The School of Play Curriculum
Primary School Grade 5 & 6
Week Twenty Seven centres on the powerful life skill of resilience, teaching students that mistakes, falls, and setbacks are simply part of learning and growth. Through playful construction, reflective creativity, and energetic movement, students discover that persistence can be fun and rewarding. Activities like Try Again Towers and the “I Can Try” Booklet help children celebrate effort over perfection, encouraging them to see challenges as opportunities rather than obstacles. The focus on personal reflection reinforces that everyone learns at their own pace, and that courage often shows up in the small moments when we choose to try again.
As students progress through movement-based play and supportive group activities, they experience resilience in action, falling and bouncing back with smiles, cheering each other on, and sharing their own stories of perseverance. Bounce Back Race and My Cheer Squad foster a classroom culture where encouragement, empathy, and determination thrive. Inspired by Uranus and its unique sideways spin, students learn that being different, trying again, and embracing challenges are what make them brave, strong, and wonderfully unique. This week empowers children with the emotional tools and confidence to keep going, no matter the wobble.
Courses
Try Again Towers
Try Again Towers gives students a playful, hands-on way to explore resilience by building structures that might wobble, lean, or tumble down. Using blocks, cups, LEGO®, or recycled materials, children work together to create towers of all shapes and sizes, knowing that part of the challenge is watching them fall and choosing to rebuild with a smile. This light-hearted experience helps students understand that mistakes aren’t failures, they’re opportunities to learn, adjust, and strengthen both their ideas and their confidence. Just like Uranus, which tilts and spins in its own unique way, the activity celebrates trying again even when things feel unexpected or tricky.
As students laugh, rebuild, and cheer one another on, the classroom becomes a supportive space where effort is valued more than the final result. Group reflection at the end helps them recognise what they learned about persistence, teamwork, and staying calm when challenges arise. When students share how it felt to keep trying, they begin to see resilience as a personal strength they can use anywhere, not just during tower building. Try Again Towers leaves students feeling proud, capable, and ready to face new challenges with a confident “let’s try again!” spirit.
Respectful Relationships
1. Emotional Literacy
- Students recognise emotions linked to frustration, disappointment, pride, and persistence.
- Naming how it feels when the tower falls or when they try again helps build emotional insight.
- Guided prompts (“How did it feel to start again?”) support students in identifying and expressing their internal states.
2. Personal Strengths
- The activity highlights strengths such as perseverance, creativity, patience, and problem-solving.
- Students learn to value effort as a personal strength, not just the outcome.
- Peer encouragement helps students see strengths in themselves and others.
3. Positive Coping
- Students practise healthy coping strategies when things go wrong: deep breathing, smiling, resetting, trying again.
- Rebuilding teaches them that setbacks are temporary and manageable.
- Positive teacher language models adaptive coping during challenge.
4. Problem-Solving
- Students experiment with different building techniques, materials, and structures.
- They analyse why a tower fell and adjust their strategy, evaluating, adapting, and testing new ideas.
- Optional challenge cards encourage decision-making under fun constraints.
5. Stress Management
- The activity normalises mistakes and reduces stress around failure.
- Using a calm breath before trying again builds self-regulation skills.
- Group involvement shows students that persistence is shared, not isolating, which reduces emotional pressure.
6. Gender and Identity
- Students contribute freely to building and problem-solving, without stereotypes or role expectations.
- Everyone’s ideas are valued equally, promoting inclusion and diverse approaches.
- The activity celebrates different ways of thinking and building, mirroring Uranus’ lesson that being different is a strength.
7. Positive Relationships
- Students work in pairs or groups, encouraging communication, encouragement, and shared resilience.
- Celebrating effort (“Who kept trying?”) strengthens team unity and pro-social behaviour.
- Students practise supporting peers during frustration, building empathy and understanding.
8. Help-Seeking
- Students learn that asking for help, ideas, support, or encouragement, is a positive step when something is difficult.
- Group building reduces the stigma of struggling, showing that effort and collaboration go hand in hand.
- Reflective discussions highlight trusted peers and strategies that help them keep going.
"I Can Try" Booklet
Try Again Towers gives students a playful, hands-on way to explore resilience by building structures that might wobble, lean, or tumble down. Using blocks, cups, LEGO®, or recycled materials, children work together to create towers of all shapes and sizes, knowing that part of the challenge is watching them fall and choosing to rebuild with a smile. This light-hearted experience helps students understand that mistakes aren’t failures, they’re opportunities to learn, adjust, and strengthen both their ideas and their confidence. Just like Uranus, which tilts and spins in its own unique way, the activity celebrates trying again even when things feel unexpected or tricky.
