Easy ‘educational-ish’ Activity (8+)

I recently got my 'Street law ' on for my children.

At university I started and ran a legal education project called 'Essex Street Law'

(which is still going 15 years on ). The idea at the time was to raise legal awareness

and widen participation, blah blah blah.

Now, I am just trying to capture my children's interest!

Although I used to do this with secondary school aged kids, with adjustments it's fine for

primary age

Your Island

To keep kid's interest, stick to 'short and sweet'.

Depending on how old they are, just design an Island the first day.

It's their Island. There are no right or wrong answers - just see what they say.

-Get your children to draw their own perfect Island [you could go all out and make this

an art project!]. I cut mine out and laminated it because I am crazy.

Discuss:

-Where is it? [If you wanted to add a maths element - ask for coordinates/ grid references ]

-What would the climate be?

-What animals live there?

-Who is in charge of their Island?

-How did they get to be in charge?

-Is there anything that people can't do?

-If so, what are your top 5 things people shouldn't do?

[Can be anything but tends to be don't kill - think about war, would that be the exception? also

don't steal]

-Can they think of anything they have to do?

[Education comes to mind. We start at 5 and end-ish at 18. Would they have similar rules?]

-How do people know they have to do something or can't? [Thinking laws - are they necessary and

why?]

Is there a process (what is it?) Or does someone just say? [Very simplistic view of the different types

of governance]

-What happens if you don't do something or do something you shouldn't ?

[A type of legal system]

I have put potential talking points in brackets to help but these are very flexible. They could write

a story about something that happens there or design a newspaper, the list of what you could do is endless.

I am happy to discuss things but I am a total coffee fan and I am a much nicer mummy if I have

had it

What I love about this activity- you don't want to influence their design - coffee is calling….

*If you decide to try this I would absolutely love to see your child’s Island.