The Tingle Factor Box

Roy Creates A Multiple Choice Postcard For ANZAC Day

This week, Roy decided that as it was ANZAC Day today he would like to do something a little different to the usual. He has been looking through the personal effects of his Great, Great, Great Grandfather and came across a fascinating little postcard, with almost a multiple choice message. Postcards were a really important way for soldiers to communicate with their loved ones back home during the First World War, and often they were embellished beautifully with embossing and glitter or even embroidery. He thought he would have a go at combining the two ideas and make his own, World War One inspired postcard. So this week, Roy Creates A Multiple Choice Postcard for ANZAC Day.

You Will Need:

• A thick piece of white paper or cardboard
• A printed copy of the multiple choice message (below)
• Coloured pencils and pens
• An old potato peeler with the blade removed or covered with masking tape and a couple of old magazines or newspapers (covered with a white piece of paper) for embossing
• Glitter, rosemary, ribbons, silk flowers and other pretty things of your choice to embellish your card.
• Glue

Method:

• Carefully cut out the multiple choice message and then cut an identical sized piece from the card.

• Start by sketching a simple design onto your cardstock. You will be embossing this. Roy decided to write Lest We Forget on his, but remember it will need to be in ‘mirror writing’ on the inside of your card if it is going to be raised embossing on the front!
• Place the card on top of the newspaper, with the design side facing up.

• Use the pointy end of the potato peeler to firmly trace over the design you have made. The design will then be raised on the other side

• Embellish your card as you like. Roy carefully covered his embossed letters with glitter and added a sprig of rosemary to his card, so that it was a little like some of the other cards he has seen. Allow the card to completely dry

• When the card is dry, glue the multiple choice message onto the side of your cardstock or cardboard where you sketched your design. This hides your work!
• Enjoy!

Roy Creates A Fun Fishing Game

Recently, with so much rain and a few rather exciting storms in the area where Roy lives, Roy has been looking for things to do inside, out of the rain, and even without power. If the power goes off, some of his young friends struggle to find things to do, all too used to electronic entertainment like TV and computers. He was looking for an old fashioned, low tech craft, which might even provide entertainment after the craft itself was over. I remembered making a fishing game when I was little which was great fun, and thought this might be perfect. So this week, Roy Creates A Fun Fishing Game.

You Will Need:

• An old manilla folder or cardboard
• Scissors
• A pencil
• A stick, pencil or piece of dowel
• A long piece of string
• A strong magnet (a good fridge magnet will do)
• Metal paper clips
• Optional: coloured pens or pencils to decorate your fish

Method:

• Start by drawing and cutting out different sized fish. You can have as many or as few as you like. Roy made six.
• Colour in and decorate your fish as you like.

• Slide a paper clip over the end of each of your fish and, if needed, use sticky tape to hold it firmly in place on the back

• Securely tie the magnet onto one end of your string and then tie the other end of the string onto your stick. This is now your fishing rod. Your string will need to be long enough to reach the 'pond' where your fish are.

• Lay your fish out on the floor, or put them into a bucket or on a plate and try to ‘catch them’ using the magnet. Whoever has the most fish at the end of the game wins.
• If you want to make the game more elaborate, try making things which wouldn’t be quite as much fun to catch, like boots or tyres or even sharks. Catching these might mean you have to throw one of your fish back. This is a great option if you are playing the game in a group.

Roy Creates a Phenakistoscope

This week, Roy wanted to try his hand at making an old fashioned optical toy. Roy is fascinated by optical toys, particularly the very early ones like the phenakistoscope. The Phenakistoscope is a Victorian toy made of a flat disk with slits around the outside. It was created in 1832 by the Belgian physicist Joseph Plateau and when it was spun in front of a mirror, it made the images on it appear to move. Roy thought creating his own shouldn’t be too hard and was thrilled with the results. So this week, Roy Creates a Phenakistoscope.

You Will Need:

• A copy of the template (pictured above). Press on the picture to open it, and then print!
• Heavy paper or cardboard (dark colours work better – Roy used an old cardboard folder)
• Pens and pencils to draw your pictures
• Glue
• Scissors
• A mirror

Method:

• Glue the template sheet onto your cardboard as Roy is doing

• Cut out the template

• Draw a series of pictures in the 'frames' of the template (between the slits). Try to choose a simple image and make sure it stands out clearly (either use thick, dark lines, or colour it with bright colours). Make each image slightly different from the one before. Most people who make a phenakistoscope make the images move in a sequence, so the first and last pictures are similar, so they move flawlessly up and down. Roy decided to copy one of the old pictures he found online though, by making a mouse run across the page and disappear!

