Kids and Caboodles

Right-click on the preview image and Save Link to your computer to print and colour!

Just a little seasonal hug to help you feel loved while you have to stay at home.

You could add some more colourful things in the background! How about some flowers, or Easter eggs, or a rainbow, or a smiling sun?

Or lots of hearts!

What else could you do with this picture?

Have fun!

(Remember to follow the copyright rules: only print out copies for yourself or people you live with, or for a friend you're playing with in your home.)

Right-click on the preview image and Save the Link Location to your computer to print and colour!

What is a "mandala"? Well, to explain what a real mandala is, I'd have to explain what meditation is, and Hinduism, and Buddhism, and deities. Maybe you can ask your favourite grown-up to help you find out more about those if you want to know what a real mandala is. (You might find out, for instance, that it's supposed to be pronounced more like MON-duh-luh, not like man-DAH-lah). For now, I just want to say that this picture that I made is not really a mandala.

But people usually call it a mandala, maybe because it's a round drawing, like real mandalas usually are, and can be used for meditation too. So I call it a mandala too, just so people who are looking for this kind of drawing can find this one.

I think it's more like a kaleidoscope design, don't you? But "kaleidoscope" is a big word -- harder to read and spell -- and "mandala" is a shorter one. Which word do you want to use?

Here's a visual, interactive way to practice multiplication and division.

When you get to the screen that has the number table, you can't type in your answer, you have to click the number on the screen's number pad (for Multiply or Divide exercises) or click the correct box in the table (for Factor exercises).

Are you getting into the holiday spirit yet?

Here's a colouring sheet that might help you feel some of that special wintertime joy.

What colours will you make this smiling elf's jingle-bell outfit?

What about the gingerbread friend and happy teddybear buddy?

Is this a Christmas gathering or just a festive get-together for Laughter, Love, and Light?

You decide!

Have fun!

Your friend,
Spikey

To download the colouring sheet for printing and colouring, just right-click the preview image and select Save Link As. Or left-click to go to the image and then Save Page.

Colouring sheet copyright © 2016 Marian Buchanan. All rights reserved. Permission granted to download, print, and colour, for personal use only.

Sudoku looks like a math game, but it's not really about numbers at all -- no adding, subtracting, multiplication or division. What it's really about is patterns and logic. That's kind of math -- but it's not arithmetic. So there's really no need to have numbers in the puzzle. You can just as easily have shapes, or colours, or letters, or pictures.

Let's just call them "symbols" -- that way, these instructions can apply to all the variations: Foodoku, Moodoku, and of course plain old regular Sudoku.

Here are the instructions for playing the 9x9 grid version of the game:

The puzzle always starts with some of the little squares filled in with whichever type of symbol is used. You complete the puzzle by filling the rest of the squares with symbols so the board ends up like this:

• each column has one of each symbol -- a column is 9 squares in a line between the top and bottom
• each row has one of each symbol -- a row is 9 squares in a line between the left and right
• each box has one of each symbol -- a box is a 3x3 square grid of 9 connected smaller squares, marked by the thicker lines
• You can’t have more than one of each symbol in any row, column, or box.

To play the puzzle given on this page, right-click it and select "Save Link As" to download, then print it and fill in the squares with a pencil.

If you want to turn it into a Foodoku or Moodoku puzzle:

• Print it enlarged enough to fill the width of the paper.
• Print the sheet of pictures (choose between healthy foods, desserts, or moods).
• Decide which picture will replace which number.
• Set up the board by covering each number with its corresponding picture.
• Now you can play!

Solving one Sudoku puzzle every morning keeps Marian patient while her computer is booting up. This is the one she did today. It's a regular Sudoku puzzle, but you can turn it into Foodoku or Moodoku if you replace each number with a picture from the picture sets:

• Foodoku food pieces - set A
• Foodoku food pieces - set B
• Moodoku mood pieces - set C

To download this puzzle, right-click on the picture of it and choose "Save Link As...".

If you do use the food or mood pieces, you'll have to print out the sudoku puzzle bigger than it is here -- make it fit the whole width of the page, and that should be the right size.

Is this puzzle too hard, too easy, or just right? Let us know in the comments!

Have fun!

Your friend, Spikey

Have you seen how much it's been snowing in some places these days? There's been enough snow to make a big snowman!

So it seems like a good time to bring out this colouring sheet that Marian found the other day when she was rummaging through her old drawings.

Click on the black-and-white picture to see a big copy of the colouring sheet. Then right-click on that and select "Save Image As..." to download it to your computer. You can print it out to colour it.

Now, you may think that you can't colour a snowman because snow is just white and so is the paper. Right?

But look again. Have you ever noticed how shadows on snow look blue?

Here's how you can make the shadows on the snowy parts: don't put blue everywhere, just near the edges where the shadows would be. There wouldn't be a shadow on the side that the light is coming from, just on the side away from the light, and also underneath. See how Marian made them in the second coloured picture? It's very light blue, just enough to make the snow look a little more like a ball.

And while you're at it, why not give the other colours some darker and lighter spots too? How about making the sky be a sunset instead of all blue? And how about giving the fox some black feet and ears and a white patch on its chest? That's what foxes look like, after all -- they're not just one colour. So why not get fancy with your colouring?

Have fun in the snow!

Your friend, Spikey

Here's another variation on the Japanese puzzle game, Sudoku. This one's called "Moodoku" and it's all about different moods! The puzzle pieces are cute little faces.

Which ones are happy? Which ones are sad? What do you think that green one with the leaves and flower is feeling?

Here's what you need to play the game:

• Moodoku "mood" pieces - set C
• Moodoku puzzle 4c
• Extra: a blank board so you can use any Sudoku puzzle as a template for a new Moodoku puzzle

These are all image files, so just save them to your computer, print them out, cut out the little face pieces, and follow the included instructions to play the game.

Don't forget to let us know what you think... and have fun!
Your friend, Spikey

Well, it was about time Marian got back to making some more stuff for you kids! (These grown-ups get so busy sometimes!) Here are some more Foodoku puzzles for you:

• Foodoku Puzzle 3a
• Foodoku Puzzle 3b

And for those of you who haven't yet downloaded the food pieces that go with the puzzles, here are the links again:

• Foodoku food pieces A
• Foodoku food pieces B

Have fun!

Your friend, Spikey

Hello kids! Spikey here. Marian just made a new download for you! It's a wari board and wari pieces to colour -- or you can print out the pre-coloured version if you want.

But... what is wari???

Well, it's Read the rest of this entry →