Kids’ drawings of rainbows placed in thousands of windows across UK to lift spirits in coronavirus crisis
THOUSANDS of children are drawing rainbows and hanging them in their windows to "brighten up people's day" during the coronavirus pandemic.
With self-isolation and social distancing highly advised by the government, children and parents are facing what could be months at home with little to do.
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It comes after Britain's schools were ordered to close from Friday with all exams cancelled in the war on coronavirus.
The shutdown, which will last until summer at the very earliest, is the Government’s most drastic move yet to slow down the pandemic.
It is the first nationwide school shutdown in modern history.
The only similar move was when schools in London shut as pupils were evacuated at the start of World War Two.
With this in mind, Alice Aske, from Somerset, has created a Facebook group called Chase The Rainbow encouraging families to tape hand-painted drawings of rainbows in their windows.
And the trend — which sees people spot the pictures as they go on social distancing walks around their local communities — has gone viral.
The 34-year-old spotted the idea online and decided to set up a group for her local area, which has now grown to nearly 65,000 members in just 24 hours.
"My daughter expressed how she was sad that she won’t be able to see her friends," said the mum-of-two.
"We love being involved in Somerset rocks where you paint rocks for people to find, but we needed something that you weren’t touching for fear of passing on the virus.
"This also means that if you are isolating, you can give people a wave if they have a rainbow in the window."
This also means that if you are isolating, you can give people a wave if they have a rainbow in the window
Alice Aske
She added how she is planning on continuing to paint a "ginormous rainbow" for their landing window as soon as her seven-year-old daughter finishes school on Friday afternoon.
It comes after Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the schools will be shut for the majority of pupils from Friday, but not for those of key workers and for vulnerable kids.
One parent Eleanor Sheffield, from Shrewsbury in Shropshire, said she is already at home and in quarantine with her two children Ruby, six, and William, two-years-old, due to their low immune systems.
Elsewhere Candy Boyle and her daughter Chloe from Feltham said they were simply trying to "brighten someone’s day" by putting rainbows in their windows.
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Lauren James, 34, from Caerphilly in South Wales says that despite her daughter Matilda Rose Watson, six, and her son Sam Archie Watson, five, being kept away from the fears of coronavirus, they are aware of what is going on.
The mum-of-two said: "I thought this was a lovely way to keep children and friends connected during an uncertain time."
Her little girl Matilda added: "We can’t go to school because of the virus so when people and our friends go past our house, they can spot our rainbows."
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