Peta’s fun things to do at home

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Hello again! As you know, since lockdown, I’ve been posting fun activities to do at home every Monday, Wednesday and Friday (excluding holidays, I’m not a madwoman.) This is my 20th post, and I think this round number is a good point at which to take a break – hopefully I have built up a helpful bank of activities that you can dip into as and when you feel the urge!

For my last ‘fun thing to do’, I want to revisit the idea of creating pictures from nature that I shared as the third activity (for a reminder, click here), based on my book, Jacob Starke Loves the Dark. This time, the focus is on making rubbings from nature – using crayons, charcoal, chalk, whatever you have to hand – and using these rubbing to make a picture.

20: Making a picture from nature rubbings

During lockdown you have to make do with what you’ve got in the house. I would have loved to have done this with coloured chalks, pastels and charcoal, but what I had was wax crayons, so this is what I used.

To make up for this lack of variety, I used different types of paper, as you can see in the three step guide below.

  • Step 1: create a background rubbing , in this case I used the bark of a tree
  • Step 2: do rubbings of smaller items, like leaves, shells, feathers etc and cut them out
  • Step 3: arrange your cut-outs on your background to create an image; in this case, a flower

Top tips:

  • if you’re taking your rubbing from an object that can be moved (eg a leaf, rather than a tree trunk), put it on a hard, flat surface first
  • use a variety of different mark-makers (chalk, charcoal, pastels, crayons) if you have them
  • use the side of your crayon etc for rubbing, not the tip
  • use a variety of different papers you have around the house – newspaper and brown paper work particularly well, but also baking paper, silver foil
  • you could always draw in some details, if you feel that way inclined

Have fun, and don’t forget: I’d love to see what you create – you can email a photo to petarainford@gmail.com, post it on my Peta Rainford’s Facebook page @dogpigeon, or Tweet me @PetaRainford

Peta’s fun things to do at home

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Hello, and welcome to another week of lockdown! Undoubtedly, the most popular activities I do at festivals and other events, are those that allow children to transform themselves – whether this be into a superhero, clown, witch or badger. To put it another way, and to state the bleeding obvious: kids love dressing up!

19: Make an owl mask!

One of the activities I do around my book about the importance of dark skies, Jacob Starke Loves the Dark, is to make nocturnal animal masks out of paper plates. I’m sharing my template with you today, and you can see a printable version here. To be honest, you probably don’t need a template for this – I’m sure you can work it out for yourself.

Here’s my prototype, and two lovely versions made at the IW Story Festival (plus badger sister)

All you need to make the mask is:

  • a paper plate
  • string or similar to tie it on
  • felt-tips or crayons
  • optional embellishments like feathers, sequins etc
Here is my template with printable version here

Have fun, and don’t forget: I’d love to see what you make – you can email a photo to petarainford@gmail.com, post it on my Peta Rainford’s Facebook page @dogpigeon, or Tweet me @PetaRainford

Peta’s fun things to do at home

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18: Write a story!

I love the fact that, however a story starts, there are millions and millions of possible middles and just as many potential endings.

I have used the opening of my only non-rhyming book, Jamie and the Joke Factory, as the starting-point for writing activities in a number of schools: ‘Jamie was SO excited! He was going on a surprise outing with Grandad!’

At this time of lockdown, I think it would be fun to write a story about a surprise outing. Why don’t you have a go? Use my first line as the first line of your own story.

I’d love to see how different your story is from mine – you can email a photo to petarainford@gmail.com, post it on my Peta Rainford’s Facebook page @dogpigeon, or Tweet me @PetaRainford

Top tip: decide what type of story you want to write before you start: is it set in a ‘real life’ situation, or a fantasy world? Is it exciting/scary or madcap/funny? Or all of those things?!

Then think about the following:

  • Where is Jamie when he starts his outing? Who is he with?
  • Is it just Jamie and Grandad that go on the outing, or do other people/animals/things go with them?
  • What is the surprise?
  • What happens when they get there (something funny, exciting or scary)?
  • How do Jamie and Grandad get home?

TOP TOP TIP: BE AS IMAGINATIVE AS POSSIBLE!

What are you waiting for?

On this school visit, children told their stories through pictures, rather than writing. It’s a great way to encourage ‘reluctant writers’ to get creative!

