Matipo is an Essex based multi arts company, building creative communities through immediate, entertaining and authentic work.
As part of Essex 2020 Matipo developed a programme of STEAM activities and resources for children aged 5-11. Activities explore the natural world, outer space, food, transport and lots more through art, craft and drama.
Every weekday of the summer holidays Matipo released videos to demonstrate the activities and pdf worksheets to follow at home. There was a new theme for activities each week.
Here is a compilation video with some highlights from some of the videos.
STEAM On! Week 1 FEATHERED FRIENDS AND THEIR HOMES
Birds and their habitats in Essex and beyond.
- Day 1 - Learn the life cycles of our feathered friends. Bird yoga, pop up posters and more!
- Day 2 - All about birdsong. Use your voice and make your very own panpipes!
- Day 3 - Spread your wings, get a bird’s-eye view and hide in plain sight!
- Day 4 - It’s bird migration station! Take travel snaps throughout your journey South and make hotel habitats for your feathered friends to rest in along the way.
- Day 5 - Discover your own species, then make a beautiful bird lantern and create a carnival for your new feathered friends!
STEAM On! Week 2 INTO OUTER SPACE
Exploring the final frontier.
- Day 1 - Gravity and constellations. Move in space and gaze further than the eye can see!
- Day 2 - Get to know the planets and create your very own spaceship to reach them!
- Day 3 - Sort out sound in space and get ready for take off!
- Day 4 - Explore the solar system and satellites!
- Day 5 - Make a spacesuit and explore the speed of light!
Building the future!
- Day 1 - Energy! Explore different types of energy with Georgia and make a windmill with Sally.
- Day 2 - Explore shapes and forms with Georgia and design your dream eco home with Sally!
- Day 3 - Get balancing, write a quiz and plant a garden!
- Day 4 - Build a fort, experiment with eco-friendly materials and play the part of an estate agent!
- Day 5 - Make a model of your dream eco home, imagine how you might live there and draw a poster to advertise your brilliant designs!
STEAM On! Week 4 TRAINS, PLANES & AUTOMOBILES
Let’s get going!
- Day 1 - People power! Move under your own steam with Georgia, make some walking feet with Sally and forge your own footpaths in our extension task!
- Day 2 - Explore the power of the wheel with Georgia, make a paddle boat with Sally and write circle poems in our extension task!
- Day 3 - Put yesterday’s wheels to work in all of today’s traffic focused fun! Learn about traffic lights with Georgia, make you own road map and cars with Sally, and get ready to race in our extension task!
- Day 4 - Think about flying machines with Georgia, make paper planes with Sally, then write a sky story in our extension task!
- Day 5 - Imagine the future with Georgia, build a cable car with Sally, then create in infomercial in our extension task!
STEAM On! Week 5 SURVIVAL ISLAND
Adventure Island!
- Day 1 - Parachute onto Adventure Island with Georgia and draw an authentic island map with Sally!
- Day 2 - Build a lighthouse with Sally, do a rain dance with Georgia and Write about the weather in our poetic extension task.
- Day 3 - Try out semaphore with Georgia, create a shelter Sally, and then try a hiding a secret message in a picture in our extension task.
- Day 4 - Become one with the island with Georgia, then create a field guide to figure it out with Sally. Finally, document your time on the island in your journal in our extension task!
- Day 5 - It’s time to make the voyage home, so make a raft with Sally, and create a soundscape of the sea with Georgia. Then learn all about ocean plastics in our extension task.
STEAM On! Week 6 TAKING A LOOK BACK & FORWARDS
Celebration Treasure Boxes
TASTER ACTIVITIES
Machines! Day One
Make a conveyor belt and move like a machine!
Machines! Day 2
Use annotated drawings to design your very own machine, create a mechanical soundscape and write an onomatopoeic poem!
Show off your creativity at the STEAM ON gallery!
​STEAM On! is a programme of fun filled learning activities for 5-11* year-olds made and delivered by Matipo as part of Essex 2020. Activities are based on topics from the Key Stage 1&2 curriculum but all ages are very welcome (even grown-ups!).