Easter Egg Hunt with a Difference

Easter is just around the corner.

Adults associate Easter with different things like religion, long weekends and stuff like that. Many kids see it as a time to have a chocolate bunny or egg. In some households, there is a tradition of hiding goodies for children to find – usually outdoors. Brightly coloured bunnies poke their heads out of bushes and eggs nestle in odd places where no self-respecting chicken would ever dream of laying.

This year we decided to do something fun – an Easter egg hunt with a difference!

We’ve painted lots of pebbles and rocks and we’re going to hide them around the neighbourhood for other people to find. They can either keep them… or hide them again in another place for somebody else to come across.

“Yeah, yeah, Sibo,” I hear you saying, “what’s this got to do with me? I just can’t wait to get my teeth into a yummy choccy egg – not a painted stone.”

“Well… I was hoping that you’d join us, and paint a pebble or two and hide them in your neighbourhood, where ever you are in the whole wide world.”

You could team up with a friend or two, share paint and have some fun in the process. Your stones can be as fancy or as simple as you please. If you don’t have paint, you could draw on them with felt-tip pens, chalk, nail varnish or anything else. You could even stick a pretty picture on a stone.

You don’t have to go far to hide them either – you could simply put one in your neighbour’s post box. They wouldn’t know it was from you.

The whole point of this is to give something pretty to somebody else.

Ginny gets her paint from PNA in Silverwater Crossing – it is acrylic (waterproof) and costs around R20 for a little pot. You only use a teensy bit of paint on these stones. She uses a stick and the back of an old ballpoint pen (she uses the tip, too) to decorate the stones. They’re mainly a series of dots, all joined together to make flowers. Sometimes she goes overboard and they look a bit crazy, but they’re still pretty.

If you don’t have any stones, you could always use bottle tops – those work nicely too.

If you decide to join in the fun, why not post a photo of your creation on Sibo’s Facebook page—we’d love to see your ideas.

This is a pebble painted by Isabella – Ginny’s granddaughter.

So… if you live in the Meyerspark area in Pretoria East, keep an eye out next weekend—over 150 painted pebbles and stones are going to be hidden over Easter.

Addicted to hula hooping

Hula Hooping is not only fun, but also beneficial on many different levels.

Hi! My name is Ginny and I’m addicted to hula hooping.

The best things about hula hooping is that it doesn’t feel like exercise… and yet it is really the most fabulous way to get a work out without even realising it.

It strengthens core muscles and tones flabby bits – belly, arms and thighs. You can do gentle hooping or notch it up a grade and get serious by adding in lunges and arm exercises. You can use weights too.

It’s beneficial for your heart and your mind.

Don’t be ridiculous, I hear you say. One can barely keep that ridiculous little plastic doo-dah up, let along lunge about or wave you arms around the place—unless it’s to help keep the hoop up.

I’m not talking about your general run-of-the-mill kid’s hoop… I’m talking about a large hoop.

Think big.

Then think bigger.

Even bigger than that!

I was first introduced to large hoops by my tiny daughter when she’d come to visit for a few weeks. It boggled my mind. I’d never seen anything so bizarre, let along considered using one for exercise.

Perhaps I should confess, I’m not a very exercisey person.  The only Jim I’ve ever had a relationship with was my darling, dearly-departed father, but at the age of fifty-something, I fell in love with the gentle art of hula hooping.

Wait… I hear you say… what in all hell is she blathering on about? How can something that tones and firms be gentle?

Easy!

Ten minutes a day and that weight will take a walk.

Once you’ve lost the weight that was bothering you (and you will) you won’t be able to stop hula hooping.  You’ll be addicted.

We are fortunate enough to currently have a large garden and so I walk around the place, gently hooping. Thinking. Planning my day. Writing my novel in my head. Plotting murder. Talking to myself. Or sometimes even just staring into space. It’s currently winter in South Africa so I also hula hoop to warm up.

You don’t need fancy clothes either – I usually hoop in whatever I’m wearing, but if you are going the sweaty exercise route, be comfortable and try not to wear baggy clothing that gets snagged on the hoop.

Buying a kid’s hoop is easy, but it’s not useful. You need a large hoop. The experts say it should come up to your middle when you stand it up in front of you… but mine comes up to my boobs.

The easiest (and cheapest) is to make it yourself.

You need:

  • 4.5 metres of 25 mm irrigation pipe (our local garden shops and hardware stores sell pipe in various sizes, coiled up lengths starting at 5 metres).
  • 1 x 25 mm hose connector
  • tape (insulation tape is the cheapest, but it only comes in standard colours) – get whatever takes your fancy.

