Cute/Fun activities to do with friends

Based off of all the bullshit I do with my friends.

• My best friend and I once made Pinterest boards for our ideal weddings and then compared.
• We also sometimes play puzzle games using one Xbox controller (She grabs the left side of the controller and I grab the right side and we have to function as one person).
• My friends and I frequently blast music and sing along to it while we cook or bake.
• My best friend and I are both artists so we created a game in which one of us draws a very detailed pair of eyes and the other person draws the rest of the face as horribly as possible to create a cursed/hilarious result.
• Face masks + virgin cocktails + Mario Kart = A damn good time
• For sleepovers we like to dig up awful wattpad fanfic and do a dramatic reading using horrible fake accents
• Listening to Russian Hard Bass while you play uno makes shit INTENSE
• Idk why but smash or pass using fictional characters is hella funny
• Sometimes my best friend and I will write down all the little things we think of when we see one another (songs, colors, flowers, etc. that we associate with each other) for three minutes then compare the results
• We also love to plan our future adventures together (budgeting, timing, what languages we need to learn, etc.) over coffee
• Hot chocolate + pajamas + board games = A fuggin party

In conclusion: I may be a depressed binch but I still know how to have a good time!!

I cannot believe a year has gone past already! It has been a privilege and honour to be your Activities Officer of the 2018/2019 Academic year.

My manifesto in 2018 focused on four main areas:

1. Improving the accessibility of sports and societies for students

2. Ensuring parity across sites and lobbying the university to extend opening hours at Wimbledon

3. Helping students understand how to create opportunities for themselves whilst at UAL and once they leave

4. Supporting students who run sports and societies

It has been an incredible yet challenging experience to see all of this and more come into fruition. Here are some of the projects I embarked on:

CURATING THE BIGGEST BLACK HISTORY MONTH PROGRAMME and BEYOND BLACK HISTORY MONTH

During what felt like a few minutes in my sabbatical role, one of the first projects I took on together with my incredible team was curating a series of events during Black History Month. This programme included a major exhibition at the Copeland gallery, several talks relating to fine art and fashion practice, Afrobeat dance classes, film screenings and self-care workshops.

This was very much possible with the support of the Dean of Students Mark Crawley!

After the Black History Month was over, we continued to curate other talks and events. Such included ‘’Elevating Our POC Voices’’ organised by Shannon Bono, the Women’s’ officer.

At LCF, we hosted Tolu Coker (Alumni) and Mariam Tijani (student at the time) to have a conversation about their fashion practices. It was well attended by current students and external foundation students who wanted to know about what it was like to study fashion at LCF and CSM.

The exhibition at Copeland Gallery was well attended and saw over 300 guests throughout its duration. Students were able to sell work through the show and establish new networks.

WIMBLEDON COLLEGE OF ART OPENING HOURS MADE EQUAL TO CHELSEA AND CAMBERWELL: LOBBYING FOR PARITY

As a Wimbledon Alumni, I was very aware of the frustrations students feel about the luck of consistency in areas such as opening hours and CLS in CCW. It was my mission to change the opening hours at Wimbledon. With your help, through statements and focus groups we were able to have conversations with the head of college at CCW to address this inconsistency.

The parity in opening hours across CCW does not end there! We seek for parity across all 6 colleges now! I have written a report which expresses the demand for equal opening hours across all 6 colleges. This will be used to lobby the university and implement the change we want to see.

BEHIND THE SCENES STUDIO VISITS: PARTNERSHIP WITH CREATIVE SHIFT AT CAREERS AND EMPLOYABILITY

Our courses do very well to invite external speakers and practicing artists throughout the year, which is beneficial to the student experience. However, we understand that these opportunities can create a space for artists to talk about the polished side of things and to delve into the difficulties and strategical ways to get around any obstacles, especially after graduation.

We partnered up with the Creative Shift team at Careers and Employability to organise a programme of visits to artists’ studios and companies. These small intimate groups created a space for an alternative way of learning and observing what goes on in the real art world.

We visited PR Agencies, sculptors, film makers, painters etc.

