Keeping the Kiddos Busy

Don't throw away toilet paper rolls! Like tin cans and glass jars , toilet paper rolls can keep children busy for hours.  So many things can be done with them.  You can fill them up with candies or other treats and then wrap them as party favors or small gifts. If you have pets like rabbits, hamsters, or guinea pigs, you can use toilet paper rolls to make toys for them to keep them stimulated. With other art materials and a bit of imagination, you can transform toilet paper rolls into cars, animals, and other objects.  If you have several of them, you can make a model city. You can decorate them into fancy napkin holders. Etc., etc. Some more ideas of things you can do with toilet paper rolls can be found here , here , and here .  You will find many more if you search online. As with the other activities in this blog, the only limits are safety and your imagination!

In this blog, I previously featured learning sign language as a possible lockdown activity for kids and even adults. On May 23, the De La Salle College of St. Benilde (DLS-CSB) announced that starting Saturday, May 30, 2020, it will be offering free sign language lessons via Facebook Live. The first session will be from 4:00-4:30. The lessons are free, but participants are encouraged to donate to DLS-CSB's #SignForSigns fundraising campaign for the benefit of  deaf students who are stranded in dormitories, indigent deaf scholars who need to return to their provinces after the extended lockdown is lifted, and faculty who are on a “no work, no pay” scheme. (Source: ABS-CBN News )  A minimum donation of P350 will give you access to an online Filipino Sign Language learning kit. Sign language is a skill that will enable you to be part of the silent but wonderful worlds of deaf people. This lockdown has taught us the value of making connections with others, and learning sign

A list poem is just that: a poem that consists of a list of things about a given subject. A list poem does not have to have regular rhythm and rhyme, but it can.  Writing one is easy: choose a topic, write a list of things related to the topic, then fix the the wording until it sounds just right as a poem. You can add introductory and concluding lines if you want, as well as refrains. One popular example of a list poem is the song My Favorite Things  from Sound of Music . Here are other examples , just to illustrate how easy it is to write good list poems. Indeed, who would have thought that a list could be poetic? But it can! Now, it's your turn to try writing list poems.

Papier mache is easy to make.  All you need are old newspapers, water, and flour or glue.  And you can make a lot of things with it:  masks, vases, bowls, animal models, jewelry, etc.  When it is dry, you can paint and varnish it. Here are some instructions on how to make papier mache, and here are a lot of projects you can do with it.  Children may need help with big projects such as those that involve chicken wire frames, but there are many small projects that are easy enough for children to do. After you have some experience doing some of the projects in those websites, you can experiment with some of your own.

If you have a garden or a backyard or even just a few indoor plants, you and your children can gather a few leaves.  There are so many activities you can do with them. Just from among the activities that were featured in this blog, you can make leaf rubbings , leaf prints , or negative leaf prints using the splatter painting technique . Then, you can also press them and make projects with them. Just insert them between the pages of an old telephone directory, put some heavy books or other heavy items on top of the directory for weight, and leave the leaves alone for a few days.  When they are already dry, you can use them to decorate cards, book marks, or other items.  Or you can simply make pretty pictures with them. Another thing you can do with pressed leaves is to make an herbarium. "Herbarium" is just a fancy name for a leaf scrap book.  Just mount  the leaves on one sheet of paper each and write descriptions of each plant, and then bind the sheets.  You can al

(Photo credit:  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Head_silhouette.svg) Silhouette art looks simple but dramatic.  And you can easily make silhouette profiles of your friends and family members.   You will first need a sheet of paper that is big enough to accommodate the side-view shadow of your subject: manila paper, construction paper, the backside of old gift wrappers, etc.  Tape the paper on a wall, light a lamp or a flashlight, and have your subject sit between the paper and the lamp or flashlight.  Station the subject so that the light casts the shadow of his or her profile on the paper.  While your subject sits, trace the outline of her shadow with a pen or crayon. Cut out the profile.  You can either trace it on a white sheet of paper and then color it a dark color, or trace it on good-quality, dark-colored paper, cut that out, and mount it on a sheet of white paper.  You can add any decorations you want (like borders), then frame or hang your work.   Yo

Splatter painting is fun and easy. Just dip an old toothbrush in paint, flick the bristles towards you, and let the paint droplets fall on a sheet of paper. (This can get messy, so you would want to protect your table or other nearby areas.) You can experiment with different color combinations.  Or you can put a leaf or a paper cut-out of any shape you want on a sheet of paper and then splatter-paint over it.  When you remove the leaf or the cut-out, you will see a silhouette of the leaf or paper cut-out. Splatter painting can be used to decorate cards, bookmarks, and other paper items.  You can also display your splatter painting as stand-alone art.  Whatever you do, you can easily make something beautiful with splatter art.

This is another art project which is easy to do but which yields stunning results.  Cut pieces of string, soak them in paint make patterns with them on a sheet of paper, cover the string with another sheet of paper, then pull the string.  You can experiment with different colors, patterns, and string textures.  See how different kinds of string yield different results. Here are some other ideas. Warning: this activity can get messy -- but in a fun way!

Perhaps in your garden, backyard, or even in your garage, you might find some spare rocks.  With some imagination, as well as paint and glue and some odds and ends, you and your children can make nice sculptures out of them.   After you gather the rocks and wash them, examine them:  perhaps their shapes might remind you of some animal? See what combinations of rocks you can put together to make the shape of the animal you have in mind.  Once you have mentally composed the figures, glue the rocks together.  You may use white glue; cement glue would even be stronger but it should only be applied by an adult and in a well-ventilated area. After the glue dries, you can paint the rocks to add other features.   Here are some ideas .     

