Chip packet bracelet

Have you ever made a bracelet like this before?  I hadn't but had fun trying it out with my girls at the weekend.

Just now, we're being extra careful and learning about what we can recycle, reuse and not put in landfill.  Chip packets were one thing that as yet we haven't found anywhere to take them for recycling here, so we looked for something we could upcycle them to instead.

Using this tutorial we cut up the chip packets we had and folded them into the mini chain links, tucking them together to make this cute shiny bracelet.

The girls decided to give this bracelet to their friend who loves crafting herself.  She was really happy to get the gift, and the next day sent them a picture of another bracelet she'd made the same way (we showed her how).

Not a bad way to use up those shiny chip packets.  You could make a whole set of jewellery with them, or bags...
So many possibilities! 

Have you ever done this kind of weaving with chip packets or junk mail - or anything else for that matter. I'd love some more ideas and inspiration for this!

Top 5 Typing Games

Both our daughters are learning to touch type. It's an important skill to learn given that throughout their schooling, assignments are likely to be done on computers rather than pen and paper. Plus next year, in Grade 6, the last year of Junior School here, our eldest daughter will get her own laptop as part of the school programme, and all the children are being advised to learn to touch type now.

A couple of years ago, we discovered a fabulous site for kids learning to type. (the BBC's Dance Mat Typing) Our girls have used this now and again and are becoming quite proficient. Having reached the end of the Dance Mat Typing course they now need something else to practice with. 

There are lots more typing games out there, but a lot of them have adverts flashing up at the beginning which I didn't like. 

Here are the best 5 I found, with no adverts:

Keyboard Ninja - chop fruit that gets thrown up with letters on - but don't chop the bombs!

Snow Typer - type the words as the fall with the snow before they hit the ground

Typing Attack - A simple space invaders type game. Type the words to blast and clear the screen

Super Hyper Spider Typer - help the spider climb up to avoid the oncoming chameleons by typing the words.

Trick or Type  - help the ghosts catch the flying treats in their bags

For each of the games you can choose your level and which of the keyboard letters you want to use for the game, so you don't have to be an expert typist to play!

I tried all these games myself (just to check they were fun!) and have to say my favourite was Keyboard Ninja, just for the sound effects!

Do you know of any other good typing games?

Can your kids type?

Have fun!

Hand Shadows

Have you ever tried making hand shadows?  

Our girls were given this book with lots in to try, so all had some fun the other night! Trying to copy the pictures and get your hands and all your fingers in the right position was trickier than we thought.

Can you guess what this one is....?

It's a crab!

And this one...?

A snail!

One more..?

A moose!

I think we definitely need some practice! 

But we did have fun.

Now have a look at some really impressive handshadows:

Can you make hand shadows?

Uno

At the weekend, our daughters taught me how to play Uno.  

It's a nice simple game for 2 or more players. The aim of the game is to use up all of your cards before anyone else. You can put cards down (when it's your turn) that are the same colour or number as the face up card on the table. There are also cards to miss a turn, change the colour, reverse the direction of play, and pick up 2 or four cards for the next person.

It's more or less the same as a game we play with a regular deck of cards. We call that game 'Funny Switch', and different cards have different properties, for example a Jack means miss a turn and a Queen is pick up two cards.

An uno deck has more than the regular 52 card deck, and is brighter and more colourful and so simpler for younger kids to recognise the cards and their meaning.

There are now apps to get Uno for your phone or tablet, and also different versions of the game - themed packs, and even Uno blast, where cards aren't dealt, they're blasted out of a plastic machine!!

Clever marketing I guess, but maybe I'm just old fashioned as I prefer the plain old deck of cards version!

One thing my youngest did try to learn as we played this game was

a 'riffle shuffle' to mix the cards up. My dad taught me as a kid, and it's a cool thing to be able to do!  She picked up the idea pretty quickly, but needs lots of practice! Great for working those fine motor skills!

Have you played Uno? Do you like it? Do you have any of the alternate fancy versions?

French knitting

At the beginning of this year, I began to learn to crochet with my younger daughter. She has enjoyed learning and likes to pick up the wool and hook and make endless chain bracelets and necklaces!

She's getting better and holding and manipulating the hook and wool, and even managed to make a little stuffed monster!

Then this week at school we saw someone in her sister's classroom doing some French Knitting, so a new interest was found!

We had a French knitting doll at home that we hadn't yet got out of the box, so that afternoon, out it came and with the help of a You Tube video to get us started we gave it a go!

It's such a simple craft to do, and our daughter (aged 8) took to it straight away, and it's now another thing that she can pick up and do bits of here and there when the mood takes her.  It's a great way for her to practice and improve her fine motor skills, and also her concentration!

We've almost got a piece long enough to make a multicoloured mouse with!  

We have a book from the library just now, that we'd got for crochet patterns for making cute creatures - but I noticed there were also patterns for making little animals from French knitting too!

It's a great book with all sorts of fun ideas for making cute little animals with wool!

If you don't have a French knitting doll - you can also make one with a toilet roll tube and lolly sticks! 

(see here for some good instructions)

Have you tried French knitting? Have your kids? What else can you make with these tubes of knitting?

Rubik's cube

Do you remember the Rubik's cube?

Created in 1974 by Erno Rubik - a Hungarian sculptor and professor. It was originally meant as a way to explain 3D geometry but the Rubik's cube became incredibly popular as a toy in the 1980s.

I remember my brother and I getting them as kids, and learning the moves to be able to solve the puzzle - making each side one solid colour.  Initially Dad got a book with the solution in, and he taught me the moves - giving each move a 'name' to help me remember.

To this day - around 30 years later - I've found I still remember those moves - "twiddle twiddle up.... down down round round up up....."  I think I did it so many times, that in the end I learnt the moves by rote - just like my times tables - and they stuck!

Santa brought our daughters a Rubik's cube each for last Christmas - and they are very impressed with Mummy's skill in being able to solve it!

Now there is a whole website about Rubik's cubes.  You can buy all manner of Rubiks cubes and novelty items; learn how to solve the Rubik's and other cubes; see pictures of Rubik's cube cakes, and watch Rubik's TV including seeing someone solve the cube in just 5.66 seconds!! Unbelievable!

This amazing cube is used as an educational tool in maths classrooms.  There is a whole website dedicated to ways to use the Rubik's cube to teach various maths skills.

I don't know how technical I could get with this - or would want to, but I do think I'll try to teach our girls how to solve the Rubik's cube.  If nothing else it is satisfying to be able to do it - and pretty cool too!  If it can also help with their maths, fine motor skills, and provide a good way to help improve memory skills when learning the moves, then so much the better!

Have you got a Rubik's cube? Can you solve it?

Cat's Cradle

At the weekend, I had some one-to-one time with our youngest daughter, while the eldest went off to yet another birthday party! 

We played some card games, then went on to Kerplunk (a game where you pull out sticks that hold up marbles but try not to let the marbles fall). This game then evolved into my daughter giving me a cooking lesson using the game pieces.  The marbles were various fruits, and the sticks either cooking implements or ingredients depending on what was needed.  She spent a good 45mins 'teaching' me how to cook all sorts of things! Then asked me to teach her something real!  Something that I knew how to do but she didn't!

For some reason, the first thing that popped into my head was Cat's Cradle - the string game.  I don't know what prompted it as I haven't played this since my own childhood, and all I know how to do is the basic cat's cradle.

This is where the wonderful internet comes into play.  We got out some wool, cut and tied some loops and sat down with the computer and Googled "Cat's Cradle". We found several picture instructions, and I used those and my own memory to teach her the basic cat's cradle.  Then we found a you-tube video which shows you how to do more! There are many videos, but here's the one we used:

This string game - is found in many different cultures all over the world and wikipedia tells me that

Cat's cradle is probably one of humanity's oldest games! In Japan it's called 'ayatori' and in some parts of the US  it's called "Jack in the Pulpit".  Whatever it's name, it is an incredible game of fine motor skills and dexterity.  Some of the shapes made have names like 'Jacob's ladder' and 'The Witch's Broom'.

There is even an International String Figure Association which was founded by a Japanese man around 30 years ago, to gather, preserve, and distribute string figure knowledge so that future generations will continue to enjoy this ancient pastime.

As I look into each activity we do with our children - mostly well known games and activities, I am fascinated by the history and meaning of these games, and I'm proud to be introducing these games to my children as pieces of culture, meaningful educational activities, but above all fun things to do.

My daughter has been playing around with the 'cat's cradle' string ever since, and even made up her own word document on the computer about it, complete with pictures and photos, to take to school for show and tell!

Have you ever played cat's cradle? Do you call it by that name?  Do you think it's important to preserve our old traditional games like this?