Peta’s fun things to do at home

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Hello again! Hope you had a good weekend. As you may know, my book, Jacob Starke Loves the Dark, contains a lot of nocturnal animals.

One of the most popular activities I’ve done with it are these nocturnal animal bookmarks that go on the corner of your book. I can’t claim that this type of bookmark was devised by me, but this is my version.

Don’t forget, I’d love to see anything you do – you can email a photo to petarainford@gmail.com, post it on my Peta Rainford’s Facebook page @dogpigeon, or Tweet me @PetaRainford

17: Make a nocturnal animal bookmark!

With these bookmarks, it’s all about the folding. Here’s how my lovely assistant made the badger. You will need:

  • White paper or thin card
  • Black and pink paper (or you could just colour with felt pens or crayons)
  • Googly eyes if you’ve got them – though, again, you could equally well draw the eyes with a felt tip
  • 1. Create a square by folding paper diagonally…
  • … and cutting off the excess
  • 2. Fold the middle point of the triangle back towards the diagonal fold
  • 3. Fold the outside points of the triangle into the middle
  • 4. Tuck these points under…
  • … until you have a square that looks like this
  • 5. Cut out the shapes to make up the features
  • 6. Stick them on (or just draw them!)
  • 7. Ta dah!

Here’s the fox and the bat versions; same basic folds, just a few different features!

Have fun! And be warned: these bookmarks are highly addictive; we’ve made loads of them!

I’m showing a surprising turn of speed at this workshop where we made nocturnal animal bookmarks!

Peta’s fun things to do at home

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Hello! I have used my book, Jacob Starke Loves the Dark, as the starting-point for lots of different nature-related art and writing activities – particularly the bit when The Dark declares:

‘… Don’t you see,
All living things depend on me.’

Here is a version of an activity I’ve developed for schools:

16: How many ways can you describe a leaf*?

* or any other natural (or other) object!

This is all about thoroughly investigating a natural object and describing it in as many ways as possible. Get yourself a large piece of paper and…

  1. Write down some words that describe the leaf. Tip: think about all five senses – sight, sound, touch, smell and taste (but only if it’s edible!)
  2. See how many ways you can describe the leaf ‘visually’. You could:
  • Draw it and/or paint it
  • Print with it – using paint or ink
  • Take an impression of it with silver foil or play dough
  • Do a ‘rubbing’ of it using a crayon or chalk
  • Do a collage of it
  • Photograph it
  • Crush the leaf into the paper to leave an impression!

These are just a few ideas – I’m sure you can think of more! I’d love to see anything you do – you can email a photo to petarainford@gmail.com, post it on my Peta Rainford’s Facebook page @dogpigeon, or Tweet me @PetaRainford

Here’s my effort, but I’m sure you can do better!

Peta’s fun things to do at home

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Welcome back! I’ve got a little book-themed word search for you today. It’s probably a bit tricky for very little people to do on their own, but something to do as a family, perhaps. Enjoy!

15: A book-themed word search

There’s a printable version here.

Can you find the following children’s books in the grid above? Some of them are famous, some of them are mine!

  1. Isabella Rotten Speller
  2. Winnie the Pooh
  3. The Gruffalo
  4. Hairy Fairy
  5. The Cat in the Hat
  6. Peter Pan
  7. The Niggle
  8. Matilda
  9. Dogs Don’t Do Ballet
  10. Mog
  11. Charlotte’s Web
  12.  Each, Peach, Pear, Plum
  13. Owl Babies
  14. Heidi

The solution is here.

Peta’s fun things to do at home

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Good morning, and welcome to another week! Today, I thought I would share the very first activity I ever did on a school visit: my Hairy Fairy bookmark. I have done various versions of it – this one is nice and straightforward. Why not have a go?

Have fun! And don’t forget: I’d love to see anything you do – you can email a photo to petarainford@gmail.com, post it on my Peta Rainford’s Facebook page @dogpigeon, or Tweet me @PetaRainford

14: Hairy Fairy bookmark

You will need:

  • Scissors
  • Glue
  • Wool or string
  • Felt tips or crayons
  • Print-out of the template which you will find here. It works best if you can print out on to thin card, though it works ok with just paper. Or you can print out on paper and stick onto card before cutting out, if you want something more robust.