Half the fun of having a hoop is decorating it so that every time you pick it up, you look at it with love. (Sounds sappy but it’s true.)

25 mm black irrigation pipe is easily cut with a sharp kitchen.
Cut a length of 4.5 metres.

DO NOT BE DAUNTED BY THE SIZE OF IT and decide to make it smaller. Just don’t.
Okay.
It is really easy to use a big hoop.

Boil the kettle and stick the ends of the pipe into boiling water – makes pushing the hose connector into either end a doddle.

Voila! You have a hoop.

Wipe it down with a wet cloth to get the dust off and let it dry before you tape it up.

Wind your tape as smoothly as you can, this makes the hoop move freely and prevents it from snagging on your clothing. The tape not only makes it look pretty but it also adds weight.  If you find that your hoop gets tatty after time from dropping it on rough surfaces or bashing into things, simply add another layer of tape. (My hoop is currently on its 5th layer of tape.)

There are many videos on YouTube that demonstrate how to hula hoop. This lady is fabulous and has many videos. Remember… you can also do awesome tricks with hoops (not so much the large hoops though.)

I was lucky (I think) and had my daughter to goad me into persevering. Here’s how I really started.

Have to brag – this is a video my daughter, Igz made for me when I organised a hula hoop making workshop as an ice-breaker to a science centre conference a few years ago. We then had a hoop-heats with a hoop-off and the winning three teams had to explain the science behind hula hooping to high school kids. The hoops that were made were then donated to a local school. Except for my friend, Kenneth from Kenya, who took his hoop home to his Science Centre in Kenya and has since taught many a kid to hula hoop.

P.S. I cannot do ANY of this fancy stuff in the video, but it does not stop me from loving the bits I can do.

Beady Plastic Waterfall

A fun way to use plastic bottles ~ by Ginny Stone

Ginny made a bead curtain out of old plastic bottles and other stuff.

Rubbish! I can hear you say.

Well… yes! Exactly that. She’s made it from rubbish.

Just so that you know I’m not talking complete bolly – check out this photo. 

You are all probably busting to know just how she used those coke bottles in this bead curtain, right? It’s not that hard – but if you are a small person, please get an adult to help you.

You need the following stuff:

  • plastic bottles (cooldrink, water, etc – try to get different coloured ones)
  • fishing line,
  • beads and other cool stuff to thread or tie on,
  • 2 pieces of 80gm paper,
  • iron,
  • sharp knife,
  • scissors,
  • glue,
  • sharp point (a nail works well).

First things first, wash your plastic bottles very well – you don’t want sticky or oily goo all over everything.

Using a sharp knife, make a slit in the middle of the bottle.  Then using scissors cut the plastic into strips.  It’s easier to work with strips than huge pieces.

Believe it or not – that plastic is sharp, so work carefully.  And be careful not to leave little bits of plastic lying around either for other people to tromp on and cut themselves.

Once you have the plastic cut into the shapes you want – squares, triangles, circles, oblongs – whatever! But don’t make them too small – Ginny used round shapes, a bit smaller than the bottom of a glass.  (Don’t bother to make them perfectly round either – when you get to the next step you’ll see why.)

Next step… again get an adult to help you and for goodness sake – ask your mom first if you can actually use her iron. Ginny has an old one that she uses for fabric painting. (Plus she’s actually the mom – so if she ruins her own iron – toughies hey!)  Although we should point out that it doesn’t ruin the iron – as long as you don’t iron directly on the plastic that is.

Heat up the iron. Not on steam setting though. 

Put one piece of paper on a flat surface. 
Lay your plastic bits on top of it – only one or two at a time. 
Put the other piece of paper on top of the plastic bits.

Iron them flat. 

In fact, you’ll have to experiment a bit and see which way works best for you.  Ginny found if she put them with the curved side on top, they shrivelled into very funny shapes. If she turned them over – they stayed flatter with just the sides curling in.  Either way – she found a use for most of the plastic bits she ironed.

Very important – like we already said, do not iron the plastic without a sheet of paper on either side.

Once you’ve got a whole pile of ironed odd-shaped plastic bits – you can start making your curtain strings.  Be sure to have a long enough piece of fishing line. Put something nice and heavy at the bottom – like a big glass or metal bead or tie on something else interesting – bells or bottle tops also work nicely. 

Make holes in the plastic bits using the nail and thread them onto the fishing line. You can also glue beads onto the plastic – or make lots of holes in larger plastic pieces and thread the beads through.

