Activity Village News

29th October 2009

A Message From Lindsay

Just a quick message today because I want to get this out with a few days left before Halloween! I've just added some last-minute Halloween craft ideas to the site, as well as some really cute bookmarks  which I think might make a nice hand-out for any trick-or-treaters who knock on your door! See below.

Those of us in the UK will also be celebrating Bonfire Night next week, so we've updated our pages and added lots of new printables for home and classroom. Please take a look!

Over-18s reading this from the UK might like to know about a new brain training experiment that has been launched by the BBC show, Bang Goes The Theory. They are asking as many people as possible to get involved in an exciting experiment that will test whether brain training truly works, and, if it does, whether some types of brain training are better than others. The results of the brain training trial will be announced in a one-off BBC One TV special of Bang Goes
The Theory, in early 2010, featuring stories from around the nation. Viewers simply sign up for the experiment and - using our specially designed games and tests - train for 10 minutes, 3 times a week, for at least 6 weeks. It is supposed to be interesting, addictive and fun! To find out more about Brain Test Britain and to sign up visit the website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/labuk/experiments/braintestbritain

Coming up soon:

31st October - Halloween
5th November - Bonfire Night
26th November - Thanksgiving (US)
30th November - St Andrew's Day
1st December - Advent
11th December - Hanukkah
25th December - Christmas

Don't forget to have a look at my other site, www.ChristmasIsComing.co.uk for more Christmas inspiration!

If you or your child has made use of our craft ideas or printables, we'd love to share the results here! Drop me a line by emailing editor-at-activityvillage.co.uk (replace -at- with @).

What's New At Activity Village?

Don't forget that you can check our What's New page which gives you a list of new additions, as they happen, or subscribe to our RSS feed.

You've still got time to try out some of our Halloween crafts - we think this is one of the best pages on the whole site, so we hope you will have a good explore! And we have 6 new craft ideas this year, 4 added today...
Halloween crafts

Here are the bookmarks I mentioned above. We've added 4 fantastic new sheets of bookmarks this year - great as trick-or-treat giveaways!
Halloween bookmarks

Lots new for Bonfire Night - including writing paper, mini safety booklets for children to write in and Guy Fawkes and James I classroom printables...
Bonfire Night

For St Andrew's Day (and everyone fascinated by Nessie) - new Scottish themed colouring pages
St Andrew's Day colouring pages

Three new "tricks" videos - your children can learn some really cool tricks from expert kids in these short videos.
Learn A New Skill Videos

New Thanksgiving coloring pages and a Thanksgiving coloring card, too.
Thanksgiving coloring pages

Winter bookmarks to print - some to print, some to print and colour

Use the long winter hours to get on with some writing projects, inspired by our new winter stationery (10 designs)
Winter Stationery to print

Recommended Product

Here's an upbeat, fun, parenting tool that guarantees to give you well behaved kids or your money back. It's simple, it's unique, and it's effective. Even the kids will like it! If your kids are hard to handle on occasion, I really encourage you to visit this website and have a look for yourself.
Better Behavior Wheel

A Giggle!

A young child walked up to her mother and stared at her hair. As mother scrubbed on the dishes, the girl cleared her throat and sweetly asked; "Why do you have some grey strands in your hair?"

The mother paused and looked at her daughter. "Every time you disobey, I get one strand of grey hair. If you want me to stay pretty, you better obey."

The mother quickly returned to her task of washing dishes. The little girl stood there thinking. She cleared her throat again. "Mother?" She sweetly asked again.
"Yes?" Her Mother replied. "Why is Grandma's hair all grey?"

A Quick Little Something To Play...

Consequences is a very old game, but it seems to have fallen out of favour recently. I've found that kids of all ages love it - and if nothing else it is a good way to encourage them to think up some unusual adjectives and scenarios! It is fun for mixed age-groups, too.

You need at least 3 players, and more is better. Players sit in a circle. Each person is provided with scrap paper and pencil, and is asked to write on the top (1) one
or more adjectives, then to fold the paper over, so that what has been written cannot be seen. Players then pass the paper on to the right. Everyone then writes (2) the
name of a man or boy. Fold again, and pass as before. Continue like this, writing each time as follows:

(3) one or more adjectives;
(4) a lady or girl's name;
(5) where they met;
(6) what he gave her;
(7) what he said to her;
(8) what she said to him;
(9) the consequence; and lastly
(10), what the world said about it.

You could of course simplify the above list for very young children.

When every one has written the last category, collect up the papers and read them out, joining them together as necessary. As an example, our last family game went like this:

The (1) handsome and effusive (2) Mickey Mouse met (3) a charming and smelly (4) Mrs Small (5) at the cinema. (6) He gave her a kiss (7) and said to her "Would you like a cup of tea?" (8) She said to him: "I hope Jamie wins X-Factor". (9) The consequence was that they didn't get their homework done on time, and the
world said (10) "Don't be so silly!"

Videos To Enjoy With The Kids..

From Bang Goes The Theory - "In this clip presenters Liz and Yan show how you can get a packet of uncooked rice to set solid. Is its friction enough to beat gravity?"

Kids can learn some really good frisbee throwing and catching skills from this short expert video!

More Skills Videos for Kids (3 new this month)

UK viewers can join Amanda Holden's waste challenge - Kenco are also offering a chance to win an Eco Break for 2 adults and 2 children. Click through the video to find out more.

Something To Think About..

"We need 4 hugs a day for survival. We need 8 hugs a day for maintenance. We need 12 hugs a day for growth."
Virginia Satir

Subscriber Special

If you like this week's quote, we hope you enjoy this poster!
4 Hugs A Day Poster

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