The Queen is many things: A born leader, an engaging public speaker, not to mention a talented horse rider to boot. But there’s something we didn’t know about Her Majesty – and it’s all to do with arts and crafts.

While the Queen safely hunkers down in Windsor Castle during the COVID-19 health pandemic, which has seen her entire country go into a lockdown, it seems she’s been keeping herself busy by coming up with some fun ideas for people to try their hand at during these isolating times.
First up, the Queen has put her focus on children, many of whom will be feeling a little out of their depth as they adapt to home schooling after their schools were also placed in lockdown:
Taking to the official Royal Family Twitter account on Monday, a brand new initiative for children was announced.
“Every Monday, we’ll be sharing fun activities and learning resources for your children to enjoy at home,” the tweet stated.
For the first week of the new, unprecedented initiative, the challenge was to design your own Investiture medal.
The Royal Collection Trust also created a special worksheet for children to use whilst making their own masterpieces.
Every Monday, we’ll be sharing fun activities and learning resources for your children to enjoy at home. ??
Today, why not design your own #Investiture medal? Download @RCT’s worksheet here: https://t.co/hK5kpsnA9I pic.twitter.com/TJTdUA54Jr
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) March 30, 2020
The tweet also outlined some fun facts for children to learn more about Investitures – something the Queen is heavily involved with by presenting them to various recipients throughout the year.
“Medals are given by The Queen or other members of The Royal Family to people for: Special achievements, Bravery, Services to the United Kingdom,” the caption read.
They then put the question to the public – who would your medal be for? – before inviting people to share their designs with them on Twitter.
It actually sounds pretty fun – perhaps an afternoon activity? You can download the worksheet here.
It won’t be hard to get the necessary decorative materials either during Singapore’s own circuit breaker measures from April 7 to May 4. That’s because Shopee has plenty of stationary kits, craft supplies and other art and crafts offerings for your child to complete these Craft Monday activities.
Medals are given by The Queen or other members of The Royal Family to people for:
?Special achievements
?Bravery
?Services to the United KingdomWho would your medal be for? Share your designs with us below! ? pic.twitter.com/ydcuXXaOrl
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) March 30, 2020
The royals are navigating their way through this unsettling period admirably – recently, Duchess Catherine and Prince William shared images of their own working-from-home set-up at Kensington Palace, while raising awareness for mental health.
The Duke and Duchess featured in the pictures speaking on the phone to several mental health charities who are supporting people who might be struggling during this time of isolation and lockdowns.
And it looks like there will be plenty more where that came from – along with the Queen’s arty initiative for children, we’ve no doubt the royals will continue to promote and highlight causes that will help people young and old get through the circuit breaker period.
Busy Toddler has super fun activities and creative projects for kids, while Mommy Poppins has an endless list of creative and engaging projects for children of all ages.
Try a mix of free craft and sewing classes from Creative Bug. We also love The Dad Lab‘s free kids science experiments, creative projects, and fun activities.
Colouring more your kiddo’s thing? Disney has a bunch of free colouring books to download, as do these 100 museums worldwide. Check out HP’s Print & Play offerings too!
The Families for Life (FFL) Council has launched the #FFLShareTheCare Series to help parents and children stay at home and be safe while finding ways to be meaningfully engaged during this period. Throughout the month of April, FFL will be rolling out a series of online, interactive programming daily via their Facebook page.
Being stuck at home doesn’t mean you can’t explore the world. Go on virtual field trips around the planet’s most iconic places or venture to outer space and explore Mars via the Curiosity Rover.
Curious what the animals around the world are up to while waiting out this pandemic? Tune in to the Chester Zoo‘s safari broadcast. Or try flipping between the live cams of a few different animals at the San Diego Zoo.
You can even visit the magic kingdom of Disney’s Orlando resort even though the parks are closed to the public at this time. Woohoo!
Text: Bauersyndication.com.au / Additional reporting: Hazel Vincent De Paul