Happy Earth Day! And What's Your Weather Like?

[ActivityVillage.co.uk]( 21st April 2018 This newsletter comes out just in time, I hope, to let you see our fabulous new Earth Day activities (for 22nd) and Shakespeare resources and St George's Day playdough mats (for 23rd). We've also launched a new (long overdue) topic this week - Weather. We will be adding more activities to the topic over the next few weeks but we've made a good start already. Our Famous Person of the Week is Anne Frank, and Shelly's Guest Post looks at beginning subtraction with some fun tips and ideas. Activity Village Membership ... We now have over 28,200 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. What's New at Activity Village ... We've launched a brand new Weather topic this week with these new [Weather Symbol Posters](... [Launching a brand new weather topic!]( ... and some new [Weather Colouring Pages]( (including 2 gorgeous new "scenes"... [New weather photograph posters for discussion or display]( ... and these new [Weather Photograph Posters]( for discussion or display ... [New weather photograph posters for discussion or display]( ... and a big new collection of [handwriting worksheets featuring weather words](. [Handwriting worksheets featuring weather words]( We've been learning about [Anne Frank]( with this interesting collection of printables and worksheets. [We've been learning about Anne Frank this week]( We've added this fun new [Earth Day puzzles]( collection (something for all ages here) ... [Our fun new Earth Day puzzles collection]( ... and created these new [Earth Day worksheets]( ... [All sorts of new Earth Day worksheets!]( ... and added new bookmarks, certificates and other [Earth Day printables]( [New bookmarks, certificates and other Earth Day printables]( This week, instead of 2 new colouring quotes, we've added one colouring quote that's perfect for Earth Day and one "Happy Earth Day" colouring page. Find them [here](. [Two new Earth Day colouring pages]( Our latest collection of [Shakespeare Worksheets]( include some really fun ideas to get the kids interested. My favourite is a worksheet asking the children to come up with ideas for and against studying Shakespeare which is sure to prompt some interesting responses! [Adding to our collection of Shakespeare worksheets]( And finally - we've had fun coming up with these [St George's Day playdough mats]( - I hope you enjoy them! [Have some fun with these St George's Day playdough mats]( This Week's Guest Post In this week's Guest Post, Shelly shares some great ideas for [beginning subtraction](. [Guest post - Beginning subtraction]( A Little Something ... Television By Roald Dahl The most important thing we've learned, So far as children are concerned, Is never, NEVER, NEVER let Them near your television set -- Or better still, just don't install The idiotic thing at all. In almost every house we've been, We've watched them gaping at the screen. They loll and slop and lounge about, And stare until their eyes pop out. (Last week in someone's place we saw A dozen eyeballs on the floor.) They sit and stare and stare and sit Until they're hypnotised by it, Until they're absolutely drunk With all that shocking ghastly junk. Oh yes, we know it keeps them still, They don't climb out the window sill, They never fight or kick or punch, They leave you free to cook the lunch And wash the dishes in the sink -- But did you ever stop to think, To wonder just exactly what This does to your beloved tot? IT ROTS THE SENSE IN THE HEAD! IT KILLS IMAGINATION DEAD! IT CLOGS AND CLUTTERS UP THE MIND! IT MAKES A CHILD SO DULL AND BLIND HE CAN NO LONGER UNDERSTAND A FANTASY, A FAIRYLAND! HIS BRAIN BECOMES AS SOFT AS CHEESE! HIS POWERS OF THINKING RUST AND FREEZE! HE CANNOT THINK -- HE ONLY SEES! 'All right!' you'll cry. 'All right!' you'll say, 'But if we take the set away, What shall we do to entertain Our darling children? Please explain!' We'll answer this by asking you, 'What used the darling ones to do? 'How used they keep themselves contented Before this monster was invented?' Have you forgotten? Don't you know? We'll say it very loud and slow: THEY ... USED ... TO ... READ! They'd READ and READ, AND READ and READ, and then proceed To READ some more. Great Scott! Gadzooks! One half their lives was reading books! The nursery shelves held books galore! Books cluttered up the nursery floor! And in the bedroom, by the bed, More books were waiting to be read! Such wondrous, fine, fantastic tales Of dragons, gypsies, queens, and whales And treasure isles, and distant shores Where smugglers rowed with muffled oars, And pirates wearing purple pants, And sailing ships and elephants, And cannibals crouching 'round the pot, Stirring away at something hot. (It smells so good, what can it be? Good gracious, it's Penelope.) The younger ones had Beatrix Potter With Mr. Tod, the dirty rotter, And Squirrel Nutkin, Pigling Bland, And Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and- Just How The Camel Got His Hump, And How the Monkey Lost His Rump, And Mr. Toad, and bless my soul, There's Mr. Rat and Mr. Mole- Oh, books, what books they used to know, Those children living long ago! So please, oh please, we beg, we pray, Go throw your TV set away, And in its place you can install A lovely bookshelf on the wall. Then fill the shelves with lots of books, Ignoring all the dirty looks, The screams and yells, the bites and kicks, And children hitting you with sticks- Fear not, because we promise you That, in about a week or two Of having nothing else to do, They'll now begin to feel the need Of having something to read. And once they start -- oh boy, oh boy! You watch the slowly growing joy That fills their hearts. They'll grow so keen They'll wonder what they'd ever seen In that ridiculous machine, That nauseating, foul, unclean, Repulsive television screen! And later, each and every kid Will love you more for what you did. Coming Up Soon ... 21st April: [The Queen's Birthday (actual)]( 22nd April: [Earth Day]( 23rd April: [Shakespeare Day / Shakespeare's Birthday]( 23rd April: [St George's Day]( 25th April: [Anzac Day]( 28th April: [Arbor Day]( (date varies by country and US state) 5th May: [Children's Day (Japan)]( 7th - 11th May: [Teacher Appreciation Week (US)]( 7th May: [Teacher Appreciation Day (US)]( 7th to 11th May (tbc): [Sun Awareness Week]( 10th May: [Vesak]( 13th May: [Mother's Day (US)]( 19th May: [Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Wedding]( 8th June: [World Oceans Day]( 14th June - 15th July: [FIFA World Cup]( 17th June: [Father's Day]( 14th June: [Eid al-Fitr]( 1st July: [Canada Day]( 4th July: [Fourth of July]( ​​​​​​​[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](