With the schools closing, NewsHound is launching a weekly educational competition that will help you to keep your children occupied during this time of uncertainty.

Each week we will give parents some background on the activity to help you feel confident supporting your little learner to complete the challenge we set.

The challenges will be as open-ended as possible so that children of all ages can complete them and also linked to the National Curriculum literacy programme.

You can then send in your entry to us. We will publish some of the entries and pick a winner.

This week’s competition challenge is: Write a modern day fairytale

First, read a fairytale to your child or watch one on youtube - Goldilocks or The Three Little Pigs are good ones.

Ask them some questions such as “What did you notice about this story?” and “What did you spot about the way it ended?”

Some pointers:

- A fairytale has a beginning, a middle and an end.

- A fairytale has a baddie and a goodie in the story.

- A fairytale often has a happy ending.

- A fairytale sometimes has a moral lesson or message in it.

- If you are looking for an extra challenge, try and include a relevant issue for 2020 such as plastic use, for example.

Send it into us by Monday March 30 at hertsad@archant.co.uk