The School of Play Curriculum
Primary School Foundation - Grade Two
Week Nineteen centres on collaboration, mindfulness, kindness, and creative self-expression, offering students a balanced blend of social, emotional, and physical learning experiences. Through activities like Group Picture Creation and My Nature Walk, students work together, share ideas, and practise being present in their environment. These tasks help them understand the importance of teamwork and creative contribution, while also encouraging them to tune into their thoughts and feelings through mindful reflection.
Physical engagement and kindness also take priority this week with Shadow Tag and the Kindness Partner Challenge. Shadow Tag allows students to build agility, speed, and spatial awareness in a fun, active way, while the Kindness Partner Challenge strengthens relationships by encouraging empathy, cooperation, and mutual support. Altogether, Week Nineteen helps students deepen social bonds, strengthen emotional well-being, and practise positive behaviours that build a supportive and connected classroom community.
Weekly Lessons
Group Picture Creation
Group Picture Creation invites students into a fast, fun burst of teamwork where every voice and every pencil stroke matters. Working in small groups, students dream up a shared scene and decide together how to bring it to life. As they sketch, colour, and fill the page with ideas, they learn how to blend different perspectives, communicate visually, and support one another’s creativity. The magic comes from watching individual contributions slowly transform into a single, unified artwork none of them could have created alone.
Once their masterpiece is complete, each group shares their creation with the class, celebrating the choices, cooperation, and imagination that shaped it. Whether the theme is a beach, a playground, or a totally wild mash-up world, Group Picture Creation helps students experience the joy of collaboration while building confidence in their creative abilities. It’s a simple, energising way to strengthen teamwork, spark communication, and show students how powerful collective creativity can be.
Respectful Relationships
Positive Relationships, Respect & Collaboration
This activity helps students:
- Build respectful relationships by working together toward a shared goal.
- Practise listening to each other, compromising, and valuing everyone’s input.
- Strengthen teamwork by understanding how individual contributions create collective success.
Communication Skills: Verbal, Non-Verbal & Cooperative
Students develop their ability to:
- Share ideas clearly during group planning and creation.
- Use respectful, encouraging language to guide the process.
- Interpret and respond to peers’ visual and verbal communication while making shared creative decisions.
Social Awareness & Understanding Others’ Perspectives
Through collaboration, students learn to:
- Consider and respect different viewpoints, artistic styles, and ideas.
- Recognise the importance of including everyone’s contributions.
- Understand how different perspectives enrich a shared project.
Emotional Literacy & Relationship Skills
This activity supports students to:
- Show patience, flexibility, and kindness when working in groups.
- Manage emotions that arise during teamwork, such as frustration or excitement.
- Celebrate collective achievement, reinforcing positive emotions connected to cooperation.
Personal Strengths & Identity
Students have the opportunity to:
- Identify their creative strengths and use them meaningfully in a group setting.
- Appreciate the strengths and talents of others.
- Reflect on how their individual contribution plays an important role in a larger whole.
My Nature Walk
My Nature Walk gives students a chance to slow down, breathe, and reconnect with the world around them. As they wander outdoors, whether through a garden, schoolyard, or nearby park, they tune into the sights, sounds, and small details that often go unnoticed. This gentle mindfulness practice encourages them to be fully present, noticing the things in nature that make them smile, spark curiosity, or bring a sense of calm. By observing trees, birds, flowers, clouds, or even the feel of the breeze, students begin to appreciate the simple joys that nature provides.
After the walk, students express their observations through writing or drawing, capturing the parts of nature that stood out to them and reflecting on how those moments made them feel. Sharing these reflections helps students recognise common experiences and strengthens their emotional awareness. My Nature Walk is a peaceful, grounding activity that nurtures mindfulness, gratitude, and emotional well-being while reminding students how restorative it can be to pause and appreciate the beauty around them.
Respectful Relationships
Respect, Empathy & Connection to the World Around Us
This activity helps students:
- Build a sense of respect for the natural world by noticing and appreciating living things and their environment.
- Strengthen empathy by recognising how nature can influence mood, calmness, and well-being.
- Develop a deeper connection to their surroundings and understand how caring for the environment supports the whole community.
Mindfulness, Emotional Awareness & Self-Regulation
Students practise the ability to:
- Slow down and be fully present, using their senses to tune into their environment.
- Notice how nature affects their emotions, helping them regulate stress, worry, or restlessness.
- Use mindfulness strategies, like observing sights, sounds, and smells, to create feelings of peace and calm.
Communication & Creative Expression
This activity encourages students to:
- Express observations through drawing or writing, using creative communication to share what they noticed.
- Describe their thoughts and feelings about nature in positive, reflective ways.
- Communicate how certain natural elements made them feel, strengthening emotional vocabulary.
Personal Identity, Strengths & Well-Being
Students learn to:
- Recognise what personally brings them joy, peace, or curiosity in the natural world.
- Understand that spending time in nature can be a powerful tool for supporting personal well-being.
- Celebrate the uniqueness of their own experiences, what they notice, what they enjoy, and how nature impacts them.
