Loudwater is currently closed following guidance issued by the Prime Minister on Monday, 23 March and I hope this finds each and every one of you safe, well and with your loved ones whilst following the daily safety advice given to us. As the schools are now closed for most children, and many of you are now at home trying to work with internet systems that are under strain we thought we’d try and keep you creative with some suggested ideas to help your general well being.

Get doodling

For those of you who love colouring, the Loudwater team are trying (technology permitting) to keep you busy with colouring sheets that you can download from our website. Or, you can have a go at creating your own sheets by downloading blank images of animals and doodle your own patterns before colouring them in. Don’t worry about not being wonderful at drawing, this is your art, relax and just let that pencil do the rest, you’ll be surprised at just what you can achieve.

Chasing rainbows

You may have seen the call for people to put pictures of rainbows in their windows, so when others are out on their daily walk they can see just how many they can spot. We thought about how we could adapt this slightly and came up with the idea to weave your own rainbow, using sticks and any leftover yarn/string/ribbons you have stashed away. The steps are:

1. Using two sticks of similar size, form a cross and bind them together in the middle to secure (follow steps using images above as a guide).

2. Choose your first yarn/ribbon/string colour and start to wrap. To do this, wrap your chosen yarn/ribbon/string around each stick in turn, moving to the next stick diagonally, (you will see a kite shape start to form).

3. To change colour simply tie your next colour choice to your current yarn/ribbon/string and continue wrapping.

4. When you’ve reached the size of rainbow weave you want, secure the last piece of yarn/ ribbon/string by tying it securely to the stick.

5. To give you a hanging loop for your rainbow take a piece of your yarn/ribbon/string and feed it through your final securing knot, wrap around the stick and secure. Leave a long length of yarn/ribbon/string to make your loop, wrap the other end of your yarn/ribbon/string around the stick once again and tie securely.

Good luck with your rainbow, they look beautiful blowing in the breeze and will give everyone another form of rainbow to search for.

Shake your pom-pom!

If you have some yarn leftover you could also think about making some rainbow pompoms. No need for fancy pompom makers, get yourself some cardboard (an old cereal packet will do).

1. Using the template (see image below as a guide) trace around the size of pompom of your choice (tracing the outside edge and the inner circle) twice.

Template for Rainbow puff

2. Place the two pieces of cardboard together so that the outer and inner circles match.

3. Start wrapping your choice of yarn around both pieces of cardboard, from the outer edge taking the yarn up through the middle hole, (remember to change colour as you go, no need to tie the yarn together, simply start with a loose end on the outer edge and wrap as before, the wrapping of the yarn will initially secure it in place). Keep wrapping until you can no longer get any yarn through the inner circle.

4. Using a good pair of scissors start to snip the outer edges of the yarn. Keep snipping until you can see the cardboard template beneath.

5. Gently pull the card apart until you have a gap in the centre. Wrap a piece of yarn around the centre yarn now on display and tie tightly (this is the securing knot that will stop your pom- pom falling apart). After securing leave a good length of yarn to give you a loop to hang your pompom.

6. Continue to pull the cardboard templates apart, once both templates are off the yarn you will have your pompom, trim the edges to neaten and enjoy

Take care and stay safe one and all, remember we’re in this together and will get through it together. We hope you get creative and we’d love to see your creations, so please share them with us on our Facebook page. We look forward to seeing everyone when all this is over and we can get back to some serious creativity.