By Kate Hodges
11th February 2021
DO Half-Term Fun
February half-term is usually packed with fun events, but this year is obviously very different. However, there are lots of free online events perfect for marking the difference between school time and holidays.
Leicester’s Spark Festival is providing ‘vitamin D for the imagination’ with live streamed performances which include a vegetable party and Mellow Baku performing her hits for toddlers, and festival ‘funshops’ in Minecraft, musical mayhem and magical mapmaking!
Join the gang at the Brewhouse in Burton for their February Family Funday this Saturday. The first 50 families to register will receive a free craft pack. Workshops include mask-making with paper, feathers and pasta, carnival instrument making, short films and a dance routine to learn!
The V and A Musueum is usually heaving with families at half-term. This year you can join in wherever you are, with workshops in making Persian Miniatures or creating Beatboxing and Art.
The Imagine Children’s Festival has gone virtual, with two events, Kaleidoscope, a sensory online experience for babies and DYSCO, a celebratory workshop for all ages.
What colour is the sound of a cat meowing? Explore how to create pictures from the sounds we hear in and around our home at Arnolfini’s Drawing With Sound workshop.
The National Trust has some ideas for at-home fun, including the Sounds of Nature downloadable scorecard and ‘50 Things’ activities to do close to home.
English Heritage has a few sites open for local exercising, but fun remains mostly online, with making and baking ideas, quizzes, and fun ways to explore history.
Bed down with Fran Lobo and Sarah Blanc, and their interactive storytime; Peace At Last. It’s a lovely wind-down for families and under-5s.
Experiment with drawing, play with colour, for take a photography or sketching walking tour; Derby Museum and Art Gallery’s lovely, easy-going workshops are popping up online this week.
DO, MAKE and RECIPE Get Your Ox Off
Friday marks the beginning of the Chinese new year. 2021 is the Metal Ox’s year. The ox is methodical and hardworking, so those who slog away will be well rewarded. It’s also a great year to create order in your family life (yes, that’s us at the back laughing at the notion of order in family life). Want to know more? Explore your Chinese animal sign, and what personality traits you may consequently have.
Restrictions mean there will be no organised celebrations in the UK this year. So why not celebrate at home? There are all-day celebrations at the National Maritime Museum; head to their site for dragon dancing, storytelling, Qigong demonstrations and crafts. The Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art has teamed up with artist Stephanie Jong to create a lantern-making workshop you can take part in at home.
Try some origami; there are diagrams for each animal in the Chinese zodiac here. Alternatively, whip up a vegan Chinese feast; try mushroom and tofu potstickers, spicy kung pao lentils or Jamie Oliver’s very easy noodles.
MAKE Freeze a Crowd
Sub-zero weather means new ways to create. We love the ideas here; natural materials frozen in ice to create glowing lanterns, snow paints, mini snowmen and, our favourite, snow ice cream! Read on here
EVENT and MAKE Love to Love
Valentine’s Day is on Sunday. The usual rose-in-plastic Valentine’s Day gifts make our hearts feel heavier rather than soar, but we adore this very simple woven grass take on the tradition courtesy of Mother Natured. Alternatively, show your garden dwellers some love with this heart-shaped, vegetarian bird feed block. Find lots more nature-inspired ideas for Valentine crafts here (we love the Richard Shilling-inspired land art heart).
A romantic Valentine date is out of the question for most of us this year, but, if you can carve out a little time for you and your partner, there are some lovely ideas for celebrating the day at home here.
DO, MAKE and RECIPE
Monday is, of course, Pancake Day, but in New Orleans, Italy and Brazil, it’s Mardi Gras! Why not jazz up the start to Lent (and perhaps half-term) with a themed party at home? We love the ideas here; make gloriously over-the-top costumes in green, purple and gold, decorate your house using streamers, and create doubloons; cardboard coins painted gold to look like treasure.
Mardi Gras is all about the food. The gaudy King Cake is actually more like a cinnamon roll, and traditionally a tiny model baby is hidden in it. Find out more about its history and cultural connotations plus a recipe here. Or make a pot of warming gumbo; find Martha Stewart’s vegan take on the dish here
ARE YOU A WILD SWIMMER?
We are looking for real-life stories of free-range dipping for our next issue. Are you a wild swimmer? Have you recently taken up the habit, or is it something you’ve been doing since childhood? Do you go as a family or is it a way to find solo solace and rejuvenation. Do you swim in a river, a stream or the sea? We would love to hear from you. Do get in touch [email protected]
What we’ve been reading this week:
Kenyan recycles plastic waste into bricks stronger than concrete “Matee set up her factory after she ran out of patience waiting for the government to solve the problem of plastic pollution. “I was tired of being on the sidelines,” she said.” Read more here
Found something inspirational to read that you’d like to share? Want to share your creations with us? Have an idea for things to do? We’d love to hear from you. Email Kate
