Resources

Have a look at some of our favourite resources to inspire learning, creativity and play! Glean from our tips and tricks on a variety of topics – learn a new skill, find out something new, and have some fun with your little ones!

Craft of the Week

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Here at the Pyjama Foundation, we’re big fans of arts and crafts! Creative activities have so many benefits for kids of all ages, whether it’s developing fine motor skills in pre-schoolers or sparking an interest in STEM fields for teenagers. Craft can be a fun way to encourage play-based learning, but it can also serve as an outlet for stress and encouragement for commutation and connection between child and adult.

So, get ready to pull out the popsicle sticks and paintbrushes – here are our 4 favourite craft ideas for the week!

 

CARDBOARD TUBE UNICORN

This colourful little unicorn friend is not only super fun to make, but also provides a source of creative play. This tutorial could be easily adapted to create a family of different fantasy creatures – we’re thinking dragons, fairies, and monsters! Why not encourage your child to invent a simple story with the creatures they create?

Click on this link to view the tutorial, or visit @kidscraftroom on Instagram for more.

 

CARDBOARD CAMERA SCAVENGER HUNT

When we saw this sweet craft idea on Instagram, we knew we had to share it with our Pyjama Angels! This is a great way to re-use some materials from your recycling bin, as all you really need is a small piece of cardboard – and your imagination! Simply cut out a circle in the middle of your ”camera” (adult supervision definitely required for this tricky shape) and decorate your camera however you like. Create a list of things to find on your scavenger hunt, then head off with your camera to spy items through the viewfinder!

We also have some scavenger hunt ideas ready to go if you need some extra inspiration – click here to check them out.

Visit @thechildhoodglen on Instagram for more.

 

PUFFY PAINT ICECREAM

This one is a messy but super fun activity to do with your child! All you need to make the puffy paint is shaving cream and PVA glue in equal parts, and a few drops of food colouring. You can also use some other craft supplies or household items to make these ice-cream cones really fun to play with – like cardboard cut-out cones, old paper straws, and sprinkles.

Visit @craftandboogie on Instagram for more.

 

MARSHMALLOW CATAPULT

Making this marshmallow catapult is a fun activity to do together with an older child. You’ll need a quite a few paddlepop sticks, a wooden or plastic spoon, some rubber bands and some mini marshmallows. Our favourite part about this craft activity is that you can eat your projectiles after you’ve launched them!

Click on this link to view the tutorial, or visit @hellowonderful_co on Instagram for more.

Free Printable Resources for National Pyjama Day

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National Pyjama Day is fast approaching! We’ve put together some free printable resources for your fundraising efforts, whether you’re baking cupcakes at home or asking for donations at the office. Make sure to tag us in your pictures for a chance to feature on our social media or website!

 

Donation Jar Label

We have 2 options for your donation jar available for download. Simply print this out, write down your goal and stick it on a jar of your choice – we like to put ours around a recycled coffee jar. This is a great way to collect gold coin donations on an office reception desk or a teachers desk.

Download Donation Jar Label – Simple.

 

 

Download Donation Jar Label – Party.

 

 

Cupcake Toppers

If you’re planning on baking some cupcakes for your pyjama party, make sure to use our super cute cupcake toppers! There are 12 cupcake toppers per sheet featuring 9 different Pyjama Day themed designs. Simply print them out and wrap them around a toothpick for an easy way to increase the cute factor of your cupcakes!

Download Cupcake Toppers.

 

 

Raffle Tickets

Holding a raffle is another great way to raise some extra money for your National Pyjama Day fundraising effort.  This tactic is especially useful for businesses – you could donate a voucher for your service or create a hamper of goodies, and tickets could be sold to clients and customers or offered internally to your team. There are so many ways to fundraise! Make sure you pop the extra details of your raffle on the tickets, including the prize you are offering and your personal campaign page.

Note: You will need to print these double sided, flip on long edge. We used fit to paper as the scale – double check your scale to ensure none of the ticket is outside the printable margins. There are 5 tickets per page.
When distributing tickets, cut off the pink stubs with the ticket holder’s details and keep. Give the white part of the ticket to the ticker holder for their reference.

Download Raffle Tickets.

 

 

Photo Booth Props

This is such an easy way to add an element of silly fun to your National Pyjama Day event! Print out these photo booth props and tape them onto skewers or paddlepop sticks, and share some silly snaps with your friends!

Download Photo Booth Props.

 

 

 

If you or someone you know would be a fun and positive influence on a child in care, please consider volunteering for The Pyjama Foundation’s Love of Learning Program.

Together with their mentor, a child in foster care can learn valuable life-skills, confidence and self belief.

Video Chat Games for Kids!

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Human connections between friends, family and other relationships have been certainly tested so far in 2020. These connections are vital to our mental well-being.

We have created a variety of resources and games which are perfect for video chat ‘dates’. These are free printable downloads for you to share with whoever you are wanting to reconnect with virtually.

There are occasionally times where getting together in person just isn’t possible. These games are still so much fun and show you can still maintain relationships from a distance.

FaceTime Battleship

This three-page resource is so fun to play with older kids-teenagers. It is a virtual take on the traditional ‘Battleship’ board game, and has printable grids for yourself and your opponent.

ART APART

Art Apart is a take on a classic game where one player has an image/item/drawing and has to give the other player (artist) instructions to recreate it. This game tests teamwork, language and describing skills – as well as artistic! Give this a go, it’s sure to be a lot of fun.

Roll & Write

Roll & Write is a story telling game where you roll a die to determine what, who, where and when your story took place. There are some wacky combinations to be created and hours of fun!

Thinking of You Week 2020

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Thinking of You Week is a special week of reminding someone you care with a card. This day was designed to create a wave of love caring and happiness. Receiving a card with a sweet handwritten message, especially when it comes out of the blue, is so special. Being thought of is worth celebrating.

