Paper People

This is a variation on the paper people we used to make when we were small. It takes very little in terms of materials, and is a nice little occupier for those moments when you need a half hour to get dinner on.

You will need:
A sheet of A4 paper.
A scissors.
Some small scraps of fabric or coloured paper.
PVA glue.
A piece of ribbon or string.

Take a sheet of A4 paper and cut it in half lengthwise, then fold it back on itself four times, like this.



Younger children will need help with the cutting out. On the top fold, you can either draw a woman-shape and cut around it, or just do it free hand. We did a woman shape so that afterwards we could cut legs for men-shapes on every second one.



As you can see here.



You can also get creative with their shapes!



Then you can draw funny faces on the heads.



Next, cut the scraps into small squares.



Make sure you put down some newspaper to protect the table, and an apron or old clothes are worn. PVA does not wash out!



These are then glued on as clothes on the little figures.



When the glue is dry you can make a small hole at each end and thread the ribbon through, and you are ready to hang it up.



They look very sweet, and I find get lots of lovely comments!

Paper Fortune Teller...

Who needs a magic 8 ball? These clever little origami will keep 'tweeners amused for hours!

1) Cut a square of plain paper
2) Fold in the corners
3)Turn the folded side away from you and fold the corners in again.
4) Fold in half.
5) Get your index fingers and thumbs up under the outer folds and bring to meet in the middle.

6)Mark the outer corners with numbers, the inner corners with colours and inside each fold a result of the question, ie Yes, No, Maybe etc... (we ues perhaps, absolutely! you never know! etc)
7) Ask the paper teller a question, for example Will we have rain tomorrow? The questioner picks a number and the informer opens and shuts opposite corners of the teller that number of times, then the questioner picks a colour from inside and the informer spells that while opening the opposite corners... then finally the informer picks again from the colours and under the colour will be their answer!!

Duck.. Duck... Duck...

...GOOSE!

How to play...

All sit in a large circle (spaced out if only a few) and the 'gander' makes his way slowly around the outside, touching each childs head and calling them a duck or a goose.

The fun is that when called a goose that child must jump up , chasing the gander around the circle to try and catch him before he sits in their spot. If they catch him, they sit down again, if not they become the gander... and so on... and so on...

I'm Board Games.

We have two shelves full of games. All the usual suspects are there. And they go for long periods where they gather dust, especially in the summertime. Unless of course it's a damp rainy summer like we had last year. Then we get a couple of weeks where they become favourites again and are taken down and dusted off. This is often when we have people staying for the weekend and the extra numbers make it all the more fun. When we do sit around a table yelling and laughing til our sides ache, I always, without fail, think to myself, why, oh why do we not do this more often? But of course, being on holidays is always all the incentive kids need.

However, we have discovered a number of absolute favourites that are always floating around and are just the right length and the right amount of fun to be perfect time-fillers.



These were one of those brilliant presents you recieve that you want to buy for all you friends. Rory's Story Cubes are so simple that even younger children can play. Throw the dice and then you make up a story from the pictures. It becomes more hilarious as they warm up and let their creative juices flow.



Personally, I love the games where there is no particular winner, just success and a sense of achievement for the players.



Though sometimes a bit of cunning does deserve to win.



And I love the fact that things like Tiddlywinks and a ball and maze are just enduringly addictive. The latter is very easy to keep in your bag for those times when you have to hang around waiting for something or someone.

Maps and Capps

cartography(kär-tgr-f) n : the making of maps and charts, the study of maps for historical or geographical purpose, the science of maps.

Keep a few maps in your handbag or car, its great for when 'tweeners (8-12) get bored. The game is that they take turns to look and find a place on the map and the others then have to find it first. It works especially well with Ordanance survey maps of theme parks. My mother always pulled this one out of the bag when we were young, our favorite was the map of Six Flags! Its educational too, as map reading is usually part of the curriculum at some stage. You can take it one stage further and ask them to measure the distance between places with a piece of string and a ruler. They can make their own maps (all of ours love doing this) - or trace one and change it to suit...!

It promises much quiet and allows for full enjoyment of a nice cappucino!!

Butter me up!

Making butter with children is great because its quick (for some), energetic, and they can feel very satisfied with the results. Its also something that once they learn, they never forget and it can be called upon whenever needed, or whenever they utter those three little words "I-am-bored" which make every mothers brain fizzle.

Grab a few clean jars, a sieve (or muslin if you have it) and some double cream and you are good to go. Outside or in, upstairs or down, even in the car!

Its so simple - Cream in the jar, lid tight, shake shake shake...

You can tell them the 3 stages of butter so they can feel in charge of the event.

1) it will go from creamy slooshing to solid

2) it will feel like you are shaking nothing

3) you will hear slooshing noises again.

When they hear the 3rd stage, tell them to look and see is there yellow butter in the jar. Cream or white is not butter! Any buttercup will tell you that!

When the butter is present, get them to tip it onto a sieve or into some muslin and allow any milk to run off.
Mash with whatever flavourings you have handy... garlic or chili or both, salt and pepper, whatever you like - blitz in a mini chopper or processor and mash through the freshly made butter. Wrap in parchment and refridgerate until they are hungry... Funny how bread and butter sandwiches aren't snubbed when the butter has been made themselves!