Go wild, use mirror bits, feathers, old nuts and bolds, pretty beads, old beads, piece of fabric, you can even thread bottle tops, cork and straws.  Just make sure you tie or stick them properly, otherwise, they’ll fall off at some stage. 

Of course, you don’t have to make a curtain either – you can just make a pretty mobile or dangly thing for your room, or for a friend. Or even Christmas decorations.

Main thing to do is have fun in the process.

Feel free to post pics on Sibo’s Facebook page so that the whole world can see how creative you’ve been. 

Sibo’s Colouring in Competition

Fun stuff to do at home instead of watching TV!

This “Coronacation” is all well and good, but it gets a bit boring having to stay at home the whole time, right? You probably never imagined in a million years that you could actually miss going to school.

We are doing our bit to try and alleviate your boredom.

We’ve uploaded colouring-in sheets – Sibo ones.

They are pretty plain, so I’m challenging you all to pimp your page! In particular, the one below!

This is a picture of me and Zona, my dog that I rescued from the SPCA.

The challenge is to download this picture (simply click on this link), print it out and get creative with it. Seriously!

  • Colour it in,
  • Put borders around it,
  • Add in a background,
  • Go crazy!

Then take a photo of your creation and upload it to Sibo’s Facebook page.

While you’re there, you might as well LIKE Sibo’s page too.

Ginny and Uncle Pete the Publisher are going to choose three (3) of the best pictures (different age groups) and those people will win a copy of Sibo Saves a Stray – which is the story of how Zona came to live with us. If the winners live in South Africa, they will get a real book. If they live in another country, then they will receive an eBook.

But kids, please DO NOT colour it in like the picture above! That’s the cover of the book. I want to see something different. Zona can have spots or checks or stripes even.

If your picture does not win, don’t worry! You could always get your Mum to buy you either the eBook from Amazon or a real book from Lets Book Publishers.

Happy colouring-in. Competition ends 30 April 2020 – upload your pics to Facebook before then, please.

Looking forward to seeing your creations.

Love Sibo

xxx

Christmas in July

Grow your own presents – succulents are easy and rewarding.

The adverts for functions and fairs talking about Christmas in July made me start thinking about presents.

Don’t know about you but I always run out of money at Christmas time. This year, I’ve decided I’m going to make my presents and for the ones I have in mind, now is the time to start.

Imagine gorgeous little succulent gardens.

Succulents are very rewarding and easy to grow. My friend Ginny moved into a house that has loads of succulents. Initially, she wasn’t a fan and silently vowed that she’d replace them all with “proper flowers”. Yet, two years of gardening has taught her to love all the various types. Pinks, reds, purples, greens and each type produces a fabulous flower.

They don’t ask for much water either.

She’s always breaking bits off and sticking them into the ground in a different spot, to see if they change colour. Succulents that are green in the shade suddenly go bright red in the sun. Most of them have a very shallow root system and grow easily from a little bit.

But you can also grow them from a single leaf. This is how you do it.

Gently twist the leaf off (take a bottom leaf so you don’t trash the mother plant). You’ll see that sap oozes from the place on the leaf where it was removed.

Put the leaf on a piece of paper towel on the window sill, or some sunny spot, for a few days until it forms a scab. Wait for that scab, otherwise, the leaf might rot.

Once the leaf has formed the scab place it on top of some soil. Keep the soil moist (not soaking—just moist). After a few weeks, you’ll see that it starts to grow roots. If you leave it, the roots will eventually go down into the soil, but that would also be a good time to plant your baby succulent in a different pot.

Another awesome thing about succulents is that they don’t need much soil. So you can grow a few different varieties in one pot. This looks super cool.

They seem to grow well in old tins—we’ll talk about ways to jazz up tins next week.

Scout around your neighbourhood for different succulents and start a little nursery people. Feel free to send us pictures.

Happy growing!

Sibo

Libraries are Lovely

Borrow a book from your local library today!

When last did you set foot in a library?

In the last few years, libraries have become somewhat obsolete, what with e-Books and the internet. Tasks and assignments that would have automatically driven one to the local library can now be looked up online with very little effort.

The whole culture of being in a space where one could trawl through volumes to:

  • find the necessary information
  • read it
  • be considerate of other users in the process
  • look after the borrowed book and return it in the same condition, to avoid the cross clucking of an irate librarian

has almost disappeared.

In reality, libraries are still fabulous places where all sorts of things happen. They don’t only have a wide selection of books to choose from, but also have motivating speakers, holiday activities, story hours and other interesting events.

