Dear #creativeHE friends,
It started with a little sparkle of an idea – why not have a festive #creativeHE makealong? A chance to celebrate our community, and enjoy each other’s company, as we head towards the end of one of the most challenging times that many of us will ever have experienced. Being #creativeHE, the idea grew, and grew, and grew wings, and took flight! And being #creativeHE, we couldn’t let the chance of a festive get-together go by without introducing a sprinkle of communal making and doing…
And so, on 11th December at 12pm (UK time) and for two hours, our Christmas #creativeHE hosts Anna (UCLAN) and Chrissi (Manchester Met) will be donning their festive outfits and facilitating two creative activities, in the hope that everyone will join in and make-along with us. To begin with, Anna will lead a festive no-bake bakealong, in which you will have the chance to create your own festive party food! It will be sticky, probably messy, hopefully memorable and definitely delicious. Once the snacks are sorted, Chrissi will guide you towards making your own cute companions, using 2020’s most valuable commodity – toilet rolls! Just the cardboard bit without all the paper 😉 For more details of the activities, and a list of equipment/ingredients, please keep reading below. Make sure to gather your equipment/ingredients/materials and bring them along with you to the session!
Bring along your colleagues and students, family and friends and your pet(s). All warmly welcome.
We can’t wait to see you on 11th December at 12pm (UK time)– join us for fun, friendship and sparkle. Let’s send 2020 on it’s way with a bang!
You can register for this event by clicking here – the Teams link will follow closer to the event.
Instructions, ingredients and resources for the makealong activities
ACTIVITY 1: The No-Bake Bakealong!
It’s not a Christmas party without tasty treats, so why not make your own and enjoy them as the party gets into full swing? We will make 3 different no-bake delights to fill you with Christmas cheer – no fancy equipment needed, but you might need to stock up on a few ingredients in advance.
You will need:
Bake Number 1: Candy Cane Sleigh decorations
4 candy canes
1 rice krispie square
Icing sugar
Plus ribbon if you have it!
Bake Number 2: Rudolph Cakes
Small chocolate muffins
Crunchy pretzels (any flavour)
Red smarties, red Skittles OR Red icing
Plus icing sugar
Bake Number 3: Christmas puddings
Tunnocks Tea Cakes OR chocolate biscuits (any kind)
Red and Green coloured icing.
And as always…. Icing sugar!
For all of the bakes the icing sugar will need to be mixed with a little water to make a thick, sticky paste, so you might want to do this beforehand.
You can join in with one bake, two bakes, or all three! The aim is to have fun, maybe get a bit messy, and have something nice and celebratory to eat at the end of it. What could go wrong?!
ACTIVITY 2: MAKEALONG WITH THE HUMBLE TOILET ROLE TUBE
We would like to use the humble middle card tube of the toilet role or of kitchen towel role to make some cool animal memorabilia for this very strange year. How does this sound? You can use them to decorate a tree, a window, a present or use on the festive table.
So please start putting the following to one side in readiness for the make-along. The earlier you start the better.
Card of toilet paper roll and/or kitchen paper roll. If you can get three that would be great. But keep collecting as you may wish to create more decorations afterwards, ok? When you make a start it will be hard to stop. You will see.
You will need some acrylic paints. Any colours you like. You might have some already. Check out your local shops or any online ones. Get the basic colours and you can mix. Consider getting also Gold. It will really work well for Christmas.
You will also need some brushes to apply the paint. Not huge ones. One thin and one a big bigger will be fine. You could potentially apply the paint with a sponge instead or your fingers. That will be messy but it could be something you want to try.
Do you have a stable gun? That will come in handy too. Remember that it only works with staples. So check before use that you have enough. If you don’t have one, no problem at all. You will be able to use glue, but it needs to be the one that really works and keeps things together not just for a minute or two.
What else?
Oh , yes, an empty box of cereal, just the box.
Some old newspaper and magazine clippings may also be useful.
A pair of scissors and
Some string or wool.
Fabric, if you like.
And glue or a glue gun.
Afterwards, you may want to apply a varnish to your decoration. Varnish that works for paper and wood will be ok.varnish is not needed if you use acrylics but colour with me a little bit more protected if you do.
You may also wish to use colour pencils and/or sharpies.
And some wool. Check if you have some.
The following designs may come in handy…
Feel free to add all your materials into a box or basket, take a picture and share with us in advance of the make-along using #creativeHE.
Join us and feel free to share this invitation with colleagues, students, family and friends. All are warmly welcome to participate in this Christmas extravaganza!!! You can sign up and register to attend by clicking here.
See you on the 11th of December
For a #creativeHE event to remember!
Anna and Chrissi
ps. And if you would like to read an openly licensed picture book story created by academics and students at Manchester Met during the national lockdown, check out https://zenodo.org/record/3924437#.X5130Yj7Q2x. You can download, use and further engage with it creatively as you wish.
pps. And if you would like a background for the session, feel free to use one of the following or make your own.
#creativeHE 