The School of Play Curriculum
Primary School Foundation - Grade Two
Week Sixteen provides a powerful blend of fun, movement, and emotional development designed to strengthen social connection, self-awareness, kindness, and teamwork. Students begin the week with Snowball Fight, a playful community-building activity that helps them learn about their classmates, practise observation skills, and enjoy fast-paced interaction. The focus on social connection continues through reflective tasks like The Feelings Journal, where students learn to identify and express emotions through writing and drawing. This helps develop emotional intelligence, resilience, and a deeper understanding of how feelings shape behaviour and relationships.
The week also supports physical fitness and kindness through engaging, high-energy activities. Obstacle Course Relay gets students moving, improving agility, coordination, and teamwork as they navigate fun physical challenges together. Finally, The Kindness Pledge encourages students to commit to daily acts of kindness, using creative expression to solidify their personal intentions. Together, these activities promote inclusivity, empathy, cooperation, and positive classroom culture, all while keeping learning energetic, reflective, and full of joy.
Weekly Lessons
Snowball Fight
Snowball Fight is a lively, low-stakes icebreaker that gets students moving, laughing, and learning about one another in a fun and pressure-free way. By writing three interesting facts about themselves, students reflect on their own identities and choose what they feel comfortable sharing. The playful “snowball” toss creates excitement and removes the awkwardness often felt in traditional introductions. Once the snowballs are picked up and opened, students use their observation and deduction skills to guess who wrote each set of facts, encouraging active listening, critical thinking, and meaningful social interaction.
As students introduce one another or guess the author of each snowball, the group naturally builds connection, trust, and curiosity. Snowball Fight strengthens classroom community by making every student visible in a fun, inclusive way, while promoting respectful communication and teamwork. It’s an energising, memorable activity that helps students feel seen and celebrated right from the start.
Respectful Relationships
Communication, Listening & Sharing Personal Stories
Snowball Fight helps students to:
- Share personal facts in a safe, low-pressure, and playful way, building confidence in speaking about themselves.
- Practise clear communication as they read, listen to, and discuss clues about classmates.
- Strengthen active listening skills by paying close attention to details in the facts they read.
Understanding Diverse Perspectives & Building Social Awareness
This activity supports students to:
- Learn new things about their classmates, fostering curiosity and openness toward others’ backgrounds, interests, and experiences.
- Recognise and appreciate the diversity within their group, strengthening understanding and respect.
- Engage in perspective-taking as they use clues to guess who might have written each snowball.
Positive Relationships, Teamwork & Social Connection
Through this activity, students learn to:
- Build stronger class connections by sharing appropriate personal information in a fun and supportive environment.
- Engage respectfully with peers during guessing and discussion, reinforcing kindness and inclusivity.
- Celebrate one another’s uniqueness, strengthening classroom belonging and a positive social climate.
Critical Thinking, Observation & Problem-Solving
Snowball Fight encourages students to:
- Use clues and logical reasoning to identify which classmate wrote each set of facts.
- Practise problem-solving in a playful way, analysing information and making thoughtful guesses.
- Strengthen focus and attention to detail through reading, comparing, and recalling information.
Confidence, Self-Expression & Group Participation
This activity helps students to:
- Build confidence by sharing about themselves in a creative, non-threatening format.
- Participate actively in a whole-group experience that values every student’s contribution.
- Reflect on how it feels to be known, seen, and understood by peers, enhancing social and emotional well-being.
The Feelings Journal
The Feelings Journal gives students a gentle, creative space to explore the emotions they experience every day. By reflecting on moments when they felt happy, sad, excited, or anything in between, students begin to recognise and label their feelings with greater clarity. Through writing and drawing, they express these emotions in a way that feels safe, personal, and meaningful. This creative process not only strengthens emotional vocabulary but also allows students to make sense of why they felt a certain way and how those feelings showed up in their behaviour.
As students reflect on the impact of their emotions on themselves and others, they begin to develop deeper emotional intelligence and empathy. Sharing reflections with classmates (if they feel comfortable) helps them see that everyone experiences a wide range of emotions, normalising big feelings and encouraging supportive conversations. The Feelings Journal becomes more than just an activity; it becomes a tool for self-awareness, emotional growth, and building a classroom culture where feelings are understood, respected, and openly discussed.
Respectful Relationships
Emotional Literacy & Self-Awareness
The Feelings Journal helps students to:
- Identify, name, and understand a range of emotions, building foundational emotional vocabulary.
- Tune into their internal experiences by recognising when and why they feel certain emotions.
- Strengthen emotional self-awareness by linking events to feelings and noticing how emotions show up in their minds and bodies.
Emotional Expression & Healthy Communication
This activity supports students to:
- Express their emotions safely through drawing and writing, using creative tools to communicate thoughts and feelings.
- Learn that emotions can be shared in calm, positive ways, reinforcing helpful communication habits.
- Begin practising talking about feelings, making emotional expression a normal and supported part of everyday life.
Understanding the Impact of Emotions on Self & Others
Through reflection, students learn to:
- Notice how their emotions influence their actions, decisions, and reactions.
- Consider how their feelings might impact the people around them, fostering self-regulation and personal responsibility.
- Identify moments where emotions affected relationships and explore more helpful responses for the future.
Empathy, Perspective-Taking & Social Awareness
By sharing journal reflections, students:
- Realise that everyone experiences emotions differently, fostering empathy and understanding among peers.
