The pen is mightier than the sword… but only if held by a very strong hand.

Like his Daddy, No1 child has squiggly writing. It’s not easy when you’ve a had full of ideas, yet a single word takes so long to write that by the time it’s done you’ve forgotten what comes next. So I’m very lucky to see him getting some extra help at school in a thoroughly playful way (Thnx E, welikeplay is indebted).

The rational goes like this: writing - and in particular penmanship - is not purely a cerebral activity, rather it is the body doing what the brain wants in moving a pen through the arcs and loops on a piece of paper in front of you. If it is so much to do with the body then perhaps exercise to build up the writing muscles will help. I’ve a hunch that the link between early walkers and later dyslexia is due partly to the lack of crawling and the building up of muscles around the upper body.

So, to build up strength and coordination to allow children to sit at a desk and grip a pen with less hassle here are a week-ful of playful exercises to introduce.

Stair slithering. Ok, you’ve spent the last 5-7 years teaching them to go down stairs, now its time to let them slither down on their tummy. Explain that you’re all to use your arms stretched out in front of you to hand-walk down; and when they’ve got that, to hoist them selves up again.

Putty squashing. Mix up a pot of Homebrew Snot to squish and stretch obsessively whilst watching TV for big strong fingers.

Tunnel your house. For a day or two take the cushions off the sofa, grab all blankets, clothe-racks and pegs, play tents and old cardboard boxes and create a castle/fort/warren inside your house that everyone has to use. Take tunnels from the kitchen through to the living room and even to the loo to encourage an awful lot of crawling.

Be mermaids/men. Visit a charity/thrift store for a too big pair of tracky-bums (that’s englandish for track suit trousers); tuck one leg in and down the other to make a tail. Add shells and flop around the house all day. If you’re feeling brave/playful, get a pair for every member of the family. Hang shredded kitchen foil from the lamps and have an underwater tea-party.

Hang off the sofa for a bedtime story. Together stick your shins/thighs on the cushion of the sofa, place hands on the ground either side of the book for a story time. To take it further a bed time snack can be chopped up in a bowl to be eaten from the floor.

Do the ‘Hand-wash only’ laundry. Fine, less of a play and more of a chore, but I’m constantly surprised at how much kids enjoy inclusion in mundane tasks. And with the added benefit that wringing clothes out and pegging them still heavy with water on a line really exercise those grippy muscles.

Find a grassy hill, roll down. Rolling down hills teaches, very quickly, the art of not ploughing a furrow with your forehead. This is done by using tummy muscles to keep the head up at the right time… and it’s good fun for grown ups too; last time we did it we got an audience.

Do not let these exercises become a chore, reward enthusiasm with attention, reward success with praise. Don’t let the above become limiting, invent your own (and leave them in the comments below). Join in, giggle and get it wrong, let your kids stumble upon you doing them by yourself… and above all

…enjoy.

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As an upshot of cbbc’s Chin-Mas song and a current obsession with chin-heads, we’ve been messing around with any web-cam/PSeye/video-cam we can get our hands on. And we’re not alone.

Chinheads are easy and can be done a couple of ways. First take a bandana, piece of frabic, or a baby sized t-shirt stick and tie/fit over nose covering their real eyes and forehead. Then glue googly-eyes on to chins, a dab of fake eyelash glue is the best but a spot of prit-stick non-toxic does the job - just. If no googly-eyes are to hand, draw with eye-brow pencil. Unless you happen to have children blessed with an Abe Lincoln beard, find some fuzz or felt or perhaps a small cowboy stetson to finish off the look. Then the filming begins.

Filming can be done either with your stars hanging upside-down from a sofa or bed or by inverting the camera itself. Go for whatever’s easiest. Get a background sorted so that kids can insert their chin-heads and hide their real bodies. Sort out some decent lighting, then hit play and let them babel to their hearts content.