And this is what you do:

  • 1. Colour in template
  • 2. Cut out fairy and the strip for the back of the bookmark
  • 3. Glue on hair
  • 4. Fold strip and put glue on short end
  • 5. Stick fairy’s head to gluey strip
  • 6. Ta dah!

Peta’s fun things to do at home

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The strange times we are currently living in have revealed some of the many superheroes living amongst us – whether these be key workers, Captain Tom Moore raising millions for the NHS to celebrate his one hundredth birthday, or the person in your street collecting prescriptions for her elderly neighbours.

I’ve always believed that we all have a superhero inside us, capable of great
bravery and selflessness – though sometimes we struggle to find it. In fact, this is what my book, The Niggle, is about: finding resilience. Resilience is a quality we all need at the moment!

13: Discover the Superhero inside yourself!

(As Heather Small almost said.)

The following is an activity I’ve done with a number of schools, hopefully helping children recognise some of their own inner strengths, as well as exercising their imaginations:

  • I get the children to think and talk about what they’re afraid of
  • I then get them think about the qualities they would need to overcome their fear. For example, for a fear of heights this might include everyday human qualities, like determination and bravery, or full-on superpowers, like being able to fly
  • I then get the children to draw the superhero inside themselves (or finish my superhero template)

I have a template for this activity (though you can equally well do it without!):

There is a printable version of the template here. Have fun! And don’t forget: I’d love to see anything you do – you can email it to petarainford@gmail.com, post it on my Peta Rainford’s Facebook page @dogpigeon, or Tweet me @PetaRainford

Peta’s fun things to do at home

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Did you have a go at making a Scribble Monster or two after Monday’s post? (It’s here if you missed it.) If you did, you may, like me, have found it strangely addictive, and ended up with a whole bunch of monsters…

What’s the collective noun for a group of monsters? A roar? A scare? What do you think?

I’m now surrounded by Scribble Monsters. Which got me thinking about creating a story about them. Why don’t you have a go? And don’t forget: I’d love to see anything you do – you can email it to petarainford@gmail.com, post it on my Peta Rainford’s Facebook page @dogpigeon, or Tweet me @PetaRainford

12: Create a story about Scribble Monsters (and you don’t have to write a word, unless you want to!)

There are lots of different ways of creating a story:

  • Tell it! Talk about the characters and the adventures they might have ( you could video or record the story, if you like)
  • Draw it! As soon as you draw in a background behind the Scribble Monsters, you start telling a story about where they live and what they are doing. Or you can create a more detailed narrative, by creating a cartoon strip
  • Write it! Writing could be anything from single words – labelling a drawing, for example – to speech bubbles in a cartoon, or the more flowing narrative of a ‘traditional’ written story

Whichever way you decide to create your story, you might like to think about the following:

  • What are the monsters called?
  • What relationship do the monsters have to each other? Are they friends? Enemies? Strangers? Members of the same family? Or something else?
  • Are they goodies or baddies?
  • Where do they live? Maybe they live on a mysterious planet, with a mysterious name. Maybe they live in the fluff under your sofa. Maybe they live next door to you…
  • What language do they speak?
  • What adventure will they go on?

These are just some broad-brush ideas for creating a story. I will look at some of them in more detail in future posts. Have fun with your story making – and do please feel free to share your creations with me.

Peta’s fun things to do at home

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Welcome to another week! I’ve got a really fun activity for you today, inspired by my book, Milly’s Marvellous Mistakes, which has the message that it’s ok to make mistakes. The activity is about turning scribbles into something beautiful. Warning: this can become a bit addictive!

Why not have a go? I’d love to see anything you do – you can email it to petarainford@gmail.com, post it on my Peta Rainford’s Facebook page @dogpigeon, or Tweet me @PetaRainford

11. Do the scribble challenge!

There’s nothing to it: get yourself a large piece of paper and draw a number of scribbles on it – leave a bit of space between each scribble.

There are lots of things you can do with a scribble:

  • Colour it in…
  • Turn it into a Scribble Monster! You can use some googly eyes, if you’ve got them, and cut out and stick on a scary mouth…
  • See what pictures you can make out of the scribbles you have drawn… I thought one of my scribbles looked like a dinosaur. I also used scribbles to draw a tree, someone with crazy hair and a sheep

It’s really good fun. Why not have a go!