Positive Relationships & Shared Experiences
Through this activity, students:
- Share their reflections with classmates, building connection through common experiences in nature.
- Learn that others may feel similar emotions, strengthening belonging and community.
- Appreciate the calming, joyful moments nature brings and how sharing those moments can help form positive peer relationships.
Shadow Tag
Shadow Tag is an energetic twist on classic tag that gets students moving, thinking fast, and tuning in to their surroundings. As they dodge, sprint, and pivot to protect their shadows, students naturally develop agility, spatial awareness, and quick reflexes. The game encourages them to be light on their feet and constantly aware of how their movement affects the length and position of their shadow, building coordination in a playful, low-pressure way. When playing outdoors in the sunshine or indoors with a strong light source, students get the chance to anticipate angles, react quickly, and stay active while having heaps of fun.
Taking turns as the “it” player helps build fairness, teamwork, and confidence, as everyone has the chance to chase and be chased. Students reflect on the strategies they used to avoid being tagged and how it felt to take on different roles within the game. Shadow Tag is simple, fast-paced, and endlessly adaptable, making it an ideal activity for boosting agility, decision-making, and joyful movement while strengthening peer connections.
Respectful Relationships
Respect, Safety & Spatial Awareness
This activity encourages students to:
- Respect personal space by navigating shared areas safely while avoiding collisions.
- Practise safe movement in a group environment, staying aware of others’ bodies, shadows, and directions of movement.
- Understand that games feel more enjoyable and safe when everyone follows agreed rules and respects boundaries.
Emotional Literacy, Self-Regulation & Managing Strong Feelings
Students develop the ability to:
- Notice and manage feelings that come up during fast-paced play (excitement, frustration, nervousness about being “it”).
- Stay calm and regulated while making quick decisions under pressure.
- Reflect on how emotions shift when roles change (being chased vs. doing the chasing) to build emotional awareness.
Social Skills, Cooperation & Fair Play
Through Shadow Tag, students learn to:
- Take turns being “it,” reinforcing fairness and shared responsibility in group games.
- Encourage and support peers, creating a positive and inclusive environment.
- Celebrate others’ successes and show sportsmanship, whether escaping a tag or becoming "it."
Decision-Making, Problem Solving & Critical Thinking
This activity builds students' capacity to:
- Make quick decisions based on where shadows fall, which directions are safe, and how to use space effectively.
- Adjust strategies as the game evolves, improving their ability to think on their feet.
- Reflect on which strategies worked best and why, deepening understanding of movement and tactical thinking.
Identity, Confidence & Physical Engagement
Shadow Tag encourages students to:
- Explore their physical strengths, speed, agility, dodging, balance, and feel confident using their bodies in play.
- Build self-belief through movement challenges and fast-paced fun.
- Recognise that feeling strong, capable, and active contributes to personal well-being and positive self-esteem.
Kindness Partner Challenge
Kindness Partner Challenge invites students to team up and complete a simple, shared act of kindness together. Whether it’s helping each other with a task, offering compliments, or sharing materials, pairs work side by side to support one another in a positive, intentional way. The activity encourages collaboration and empathy, helping students notice the impact their actions have on others while strengthening their ability to work cooperatively. Because each challenge is small, achievable, and meaningful, students experience how easy and enjoyable it is to brighten someone’s day.
After completing their kindness task, students reflect on what they learned from their partner and how they supported each other throughout the challenge. Sharing these experiences as a group deepens their understanding of kindness and highlights the unique ways each pair contributed to the class community. Kindness Partner Challenge is a simple yet powerful routine that builds connection, promotes thoughtful action, and encourages students to practise teamwork and empathy in a warm, supportive environment.
Respectful Relationships
Respect, Empathy & Positive Relationships
This activity encourages students to:
- Practise kindness through intentional, supportive actions toward a partner.
- Notice how their behaviour affects others and understand the importance of caring, helpful interactions.
- Strengthen relationships by engaging in shared acts of kindness that build trust and connection.
Emotional Literacy, Self-Awareness & Understanding Others
Students learn to:
- Reflect on their own helpful actions and recognise the emotions associated with giving and receiving kindness.
- Identify how their partner felt during the challenge, increasing awareness of others’ emotions.
- Understand that kindness strengthens emotional bonds and contributes to a positive and supportive environment.
Social Skills, Cooperation & Communication
This activity supports students to:
- Work collaboratively with a partner, practising turn-taking, cooperation, and respectful communication.
- Share personal experiences of helping and being helped, building social confidence.
- Listen to others’ reflections and communicate their own experiences in positive, respectful ways.
Help-Seeking, Helping Others & Community Support
Students develop the ability to:
- Recognise when they or their partner need support and willingly offer help.
- Understand the value of mutual support, showing that everyone benefits when kindness is shared.
- Build a sense of classroom community by contributing to a culture where helping others is normal and celebrated.
Identity, Agency & Positive Contribution
Through this activity, students learn to:
- See themselves as capable of making meaningful, positive contributions to others.
- Feel confident in their ability to show kindness and choose helpful actions independently.
- Reflect on how small acts of kindness help shape a safe, inclusive classroom where everyone belongs.
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