| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| judith |
Ideas neededIt's village show planning time again.The cooking and veg categories aren't too much of a challenge, but we always struggle with coming up for something new for the kids' section. Can you help? We normally have: - Craft (previous themes have been Dr Who, decorated wellies) - Cooking (fairy cakes, decorated biscuits, refrigerator cake, etc.) - Handwriting (one page (illustrated) on what I would do if I were Prime Minister, my idea of a perfect day, my favourite sandwich) - A poster (recycling, air ambulance) All ideas gratefully received. The categories aren't carved in stone - something totally different would be fine too. It just musn't be too big as the village hall is quite small! |
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| sally_in_wales |
An edible crop in an imaginatively recycled container? Could mean anything from cress in an eggshell to cut and come again salad in a plastic lunchbox thats been decorated or something like that | ||||||
| LynneA |
How about useful items for home and garden made from a plastic bottle? | ||||||
| vegplot |
Ideas to reduce energy useage or use more renewable energy. Children are often quite creative in this area. Presented as a drawing or painted picture of how they see things working. | ||||||
| judith |
These are great. Please keep them coming.
Absolutely. The writing category has always been my favourite - some of the "what I would do if I were Prime Minister" ideas last year were excellent. I would have voted for them! |
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| Mrs Fiddlesticks |
photography competition?
make a minature garden in a plastic container? Make something only using recycled or found materials? Make a sunflower face collage on a paper plate (perhaps using seeds and dried pasta or something?) jewellry competition for the girls? |
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| Mrs Fiddlesticks |
a thank you letter!! (dying art that one  )
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| Ian33568 |
How about 'recycled creatures' - this is where they can use any rubbish to create a new creature or species - they then exhibit it with a card stating its name, habitat, its prey or eating habits, male or female, how it reproduces (egg laying or whatever) and other zoological information. Winning categories can be the most imaginative use of recyled material, the most ferocious, the cutest etc etc. We tried this and the children loved it. 
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| marigold |
Why can't boys make jewelery??? What about a best decorated "tree" - a twiggy branch in a bottle of sand/pebbles, hung with bits of this and that? |
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| Nick |
We've just had a scarecrow competition. Each house was given a film title, and had to build a scarecrow for it. Kids could do them, allbeit smaller, if they have to be inside. | ||||||
| hedgewitch |
How about writing a recipe for the writing competition? Can be any way of describing something they make themselves to eat. | ||||||
| Chez |
We used to do mini-gardens in a saucer.
I like the miniature scarecrow idea! |
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| judith |
I think they are all great so far - and will all be submitted to the committee for due perusal. Scarecrows could possibly be set up outside, so they wouldn't necessarily have to be miniature.
The schedule normally goes out about a month before the show - do you think that would be long enough to do a "garden in a something" type entry? |
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| Nick |
Excellent! I've still got some blow up sheep, if anyone else gets 'Babe'. Although, I did burn the 6 foot pig yesterday, I'm afraid. |
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| judith |
What an interesting life you lead 
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| JB |
Our village just had one of these. The local primary school must have had 30 or 40 miniature scarecrows propped up on the fence, which was all a bit to cute (We really must get around to making one ourselves next year) |
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| Chez |
Hmm. Probably. But we used to transplant stuff that we found round and about, a couple of weeks before. |
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| JB |
The way our village runs it is that every entry can build a scarecrow in their front garden (or anywhere else visible) in the week before then on the day of the fete they make up a map showing where all the scarecrows and poster boards of all the entries. Some of the entries get quite ingenious (like the guy who has some building work going on so had several scarecrows dressed as builders and positioned over the scaffolding, or the people whose scarecrow went missing so they replaced it with a body outline on the ground and surrounded it with "police - incident" tape. |
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| judith |
Sadly it wouldn't work having them in people's gardens here as the village covers rather a large area, lots of barely beaten tracks and some significant hills! |
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| Lorrainelovesplants |
Throw the wet sponge at the teacher, 50p a go. Throw a wet sponge at the Head teacher £1 for kids, £2 for adults......... 
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| Mrs Fiddlesticks |
Soak a Bloke is always hugely popular here (and a certain announcer once asked for donations to charity to be soaked herself...) |
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| JB |
Some of the entries were a couple of miles out of the village centre. On the fete day there's a wall full of photos of all the entries along with the maps just incase you can't be bothered to go for a 15 mile hike. (Actually our village fete was a lot more impressive than I had been expecting, though I had just expected something along the lines of whack a rat, a dance troop from the local primary school and a rather sad donkey ride so almost anyhting would have been better) |
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| Chez |
We used to have 'guess the weight of the piglet' - winner won it
'Bat a rat' with real rats might go down well as supplies for the Cat's Home, Judith? |
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| judith |
Nice ideas, thanks, but they aren't really the sort of thing we're looking for. We don't have a traditional English fête sort of event with stalls and tombola, etc. It is just the garden produce / flower arranging / cooking competition sort of thing, all keenly fought inside the village hall. Then the produce is auctioned off in the evening. Don't know why we don't do the other things, but I would need to have lived here for another 300 years give or take before I could question that sort of tradition 
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| vegplot |
300 years? Some seats go back as far as Doomsday, if your great x 10 power 33 granddad didn't know their great x 10 power 33 grandad then you're always be an outsider.
Once competition I entered as a kneehigh to a grass shopper sort of fella was animals made of pipe cleaners. Obviously it was a long time ago. How about an A4 sized mosaic (subject matter to be decided) made of recycled materials? |
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| earthyvirgo |
At Sioe Dyffryn Ogwen, one of the popular comps is the "animal made out of vegetables" - they come up with some amazing creations, some funny, some distinctly rude!
EV |
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| Chez |
Gosh, yes, careful - don't want to overstep the mark .
What about 'something' made from any kind or combination of textiles - an animal? |
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| hedgewitch |
Or.... a specific animal made out of anything? 'Make a pig' or 'make a chicken'? |
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| judith |
Any thoughts on cookery for kids - something that can be embellished nicely? | ||||||
| sean |
Biscuits are pretty easy, they could all use the same recipe then you could have prizes for the best decorated ones. | ||||||
| hedgewitch |
Fruit arrangement? 
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| gil |
Pizza's the usual one
Pastry shapes on top of an apple tart (lattice, stars, twirls, etc.) - or is that too advanced ? Sean's biscuit idea is good. Or a simple sponge cake. Gingerbread people. |
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| marigold |
Hmm, personally I think they should be rewarded for the best-tasting biscuit, otherwise you are just pandering to the "smother it with pretty stuff, never mind the quality" mentality which generates so much rubbish food in supermarkets (IMO ).
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| sean |
But if they use my honey biscuits recipe the biscuits will all be delicious. |
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| marigold |
They won't be if they're covered in pink icing and silver balls .
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| judith |
What's wrong with pink icing and silver balls?
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| judith |
Is it in the recipe doodah? |
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| sean |
Yep. | ||||||
| Northern_Lad |
Prove it. |
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| sean |
Honey biscuits | ||||||
| Sherbs |
If you're looking for cooking with kids ideas, in the Family centre where I used to work we used to make pitta bread pizzas, they were always very popular |