Friday 16 May 2014

Try Volunteering to Help the Elderly and Others in Your Community


When one sets out to volunteer, the main objective appears to be, to give your time and expertise to others who need it. The remarkable thing about volunteering is the gradual realisation, that actually, this is not a one-sided affair after all.

You gear yourself up to be the "Giver" and are constantly surprised at how much of the time, you are actually the "Receiver"...

The receiver, of not just of knowledge or practical know-how, although it is inevitable that you will learn the truth of the saying "The more you teach, the more you learn".

It is also the experiencing of the completeness you feel in your existence, through sharing and in giving of yourself to others.

Volunteering seems like doing some sort of work for no pay, or any other kind of remuneration. Actually volunteering should not be related to employment at all.

Volunteering is a social, community function, which should be carried out at some time by us all...as a moral duty.

There is no getting away from the fact that we need employment in order to live our lives, house, clothe and feed ourselves and our families.

But apart from that, we need to care for each other in our community, by giving of ourselves and our time, in any way we can.

No community can thrive and grow without volunteers. There is not enough money to go around to pay someone to do every job that needs doing.

A community with no volunteers, would not have many of the facilities that we take for granted, such as Day Centres, Guides, Scouts, Sports Clubs, First Aiders, Charity Shops and many more. Have a look around your local area - talk to people, search online, visit day centres, schools, hospitals, charity shops, churches - you will be amazed at how many volunteers are needed to keep your community going.

Decide on what you would like to help with. It is far better to volunteer to help with something that interests and appeals to you.

A volunteer, with passion for what they are doing, is a treasure indeed!

The world is burdened with many problems at this time - we can't help everyone, but if everyone helped someone, wouldn't the world be a better place?


Wednesday 23 April 2014

Celebrating St George's Day - England's National Day

Bluebells - Stisted, Essex
Mersea Island, Essex

St George's Day is England's National Day - 
let us celebrate our beautiful country...
Norfolk Broads


A Field of Poppies in Suffolk

Yorkshire Dales

Tuesday 1 April 2014

Classic Books - An Easy Printable Quiz - Fill in the Adjective and Author!





















This quiz should appeal to all book lovers, but especially those who love the old classics. 

Each of the ten questions has two answers - "Fill in the Adjective in the Title" and then "Who is the Author?" 

Here is the link - with Answers in case you get stuck...!

Classic Books Quiz

Enjoy the challenge and if you want more quizzes for your group do have a look at my eBook 41 x 10 Easy Quizzes with Answers


Saturday 15 March 2014

Easter Bunting to Celebrate Spring! Tutorials!












We made our Easter Bunting using different shapes as well as the traditional triangular flags. The Easter Eggs you see were made following this great tutorial
Paper Strip Easter Egg  by Merrilee.

We also printed bunny pictures (loads to be found on Google) which were coloured-in and stuck on.

Below, the black flags have been decorated with Easter die cuts (found on eBay) and pom poms.

The chicks we bought ready-made and made them a "nest" with two small paper plates. See here how to do this.


For more Easter ideas click on the Easter button at the top of my Blog - have fun with your groups...

Friday 28 February 2014

Printable Quiz - Fill in the Gaps - Capital Cities of the World...




This quiz is about Capital Cities of the World - but to help you along I have given you some of the letters in each of the city names. 




 Here is the link - Quiz and Answers!

Capital Cities of the World


If you want more quizzes for your groups have a look at my eBook - 


Loads of fun, with a variety of Quiz subjects...

Sunday 23 February 2014

Six Printable Birthday Placemats to Colour In!



 Make someone's birthday really special - when you lay the table for breakfast or for any other meal or at teatime - print, colour-in and place on the table, one of our Birthday Placemats - right where that special person will be sitting...

Here are 6 Birthday Placemats





Thursday 23 January 2014

Printable Easy Geography Quiz!

 Printable Easy Geography Quiz

 to test your knowledge of our wonderful world...
 

  In which US State is the Grand Canyon located?


 In which city is the statue "Christ the Redeemer" located?
 

Click on the link to download and print the 
 20 Easy Geography questions and answers

Want more quizzes???

Have a look at my 

Printable Quizzes - eBook - 41 EASY QUIZZES with Answers 

Everyone loves a quiz!
 

Friday 17 January 2014

Butterflies and Flowers Collage in a Vase!


 Following on from making our Collage Calendar, our group made collages of vases of flowers, mounted onto black card. Some were made into calendars by adding a calendar tab and others were just a bright picture to hang on the wall!

Here are some samples of their  creations...




Even the least artistic member of the group will end up with a very pleasing picture - on A4 piece of card - cutting, sticking and enhancing with stickers, buttons, ribbon bows etc 

Have a go with your groups!