They’re safe havens of quiet and solitude. Some libraries have areas where kids can do their homework. Photocopies can be made or one can just sit quietly and read.

The City of Joburg recently tweeted that they have extended selected library’s hours to be open on Sundays between 9am and 3pm.  This is awesome news.

Joining the library is easy. All you need is your identity document or driver’s license and a Municipality account. There’s a short form with basic details to complete. Parents can list their dependents on the form and they get their own library cards.  Books are normally issued for a two week period. Be warned though, if you bring them back late, you’ll have to pay a fine of R2 per book per week—even if they are only one day late.

If you borrow a book, it stands to reason that it needs to be looked after. Why… obviously, because many other people will want to read the same book!

Whilst the World Wide Web is incredibly useful, sometimes nothing beats a decent reference book that can be still found on a library shelf.

My friend Ginny’s local library even hosted a pop-up book fair, where a group of authors gathered and showcased their work. The books were for sale too, with a percentage of the sales being donated to the library. A win-win situation!

Join your local library—you’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain. Many of our South African children have problems reading, this is a great way to help.

Sibo

Empowering Children – one page at a time

Fun, easy to read books with interesting information woven into the story-line.

Did you know that there are fourteen titles published by Lets Look Publishers in the Sibo Series? Every month we make one of those books free to read on the website. Except for Sibo Looks Right, our road safety book, that’s always freely available.

These books are all about empowering kids with knowledge. They’re in rhyme (we call it wacky rhyme) are fun to read, with interesting facts and information sneakily woven into the storyline.

I know a person is not supposed to brag about their own stuff, ahem, but these books are best-sellers because many of the titles have sold more than 2000 copies. One of them (Sibo on the Move) also won awards. How cool is that!

Yes, yes Sibo, I hear you say, why are you bothering us with all this chitter-chatter about your books?

Let me explain. The way we publish our books is a little different.

Ginny comes up with an idea for a topic and finds funding for that particular book so that it can be distributed freely to kids, schools and libraries. (Many children in South Africa do not own a single book and we want to help change this.)

To date, organisations like Gautrain, Department of Science and Technology, Department of Health, University of Pretoria Centre for Sustainable Malaria Control, Department of Arts and Culture, Nash Nissan, South African Agency for Science and Technology Advancement, BASF, the chemical company, Super Group as well as some private individuals have sponsored titles in the Sibo Series.

Topics covered are the following (in order of date they were published):

  • Global warming – Sibo Makes a Difference
  • Growing your own veggies – Sibo and the Veggie Bed
  • Saving Water – Sibo Saves Water
  • The sea and sustainable resources – Sibo and the Sea
  • Space – Sibo in Space
  • 3 R’s (recycling, reusing, reducing) – Sibo Tackles Trash
  • HIV AIDS – Sibo Thinks Positively
  • Nanotechnology – Sibo Sizes Things Up
  • Biodiversity – Sibo Likes Life
  • Chemistry – Sibo Mixes Things Up
  • Animals – Sibo Saves a Stray
  • Malaria – Sibo Fights Malaria
  • Road safety – Sibo Looks Right
  • Etiquette using public transport – Sibo on the Move

We still want to write on subjects like bullying, careers, immunology, maths, engineering, mental disorders, saving money and planning.

If any organisation out there would like to invest in Sibo and help us empower children, please contact Ginny (ginz.stone[at]gmail.com). Of course, you could have a book on your own topic too.

It’s also a great advertising opportunity.

Sibo

Rubble Rousing

Use your imagination… things do not have to be as they are.

Gardening can be an expensive hobby, but does not have to be.

My friend, Ginny, has become an avid gardener.

When they first moved into their house the front yard was bare. Obviously, the people who had lived there previously had tried planting grass, but then a water shortage hit and it died. There were a nice variety of succulents along one wall, with various bits of droopy vegetation decorating the fence.

Ginny and her lovely husband jumped in and decided a raised bed would be the way to go. They made a round one and filled it with teensy spinach plants. The spinach flourished… but the birds devoured most of it before they could. Summer arrived and it shrivelled up and died despite being watered. They decided to wait a while before planting anything else.

Then my friend had a run-in with cancer and to keep herself occupied and turn her brain off, she attacked the front garden.  She sculpted, laid and dug, all by the seat of her pants. So sometimes things worked out and sometimes they didn’t. The garden shop lady nearly died laughing when she discovered that she’d laid garden paths with gravel but had no weed cloth underneath. She bought the cloth but discovered it was nasty to work with and did not, in fact, actually do the job. The weeds still appeared.

