Celebrate the birthday of England’s greatest playwright with a range of activities from Purple Mash

'Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em. '

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, in April 1564. The exact date of his birth is not known, but it is most often celebrated around the world on 23 April.

Shakespeare’s baptism however is recorded and shows that he was baptized at Holy Trinity Church on the 26th April 1564. From this it is believed that he was born on or near the 23rd April as baptisms typically took place within three days of the birth. Shakespeare also died on 23 April; in 1616, when he was 52 years of age.

His birthday is usually celebrated every year in his hometown of Stratford-upon-Avon, but this year as we all know is different and the celebrations are happening virtually.

William Shakespeare is considered to be the greatest writer of the English language and was also an actor, dramatist and poet often referred to as ‘The Bard’. He is perhaps best known for his plays and his sonnets, although his plays were written 400 years ago, they are full of characters, dilemmas and stories we all still recognise. The Shakespeare Learning Zone from the Royal Shakespeare Company gives you loads of information about Shakespeare’s plays. You’ll find key facts, key scenes, pictures from past productions, videos of actors and directors working on and performing the plays AND find out about all the main characters and how they relate to each other.

Why not celebrate his birthday by asking children to find out more about his life and use our fact file to present this information. They could also do a short animation from one of his most famous plays, recreating the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet or the Witches cauldron from Macbeth.

Shakespeare is also credited with introducing over 15000 words to the English language, children could use our Shakespeare Mashcam to either highlight some of the words or phrases that Shakespeare is credited with or they could put themselves into the role of Shakespeare and show his thoughts and character in the speech bubble.

Whatever you do to celebrate the great Bard’s birthday we would love to see your work on Twitter @2SimpleSoftware or @PurpleMash, or on Facebook @2SimpleUK.