Thinking of You Week takes place from 14th till the 21st of June 2020. Of course, you can send a card to that special person anytime in the year!

You can either purchase cards, make your own, or use some of our handy printable cards. We created these specifically for this occasion and we hope you love them. These FREE cards all include a special quote, one of which is sure to fit how you feel towards the recipient.

The start of 2020 has been a challenge, and while sharing caring cards on birthdays is lovely, a thoughtful card shared unexpectedly just feels different.

Download Card Set 1

Download Card Set 2Download Card Set 3

To use these cards, simply cut along the horizontal line to separate the cards. The next step is to fold across the vertical line to form your very own ‘Thinking of You’ cards.

Indoor & Outdoor Scavenger Hunts for Kids!

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Keep the kids entertained with our FREE printable indoor and outdoor scavenger hunts!

Avoiding boredom for kids can be very difficult, but it is very important to keep them stimulated and active. These activities prove that with a bit of creativity, you can have fun with everyday household items.

These FREE printable scavenger hunt sheets are bound to keep even the busiest of child entertained for at least twenty minutes. Add in the optional element of timing the hunt, or making it a competition with more than one child.

Our Pyjama Angel volunteers love to do activities like this with their children, especially at the start of their visit.

The Pyjama Foundation has found a lot of their volunteers have the most success completing more education-based activities after tiring their children out first – 10 minutes of activity = 20 minutes of quiet time.

Indoor Scavenger Hunt

Outdoor Scavenger Hunt

Are you likely to give these activities a go? Don’t forget to check out more of our ‘In Isolation’ activities for more fun ideas!

If you or someone you know would be a fun and positive influence on a child in care, please consider volunteering for The Pyjama Foundation’s Love of Learning Program.

Together with their mentor, a child in foster care can learn valuable life-skills, confidence and self belief.

Anzac Day Craft Activities for Remembrance

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We have compiled a list of Anzac Craft Activities for you to introduce into your home this Anzac Day. Each family celebrates this differently, but there are traditions that seem to stand the test of time. Remembering those who fought to bravely for the freedom of our country is important. It is a hard topic to broach, but there are some easy ways to introduce this day to young kids. Keep reading for craft and recipe ideas to use this Anzac Day!

DIY Recycled Plastic Bottle Poppy Craft – This clever craft is created from recycled plastic bottles, and creates such a beautiful ornament style decoration. The kids will have an absolute ball making these pretty poppies.

Anzac Day Paper Plate Poppies – This is a great activity for younger kids, and it requires barely any supplies. Cut your paper plate into a poppy shape and assist your child to use red paint and colour it in. Black paper glued into the centre finishes the activity. You’ll be left with a great big poppy which would look great on a front door!

Donna Hay’s Anzac Biscuits – Who doesn’t love an Anzac Biccy? These traditional war-time biscuits are one of the most festive flavours of the year, and such an Aussie staple.

Australian Flag Cut and Paste Activity – This free printable will help young kids to learn the identifying features of the Australian flag, and older kids can learn the names of each feature and what they represent. This is quite a simple activity but a good addition to other Anzac traditions.

Remembrance Day Red Poppy Craft – You may not have had as many opportunities to purchase a Poppy Pin this year due to COVID-19 restrictions, or perhaps a DIY is more your style, either way this is the perfect craft!

 

Other Activities

We have been regularly updating our COVID-19 Response Page with loads of resources you can use to stay in touch with little ones in your life that you might not be able to see right now. Our COVID-19 Resources can be great for school aged pen-pals or even just keeping your kids busy while isolating. We hope you love them as much as we do!

A Guide to Letter Writing

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Written communication is an important skill for children to learn, and writing letters, notes and cards is a great way for kids to practice these skills.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we think letter writing is a fantastic way for Pyjama Angels to stay in touch with their Pyjama Children. All of these activities can be done separately or together via FaceTime, as most of them just require some paper and a pencil.

We have created some examples of fun letter writing activities below that are sure to spark creativity and playfulness in your child.

 

Scrapbook Card Making

Scrapbooking is such a fun activity that can be tailored to kids of all ages. All you need is scraps of different colourful papers. Cutting up junk mail or old magazines can be useful for extra supplies, as well as any other odd crafting pieces you might have lying around the house, like glitter, pompoms, or stickers. We used double sided tape to stick our scraps together, but you can use regular tape folded over or a good old glue stick. Just rearrange your scraps until they look pretty, stick them down, write a nice message, and you’re done! A thoughtfully hand-made card is sure to delight whoever receives it.

Click here to download How to Make a Scrapbook Card

 

 

 

Formal Letter Writing

This easy-to-use format introduces children to a more structured way of writing letters. The name of the writer, date and location are at the beginning of the document, and we start the letter with dear… friend, neighbour, stranger, it’s up to you! For the body of the letter, encourage children to fill up the space. Think about who we are communicating with and what we might like to write, including questions about them and things about ourselves as well. Finish the letter with ‘sincerely’, and perhaps a signature. P.S. stands for postscript, in case there is anything that needs to be added in after the letter.

Click here to download our Formal Letter Writing Template

 

 

Hidden Origami Note

This is such a sweet way to send little love notes. Simply write your message on a square of paper, then follow the instructions to fold it in to an origami heart. Nobody will know what’s hidden inside unless they unfold the heart! These are great to pass around to family members, and can also be easily mailed to any far away friends.

Click here to view our instructional video How to Make an Origami Heart Note

 

 

Secret Writing Code

This activity involves a good old fashioned cipher. Use the code we have created as your own secret language, and write out messages that only you can understand! You can also use this inspiration to create your own cipher for your very own secret language.

Click here to download the secret code

Click here to download the secret message