These visits have now been compiled with podcasts and other interviews to create a publication which will serve as a tool/guidance for recent graduates.

YOGA AND FOOD: A SERIES OF YOGA AND CREATIVE EVENTS AIMED AT BUILDING COMMUNITIES AND IMPROVING ENGAGEMENT AT CCW

Earlier during the first term we received a call to apply for funding to run a series of events relating to health and wellbeing. After a couple of brainstorming activities led by Claire Flannery, the Creative Activities team were able to secure the grant for the programme titled “Yoga and Food’’. This programme focused on community building in Camberwell, Chelsea and Wimbledon. Brilliantly delivered by the Arts Active Coordinator, Camille Koosyial, the Yoga and Food event engaged over 70 students and saw several collaborations happen between Arts Active, societies and MiAL artists. The Latino X society delivered a brilliant clay workshop, Lizzie Reid and Ella Banard delivered a watercolour pattern workshop and ArtsFems society delivered a homemade face masks workshop. These are only a few of the collaborations that happened.

The Yoga and Food events evidently made more students aware of not only Arts Active but other opportunities that Arts SU provided. Some students went on to attend the Behind the Scenes visits in June!

SUCCESS’ & BYE LAWS AND CONSTITUTION REVIEW FOR SPORTS AND SOCIETIES

Throughout the year, I have seen and approved several applications from students wanting to create new spaces and communities. There is literally something for everyone! If there isn’t, I challenge you to start a new society or sport next academic year. Some of the new societies we have had this year include Fail Better Society, Lingerie Society, UAL for All and Fashion Psychology.

This year, I introduced a Creative Activities newsletter which goes out to all students. It contains match results, events and other happenings within sports, societies and Arts Active. This was to help committees spot opportunities for collaboration with other societies but also celebrate achievements on a regular basis. We also introduced an equality, diversity and inclusion training for committee training attended by presidents, treasurers and other members of sports and societies.

I reviewed our Bye Laws and Constitution for Sports and Societies and approved them through Student Council. The changes are not weighty but were important for us to ensure a continuous and successful running of sports and societies at Arts SU.

Last but not the least, I had the opportunity to wear the UAL Women’s Basketball jersey one last time in a victorious varsity win. Go Arts!

PREPARATION FOR THE SECOND EDITION OF THE DECOLONISING THE CURRICULUM ZINE

The impact and distance the decolonising the curriculum zine has travelled so far is incredible and I believe it is only the beginning. My predecessor on this project, Hansika Jethnani, did an impeccable job to begin this work and it has been an important decision for me to play a part in not just helping people understand its purpose and message, but also using it as a tool to educate and lobby change. The Zine has toured all the colleges with the great work of Rahul Patel, Lucy Panesar, Gustavo Grandal Montero and many others. We are in the process of creating the next Zine!

SPECIAL THANKS TO THE CREATIVE ACTIVITIES TEAM

With all that said, I will like to make it clear that this work could not have been done without the support of students, Sophie Greaves, Vinesh Kurup, Camille Koosyial, Claire Flannery, Lotte Dawson, Katie Hughes, Sophie Risner, Sarah Choudhary Grant and the entire team at the Student Union. These people have supported me in ways you cannot imagine.

It has been an incredible and eye-opening journey and I am thankful for all of you!

Rise and #GRIND

Its time to wake up and do some of our favorite morning activities! Whats YOUR favorite morning activity? ☀️

Today marks the start of a special holiday for several of our friends! Today is the start of Lunar New Year! You may also know it as Chinese New Year, because it’s the first day of a new year in the Chinese lunar calendar! Because it follows the moon phases, it changes every year, but this year it starts today, February 1st, and ends on February 15. Kind of like the zodiac, years in the Chinese lunar calendar have animals - this year is the year of the tiger! I thought you might like to color some of the animals, too!

Lots of Asian countries celebrate Lunar New Year, so let’s learn what some countries do!

In China, people wear cheongsamorqipao,andeatfishanddumplingscalledbao!

In Korea, people wear colorful costumes called hanbok! They eat dumplings called mandu and rice cakes called ddeok!

