It's about time I updated you on what Gary is up to, although it is with a degree of disappointment that I inform you he still doesn't have a 3-storey cat hotel, but you never know, one may just be in his near future... Black Friday is only getting closer...


For anyone who has missed Gary's story, he arrived, he squealed (for an hour). We let him in, he repaid us in hugs and a terror of the outdoors, followed by a persistent inability to have a wee. The internet raised some of the money, the vet took a hatchet to Gary's credentials and he's been just fine since.

He's only 3 and he's had the most adventures of any animal I've ever had.


Gary is the only cat I have ever actually tolerated liked. I'm not a natural cat person, I like dogs - but don't tell Gary. He's very excited by passing dogs, but I don't think he intends to befriend them.

The Butterfly Effect suggests that when a butterfly flaps its wings in the Amazon jungle, the ripples around the world might cause a roof to blow off in China, an apple to fall from a tree in the UK, or a Russian woman's hat might blow away. We see the butterflies' wings flap, but we can't see the waves of pressure it causes. In this activity we can hear them though...


EQUIPMENT:
A sheet of A4 paper

World Calligraphy Day isn't just about showing off your calligraphy skills (thankfully because mine are very limited!), it's about getting everyone writing. Manuscript Pen Company have partnered with Birmingham Children’s Hospital and created the ‘Say Something Special’ campaign.


The campaign is encouraging as many people as possible to write a special letter to the children in  Birmingham Children's Hospital. These can be sent to: Say Something Special c/o Small Man Media, 2nd Floor, 6 Waterloo Road, Wolverhampton, WV1 4BL. All of the letters will be forwarded on to Birmingham Children’s Hospital alongside some Manuscript products for the hospital to use for their art classes and play sessions.

Today's 5 minute activity is one of the very simplest, but most effective. Our bodies and brains are incredibly complicated and clever, and most of the time they work together really well, but it is possible to confuse our brains and make it appear that something isn't what it seems.


EQUIPMENT:
Your hands
1 bowl cold water - from the cold tap
1 bowl lukewarm water - 2/3 cold and 1/3 hot
1 bowl warm water - comfortably warm and toasty

Science can't explain everything, but sometimes it has a very simple explanation for something that seems impossible. If you hit yeast extract (Marmite, Vegemite etc) it appears to change colour from very dark brown to very light tan colour, almost from black to white. But why?


EQUIPMENT:
1 level teaspoon Yeast Extract - Marmite, Vegemite etc.
A spoon, fish slice or other utensil to hit the yeast extract with.
A plastic plate or shallow bowl - not a Melamine camping plate, it'll break. The softer sort of plastic.

Here's something for the engineers of the future to get their teeth into. You can make a hole in more than one way, and if you do it carefully, you can even walk through a hole in a postcard...

This activity is quite hard because it requires concentration and careful cutting. Younger scientists may need older assistance, and there is always sticky tape!


EQUIPMENT:
A postcard sized piece of thin cardboard. A postcard is perfect, cereal box is great.
Scissors
A light coloured, thin felt tip or a pencil or wax crayon
A thick marker or felt tip in a dark colour.

Grandpa's Old Watch is one of two 'My Little Adventurer' personalised children's story books written and illustrated by Angela Poulain. Suitable for reading together or for independent readers, these are adventure story books, where the reader makes choices about what will happen next...


I've reviewed with my 8 year old. Ordering was incredibly easy, the personalisation is a bit limited, but my son opened his book and immediately shouted, "The kid in this book has the same name as me. Is that why you got it for me?". So that was a hit!

Lots of people are diagnosed Gluten-intolerant, but it's very hard to understand what that actually means. It's very easy to 'make' Gluten, and when you do then you will be able to understand why people with Coeliac Disease have trouble digesting it...



EQUIPMENT:
1 cup of flour - strong bread making flour is best.
Water
A bowl.

If you don't have bread flour then use plain flour. I've used plain flour here just to show that it can still be done, but bread flour gives a much better result. If your mix doesn't seem to be working, wait half an hour and come back. It's not failure, it's science!

Crate Creatures are a brand new toy and they're actually rather good. Furry animal monsters captured inside a crate, your job is to release them and befriend them. It's easier than it sounds - although these little critters will shout and growl and try to scare you off. It's as if they don't understand you're being kind...


This is packaging genius. The crate is the packaging for the toy, but also the storage and the actual toy. It's brilliant. It's common for my 8 year old to play with the box, he doesn't usually play with it more than the contents.

Some activities make a great challenge, either for yourself or against other people. Today's activity is an outdoor one that is perfect for a quick competition and makes you look at the world in a different way to normal. What is everything made from? Is concrete just concrete? Is grass just grass? Where do the living creatures hide in your garden? You can get better at noticing your world, the more you pay attention...


EQUIPMENT (for each person if you aren't challenging yourself).
Outdoor space
2 sheets of paper or card (we used 1 of each).
Something to write with
Scissors