Copyright http://photojojo.com
Small creative types who have access to a digital camera (or even a mobile phone with camera mode) will love a recent Photojojo newsletter which is written specifically for kids.  It is full of ideas for a great half term project, based around taking funky photos of your friends, family, pets and home.  It tells you how to take photos like the one above and how to build a photo journal of your own life.  You can go straight to the newsletter page here:
http://photojojo.com  Interested parents may also want a look at the Photojojo site for themselves, which can be accessed from the link under the photo.  Happy snapping!

www.moshimonsters.com/
This is a free online game for kids.  Once the child has their parent's consent, they can adopt and care for a monster.  The monster creates new fun puzzles every day for the child (vocabulary, arithmetic, logic) and when these are successfully completed the child earns rewards with which they "buy" food, furniture and treats for their monster.  (Puzzles are adjusted daily to suit the child's ability, so that they are not too hard or too easy.)  There is a "Buy Stuff" section featuring Moshi merchandise, but there is no obligation to buy anything.  This looks like a really great site for kids and it's sure to be as successful as Facebook is with their parents.  There is a very limited social networking element to the site though, so parents should read the Parents info very carefully at the beginning and make sure they are happy with the set-up.  Do have a look at the link - it looks great fun!

If football is your only passion, then you have to bookmark:
www.thefa.com

If you prefer your children to do much more conventional things, try the Junior magazine website for 101 Brilliant Activities For Every Occasion.
www.juniormagazine.co.uk/news
It has loads of lovely original ideas and, as there are 101 of them, you'll probably want to keep going back to the page for fresh inspiration.

Crafty Kids will find hours of inspiration at this wonderful site:  www.kidscraftweekly.com/printables
This link will take you straight to the printable instruction sheets.  
The Teeny Tiny Party Buckets look great and would be fun to make either before or during a party.

There is a free printable of a street cafe  which you can download here.  Could be a good activity for when the weather is bad.

Copyright http://paperm.jp/craft

You'll find printable pages and instructions for making every kind of paper aeroplane you can imagine at funpaperairplanes.com

Doctor Who: www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho
A site every British kid wants to visit!

Draw a caveman face by following these simple steps at:
http://www.wikihow.com/index.php?title=Draw-a-Caveman
This is a printable page, so you won't have to leave the PC on while you try it!

For a bit of arty fun try this website www.jacksonpollock.org
All you need to do is wiggle the mouse and click it!

www.wallaceandgromit.com is a great site for all ages.

If you saw the film The Ant Bully, you'll have fun with this
www.boreme.com//boreme/funny-2006

Blue Peter website has some great games at www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/bluepeter/games/  there is also an amazing page called Tonetag where you can custom create your own ring tone for your mobile and download it to your phone, for FREE!

CBBC website: www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/
Art, backstage info, cartoons, shows, games, music, sport, animals ... what more could you want?

Lego Club website:  http://club.lego.com/eng
Lego news, games, wallpaper, downloads.

Fun To Make

How to make your own Ginger Beer.  
This is great fun, plus once you have all the ingredients you can just keep making more.  (You'll need mum to help with boiling water).

Free Play

Stage Your Own Olympic Games - at home!

Mini Olympic Games 
Here are some printable pages for you to use as resources for your own mini Olympic Games.  

Olympic Torch 

Click below for a torch image for you to print and cut out.  
Print the two pages of the image.  In the second the image is reversed (so that you can put the two 
images back-to-back and have it on both sides).  
If you print onto card, you can simply stick the two sides together and it should be strong enough.  
If you print onto paper, you might want to stick the two sides together then slot the torch inside
an empty loo roll or kitchen roll tube. 

Olympic Torch 1

Olympic Torch 2

Now you can put on some rousing music and race around holding your torch aloft, to signal the 
start of your Games!

Flags
To hold a proper Olympic Games, you would need to have lots of different countries involved.
If you print out the following page and cut out all the little flags, you can then either sellotape
them to the ends of pencils or slot them into a specially snipped cut in the top of a drinking straw.
Then you could each choose a country and its flag for the Games.  If you like, you could print
out extra flags for friends, teddies and dolls to hold, so they can wave them when you win.

Flags of the world printable

Olympic Medals
It would be no fun to hold a mini Olympics without any medals.  Just print out the page below, 
cut out each of the medals as neatly as you can, then colour them in.  The gold medal can be 
yellow, the silver can be grey and the bronze can be brown.  Then ask mum if she has any safety
pins you can use to pin them on to the winners' t-shirts.

            

Olympic Medals Printable

Mini Olympics Games events and Score Sheet
Now that you have all the accessories, you will need ideas about events.  It's easy to stage
lots of the events that are in the real Olympics, you just need a tiny bit of preparation 
and lots of imagination!  

You can print off a score sheet for each athlete here:
Olympic Score Sheet

Here are some suggestions for how to stage each of the events:

Long Jump  - stand on a line or marker and, with both feet together jump as far as you can.  Ask someone 
to measure (with a tape measure or ruler) how far you've jumped.
High Jump - ask mum and dad or two friends to hold a skipping rope or piece of string off the ground while you jump over it.  See how high they can lift it before you have to stop.  (If you're having trouble
jumping over it they can always drop it, so you don't get caught in it).
Hop, Skip and Jump - do just what it says!  Hop once, skip once, then jump as far as you can.
Shot Put - hold a bean bag, wet sponge (!), or ball up to the side of your face then throw it as far as you can.  The wet sponge works best because it won't roll away (and it makes a nice splat) but that's best done  outdoors.
Discus - ask mum for some paper or plastic plates and spin them as far away as you can.  Measure how 
far they away they land.
Javelin - roll up some double pages of old newspaper very tightly diagonally and then throw them like spears.  See how far you can make them go.  You might need lots of "javelins" because they only work once before they get too bent.
Short and Long Running Races - decide on two distances to run then time yourself and your friends to see who can run the fastest.  If you have smaller brothers and sisters you might like to give them shorter distances to run.
Relay - this is just a race where teams take it in turns to run a certain distance, one person at a time, and the team that finishes first wins.  You can run, then "tag" the next person to show it's their turn to run.  If 
you are in the garden, though, it's good fun to run with a bucket of water, which you empty into a bigger
bucket when you get to your destination.  You then bring the bucket back for the next person to do the 
same.  The winning team is the one with the most water in their big bucket at the end of a certain amount
of time.
Rowing - this is a bit nutty, but it is possible to pull yourself forward with your feet on the ground whilst sitting  on your bottom and pretending to row.  Don't make the race a very long one though because it's hard work!
Swimming - this a bit like the rowing but you can cheat by saying you are doing front crawl and crawl as fast as you can to the winning post.
Basketball - use a nice bouncy sort of ball and see how many times you can bounce it with the palm of your hand before it gets away.
Football - set up a few obstacles, then take it in turns to dribble a ball around them, timing each other to see who is fastest.