The Creative Works team has been putting together activity packs for Stanford and Masakhane since the start of the lock down in March. The aim for the packs is to keep children in under resourced communities safely engaged with stimulating activities at home. Over the past few months, we have packed and delivered more than 3000 packs in collaboration with the Die Bron staff and the STAR literacy program in the framework of the school lock down feeding scheme.
The content of the packs is suited to children from grade R up to grade 7 and we always try and have different content for each age group. As numbers are increasing, we are adapting our approach and putting activities in such as games or beading activities that suit all ages. According to the donations we have received, we have filled the packs with crayons, paper, play dough, pencils , info sheets for parents to help their kids at home as well as beautiful stories and books .Thanks to the generous support of Die Bron, SCORE, Star literacy, Food 4 Thought , Rotary, Animal welfare and many other people, we have been able to reach weekly ca. 433 children .
We have observed over the lock down period that it is not the content of the packs that is most important for the children but to see the school staff and facilitators regular( even if brief and with implementation of social distancing and masks) and keep that personal connection with people they know over this difficult time.
The packets are a means to stay connected, greet each other and make sure we are still there for each other. It is a way to say Hello and “I care for you” and “I am there for you”.
We will be continuing with the activity pack initiative and developing resources as we go along, according to the needs and observations we make on the way. We are adapting and learning each day in this permanent changing landscape.
Thank you for all the support.
