no matter where they are in the world,” Staples remarked. Kids and the community should send in their animal questions via social media using #AskAZookeeper
Find a pen pal
There’s never been a better time to find a pen pal! Ask family members or friends in other suburbs, cities or towns, if they would like to become a pen pal and swap letters with your loved ones. Think about the value of writing down words of positivity, encouragement and sharing them with other people near and far.
If you can’t think of anyone to write to, maybe call up a local nursing home or facility and ask if there are any elderly people who would like to receive a letter.
Shellharbour Connect
Look up what’s happening locally in Shellharbour, and view upcoming events, activities, news and resources. Find out what services and community and social groups are around in the local area. You can also upload your own activities into this free community platform!
Check out the website: https://shellharbourconnect.com.au/
Collaborate with community
If you find any cool activities, fun ideas, or super useful links or resources please forward them to Council to include in this catalogue! Forward any ideas or links to the Team Leader of Children and Youth Services - Maiquilla.brown@shellharbour.nsw.gov.au