Tuesday 31 December 2013

Calendar Collage to make for 2014 - a Tutorial


This Calendar Collage is for any year - so easy to put together and a great deal of fun for your groups. 

It is a good idea to have some sort of theme - mine was based around UK, choosing pictures of different people in our country and of course a little map. To finish off, I cut out words I thought were appropriate to the theme...

Your theme could be food (lots to choose from in most magazines!), animals (wild or maybe pet animals), jewellery, hair styles, fashion (clothes or shoes maybe) or celebrities - there will be many more themes that will come to you as you browse through your magazines. 

You could also just have a colour theme - say purple and yellow or green and red or black and orange - endless choices here!

So you will need...

Magazines (mine were just Sunday newspaper magazines)

Glue

A4 Paper 

A4 Black or other coloured card
 
Calendar Tab for appropriate year 

Ribbon or string (about 15cms)

Putting your Calendar Collage together...

Having got all your cut-outs together, stick them first onto an A4 piece of ordinary paper from your printer. Overlapping them will give you a cleaner finish so decide on the order of sticking, before you start...


Then when dry, cut around your pictures, so no white paper is showing. 

Stick this collage onto an A4 sheet of dark card (I used black) and attach you calendar tab and then add a loop of ribbon or string at the top, for hanging.





Tuesday 19 November 2013

Three New Printable Christmas Placemats




Here are some more Christmas Placemats to colour-in and use to decorate your Christmas table - either on the day or at your group's Christmas Party!

Three Christmas Placemats

If you want more of my designs to choose from, just enter Christmas Placemats in the Search Box (top right)

They are all ready to print and colour in - whatever the age group, just doing this together will get everyone into the Festive mood...

Still lots to do?? If you want a Christmas Countdown just click on this link...

Friday 8 November 2013

It's Time to Make Christmas Cards!


We had a really good afternoon at Mencap Art and Craft Group, in Braintree, yesterday. Everyone very excited about the start of the Festive Season. We made our first batch of Christmas cards, using a few ready made (from eBay!) embellishments as well as cutting out our own backing paper and Christmas Trees.

Click here for the Christmas Tree Template

A bit of tinsel, ribbon or rick rack and "Merry Christmas"  and we were very happy with our resulting cards - made with much discussion as to who the recipients would be...

Tea, making Christmas Cards and lots of chat and laughter!

More Cards!

Enjoy making your own Christmas Cards with your groups!

Do send photos of your cards and crafts in to put up in Our Gallery for everyone to share...

Tuesday 29 October 2013

Printable General Knowledge Quiz - All About Numbers!

Titanic




Time for another quiz I think...

Thirty questions - all the answers are numbers...No not maths! Just general knowledge questions. Things we all come across and work with, in our daily lives - have a go with your group or maybe see how many you know, best over a cup of tea!

Here is the link - can be printed out...

Quiz - All About Numbers!

If you enjoy this one, then do have a look at my Quiz eBook

Printable eBook - 41 Easy Quizzes

Perfect for winter days to keep the mind ticking along...!

Friday 11 October 2013

Wall Mural - Autumn!


Our Art and Craft group at Mencap (Braintree) made this lovely Autumn Wall Mural - inspired by Shaun, our group leader.

Having decided we wanted a lake and a few hills in the Mural, it then followed that we needed to put in Nessie - the Loch Ness Monster...!

So this became a Scottish Autumn Wall Mural complete with Loch Ness, Nessie and don't you love the Sunset!

The whole background is made from torn pieces of coloured tissue paper glued onto large sheets of white paper. (the whole mural is about 4 x 8 foot) the trees were painted on white paper and then cut out and glued on. All the leaves were made by painting real leaves on the underside with poster paint and then pressing them onto white paper and when dry, cutting them out. All the other creatures and footballer (!) were then coloured-in and stuck on as well...

It took us three afternoons to put together but we were thrilled with the result...


Tuesday 8 October 2013

More Lid Fridge Magnet Ideas!



 So many of you have asked for more ideas on making Lid Fridge Magnets so here is another batch...!

For more detail on how to put them together  - click on this link...

Lid Fridge Magnet Tutorial

Look amongst your craft stash - you will find lots of different bits and pieces that can be used to make up your unique lid fridge magnets - so be creative and have fun!


Wednesday 25 September 2013

Make a Cone Christmas Tree - Tutorial!

Jo's Cone Christmas Trees from "Things to Make and Do"

And here is Mine!






I came across an excellent Tutorial on making these sparkling little Cone Christmas Trees.

After making one myself, I decided to give you the link to Jo's website "Things to Make and Do" so you could get your group busy making these decorations ready for Christmas...

Here is the link   Cone Christmas Tree

There is much more on "Things to Make and Do" so do have a browse around! 

Thanks to Jo for sharing her craft with us all...