Should you and they be really keen it might be worth editing the clip together. Windows own XP Movie-Maker does a reasonable job, as does the PS3’s EyeCreate, but I’ve a special soft spot for Kino on my Ubuntu box. Kids of 8 or so start to use these kinds of programs at school; so with any luck they’ll be able to show you the ropes, and then you’ll have your own chinny-masterpiece. And as it hides their identities, stick it up on YouTube… and in 10 years hence when they’re feeling all grown up, attach it to their Facebook page/hologram to show them who’s still boss that you care. read on »

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I’m a bad man; though not as bad as when I misplaced Valentine’s Day entirely. This year I just was a bit slow on the getting some sort of wrapping paper for Mrs. Welikeplay’s prezzie. So I got the boys to make some that, as well as looking good and costing mere pennies, gets extra bonus cute points.

You will need
to be in a state of mild panic
brown wrapping paper or that kids colouring paper that comes in huge rolls
a potato
pink paint
a sharp knife

Now for the children and knives bit. It’s good to bear in mind that the Inuit let their children use knives from a young age; they’re given little versions of their parents eating knives. The boys use a long knife whilst the girls get a curved all-purpose ulu. Kids are going to be ok with knives as long as you teach them how, what’s more if you teach them how then they’ll be safer than having to experiment when they’ve got their mits on an illicit pointy objects. I use the maxims ‘cut away from you’, ‘pass the handle’ and ‘blunt knives jump’. I’m sure you have you own, if not it’s time to put that parenting brain into gear.

To make the wrapping, the boys carved potato halves into hearts, dunked them in thinned out pink paint and printed away until our attention wandered. The only reason the paint was thinned was to ensure it dried in time. Which it did.

…and should you ever misplace Valentine’s Day completely, I found a let-out clause in a swift promise of a private not-V-day - complete with spontaneous choccies in heart shaped boxes - sometime in mid-March.

Enjoy

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Shrove Tuesday, a.k.a. Pancake day, really crept up on me this year; probably something to do with a full moon on the spring equinox, and so a really early Easter with a chance of mad bunnies. So his morning I’ve trialled a few pancake making devices, some things that you can rustle up around the home to help kids learn to flip them like a pro.

You will need
frying pans - though big heavy ones are great for cooking the real pancakes in, for kids to help they need one they can lift
old bits of cloth and cardboard
an easy-to-dry kitchen

for the pancakes (makes 12-ish)
100g plain flour, sifted
2 eggs
200ml milk mixed with 75ml water
50g butter

Get the kids to mix up the flour, eggs and milky bits as soon as they come in from school… this kind of batter can be used straight away, but works better if you let it sit for an hour or so before frying up.

Now it’s time to make your pseudo-pancakes for practice time.  Draw and cut out circles of fabric/cardboard roughly the same size as the base of your frying pans.  Take these bits of material and soak them in tepid water… or chilled if you’re feeling mean.  Now teach the kids to flip them with a deft forward-up-and-back motion of the wrist.  Do it well and the water won’t spray; too quick or too hard and everyone starts to get wet.  High arcing flips to land the damp pseudo-cake on ones own head are to be commended.

After a little experimentation I recommend using the thighs of old jeans as the material of choice.  It gets good and damp, yet slides well out of pans.  Felt is a tad too sticky when wet, old flannels are a too crumply, art-foam sheets form little suction cups on the pan, whilst thick cardboard - though initially good - starts to come apart after 10 minutes or so.

Mop the kitchen floor and attempt with real pancakes.

Pancakes are a great way to introduce kids to safe stove top cooking.  As you have to hang around the cooker it gives them more time to watch and see what happens to the flame/halogen top, than your usual stick on a pan and bring to boil.  So get one pan good and hot, drop in a lump of butter until it sizzles.  Then take the batter mixture and pour out a couple of tablespoons, I’ve always found this is best done from a ladle so it all arrives at the same time whilst giving a long handle for littler hands.  Cook for less than a minute until you can pull back a corner and see that the bottom has gone all brown.  Now it’s flipping time.  Hot pan, check for others, two hands, flip and catch.  Award points for any pancakes that make it up to the light fixtures or maybe give a special topping for the most fragmented, so that all feel encouraged.

