Hiatus

Hi everybody! I just want to let you know that I will be taking a brief hiatus due to a three week European vacation. I will also be working on a book/ebook with all these activities in it. I will post more activities and games as soon as I am able to.


Thanks for your support!

Robots!

Materials

• Toilet Rolls
• Aluminium Foil
• Glue
• Markers/Pencils
• Pipe Cleaners
• Coloured Paper

Method

1. Cover your toilet roll in aluminium foil. This gives you the basic shape and look for your robot.
2. Decide what you want to add. Look below for examples.

Wheels are made by cutting small sections of the toilet roll, then stuck to the body with sticky tape.

Jet Pack Rabbit Robot

This child used a mint tin for the body.

Dinosaur Light Catcher

I don't know about you, but I used to love Dinosaurs when I was younger. In fact I still do! Have a go at this colourful activity!

Materials

• Cardboard
• Scissors
• Glue
• Baking Paper (Grease proof paper)
• Tissue Paper (Various colours)

Method

1. First you need to find some Dinosaur outlines. A quick Google search will be able to help you with that, like this one.
2. Print out which dinosaurs you want.
3. Create a template using your cardboard so children can trace the Dinosaur that they want. 
4. To save some time, cut up three of four colours of tissue paper into small squared and rectangles.
5. When you have cut out the Dinosaur, or the kids have depending on their skill level, glue squares of different colours on the back. So that the outline is still clear.
6. Put it on a window and enjoy your masterpiece! 

Template Creation

Clock Tower

Creating a mini town? Do your kids like to build cities out of blocks? Have a go at this clock tower to make sure the trains run on time!

Materials

• Coloured Paper
• Paper Roll (The cardboard tube)
• Glue
• Scissors
• Pencils/Markers

Method

1. Pick which colour you want to make your clock tower (I used yellow) and lay an A4 sheet of paper down.
2. Glue one end of the paper.
3. Roll your cardboard tube along the paper so the glued end sticks and the rest of the paper curls around the tube.
4. Glue the end of the paper down.
5. Cut out a circle of the same paper and create a cone. Then stick this on the top.
6. This is now the basic shape. You can decorate it as you see fit. 

This can be used to teach Roman numerals.

You can also use it to talk about time.  

Spring has sprung!

Spring is almost here in Australia. The pea plants in our veggie patch have started to flower.

Hand Monster or Alien

A good imaginative activity.

Materials

• Coloured paper
• Markers/Pencils
• Scissors
• Glue
• Large Sheet of paper (White or coloured)
• Hands

Method

1. Start off by tracing your hand on to the coloured paper. You will want a variety of colours.
2. Then plan your monster. It can be what ever you want it to be! That's what is so good about this activity. Stick it on to your larger piece of paper.
3. Add detail with your markers/pencils.

Olympic Banner

The end of the Olympics is upon us so we decided to make a banner to do with all the sports Australia did well in, or the sports the kids like.

Here is what we came up with:

Thought for the day

Mini Olympics

Why not create your own Olympic stadiums? All you need are boxes, coloured paper, scissors, glue, time and passion!

Here are a couple of our early ones:

Pole Vaulting

Swimming Pool

More hopefully to come!

Beginnings of an Olympic Wall

Olympic Torch

I'm sure you see a lot of Olympic torches out there so I thought I would give you my interpretation.


Materials

• Cellophane- Red, Orange
• Tissue Paper- Yellow, Red, Orange
• Long Paper Roll
• Aluminium Foil
• Paper
• Markers
• Glue

Method

1. Start off by covering the long paper roll in aluminium foil. I found that the easiest way to do this was lying a sheet flat on the table, putting glue on the foil and then rolling the paper roll along the foil so it sticks and then covers the roll.
2. Cut off any extra aluminium foil at either end.
3. Using a mix off cellophane and tissue paper create a fire at one end.
4. Using paper and markers decorate the torch as you see fit.
5. To extend this activity you can have groups make different designs then race in a relay race.

Pipe Cleaner Alien

Materials

• Different coloured pipe cleaners
• Glue
• Googly eyes

This one is a bit hard to explain in steps. It is simply just twisting pipe cleaners in a way that makes different body parts which can then be glued together to make an alien. It is quite fiddly and I found that the kids were better at making them than I was with my big stupid fingers. 

Snowman and other wintry scenes

Materials Needed

• Cotton Balls
• Glue
• Coloured Paper
• Scissors

Method

1. Using the cotton balls make the shape of a snowman. Three circles;biggest on the bottom and smallest on the top.
2. Glue these down.
3. Using coloured paper cut out some arms, facial features and add detail to the back ground if you wish.
4. You can also create other snow scenes with the cotton wool as it can stretch out.