Fun On Friday #159: Christmas Game

Thanks to one of my fifth year pupils for introducing me to this game: Snowline

Though, it has to be said, the fifth years were powned by a second year pupil who managed to complete the game in a 40 minute period. (The fifth years only got as far as the second last puzzle!)

And if you finish Snowline, try Snowline 2.

Fun On Friday #158: Christmas Flash Mob

How brave is the woman who starts this?

 
Brilliant!

Fun On Friday #133: Christmas on YouTube

A late fun on Friday comprising of three seasonally appropriate YouTube videos.

First, some Blues:

And next, something for the Prog fans:

And finally, the real meaning of Christmas... at least, the real meaning as told by puppets to a tune by Queen:

Thanks to Jane Thomson for the last video and Paul Thomson (no relation?) for the Prog video.

Right. Off to wrap more presents.

Have a great Christmas.

Fun On Friday #132: Christmas QR Codes

Christmas goes QR

Thanks to a Tweet from @QR_BarCode I found my way to an article on the iMedia Connection blog: All I Want for Christmas is a QR Code. It tells the story of a family in Philadelphia's Christmas decorations, which this year include a banner with a QR Code:

Scan the code and you are taken to a Christmas video and links to Christmas music, recipes, photos...

Great stuff.

Fun On Friday #131: Snowball Fight

Tis the season to be jolly. Peace and goodwill to all... And snowball fights with tanks:

Annoyingly difficult.

Fun On Friday #130: Elf Yourself

Late again I know... but here's the first Fun On Friday of Advent.

It's an old favourite - Elf Yourself is back and it's bigger and better than ever. This year, I've gone for the singing option.

If you elf yourself, share a link here so we can all enjoy.

Update: Not sure how I missed this, but thanks to Daughter Number 2, here's a link to the Elf Yourself eCard maker.

Better than Elf Yourself?

Fun On Friday #96: Advent Craft 4

As a boy, I remember trying to make my own snow globe. I had a nice wee jam jar and some waterproof cement type adhesive that looked a bit like snow when it dried. I stuck a Christmas decoration onto the lid with the cement and created a little Christmas scene. Then, I filled the jar with water, added some glitter, screwed on the lid, turned it upside down... and the glitter plummeted to the bottom! No gently falling snow, just, "Wham!", all at the bottom.

I was a bit miffed and decided they must use special floating glitter in snow globes.

If only the Internet had been invented when I were a lad. If it had been, I might have discovered the How to Make a Christmas Snow Globe Craft instructions which tells me a secret about how to make the glitter float.

Happy Christmas!

Fun On Friday #95: Advent Craft 3

I'm guessing many people will be getting an eReader device of some sort for Christmas (for example a Kindle or an iPad). As, such, you will probably wonder what on earth you are going to do with all the paperbacks that you currently have lying around once they have been replaced with the new technology.

Leaning Tower of Paperbacks

Originally uploaded by Kevin H.

Why not clear some space before Christmas by turning some old paperbacks into Christmas decorations? (My wife the English teacher wouldn't approve of this... so maybe you could do it with charity shop books of dubious quality. That way you are donating to charity and removing duff books from circulation at the same time. A win-win?)

The All Free Crafts site has instructions on how to turn an old paperback into a 3D Christmas tree. It looks relatively simple to do and, from the photos at least, it looks surprisingly effective. (Disclaimer: I've not tried to make one myself yet... I just like the look of it.)

The site also shows you how to make a Snowman and a Santa Claus using a similar technique but they both involve sticking on a lot more non-paperback parts. I like the simplicity of the tree version.

So what do you think? Appalling abuse of literature or something useful to do with a Jeffery Archer novel?

Fun On Friday #94: Advent Craft 2

Last year I linked to Elf Yourself and the year before to Critter Carols. This year I thought I'd go for a DIY approach.

First, choose a photograph. I chose this one of my dog in the snow.

Next, go to Picnik and use it to edit your picture. (You can upload the picture from your hard disk or edit it directly from one of a number of online photo sites including Flickr and facebook.) Use the Create tab and the Holiday Fun tools to add Christmas stuff to your photo. Here is my Picniked picture of Blue: Red Nosed Reindog.

Finally, go to Blabberize and add a message to create your own animated Christmas greeting.

Not as slick and polished as Elf Yourself of Critter Carols but all your own work!

Have fun! And please share anything you create by leaving a comment on this post.

Fun On Friday #93: Advent Craft 1

I'm hoping to find four Christmas themed Fun On Friday's on the run up to Christmas. Here's the first one which I found thanks to a re-tweet from the Marvellous Mr Barrett (see @tombarrett for all sorts of interesting stuff).

Westie Reindeer

Originally uploaded by Theresa Thompson

Do you want to know how to make a Rudolph out of the inside of a kitchen roll? Then look no further than How to make a paper roll Rudolph reindeer from the Guardian's site.

Easy to make and fun to do. What more can you ask for from a Christmas craft?

The article links to the Red Ted Art Blog where it looks like there are tons more simple but effective ideas.

Do you have any other Christmas crafts recommend?

Advent Calendars: Take 2

What online Advent calendars are you following? I picked three for my last Fun On Friday (see Fun On Friday #92: Advent Calendar) but chose them without having a chance to preview because it was still November.

I was initially disappointed with two of my three choices but today, it looks like they are going to be OK after all. Since I had been scunnered though, I went looking for alternatives and found two excellent examples on the BBC's website:

1. The Doctor Who Adventure Calendar. (See what they did there?) A non-traditional format for this one; instead of opening doors, every day there is a new link added. For example, Day One was instructions on how to play a game and Day Two has wallpaper to download.
2. Radio Four's Today Show Calendar. This is a more traditional layout. Behind every door is a sound clip from the programme. For example, Day One is Evan Davis cracking up over the MP Duck House story.

There must be other good online advent calendars out there though. What are you using?

Ah well... I probably better go. You know me. Stuff to do.

Fun On Friday #92: Advent Calendar

Last Friday in November, so I though links to advent calendars would be appropriate.

363/366: Advent candles

Originally uploaded by DavidDMuir

Of course, the problem is, since I can't check them out before December starts, I'm going on guesswork as to which of the many online calendars available will be worth watching as Christmas approaches. So on gut instinct and little else, I'm going to recommend the following three:

• Santa Games Calendar: It looks like there will be a game/puzzle for every day - which sounds promising.
• Woodlands Junior Advent Calendar 2010: A school based calendar seems appropriate for an edublog and this one claims that it is an "...interactive advent calendar contains fascinating facts and information about how Christmas is celebrated in different countries around the world".
• Liverpool Museums Online Advent Calendar: There is no information at all about this calendar on the web page but I'm guessing that an official national museum calendar is likely to be of interest to schools and educators.

Did you use an online calendar last year, or do you have any calendar you' like to recommend?

Update: Disappointing! The Santa Games is the best of the three but it's too hard! I can only spot four differences. The Woodlands calendar is refusing to believe it's December the first and the Liverpool Museum shows a nice picture... but tells you nothing about it. Have you found anything better?