Depending on age you might like to flip with both you and the child holding the handle, or perhaps you might pre-cook a handful and slide them off into a cold frying pan to be slung around with abandon.

Enjoy (with a squeeze of lemon and a sprinkle of sugar)

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My local and ever friendly ELC has a little sale on at the moment; where you can pick up a spirograph and a spin painter for just a tenner. Having picked it up, it’s good value. For the price of a DVD we’ve already had 4 hours of creative play and produced some Hirst-esqe art to boot.

Spirographs (or spiral art, magic, or kit depending on copyright infringement) are a great play resource, to be whipped out whenever there is a quite moment that might lose its quietness. Not only do the spirals within spirals reuse the paper waiting or the recycling van; but I’ve a strong hunch that the guided movement are an aid to building up those pen pushing muscles that are needed by early writers.

Spin painters are a giggle. They’ve usually got a little tray that can be spun, by hammering a button, so that any runny paint is spun out to make fantastic patterns. I recommend using that really cheap photo paper - the stuff that make photos fade to sepia after a year - as the glossy texture helps the paint to spiral out. My task for the near future is to see if I can hack together this paper tray with the junior pot throwing kit that came No1 child’s way last birthday. With any luck, and some double sided sticky tape, we’ll be able to make amazing high speed splashes whist at the same time redecorating the kitchen with an interesting border.

Thinking along the same lines, I wonder if it’s possible -come summer - to peg some paper to the middle of the whirly-gig rotary washing line for some great kid-made wall art.

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The kids of today are in a sorry state; have you seen the limp products that pass as chemistry sets these days. Finding one with a little meths burner, a cute liebig condenser or anything even slightly toxic is nigh on impossible (and to my dismay I can’t even find the ‘junior mad scientist’ one I had as a kid to bequeath to my boys). It falls upon me to introduce them to proper science through makeshift concoctions of any household stuff I can get my mits on.

You will need
Household Borax powder (I got enough for a couple of gallons of snot for £3.50 from the Green Shop)
PVA glue (I like the vats of the Eco Friendly version)
water
green food colouring
a jam jar and lid per child

First of all stir up a Borax solution. Take a cup, add some warm water and a tablespoon of Borax. Let it sit whilst you measure out the rest of the stuff so that any excess settles to the bottom. Do be careful, Borax whilst in powder form is a little toxic; so don’t stick it up any noses. Once it’s in water though, it’s about as toxic as salt… which is more toxic than you might think, if you just ask a passing slug.

You will need 3 parts water to 2 parts PVA glue, measure them into your jam-jar and add a couple of drops of dye. Now screw that lid down and give it a good shake until the water and PVA become one sloppy, runny and slightly foamy green mess.

Now for the cool bit. Add 1 part Borax solution. A little less for a gloopy goo (for fake boogers); or a little more for more rubbery snot (this can be used as a farty-putty, scoop it out of the jar and press it back in to make really rude flatulent reverberations). Then get them to shake and shake and shake. Over the next minute or two a lump of snot will form and start bouncing around the jar. I found that a bigger jar helped this happen smoother and faster; though it worked quite well on a small scale too.

Scoop and smear.

ps. do make sure you know your chemicals, and if you do try syribia’s recipe for different types of snot and slime at Instructables

Enjoy

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Time seems to let memories seep away; which is why I went out and bought Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga. Now the PS3 does a lovely job of the graphics, the cut scenes are a delight - being funny and star-wars-ey at the same time - and the game play is smooth. So why a paltry 3 stars? Because of the bicker factor. To be precise, because of the bicker factor and my parenting co-play philosophy.  It must be my memory, ‘cos it was just this problem with the first one in the series we had a few years back.

All multiplayer games have a bicker factor; that element of them in which you or your own turn across the room and say “come with me… now… hurry… quick… nargh… too late”. In mutiplayer gems like Marvel Heroes, or the Fantastic Four this is overcome by a game play in which every one bundles in to whatever is going on on screen. But in Lego Star Wars there’s a little too much co-op “we have to do this together… on the count of 3… 3!” which does frustrate the younger ones. Lucky they’ve parents who don’t mind being handed a controller, but that kinda’ takes away the sense of achievement for them.

