The Andean Bears of “Darkest Peru”

Creative learning activity suitable for 8 years and up. I’ve been trying to draw bears a lot recently. There’s something so cuddly about them – like teddy bears – but that’s not at all true, and I wouldn’t like to meet one up close – that’s a fact! Here’s a great article about real-life, factualContinue reading “The Andean Bears of “Darkest Peru””

Booktrust – online activities for kids

The Book Trust in the UK have loads of great activities related to all things books on their website, take a look here, including drawing tutorials of Hiccup and Toothless by Cressida Cowell! Amazing! There’s also competitions, quizzes and loads of great book recommends, specially good for this time when so many kids all overContinue reading “Booktrust – online activities for kids”

Into Film: film-based activities for kids at home

Into Film is a brilliant organisation promoting film for Primary and Secondary age school kids in the UK, and they have sent out some downloadable cinema and film-based activities for kids stuck at home. (And there are a lot of you!) A lot of them sound really fun and interesting (the ideal combo!) and areContinue reading “Into Film: film-based activities for kids at home”

Make Your Own – Rocket Comic Book!

Make Your Own Rocket Comic Book!   This latest downloadable make is now up on my DIY page It’s a simple creative make for kids 7 and up, using basic, inexpensive materials. Click  to go to the DIY page and click on the Rocket Comic Book heading to download. This fun make can be usedContinue reading “Make Your Own – Rocket Comic Book!”

Samurai Warrior Costume

Here’s another make you can do at home. To find out how to make it, go to to my DIY page  and download the instructions there. Have fun! Make Your Own Samurai Warrior Costume!     Easy make. Some help with stapling and cutting from a grownup required. Suitable for ages 5 and up. IfContinue reading “Samurai Warrior Costume”

Make Your Own Eggbox Puppet

Make Your Own Egg Box Hand Puppet & Mini Easter Egg Holder This is a super-easy make for ages five and up – even doable for younger children if grownups lend a hand. Make sure if you use scissors or a stapler that an adult helps you 🙂 Create a frog, owl, lion, hippo handContinue reading “Make Your Own Eggbox Puppet”

Puppets in Exeter

I was very lucky to get the opportunity to sit in on some undergraduate puppetry sessions at Exeter University recently. Led by the brilliant Cariad  Astles, I got a real insight into performing with puppets and working out what makes a good performance and puppetry piece. Really interesting, and extremely useful for a kids puppetContinue reading “Puppets in Exeter”

Print & Collage Pictures

This is a lovely, accessible way to make beautiful prints, and used by a lot of illustrators to create fascinating and bold images. Using simple materials: black poster paint, corks, bubblewrap, sponges and corrugated cardboard, we printed onto A4 paper creating beautifully patterned sheets. After drying we cut the paper into shapes to make people,Continue reading “Print & Collage Pictures”

“The White Frontier”

This was a really interesting piece to work on –  a monoprint based on the Inuit exhibit at Exeter museum – it’s part of  group entry with Double Elephant Studio for a show there. The exhibit is pretty small, but contains amazing things like waterproof parkas made entirely from seal gut, plus toys and artefactsContinue reading ““The White Frontier””

Christmas Decs at Magic Carpet

OOh! Just slightly late with this post… We made some fab Christmas decorations at Magic Carpet in December last – reindeer xmas baubles, some xmas angels also for the tree, and handmade wrapping paper (the pic is the one I did as an example for the guys 🙂 Everyone was very chuffed with what theyContinue reading “Christmas Decs at Magic Carpet”