As students laugh, rebuild, and cheer one another on, the classroom becomes a supportive space where effort is valued more than the final result. Group reflection at the end helps them recognise what they learned about persistence, teamwork, and staying calm when challenges arise. When students share how it felt to keep trying, they begin to see resilience as a personal strength they can use anywhere, not just during tower building. Try Again Towers leaves students feeling proud, capable, and ready to face new challenges with a confident “let’s try again!” spirit.
Respectful Relationships
1. Emotional Literacy
- Students identify feelings associated with challenges, frustration, hope, pride, and determination.
- Reflecting on what is “tricky” helps students recognise their emotional responses to difficulty.
- Sharing pages supports expressive language around emotions like “I feel proud when…” or “I find this hard, but…”
2. Personal Strengths
- Students discover and name strengths such as perseverance, bravery, creativity, practice, and patience.
- The booklet helps students see themselves as learners who grow through effort.
- When sharing pages, students recognise strengths in others, reinforcing positive self and peer identity.
3. Positive Coping
- The booklet encourages students to acknowledge challenges without judgment and adopt a “keep trying” mindset.
- Students practise reframing setbacks (“I can’t do this yet”), a key coping strategy for resilience.
- Creative drawing and writing provide a constructive outlet for navigating feelings about difficulty.
4. Problem-Solving
- Students identify challenges and reflect on strategies that help them improve.
- The booklet encourages planning: breaking learning into steps and recognising progress over time.
- Sharing experiences builds collective problem-solving through peer ideas and encouragement.
5. Stress Management
- Recognising that everyone has something they are still learning normalises struggle and reduces stress or shame.
- The creative process (drawing, colouring, decorating) provides a calming, mindful experience.
- Reflecting on effort helps students feel more in control and less overwhelmed by challenges.
6. Gender and Identity
- Each student chooses challenges that matter to them, supporting autonomy and authentic self-expression.
- The activity avoids stereotypes, students define their own learning goals and identity journeys.
- Booklets reflect diverse backgrounds, strengths, and interests, reinforcing a sense of belonging.
7. Positive Relationships
- Optional sharing builds empathy as students hear what classmates are working on and discover common experiences.
- Students practise listening respectfully and celebrating each other’s efforts, not just achievements.
- Peer encouragement promotes a growth-oriented classroom culture where mistakes are safe and supported.
8. Help-Seeking
- By identifying things they’re still learning, students naturally begin recognising when and where they need help.
- Sharing challenges normalises vulnerability and makes asking for support feel safer.
- Students become more aware of the trusted adults and peers available to support their learning.
Bounce Back Race
Bounce Back Race turns resilience into a playful, energetic movement game where students practise the life skill of getting back up when things don’t go as planned. As children hop forward, gently fall, and spring back up with a smile or a superhero pose, they learn that “falling” is not a failure, it’s part of the fun. This simple sequence helps students explore physical confidence while building emotional strength, showing them that even when something feels tricky, they can reset, try again, and feel proud of their effort. Inspired by Uranus and its unique ability to stay steady despite spinning differently, the game celebrates persistence and the courage to keep moving.
Cheering each other on adds a powerful layer of connection. Whether racing alone or in teams, students discover that resilience grows when we support one another and celebrate each bounce back. Reflection at the end helps them notice how it felt to keep going, even when they stumbled. These conversations reinforce the idea that challenges build strength and that attitude matters more than speed. Bounce Back Race leaves students energised, confident, and ready to face obstacles, on the playground or in the classroom, with a brave “I can bounce back” mindset.
Respectful Relationships
1. Emotional Literacy
- Students recognise feelings that arise during challenge, frustration, excitement, pride, embarrassment, and motivation.
- Practising “falling and rising” helps students link physical actions to emotional experiences (“I felt annoyed when I fell, but proud when I got up”).
- The reflection questions guide students in naming and understanding their emotions during setbacks.
2. Personal Strengths
- Students demonstrate and identify strengths such as perseverance, bravery, effort, humour, and optimism.
- The activity highlights persistence rather than performance, reinforcing strengths-based identity.
- Encouraging classmates builds leadership strengths like encouragement, teamwork, and empathy.
3. Positive Coping
- Students learn a physical routine to cope when things go wrong: fall gently, breathe, smile, stand up and keep going.
- Practising this sequence helps embed a healthy, automatic response to setbacks.
- Teachers model positive self-talk, supporting students to replace frustration with resilience-focused thinking.
4. Problem-Solving
- Students adjust their pace, balance, and movement strategies each round.
- They learn to monitor what their body is doing and adapt to stay steady and safe.
- Team variations teach students to communicate, coordinate, and work collaboratively to complete a shared goal.
5. Stress Management
- The activity normalises falling down or making mistakes in a playful, low-pressure environment.
- Movement helps release physical tension and provides a healthy outlet for emotional energy.
- Smiling after each fall reinforces a calming ritual that helps reduce stress in real-life moments of difficulty.
6. Gender and Identity
- Every student can participate in their own way, without competition, stereotypes, or comparison.
- Students build confidence through effort-based success, reinforcing their unique identity as learners.
- The activity values diverse abilities, movement styles, and comfort levels.
7. Positive Relationships
- Students cheer for each other, modelling encouragement, kindness, and compassion.
- Falling together and helping each other up strengthens trust and social bonds.
- Relays and team versions promote cooperation, shared excitement, and collective resilience.
8. Help-Seeking
- Students learn that support from peers, cheering, encouragement, smiles, helps them bounce back.
- The activity opens conversations about how we can ask for or accept help when things get difficult.
- Group reflection highlights who can support them when they face challenges, both in and out of school.
My Cheer Squad
My Cheer Squad gives students a powerful opportunity to recognise their own resilience and feel celebrated for it. As each child shares a moment when they kept trying, even when something felt hard, they begin to see that persistence comes in many shapes and sizes. Whether it’s zipping a jacket, rebuilding a fallen tower, or managing a tricky feeling, every effort is worth acknowledging. Hearing applause, cheers, and kind words from their classmates builds emotional bravery and helps students feel proud of themselves. Just like Uranus, spinning differently yet staying steady and strong, this activity shows learners that their unique challenges and successes are part of what makes them remarkable.
Cheering for others strengthens the classroom community and helps students understand that resilience grows in connection, not isolation. When children clap, smile, and offer encouragement, they practise empathy and gratitude while learning the joy of lifting others up. Sharing optional stories gives students a safe way to step into vulnerability, while passing is always respected. By the end, the group feels united, each child recognising their own courage and the support they can offer others. My Cheer Squad reminds students that no one overcomes challenges alone; together, they create an atmosphere where every small victory shines brightly.
Respectful Relationships
1. Emotional Literacy
- Students reflect on emotions connected to challenge, frustration, courage, pride, relief, joy.
- Sharing their “try again” stories helps them articulate how they felt during difficult moments.
- Listening to peers’ stories broadens emotional understanding and normalises a range of feelings.
2. Personal Strengths
- Students identify strengths such as persistence, bravery, patience, determination, and optimism.
- Publicly naming a challenge they overcame reinforces a strengths-based self-identity.
- Celebrating peers’ efforts helps students recognise and value strengths in others.
3. Positive Coping
- Students reflect on times they coped with difficulty by trying again, teaching adaptive coping strategies.
- The applause and encouragement reinforce the idea that setbacks are manageable and not something to hide.
- Hearing multiple resilience stories gives students a “toolbox” of coping approaches from peers.
4. Problem-Solving
- Students share real examples of how they approached a challenge and what helped them succeed.
- Listening to others’ strategies expands their understanding of different problem-solving methods.
- The structured turn-taking format encourages communication, reflection, and perspective-taking.
5. Stress Management
- Being acknowledged and celebrated reduces anxiety around failure and builds emotional safety.
- The calm circle environment reinforces mindful communication and lowers social stress.
- Students realise challenges are a normal part of learning, reducing pressure and fear of mistakes.
6. Gender and Identity
- Students choose a challenge that is meaningful to them, allowing for individualised expression free from stereotypes.
- The activity affirms diverse strengths, abilities, and ways of learning.
- Every student’s story is valued equally, reinforcing belonging and inclusive identity development.
7. Positive Relationships
- Cheering for peers builds a culture of kindness, empathy, and mutual encouragement.
- Students practise respectful listening, supportive language, and genuine celebration of others’ effort.
- The group becomes a cohesive “cheer squad,” strengthening classroom relationships and trust.
8. Help-Seeking
- Students recognise that they succeeded because they kept trying and often because someone supported them.
- Sharing struggles helps destigmatise vulnerability and makes it easier for students to seek help in future.
- The supportive environment models what safe, encouraging relationships look and feel like.
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