Whilst school and nursery classes are not dictated by awareness days in the annual calendar, they can certainly be utilised to make learning a little bit different and raise children’s awareness of what is happening in the world around them. One such example occurring in May 2023 is the King’s coronation! In this blog, we are going to share some ideas of how you can incorporate coronation themed activities into your typical day at school or nursery to support children’s learning and development.
Thinking beyond the obvious of teaching children about King Charles’ life and focusing on the royal family and their history, our activity ideas are designed to inject creativity and fun into learning about such an occasion in British history.
Ways to incorporate the coronation into your lessons
1. Getting crafty
Naturally, the first thing that comes to mind with this type of event like this is an art and craft activity!
- Why not encourage group art and craft activities by providing each child with a triangle to design? Once each child has finished their triangle these can be strung together to create decorative bunting! This could be used for a garden party or simply to brighten up your setting with your little ones’ artwork on display!
- Another idea could be to discuss with your little one the significance of the union Jack within the UK and then encourage them to design their own flag! Whilst your little ones are designing their masterpieces you could prompt them to discuss why they are selecting certain designs. For example, why have they chosen that colour, what does it represent etc.
Teacher notes
The union jack and the colours within it will be very prominent during the coronation and will be seen on decorations across various parties and events. The colours within it are known to represent:
- Red St George’s Cross – England
- White of St Andrews – Scotland
- Red of St Patrick – Ireland
Wales is the only home nation in the UK not represented in the Union Jack.
2. Literacy
Literacy is a topic that lends itself quite nicely to various themes. See below for some of our suggestions on how to incorporate the coronation into literacy:
- To practice writing, why not ask your class to write a letter to the King about his upcoming coronation? This will support children’s literacy development but will produce some whacky letters that can then be read out to the class!
- One element of the Coronation process is that the newly appointed royal will make an oath to serve the country. For a fun activity, encourage your little ones to design and write their own oaths. Encourage children to think of their ideal world and how they would help to uphold these ideals. Again you may end up with some crazy outcomes!
Teacher notes
You could use these activities to get children to understand how the King might be feeling in light of the upcoming coronation when writing letters. This will enable children to explore PSED as they engage in literacy.
The coronation oath is said by the new King and includes them swearing to govern faithfully with Justice and Mercy.
3. Get active!
Incorporating some sort of physical activity is a great way to burn some of the energy and excitement that children will naturally feel with the prospect of an extra day off school and an upcoming celebration.
Why not put your little ones to the test with a relay race – but not any old relay race… In honour of the coronation, why not challenge your little ones to race as fast as they can in their king’s costume whilst balancing paper crowns or plastic crowns on their heads! This will not only inject a more exciting element to a great team activity but it will support balance and coordination.
As well as full-body physical activity you could use the coronation theme within smaller fine motor activities. Why not try our free downloadable resources to guide the King to the abbey to be crowned either via a squiggly path or by navigating the maze with a finger or pencil.
Teacher notes
The modern day crown is approximately 1.06kg. That is the equivalent to a bag of sugar, a toaster, a litre bottle of water.
4. Maths
Our final suggestion is to weave the theme of coronation into maths and engage in coronation maths activities!
One fun way to do this is to blend art and crafts with some maths. Start by giving each child a card crown and then start gathering your craft resources. This could be gems, buttons, ribbon etc. Next, ask your little ones to roll a dice. The number will determine the number of gems, paint splotches or buttons etc to add onto their crown – what will they roll?
This simply activity will help children with early number recognition and can be easily advanced for older children. Why not use a couple of dice to encourage children to practice their addition?
Teacher notes
The modern day crown is made up of 142 objects. This consists of 23,578 precious and semi-precious stones.
Additional activities
The activities suggested thus far in this blog have been focused on supporting children’s education. There are of course a wealth of other activities that can be included in your celebrations….
- Host a traditional tea party or garden party. This could be a real party or use a bit of imagination and incorporate role play
- Play “pin the crown on the king”. This is an opportunity to get crafty and have some fun!
- And of course, get your little ones involved in a bit of role-play! Children can take turns to play the royal being crowned and the subjects.
We would love to see how you incorporate the Coronation into your settings and what activities you try! Tag us in your experiences on social media or use the hashtag #ExploreWithEYR. Finally, check out even more activities over on our account!