On the other side the game promises online co-op, which - if we can get it up and running with the cousins - puts a certain amount of distance between partners, forcing cooperation rather than complaints. We’ll see.

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Invisible ink is sooo cool. Forget the painstaking warming of lemon ink writing above a candle flame (but do let older kids give it a go), and find yourselves a UV invisible ink pen and torch . My local toy shop sells them for a couple of quid each… though you do need more pens than torches, the magic ink has a habit of drying up after the first month.  These pens come with a little led torch that allows you to check for counterfeit notes, they double for a little blue torch in their own right, they’re great for pikapika pictures and they read what you’ve just written in uv ink.

I’m planning a late night treasure hunt with these uv wonders.  I’ve found they can leave messages on - and can be wiped off again from - most hard non-porous surfaces  (please do still check in an unobtrusive area first).  Further research here at the welikeplay house-work minimising laboratory has also found that these unseeable messages denature over about 3 to 4 weeks so there really is no need to clean.  Saying that, I know there are permanent security markers around, perhaps be a little more cautious with these.

So in the evening - after bedtime -invisible messages are going up on windows, tiles, fridges, framed photos and mirrors around the house.  Perhaps even interspersed with invisible messages on my forehead for good luck, particularly as they’re branded non-toxic.  As with all treasure hunts they’re best created backwards.  Bury the treasure in a sock draw, scrawl on the outside in uv pen then find the next spot and refer back.  As long as you can remember where you’ve just been and your last stop - not as easy as it sounds, believe me - your trail will link up nicely.  The next evening, just as it gets dark, take them to your last stop and their first clue and hand out the torches.  Make a cup of tea and sit back contentedly as they charge around the house.

Enjoy.

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There is something about post-Christmas detritus; a mixture of panic when you’ve found a little plastic hoojit which obviously complements the lost fankle of some bizarre robo-toy, and joy as it gets cleared and a sense of sanity returns to the household. But before you dump it (to Crumpit) there are a few treasures to pull out of the trash.

After a binge on Pringles and other tubed snacks the welikeplay den has been host to the word championships of pringle pinging. This noble sport requires an empty box or waste-paper bin to act as the goal, which is positioned in the middle of the room. All participants are armed with a Pringle lid or two - which we’ve taken to marking with a permanent pen to stop squabbles - these are then flexed between thumb and fingers so that they pop out, hopefully landing on target in the bin/box/goal. Points are scored for accuracy and style. For instance a ricochet shot fired blind from behind the sofa that narrowly misses the goal is still worthis worth a good 12 points, where as a lazy but accurate flip from a father slobbed out on the sofa is only worth 2.

Time to start stock-piling lids; we’re finding that for a two-kid and one-not-quite-grown-up game you need at least six, if not twelve marked lids.

Enjoy.

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It’s not often I pass on plays I’ve seen rather than done. But I saw this sitting outside my boys’ old nursery and had to find out more. They’ve been collecting 4 litre milk cartons from their parents to build igloos. This one stands about four foot high, and seems to be able to take three of four kids inside.

You will need
at least 150 4 litre milk cartons
a hot glue gun and a couple of those rubbery refills
a meter ruler/ thin plank to serve as the lintel

You might want to run the milk-cartons through a cool dishwasher to stop the slightly cheesey pong that could develop. Make a horse-shoe of twenty to thirty bottles, bottoms outwards, making sure that the doorway is narrower than your lintel beam. Hot glue (a growed-ups job) spots together somewhere away from any carpet you wish to keep. Then lay and glue the next ring in between the ‘bricks’ of the first… I believe brickies call this regular stagering a ‘header bond’, though I always have it classed as a ‘my first duplo’ wall. Now build up layer by layer, perhaps starting to shape it over into that classic igloo shape, until you get to the top of the door where you add in the lintel and build across. Then start to make the roof come in in earnest until its all glued up. Now, after you’ve been good and recycled any spares, it’s time to crawl in and read books to everyone’s hearts’ content.

Enjoy

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