Animal Crazy and Sports Mad!

[ActivityVillage.co.uk]( What a Great Year for Sport! As the Winter Olympics draws to a close, we have started to think about the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, beginning on 4th April. And of course this summer we have the FIFA World Cup to look forward to, too! It's going to be a great year to get kids interested and involved in all sorts of sports. We've been having lots of fun with animals this week. You'll find some fabulous new animal "scene" posters on the website - perfect for framing and decorating. And we've produced a range of backdrops - field, pond, rainforest, savannah, and so on - to use with new cut and stick creatures and finger puppets. Sarah has shown us how she has been using them to put on puppet shows and for stopframe animation in our Guest Post this week. Activity Village Membership ... We now have over 27,250 printable activities available to our Activity Village Members - and we are adding more nearly every day! If you haven't joined up yet, you can browse the website to see what we offer and find out about [becoming a member here](. And remember - logged-in Members see an ad-free version of the website! * What happens when your Membership year is up? We don't renew automatically but we do send an email alerting you when your year expires. After expiry, simply log in to the website and you will find a link to our payment page. It should be quick, easy and straightforward! What's New at Activity Village ... What a fabulous Winter Games it has been! Why not have a last look at our [Winter Olympics activities]( and use them for a round-up next week? [Who's still enjoying the Winter Olympics?]( We are a British site, so I hope non-UK readers will forgive us for celebrating our [Team GB Winter Olympics medal winners]( We've got colouring pages, posters and story paper for the kids. Use them to inspire a future Olympian? [Who's still enjoying the Winter Olympics?]( This week's [colouring quotes]( (and colouring cards) are about friends. [Two new colouring quotes about friends ]( We've got 5 bright new [birthday cards]( to print ... [5 bright new birthday cards to print]( ... and some l​​​​ovely new printable [Mother's Day cards]( too. [Lovely new printable Mother's Day cards]( We've added new [animal lacing cards for younger children]( - easy edges and lovely faces! [New animal lacing cards for younger children]( Learn about [Mark Twain]( and explore our collection of interesting worksheets and printables [Learn about Mark Twain and explore our collection of printable activities]( We're getting started early on our [Gold Coast Commonwealth Games]( activities with a new range of colouring pages, worksheets and printables. More to come soon. [We're getting started early on our Gold Coast Commonwealth Games activities]( Here are our new [backdrop printables]( ... [There are many ways you can use our new backdrops]( ... which work well with our new [finger puppet printables]( ... [So many new finger puppet printables - perfect for using with our new backdrops!]( ... or our new [cut and stick characters]( [Or print some of our new cut and stick characters to use with our backdrops]( And finally, we've been adding to our collection of [animal posters]( - perfect for decorating classrooms, playrooms or bedrooms! [Adding to our collection of animal postersa]( This Week's Guest Post This week Sarah shows us how she has been [using our new backdrop printables]( - in a group stopframe animation, as a background for a finger puppet performance, and for cutting and sticking activities. She's come up with lots more ideas, t [Using our new backdrop printables]( A Little Something ... I tried to choose just a few Mark Twain quotes for this week's newsletter, but I have so many favourites that I couldn't narrow the list more than this. Enjoy! Mark Twain's Wisdom "It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog." "If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything." "The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up." “Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.” "Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see." “Wrinkles should merely indicate where the smiles have been.” Mark Twain on Books and Reading “The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read.” “Books are for people who wish they were somewhere else.” “In a good bookroom you feel in some mysterious way that you are absorbing the wisdom contained in all the books through your skin, without even opening them.” Mark Twain's Humour What would men be without women? Scarce, sir...mighty scarce.” "My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it." ​​​​​​​“Never put off till tomorrow what may be done day after tomorrow just as well.” ["The human race has one really effective weapon, and that is laughter." Mark Twain]( Coming Up Soon ... ​​​​​​​27th February: [National Polar Bear Day]( 1st March: [St David's Day]( 2nd March: [Dr Seuss's Birthday]( 2nd March: [Holi]( 11th March: [Mother's Day (UK)]( 11th March: [Mothering Sunday]( 12th - 18th March: [Shakespeare Week]( 14th March: [Commonwealth Day]( 17th March: [St Patrick's Day]( 21st March: [Nowruz]( 30th March - 7th April: [Passover]( 1st April: [Easter]( 4th April - 15th April: [Commonwealth Games, Gold Coast Australia]( ​​​​​​​[Spring]( . . [Summer]( . . [Autumn]( . . [Winter]( And don't forget you can click through to our [Holiday Calendar]( to explore our resources by upcoming holiday and event. Get your planning done and activities printed out in plenty of time! Thank you for visiting Activity Village... [ActivityVillage.co.uk]( And for telling friends, family and colleagues about the website! If you think you might not be receiving all our newsletters, why not white-list us to make sure that the email gets through? There are instructions for how to white-list with most email providers [here](. All the best until next time! Lindsay Small www.ActivityVillage.co.uk​​​​​​​ * We are still showing a small number of ads on our Search Results page and will be doing so until we find an alternative search solution which works as well as the existing search facility. * * If you would be interested in Guest Posting for us, please reply to this email and tell me a little about yourself, together with an idea for your first post. Small Publishing Ltd Kemp House 152 - 160 City Road London EC1V 2NX UNITED KINGDOM [Unsubscribe]( | [Change Subscriber Options](