In lieu of the usual round of autumn festivals and pre-Christmas fairs, I’m going to be running a series of Lockdown special offers over the next four weeks. To kick things off, I am offering 20% off all UK purchases from my online shop between now and Monday 16 November 2020. All you need to do is add the coupon code 6E5H2BZ6 at checkout.
Click on this link to visit my shop.
I think I may be developing a new obsession! My Isle of Wight Story Festival pal, storyteller Sue Bailey, took me and fellow committee members Jules Marriner and Holly Medland for a fun fungi walk in the forest on Wednesday. Wow!
I have walked in similar areas many times, and maybe noticed the odd toadstool or mushroom, but when you have someone with Sue’s enthusiasm to encourage you, you can find SO MANY! We only walked for an hour or so, and I must admit, I didn’t count, but we must have spotted more than 20 different types of fungi, in all different shapes and sizes.
And, if that wasn’t excitement enough, Sue told me how to make a spore-print!
Forest walks will never be the same again! Thank you Sue for opening my eyes to the fun of fungi!
Because of all the current covid shenanigans, I wasn’t able to run any Jacob Starke Loves the Dark sessions at this year’s Exmoor Dark Skies Festival, but I was able to video a reading and craft session which premiered last Saturday, but which you can still catch here if you have little ones in need of entertainment this half term:
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.
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.
Top tips:
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
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!
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.
All you need to make the mask is:
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
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:
TOP TOP TIP: BE AS IMAGINATIVE AS POSSIBLE!
What are you waiting for?
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
With these bookmarks, it’s all about the folding. Here’s how my lovely assistant made the badger. You will need:
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!
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:
* 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…
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!
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!
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!
The solution is here.
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
You will need:
And this is what you do:
