The School of Play Curriculum
Kindergarten
Week Fourteen is a joyful celebration of play, highlighting movement, imagination, creativity, and connection as essential life skills. Students begin the week with Space Explorer Obstacle Course, an energetic Mars-inspired adventure where they jump, crawl, balance, and imagine themselves travelling across the red planet. This playful challenge boosts coordination, confidence, and storytelling as children bring their astronaut missions to life. They then shift into open-ended creativity with Draw Your Imagination, giving students the freedom to create whatever lives in their minds, magical creatures, space inventions, silly scenes, or anything their imagination sparks.
The week continues with high-energy fun in Planet Bop, a movement and memory game that blends listening skills with joyful physical activity as students respond to different actions for each planet. The week concludes with Play Pal Pass, a heart-warming gratitude activity where students share what they enjoy about playing with others, strengthening friendships and building a culture of appreciation. Together, these activities help students understand that play is powerful, that moving, imagining, laughing, and connecting are essential parts of growing up. Week Fourteen reinforces the message from Mars: playful moments matter, curiosity fuels learning, and joy brings people together in the most meaningful ways.
Weekly Lessons
Space Explorer Obstacle Course
Space Explorer Obstacle Course invites students to step into the shoes of playful astronauts as they travel across a Mars-themed adventure filled with imaginative movement challenges. Using crawling tunnels, lava-jumping paths, balance beams, and spinning meteor zones, students explore how play unlocks creativity, confidence, and joyful energy. This activity connects imaginative role-play with physical movement, allowing students to experience the fun and freedom of pretending to explore the rugged red surface of Mars. It reinforces that play is powerful, helping children grow, learn, and express themselves through curiosity and exploration.
As students rotate through the obstacle course, they practise turn-taking, teamwork, and cheering each other on, strengthening social bonds and positive peer interaction. The adventure encourages children to move their bodies boldly while using their imagination to bring the Mars mission to life, whether they’re jumping over “lava cracks,” crawling through “Mars caves,” or collecting “moon rocks.” By blending movement, creativity, and cooperative fun, this activity highlights the life skill of play taught on Mars, reminding students that play helps us feel connected, energised, and ready for new discoveries.
Draw Your Imagination
Draw Your Imagination invites students into a world of limitless creativity, where anything they imagine can come to life on the page. With no rules or restrictions, this open-ended art experience celebrates the Mars theme of bold play and exploration. Students are encouraged to draw, paint, or create whatever their minds dream up, magical creatures, new planets, space machines, or colourful stories from their imagination. This freedom nurtures creativity, autonomy, and joy, allowing students to explore their thoughts and feelings through artistic expression.
As students create, they experience the delight of play through art, discovering the fun of making something uniquely their own. When finished, they can share their masterpieces with the group, practising communication, confidence, and storytelling. The activity becomes a vibrant celebration of imagination, showing students that play isn’t just something we do, it’s something we create. Draw Your Imagination helps children see that their ideas are powerful, exciting, and worth sharing, just like the Playful Astronauts learn on the energetic planet Mars.
Planet Bop
Planet Bop is an energetic, space-themed movement game that blends music, imagination, and quick-thinking fun. Each planet is linked to a different physical action, and students must listen carefully to perform the correct move, jumping for Mars, spinning for Earth, waving like Neptune’s ocean, stretching tall like Jupiter, and more. It’s a playful challenge that strengthens memory, coordination, and focus, all while keeping students active and engaged.
The game captures Mars’ powerful, playful energy by encouraging students to move freely, laugh loudly, and enjoy the thrill of reacting fast. With upbeat music, imaginative actions, and a whole-class sense of adventure, Planet Bop helps students experience the joy of learning through movement. It invites them to listen, respond, and express themselves while building a strong, connected classroom community through fun.
Play Pal Pass
Play Pal Pass is a joyful, connection-building activity that invites students to celebrate the fun and friendship found in play. By pairing up and sharing something they enjoy about playing with their partner, students practise gratitude in a simple, meaningful way. Whether it’s laughing together, taking turns, or building with blocks, this activity encourages children to notice what makes their play special and to express appreciation openly. The playful spirit of Mars inspires the energy of this experience, reminding students that play becomes even more powerful when shared with others.
As students rotate partners, they build confidence in speaking kindly, strengthen their listening skills, and form positive bonds with a variety of classmates. The uplifting exchanges help create a warm classroom culture where kindness, playfulness, and connection are celebrated. “Play Pal Pass” not only teaches students how to express gratitude but also shows them that being appreciated and appreciating others are essential parts of joyful, cooperative play.
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