Ideas from I'M BORED! and I'M BORED…AGAIN!
by Suzy Barratt and Polly Beard,
illustrated by Sam Holland,
published by Bloomsbury.
Playdough
This activity involves using very hot water - please ask an
adult to help you and take extra care.
Playdough can be made into just about anything, and this simple
recipe needs no cooking. The dough will keep for about 3 weeks if
wrapped and kept in an airtight container.
You need:
- 2 cups of plain flour
- 1 cup salt
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 1 ½ tablespoons of cream of tartar
- 2 cups very hot water
- colouring (food dye or poster paint work well)
Method
Mix flour, salt and cream of tartar together. Add the oil, water
and colouring and mix thoroughly until it forms into a ball. Leave
to cool then wrap in cling film or a plastic bag and keep in an
airtight container.
Paper Mache
This activity will get really messy! Make sure you cover the
tables and floor around you with old newspaper before you
start.
Paper Mache is great to model with and is very versatile.
All you need is flour, water and newspaper. Stir three parts
flour to one part water until the mixture is smooth and creamy.
Tear the newspaper into strips and dip them into the mixture. You
can then use these to cover something and it will turn hard.
Try blowing up a balloon and covering it, or make a shape out of
rolled up newspaper as a base. Add more layers of newspaper to make
a thicker and stronger structure. This can then be painted and
varnished.
Snow Flakes
You'll need some scissors for this and a piece of white paper.
Cut the sheet of paper into a circle. Fold your circle in half,
then in half again to make quarters, then in half one last time to
make eighths. Get creative with your scissors to cut shapes and
patterns from the edges. Try triangles, swirly loops, diamonds,
anything at all. The only golden rule is to make sure that there is
some paper left on each of the edges, even if it is only a thin
strip. If you completely demolish an edge, your snowflake will
disintegrate. When you are happy to stop snipping, carefully unfold
your paper. You should be able to open it out into your very own
snowflake.
If you make enough snowflakes, there will a huge pile of tiny
white bits of paper on the table and on the floor. Grab a handful
and have a pretend snowflake fight before sweeping them up.
Junk Modelling
There is lots of junk lying about - both in the house and
outdoors – that can be put to good use! Use things like old
material, boxes, yogurt pots, egg boxes and milk cartons to make
different things. You can have a theme, like scary monsters,
robots, spaceships or boats, or you could just build and see what
you come up with!
Start collecting! Here are some suggestions as to what sort of
stiff is good to use!
- Washing up liquid bottles
- Yoghurt pots
- Egg cartons
- Milk cartons (the plastic ones)
- Glass milk bottles
- Jam jars/mustard jars etc
- Foil pie/cake dishes
- Smarties tube
- Plastic & paper cups
- Toilet roll tubes
- Kitchen roll tubes
- Wrapping paper tubes
- Shoe boxes
- Ice cream cartons
- Empty sellotape rolls
- Empty matchboxes (all sizes)
- Plastic carrier bags
- Empty cotton reels
- Plastic bottles - mix sizes
- Bottle tops
- Milk bottle tops
- Cereal boxes
- Plastic film containers
- Tin cans (baked beans etc)
- Plant pots (small)
- Tin foil
- Old socks
- Old gloves
- Old clothes (for dressing up and cutting up!)
- Felt
- Fabric remnants
- Buttons
- Sequins/beads/fake jewels
- Feathers
- Dishcloths
- Sponge cloths
- Sponges & pan scrubbers
- Scouring pads
- Ribbons
- Cord
- Old tights/stockings
- Stuffing (eg from old pillows)
Kites
Use paper, elastic bands, wrapping paper, scraps of material,
sticks and string to make a kite that can fly in the wind.
Have a kite race or competition with friends, or try making some
out of different materials and see which one will fly the
furthest/highest/fastest.
Remember to stay clear of power lines when flying the kite.
Daisy chains
Pick two daisies, each with as long a stem as possible. Make a
cut with your fingernail about halfway up one of the stems so that
it looks a bit like an eye of a needle, i.e. there is still some
stem surrounding the cut on all sides. Then thread the other daisy
through the cut, being very careful that you do not rip either
stem. Next make a cut in the stem of the daisy you have just
threaded through and find another long-stemmed daisy to go through
that cut. Keep going and make bracelets, necklaces, tiaras or
garlands.
Flower
pressing
It's easy to do with some kitchen paper and a couple of big
books.
Pick some flowers and leaves. Check beforehand which ones you
are allowed to pick, and avoid wild flowers. Daisies, dandelions,
buttercups and clover are OK though.
Once you have gathered your flowers and leaves, place them on a
piece of kitchen paper and lay another sheet on top. Carefully put
all of this inside a big book - an atlas or phone directory is good
- and place a couple more heavy books or weights on top.
After only a few days the flowers should be beautifully flat and
crispy. Pressed flowers make wonderful cards!
Puppets
Please be extra careful if you are using scissors to make your
puppet.
Use old socks and decorate them with bits of junk, feathers,
sequins, and paper, cut up greeting cards and so on to make hand
puppets. You could also tape a piece of paper around a finger and
stick bits to that as a finger puppet.
Cut out a character from a magazine and attach it to a paper
band that fits around a finger, hand, arm or foot!
Use junk models as props for your show!
Try making a puppet theatre out of a box and decorate it with
cut out shapes or pictures from magazines, or paint it. You could
even make some curtains from scraps of material and put on a show
for your friends!
Butterflies
Pull on some clothes that don't mind getting a bit painted. Take
a thick sheet of paper, fold it in half and then open it out again.
Splodge on some paint on one side of the paper only. While the
paint is still wet, refold the paper and smooth down with your
hand. Carefully unfold to reveal two symmetrical halves. Anyone old
enough to handle scissors can now cut out a butterfly shape
remembering that there are four wings, the top two smaller than the
bottom pair, and a sausage shape for the body. Stick on two thin
strips of paper for the antenna.
Magical colourings
Take a smallish piece of paper. Scribble on blocks of different
colour, filling the paper completely with a collage of coloured
shapes. Now take a black crayon and rub over the entire paper with
the side of the crayon, covering up all your colours so you are
just left with a black picture. Now take the non-writing end of a
pencil, orange stick or cocktail stick (watch out for spiky edges),
and press down hard as you draw whatever you like. Scribble will
take on a beautiful new quality as you scratch off the black crayon
to reveal the bright colours underneath.
Catalogue Collage
Get an old catalogue, safe scissors and glue. Let the kids cut
out the pictures they like best. Then they can stick them down on
paper to make collages. You can even laminate them to keep or use
as placemats. It's a creative way to reuse your old catalogues!
Leaf collages
Head off to your nearest park, woods or heath. Take a plastic
bag in your pocket and stuff it with leaves, twigs, grasses, bark,
hips, acorns, seed heads and anything else that looks
interesting.
Big bits of paper and lots of glue are usually all that is
needed, but you can use paint, pens and crayons too if you
like.
Paper
aeroplanes
Fold a rectangle in half lengthways and open it out again. Then
fold the top two corners into the centre to form triangles. Fold
the same corners in exactly the same way again to make long weird
triangles, and then again so that your piece of origami is
beginning to look really long and thin. Turn it over so the smooth
side is facing you and fold in half along the original crease.
Then, holding it from underneath so you top flaps open out as
wings, point and launch.
Perfume making
Go round the garden and check which plants are safe to pick
(watch out for rue and euphorbia which give you really horrid
rashes) and which plants are not too precious. (Avoid at all costs
prized blooms) Get a bowl and pick whichever petals and leaves
smell the best. Roses, sweet peas, lavender, rosemary, mint,
honeysuckle, jasmine, fennel and lemon balm are all excellent for
perfume. Grass, daisies, dandelions and weeds are good ingredients
if you just want to make a potion.
Then start creating, with a little water and a few flowerheads.
If you crush the petals with your fingers or with a spoon, their
smell becomes even more intense. Experiment and play with as many
smelly concoctions as you like. Mix and match, stir and scrunch.
Soon your mixture will become beautifully scented. Find a small
container and pour in the watery liquid without letting in too many
of the petals. Charge a fortune for a few drops dabbed on the back
of the hand.
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Last Updated: 06.11.2007 at 11:37