We cannot control the weather, but with weather forecasting, we can control how the weather affects our lives.  Nowadays, weather forecasting is highly sophisticated such that there are apps that give weather forecasts up to one month ahead.  But it would still be very rewarding for you and your children to actually observe weather patterns, as a way to be in touch with the natural world and know our place in it.  Besides, observing the weather is fascinating. Like I wrote before, there is no need to watch a nature show on TV when nature itself provides free, live entertainment. If you have a backyard or any other way to get outdoors without violating quarantine rules, or even just an amply-sized window, you can make and record weather observations.  Make two observations every day, one in the morning and another in the afternoon and at fixed times for both.  Record the dates and times of the observations.  Also note down the general observations:  Is it sunny, rainy, or windy? Ho

(Photo credit: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/Paper_beads.jpeg) Stringing beads into a necklace or bracelet is another craft that is considered easy enough for children.  However, I originally did not think of it as a good lockdown activity because while most households have sewing kits with a stash of thread in them, obtaining beads is a different matter. But I learned that it is possible to make beads out of paper.  The procedure is simple: cut the paper into narrow triangles, add glue to one side, roll them up with the aid of a toothpick or barbecue stick, seal them with glue or clear nail polish.  By making variations on the procedure , you can make beads of different shapes and sizes. You can use any kind of paper you want.  You can even use the pages of old newspapers and magazines for a unique look.   You can also make sophisticated jewelry patterns . Making jewelry out of paper beads is fun, but wearing it is even more fun. Who would have thought that glamo

Mix vinegar and baking soda, and you end up with fizzy froth.  This is because combining vinegar with baking soda produces carbon dioxide. If you have spare vinegar and baking powder at home, and don't mind a little bit of getting messy, you and your children can do a lot of fun experiments -- from chemical volcanoes to home-made rockets. Some instructions are here .  Not only will your kids have fun; they can also learn about the chemical reactions involved . You can encourage your children to record in a notebook their observations of these experiments -- for example, the different results that various quantities of vinegar and baking soda produce.  After all, all this fun play is actually preparing them to become scientists in the future. 

Explorers of long ago made bestiaries, or books with drawings and descriptions of the strange new creatures they encountered in their voyages.  You and your children can pretend you are explorers and make bestiaries of your own. For your bestiary, you can use an old notebook or diary that still has blank pages, or you can make and bind your  own  book .   You can make your bestiary about real animals.  Perhaps you have done the other nature observing activities featured in this blog, like bird watching or observing indoor wildlife , and you would like to make a bestiary as a way to record your observations.  You can fill your bestiary with your observations -- in words and in drawings  of how various animals look like and behave.  Or you might want to fill your bestiary with animals of your own imagination, like what Matthew Mehan did in his book entitled Mr. Mehan's Mildly Amusing Mythical Mammals .  Ask yourself what your imaginary beasts would look like, sound like, eat, and d

The idea behind stamp printing is simple: apply paint to your stamp, and then stamp it on the surface you want to decorate while the paint is still wet.  You can get creative with the stamps you make and use. A common stamp printing project is potato printing , where you carve out your design on a potato half and use the potato half as a stamp.  You can try printing the natural textures of other vegetables and fruits .  You can also make stamps from recycled materials.    You can also be creative with the surfaces you decorate.  If you have textile paint, you can use stamp printing to decorate shirts. You can decorate wooden surfaces too.  You can use stamp printing to make cards, book marks, gift wrappers, and other similar items. Again, the possibilities are endless.

Maybe you and your children have been following this blog ever since the beginning of this lockdown, have been trying the activities featured here, and have written a sizable collection of haiku , cinquains , or clerihews ; or a collection of zines that you want to bind in one volume;  or a well-researched family history ; as well as various art works.  Or maybe you want to compile heirloom recipes in a beautiful handmade cookbook. Or perhaps you just want a unique-looking personal diary where you can record your experiences of the day or your secret thoughts and feelings.  Whatever the case, making a handmade book is another good project to do.  There are many ways of hand-binding a book. Instructions can be found here .  Whether you choose the simplest or most elaborate method of making and binding your homemade book,  you will end up with a precious keepsake which you will enjoy leafing through again and again.

What would your ideal city, town, or village look like? You and your children can make a paper model of it. The architectural firm Foster and Partners has released templates for children to make paper models of houses and other structures.  The templates can be downloaded here .  You and your children can assemble and decorate the models using paper, scissors, paste or glue, and any other supplies you have at home.  Then you can arrange them to look like the city, town, or village you like.  You can even share photos of your creations by sending them to fandpmarketing@outlook.com Lockdown is a good time for sone healthy dreaming about the kind of world your children want to build.  Who knows?  Some future architects, engineers,  and urban planners might be inspired by this project and one day actually build that world.

Crayon etching is easy to do and requires few tools.  You and your children can make stunning designs with it. The first step is to color a sheet of paper with different color patterns, using crayons.  It is best to use light colors at this stage. Then, using a black crayon, color over the color patterns. Once the sheet of paper is all black, use a popsicle stick, a barbecue stick,  a tooth pick, or any other etching tool of your choice to scratch out your design. A more detailed tutorial can be watched here . You and your children will be fascinated to see your design as you etch it. The colors will seem to glow out of the black background.