• Poke a pencil through the hole (marked in the middle of the template)
• Hold the phenakistoscope near your face, in front of the mirror, with the pictures you drew facing the mirror. Use the pencil to spin the disk and look through the slits you cut to see your picture moving!

Roy Creates Pipe Cleaner Farm Animals

This week, Roy was intrigued by the pipe cleaners which had been lying around the house. There were so many possibilities and so many intriguing things to do with them – he couldn’t resist finding something suitable. When I told him that lots of children used to use pipe cleaners to make figures, he thought this might be perfect, and looked through his old books and patterns for an idea. When he found the designs for farm animals, they captured his imagination and he had to have a go at making a few. The finished animals were very cute, so Roy thought he would share the designs. So this week, Roy Creates Pipe Cleaner Farm Animals.

You Will Need:

• 5 6-inch pipe cleaners per animal
• Lots of wool in various colours
• Glue and small googly eyes or beads to make eyes
• A toothpick
• Scissors

Method:

• In this example, Roy is making a cow, but you could make pink pigs, or horses, or dogs - your imagination is the limit!

• To start with, you need to make the pipe cleaner body. First, make the head by bending one pipe cleaner in half and shaping the curved end into an open, vaguely animal shaped head. Twist the ends together to hold the heads shape. This twisted part will be part of the neck.

• Next, use a second pipe cleaner to shape the body. Bend it in half and twist the open ends, and the twisted end of the neck together to attach to body and head together.

• Use another two pipe cleaners to make the legs. Twist one around the back end of the cow, with the two loose ends forming legs and twist the second one, in the same way, around the front of the cow, at the base of the neck.
• Use the last pipe cleaner to tightly bind everything together, twisting it around the legs, body and base of the neck.

• You should have a pipe cleaner shape like Roy has above

• Now, start winding wool around the pipe cleaner shape. Roy used black and white wool to make a fresian cow. You want to completely cover the pipe cleaners with wool. It is easiest to tie the wool around one of the pipe cleaners to hold it in place as you begin. Roy began with the head and worked towards the tail.
• To wind the head, wrap the wool from the 'nose' to the 'neck' to cover the tip of the nose, and then wind from top to bottom over the empty places to fill the gaps. If you wind the nose in a top to bottom way, the wool will slip off.

• When you have reached the back of the cow, add a tail. Roy used just a few pieces of wool for his cow, but to make a horse tail, wrap the wool around your hand a few times, and then snip one end of the loops to make lots of pieces.
  To attach the tail, lay one end of your wool tail along the animals back and wind wool tightly around the base of the tail to hold it in place (this also helps to thicken the body)
• Add an udder to your cow by cutting two short lengths of pink wool and winding the black/white wool over the middle section of the udder to attach it.
• If you are making a horse: Make a mane. Wind the wool back along the body of the horse, until you reach the neck. Cut a separate length of wool (grey for Roy's horse) and tie it at the base of the horses neck. Wind the original wool (Roy used brown for his horse) over the grey so you can’t see where it is tied.
  Now, start folding the grey wool into loops along the neck, and wind the brown wool in between the loops to hold them tightly in place. Continue until you reach the horses head, and then cut off any grey wool left over.
  Cut through the loops of the mane, so it is loose and fluffy.

• Use the glue to add beads or googly eyes to your cow.
• Bend the legs so the cow stands up on its own
• Use short lengths of tooth pick, tucked into the wool, to give your animals ears.
• Enjoy playing with your new farm animals!

Roy Creates A Cookie Stamp

This week, Roy is fulfilling a request from one of his friends. He has been asked several times how he makes the beautiful design on his shortbread cookies, and when he explained that he used a stamp, his friends asked him how to create one. Roy’s stamp was purchased many years ago, and is ceramic, but his friends wondered if he could make one. Roy looked for a dough recipe which would dry hard and be safe to use in making biscuits. He thought of salt dough, but was concerned that it might make the biscuits taste odd. Then he discovered this recipe for a baking soda clay. It was used in many blogs to make other things, but he wondered if it might work for a cookie stamp - it did. So this week, Roy Creates A Cookie Stamp.

You Will Need:

• 2 cups of baking soda
• 1 cup of corn flour
• 1 and ¼ cups of cold water
• Toothpicks, knifes, forks, cookie cutters, buttons, and all sorts of random shapes to make your stamp design!

Method:

• In a saucepan, mix together the baking soda, corn flour and water. Bring the mix to the boil.
• Stir constantly until the mix becomes a similar consistency to mashed potatoes (this will take only 1 or 2 minutes!)

