Now everyone is at home more than usual here are a few things that you can do at home to pass the time. I hope that some of these suggestions will be useful.
1. Play Dress Up – with World Book Day not long gone and Halloween a regular dress up event, you get the idea. However you don’t have to wait until October to do this, just go ahead and have some fun now. Adults or families the challenge is to do your very best with what you already have. You can either do this all in one day or take a little longer to prepare your outfit, it’s really up to you. Once you have dressed up you could do all or any of the following: a) Stay in character all day. b) Theme your lunch or dinner to go with you look. c) Write a short story about your character. d) Hold a fancy dress competition using social media (photos or video) with your family and friends. e) Like b) hold a themed dinner party with family and friends using social media. f) Take as many photographs as you can and post them on social media (only if you are happy to do this). Alternatively print the best ones individually or in an album (some online printers are still delivering or wait until restrictions have been lifted). Create a virtual album businesses like Apple, Google or Microsoft offer ways of doing this and there will be many more. 2. Make a Play Mat – this could be anything, a town with roads, a rocket launch area or an underwater scene. Use anything you can e.g. paper and pens/pencils, clothes or sheets to make a 3D terrain, old cardboard etc. Then use your toy cars, wooden spoon (space ship) etc. to use up some more time being creative. Again take lots of photos making the play mat/area, playing with the mat and toys and capture the enjoyment. 3. This one goes with 2. Make a toy to go with your play mat/area e.g. washing up bottle into rocket. 4. Make a Den – use chairs, clothes, cardboard. What is it? A cave, a pirates hold up or rocket command, give your den a theme. Make a different den on different days. Then take lots of photos making the den and playing with the den. Hold best den comps on social media, by now you get the idea. 5. Lay A4 sheets together on the floor or cardboard or a length of old unused wallpaper, lay down and let someone draw around you with a pen or pencil. Now let the fun begin, colour in your shape or paint it or use sticky glue and bits anything but leave spaces to put photos on it to create a life size collage. Oh and don’t forget to take lots of photos of the whole process. You could even use some of these to put on your collage. 6. Photograph and video a cooking show – share it with your friends and family on social media etc. 7. Have an indoor picnic – put some rugs on the floor and let your imagination go wild. Take lots of photos. 8. Make cards – Birthdays, Christmas, hope you’re ok Nanny or Grandad have fun doing something worthwhile and take lots of photos. You can then send these photos via social media (especially if we are still on lockdown) as well as giving them in person. 9. Get the pots and pans out (if you can stand it) – not for cooking but to make a fantastic drum kit. Take photos of your little darlings, or your husband, wife, partner, Grandma or Grandpa being the next Phil Collins. 10. Want to be the next Matthew Corbett and Sooty – make a sock puppet, have fun, make a video and take lots of photos. There we go 10 things to keep you occupied and a couple of bonus ideas to finish off with. Look up live streams online, use a search engine to find what your interest is e.g. live zoo feeds, tourist attractions around the world or fitness videos, in this age of technology the choice is vast. Make a person, if it was bonfire night you would call it a guy, but you can call them anything and give their clothing a theme. Then take loads of photos of your handiwork. The thing throughout practically all of the ideas is that you can take lots of photos. Nearly everybody has a camera and video camera in the shape of their phones. Try taking some serious photos as you go as well as all the fun ones. This will not only keep a record of what you are up to in these unprecedented times, but the old adage “practice makes perfect” will apply and your photography will come on in leaps and bounds. Oh and the very last bonus, bonus idea watch some photography videos, as a starting point YouTube is full of them. The picture above is us doing a Penguin themed fancy dress day…………. OR IS IT! Hope this helps and please everybody, stay safe.
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Spread some laughter and memories in these uncertain and worrying times.
Get the box of old photos from the loft. Dust off the photo albums or trail through the photos on your computers, tablets or phones. With your loved ones, family and children, tell stories and evoke memories of your parents, grandparents, children, family and friends. Share stories of your childhood with your children. Call loved ones and retell stories that each picture holds. If you can video call, show photos and ask who that person is in the picture? Let grandparents tell their stories of their lives and experiences. Bringing those memories alive again and sharing those stories will bring families together even at a distance. You can laugh about that dodgy haircut or flared jeans. Be reminded about that best friend at school that you lost touch with. We can learn more about our extended family and children may want to start a photo family tree. Our grandparents and parents are the ones who can tell us about the tough times they experienced, how families, streets, towns and countries pulled together, looked out for one another and triumphed together. How going without and having restrictions was hard, but they came through it. It may only take a second to take a picture, but each picture can promote talking for hours. The picture holds the memories. To keep memories alive, we need to share them again and again. Keeping the photos in the box or in the album, they collect dust and the memories fade. Author Gill Pitcher Mothering Sunday/Mother’s Day
Mother's Day celebrations date back as far as the ancient Greeks where they would celebrate Rhea (Titaness), the Mother of the Gods and Goddesses, every spring with festivals of worship. The Romans had mother Goddess, Cybele, she was the mistress of wild nature (symbolized by her constant companion, the lion), and was celebrated every March as far back as 250BC. Mothering Sunday originates from religious beginnings. Held on the fourth Sunday in Lent, it was a day to give thanks to the Virgin Mary (Mother Mary). People were required to visit the main church/cathedral (Mother Church) in the area, as opposed to their nearest chapel (daughter church) to celebrate. This has taken place in the UK and Ireland since the 16th century. Originally such celebrations probably adopted, the Roman ceremonies of the Mother Goddess. However with the passing of time the celebrations became an occasion to thank and appreciate all mothers and Mothering Sunday as we now know it began. America celebrates Mother's Day on the second Sunday in May. The holiday was formed much later than Mothering Sunday, and was created in 1908 by a lady named Anna Jarvis from Grafton, to celebrate her late mother. President Woodrow Wilson finally made it an official holiday for the US in 1914. Many other countries adopted this date to celebrate, whilst other countries celebrate Mother’s Day on 8th March which is also International Women’s Day. This Mother’s Day, why not treat your Mother to a print - photographic, artistic or with a more modern feel. It may be slightly more expensive than a bunch of flowers, but it will last a whole lot longer. To all those that got to here, thank you for taking the time to read this. |
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March 2024
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