Fast forward eight months. Ginny had been ogling out some building rubble up the road from their house.

“I want some of that,” she declared.

Her not-so-lovely husband rolled his eyes. “No! You’ll have to find somebody else to help you steal rubble from the side of the road.”

So she enlisted her daughter’s help and they raided the pile. But there was a dude at the house who gave them the thumbs up, so it wasn’t actually stealing after all.

She laid out that rubble in the same raised circle bed that they’d originally planted the spinach in. Piled blocks on top of each other until it looked appealing. Then she mixed a sloppy bowl of dark brown Tile Magic grout and tile bond liquid and gave the whole structure a quick wash of colour. Luckily they also had lots of compost from all the leaves and garden refuse to fill it up with earth.

The end result… a fabulous swirl in the garden full of herbs and flowers.

Get creative folk!

Sibo

There is NO excuse not to read.

Reading makes you smart!

These days eBooks make reading incredibly easy. You don’t need fancy equipment and special readers, like you did a few years ago either.

If you are reading this blog in the African Reporter, then you can read. If you are reading this blog on-line, then you can not only read, but you also have access to a smartphone, tablet or computer and the internet.

Even for those people who have difficulty reading, audio books are available. You can listen to them when you are doing something else. Boring stuff like cleaning the house, ironing or travelling in public transport.

There are many different platforms on-line where you can access books.

If you join Amazon or Smashwords—and it’s free to sign up—there are books that you can read for free. Good ones too, you just have to take the time to search for them. Many of the classics are available and often authors have promotions. They give their books away freely to increase their readership.

Of course there are millions of books that cost money too, but they are still cheaper on-line than buying a print copy.

The great thing with eBooks is that you can load lots of them onto your electronic device and carry them around in your pocket or handbag (in the case of a smart phone).  You can’t do that with piles of books.

This is also an awesome time for writers. They no longer have to struggle to try and find somebody who will publish their book(s); they can publish them themselves, on-line.

That’s free too.

You do, however, have to market your own book. It doesn’t sell itself. No matter how good it is (and it better be good) because there is loads of competition out there. You definitely don’t want to be publishing shoddy content.

My friend, Ginny, is known for her Sibo Series, but she’s also written a few other books—do you remember Fudgie, the dog from the blog? She’s busy collating all those blogs into a series of books that are available on-line. You can follow her author profile on Smashwords.

One thing you might remember when you read books online, consider taking the time to go back and leave a review. Writing a few lines is a way of thanking the author for the free book—or even for the books you’ve paid for.

Read more people!

Sibo

The benefits of reading aloud

1st February is World Read Aloud Day.

Last year more than a million people participated in this event. Sounds fabulous, but actually when you come to think of how many people there actually are in this world (estimated at ~7.7 billion in November last year) that is pretty darn pathetic!

Every day should be a read aloud day.

Reading stories to children is probably one of the most beneficial things you, as a parent or older sibling, can do, apart from giving them love, food, clothing and shelter that is.

It’s not only little kids that enjoy being read to either, older kids appreciate a good story too.

Scary fact: South Africa came last in the world in a recent survey. They discovered that 8 out of 10 kids in Grade 4 cannot read for meaning – in any language. What does that terrifying sentence signify? It means that those kids can read the words, but when they have finished “reading” them, they don’t know what they just read.

It makes no sense right? Sadly it’s true, and when you don’t understand what you are reading, it strips away all the joy associated with books.

You, as a parent, have the power to instil a love of reading in your child from early on.

It’s as simple as reading a little story at bedtime. Every bedtime! It’s also a sneaky way of having one-on-one special time with your kids.

When you read with emphasis and expression, it makes the story come alive. Not only does that make it interesting, but the way you read gets your kids to understand how grammar works, without even realising. You pause at a comma and stop at the end of the sentence.

They can hear how words are being pronounced.

Being read aloud to also exposes children to new words and increases their vocabulary.

Literature is also a great way of helping kids understand something that they have not necessarily been exposed to themselves. It makes them more aware and instils empathy.

Please do leave your cell phone in another room when you are reading to your children. Possibly the most irritating thing in the world is having a story continually interrupted by pinging, ringing and a distracted storyteller.

To celebrate World Read Aloud Day we are making ‘Sibo Saves Water’ a free digi-read on the website. It’s a double celebration – the 2nd of February is World Wetlands Day.

Happy reading and listening!

Sibo