• Transfer the dough to a bowl, cover with a damp tea towel and allow the dough to cool
• Knead the dough on a baking paper covered bench until it is a smooth consistency. If it is too sticky, add a little cornflour, if it is too dry add a little water.
• Roll the dough out about 2 centimetres thick on the baking paper and decide what size your stamps are going to be. Roy decided to make them the size of a wine glass, as this is what he always uses to cut his shortbread out!
• Use the glass to cut your stamp out. Remove the excess clay from around the stamp and set aside.

• Making sure to keep your design smaller than the size of the stamp you have chosen, create your stamp design. Roy wanted to make love hearts on his biscuits, so he pressed a small, love heart cookie cutter into the centre of the stamp (only about half way into the dough) and used a knife to cut some of the clay away from the outside of the cookie cutter. This left a raised heart in the centre. Be as creative as you like!
• Use the excess clay to make decorations or gift tags!
• Put the stamps in a dry place to dry out. Leave them to dry until they are completely hard – this could take 2 to 4 days.
• When the stamps are ready to use, make Roy’s Shortbread (the recipe is here), and follow the directions for stamping!

Roy Creates Peanut Pixies

This week, Roy wanted to try his hand at making some old fashioned pipe cleaner elves. He has a couple in his collection, but had no idea how to make them, so started his usual search. His books didn’t provide any help, so he turned to the internet. That was when he stumbled across these cute little guys. They were on ebay (and unfortunately, had been sold) but were apparently made in the 1950s or 1960s. They were so cute that Roy decided to make his own versions of these instead of his original elves! So this week, Roy Creates Peanut Pixies.

Warning – clearly, this is not a nut free activity. If you are allergic to peanuts, do not try this at home!

You Will Need:

• Unshelled peanuts
• Pipe cleaners
• A sharp craft knife
• A black felt tip pen
• A coloured candle and a lighter (and an adult to supervise!)

Method:

• Start by lighting the candle so that the wax melts
• You need choose peanuts with personality. You want the ones which are big enough to make into pixies, and which are slightly funny shapes, with a pointy end to make into a cap.

• Use the craft knife to carefully bore some holes into the peanut – two at the base for his legs, and two on his sides, in the narrowest part, for his arms.
• Cut each pipe cleaner into 4 equal pieces

• Blow out the candle and dip one end of each pipe cleaner into the melted wax to cover. You also need to dip the pointy end of your peanuts into the wax. You might need to dip the peanut and the pipe cleaner a few times to get a good cover of coloured wax, letting the wax dry a little between dips. If the wax in the candle becomes too hard to dip into, light the candle again and let it resoften
• Let your pipe cleaners and peanut dry so that you won’t mark the wax when you assemble your pixie

• When the wax is dry and set, poke the unwaxed ends of the pipe cleaners into the holes you made in your peanuts earlier.
• Now, draw a face and buttons on your pixie, like Roy has done.
• Bend the pipe cleaners into the position you want them in.
• Enjoy! These little elves are a fun addition to your Christmas table, or they look great hanging on to the ribbon on a Christmas gift or a Christmas Tree!

Roy Creates A Treat Filled Advent Calendar For Christmas

This year, some of the children Roy knows were interested in creating an Advent Calendar. Roy has made an advent calendar in the past, but as one child put it ‘I want treats!’ Roy wanted to make an advent calendar which would be simple for the children to make, but also provide the all important treat each day. We were looking through some of my old craft books, when we saw some Christmas crackers made from toilet rolls. Roy thought there were possibilities in this, and after a little planning and a lot of trial and error, we created the cute advent calendar in the picture. So this week, Roy Creates A Treat Filled Advent Calendar For Christmas.

Note: Roy doesn’t have a problem using toilet rolls, but if you do, buy craft rolls instead!

You Will Need:

• 25 toilet rolls
• Sticky Tape (for holding pieces of tissue paper which won’t behave down)
• Tissue Paper. Roy used green for the tree, red for the four trunk pieces and gold for the top piece
• A black or blue marker
• Lots and lots of rubber bands (you will need about 40)
• A roll of craft ribbon
• Treats to fill your tree with!
• Scissors

Method:

• Start by cutting your tissue paper out. You will need to have some long, large pieces which will cover the outside of the rolls. These pieces need to be at least 2 inches longer than your rolls and wide enough to wrap around. You need four red rolls, a gold roll and the remaining 20 rolls will be green. You will also need 25 squares of tissue paper, large enough to cover the ends of the toilet rolls

• Roll the toilet rolls in the tissue paper. You want one end of the roll to have a slight hangover of paper, which you will tuck inside the roll. The other end should have lots of paper overhanging. Twist the paper together and tuck it inside the roll. This blocks off one end of each roll to stop your treat falling out.