- Build stronger social connections by listening to others’ emotional experiences.
- Learn to respect and value diverse emotional responses within their group.
Problem-Solving & Emotional Regulation Strategies
The Feelings Journal encourages students to:
- Reflect on how they handled emotional moments and evaluate what worked or didn’t.
- Think ahead and brainstorm alternative strategies for managing difficult emotions next time.
- Develop a toolkit for navigating emotional challenges, supporting resilience and emotional regulation.
Obstacle Course Relay
Obstacle Course Relay turns movement into a burst of teamwork, energy, and creative challenge. Students navigate a playful mix of weaving, crawling, jumping, and balancing as they make their way through the course, building agility and coordination with every obstacle. Because the race happens in a relay format, students learn to depend on one another, taking turns, cheering each other on, and celebrating every completed run. The focus isn’t just on speed, but on learning how to control their bodies in different ways, push themselves physically, and enjoy the thrill of active problem-solving.
As each team works together to complete the course, they naturally practise cooperation, communication, and shared responsibility. Recording finish times adds excitement without overshadowing the spirit of fun, movement, and improvement. After the race, students reflect on what challenged them, what felt rewarding, and how they supported each other along the way. Obstacle Course Relay becomes a lively blend of fitness, teamwork, and confidence-building, showing students that staying active can be joyful, collaborative, and full of small victories.
Respectful Relationships
Communication, Cooperation & Positive Teamwork
The Obstacle Course Relay supports students to:
- Work together respectfully in a fast-paced team setting, encouraging verbal and non-verbal communication to complete the course.
- Take turns, listen to instructions, and rely on teammates for support, strengthening collaboration and mutual encouragement.
- Practise positive peer interactions through cheering, motivating, and helping teammates navigate obstacles.
Respect, Fair Play & Shared Rules
Through this activity, students learn to:
- Follow the rules of the relay and complete obstacles safely and fairly, reinforcing honesty and responsible participation.
- Show respect for their teammates and competitors by waiting patiently for their turn and playing safely.
- Celebrate effort and improvement rather than just winning, promoting an inclusive and supportive culture.
Self-Regulation, Determination & Managing Challenges
The Obstacle Course Relay encourages students to:
- Stay focused and manage excitement during a competitive, high-energy activity.
- Build resilience by tackling physically challenging obstacles and trying again after mistakes or slips.
- Develop confidence as they improve their agility, coordination, and endurance through repeated attempts.
Problem-Solving, Strategy & Collaborative Thinking
This game helps students to:
- Think strategically about how to navigate obstacles efficiently and safely.
- Work with teammates to decide pacing, order, and methods to support one another through the relay.
- Reflect on what made the team successful and identify ways to improve for future attempts.
Movement, Physical Well-Being & Active Engagement
This activity supports students to:
- Strengthen coordination, agility, balance, and endurance through running, jumping, weaving, and crawling.
- Enjoy vigorous physical activity in a fun, engaging, and socially supportive environment.
- Link physical movement with enjoyment, teamwork, and confidence-building.
Kindness Pledge
Kindness Pledge gives students a powerful moment to pause, reflect, and personally commit to spreading kindness in their daily lives. Through writing their own pledge, students explore what kindness means to them and how their actions can positively influence others. This activity helps students understand that kindness isn’t just something we do occasionally; it’s a choice we make every day, and even small acts can create a big ripple effect in the classroom community.
Once students craft and decorate their pledge, they display it proudly as a daily reminder of the commitment they’ve made. This visual wall of kindness becomes a shared classroom promise, a collective agreement to speak kindly, act thoughtfully, and help one another. The activity builds a supportive environment where students feel responsible for contributing to a positive community. By reflecting on their pledge and what kindness looks like in action, students learn to internalise empathy, responsibility, and the joy of making others feel valued.
Respectful Relationships
Empathy, Kindness & Positive Relationships
The Kindness Pledge encourages students to:
- Recognise the importance of kindness in forming positive, supportive relationships with others.
- Commit to daily acts of kindness that strengthen trust, connection, and a caring classroom culture.
- Understand how small, thoughtful actions can uplift others and contribute to a happier, safer environment.
Respect, Fair Play & Community Responsibility
Through this activity, students learn to:
- Take responsibility for their words and actions, knowing kindness contributes to a respectful community.
- Use respectful, positive language as part of their everyday behaviour at school.
- See themselves as contributors to a fair and inclusive environment where everyone feels valued.
Self-Awareness, Values & Personal Commitment
The Kindness Pledge supports students to:
- Reflect on their own values and consider what kindness means to them personally.
- Make a clear, intentional commitment to positive behaviour in their daily interactions.
- Take ownership of their pledge by writing and displaying it, strengthening intrinsic motivation to follow through.
Self-Regulation, Positive Choices & Emotional Growth
This activity helps students to:
- Think before acting, choosing kind responses even during challenging interactions.
- Build habits of mindfulness and self-reflection about how their behaviour affects others.
- Experience pride and confidence as they follow their pledge and notice the positive outcomes of their actions.
Creativity, Expression & Positive Identity
The Kindness Pledge allows students to:
- Express their personal commitment to kindness through writing, drawing, and design.
- Use creativity to make their pledge meaningful, unique, and aligned with their identity.
- Contribute to a collective class display that celebrates kindness and reinforces shared values.
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