• Put a treat inside each roll.

• Now, cover the open ends of the rolls with the squares of tissue paper and use rubber bands to hold them in place.

• Start assembling your tree. Use one of the remaining rubber bands to hold the 4 red rolls together. Use another to hold two green rolls and the gold one together. Stack the remaining rolls between the red ‘trunk’ and the gold ‘star’ and use rubber bands to hold them together in groups of 3 or 4.
• Use the ribbon to tightly bind the tree together. Roy needed his Grandma to help with this. Tie the ribbon tightly at the top of the tree. You can then also use this to hang your tree up.

• Use the marker to write a number, from 1 to 25 on each roll. You can number them sequentially, or randomly – whichever you prefer!
• Now, each day, find the roll with the date on it and break through the tissue paper to get your treat. The last roll will be Christmas Day!

Roy Creates A Beautiful Beaded Brooch

This week, Roy was feeling crafty. He decided he wanted to go through his many craft supplies and see what exciting activity he could come up with. With many of his friends having birthdays in Winter, he also hoped he might be able to make something which would be a great gift. When he discovered that he had lots of pretty beads in his supplies, he decided to have a go at making a flower brooch. He thought the brooch, when finished, looked rather lovely, and decided it would be a great activity to share. So this week, Roy Creates A Beautiful Beaded Brooch.

You Will Need:

• Craft wire
• Pliers
• Small, round beads (how many you will need depends on how big you make your flower)
• Green felt
• A needle and green thread
• Scissors
• A safety pin or a brooch back

Method:

• Start by threading a string of beads onto the wire (Roy used about 15 per petal), and twist the wire into a loop around the beads. This is your first petal.
• Add more beads and twist the wire to make a second petal.
• Make a third petal the same way, and twist the wire around the base of the first two petals to hold them together.

• Make two more petals, twisting the wire as you go so that the petals sit together in a flower shape.
• Add another coloured bead and pull it into the centre of the flower. You can use this to hold all of the petals in position with the wire.
• Use the pliers to cut the wire off and twist the ends together, folding the sharp ends under where they will not cut the person wearing the brooch.

• Cut out a leaf shape from the green felt

• Use the needle and thread to sew the flower onto the leaf, as Roy is doing in the picture above.
• If you have a longer piece of wire which can’t be hidden under the flower, you can poke it through the leaf and use it to help hold the safety pin in place.
• Sew the safety pin firmly onto the back of the leaf.
• Wear your new brooch, or give it to a friend as a beautiful gift.

Roy Creates A Kazoo Friend

This week, Roy discovered that he had come to the end of his roll of baking paper. He found a thick, long tube of cardboard inside which was just crying out to be turned into something interesting. The question was what. Going through some of his old craft books, he saw a picture of a kazoo made out of a long roll like this, and thought it would be perfect. With school holidays upon us, Roy thought it would be the perfect thing for his online friends to make and play! So this week, Roy Creates A Kazoo Friend.

You Will Need:

• A strong, long roll of cardboard, like the ones from the middle of the baking paper or foil
• Scissors
• A knitting needle (you could also use a thick metal skewer)
• Tissue paper
• A rubber band
• Pencils or crayons to decorate

Method:

• First, make several holes in your kazoo using the knitting needle. You want to make them about 5 millimetres across and put them about 2 or 3 centimetres apart in a straight line down one side of the roll

• Next, decorate your kazoo. Roy made his into a man. He coloured about 1/3 of the roll in red for legs, then a black belt, blue jacket, white shirt, bowtie, face and hair above.

• Cut a square of tissue paper which will fit over one end of the kazoo and use the rubber band to hold it firmly in place.

• Roy trimmed around the tissue paper and fanned it out to make a hat for his man
• Now, cover most of the holes in your kazoo and hum into the other end. Try different combinations of holes being covered until you make a loud buzzing sound. If you hum a tune, the kazoo will 'play' the tune quite loudly!

Roy Creates Crazy Crayon Scratch Paper

This week, it was rather wet and rainy outside and Roy wanted a fun, indoor activity to keep him entertained. Some of the children he knows have been enjoying using commercially made scratch paper, where you scratch the black coating off to reveal the colourful surface underneath and Roy remembered seeing a homemade version of it in one of his old craft books. With a little trial and error, he was able to make a great picture and wanted to share the activity. So this week, Roy Creates Crazy Crayon Scratch Paper.