In Vietnam, people wear silk tunics with pants - they call this áodài! They eat sticky rice cakes called bánh tét or bánh chung.

In several countries, people give children lucky red envelopes filled with money! ❣️❣️ Some of these have very fun designs, like animals that match the year and cartoon characters!

Happy Lunar New Year! Let’s wear red and gold for good luck, and make this year awesome!

Want to do something a bit different this half term? Head to The Minories Galleries, 74 High Street, Colchester - we’ve got an exhibition activity trail for the kids! While you’re here, pick up a Birds of a Feather submission form for all the family, and give designing a bird attractor or repeller a go over a nice cup of tea or coffee (and don’t forget cake!) in our cafe.

cutiecorner:

A ‘little’ (haha!) activity page I made for regressors! One version is transparent so you can easily change the colors, the other has a white background. If you use it tag me, I’d love to see! Here’s mine! Have fun!!

This looks so cute and fun!!

Looking for something new to try in Kandu? Add more cloud platforms to this Kandu to keep Gumdrop hopping higher and higher, then personalize it by adding to the scenery (birds, planes, rocket ships!). REMIX and then EDIT to get started. Happy Making!

Need help? Reach out by emailortweet#AskKandu. We’re here for you.

chandajaan:

Reminders to myself for future reference:

• Paint your mum a painting every year for her birthday
• Write letters not cards for birthdays
• Keep lots of children’s literature in your home for all the visiting kids (and let them keep them if they love it)
• All your guests should have their poloroids taken, and put on the fridge
• Couches face each other not the tv
• Do I need a tv? (Laptops and projectors work just fine)
• Get big jars for preserving lemons
• Wallpaper can go on the ceiling too!
• Books shouldn’t be empty (sticky notes and flowers need somewhere to go)
• Bookshelves should have board games, magazines, photos, ceramics and of course books.
• Ugly armchairs are investments
• Have paintings and art on the wall please
• That being said, have beautiful bowls and ceramics first, they’re both art, but you can’t eat off a canvas
• Leave notes around the house, and make sure to add a drawing to make it engaging
• Lots and lots of lamps and ambient lights, and make sure they’re warm toned
• Journaling makes you happy, stop forgetting that.
• Big calendars are helpful
• You like watercolour more than acrylic, but your better at acrylics (buy less acrylic)
• A physical hand written recipe book is useful, you hate most recipes you get online.
• Librarians are lovely people and they won’t be mad at you (just return the book)
• Read one book before buying two more
• You don’t actually like cereal that much
• You should have a rocking chair one day.

Things to entertain kids at home:

Ok so I’ve curated this list based on both my own experiences and that of other people, these may or may not be applicable depending on what they like and how old they are but it’s just some ideas to help whether you’re baby sitting or want to do something fun! I am not a parent myself however from things my own parents, my siblings and my experience with little ones these are my suggestions, but whatever works for you I think you’re doing awesome!!

• Make fairy houses; It doesn’t have to be mega fancy but you can get creative with this, fake moss and flowers, clay bake toad stools, make door signs, beds etc, then you can place these in the garden for when the ‘fairies’ visit
• Have an ‘archaeology’ dig, if you have a sand box use this as your base but if not fill a small paddling pool with some sand and then hide objects among the sand to dig up and examine, this can range from a tiara to ‘dinosaur bones,’ Give them a spade and a pastry brush and watch the wonders of tiny Indiana Jones
• Ok so this was game me, my cousin and my sisters used to play at my grandmas when we were little but it’s great because it teaches kids about different words but also different categories of knowledge. So we’d take an A4 sheet of paper and write the alphabet along the portrait side of it, we’d then make a table with categories at the top ranging from animals to names and we’d have to go through each letter of the alphabet and think of something in these categories that started with the same letter, the person who could think of the most things or the most letters in a word would win a point and the person with the most points was the winner
• Create a mini ocean; Fill a large plastic box with clean fresh water and some skin safe blue food colouring and place somewhere that you don’t mind getting wet, in the water place plastic sea creatures, fake sea plants, some rocks at the bottom and even some sand. Add on the side of the box some extras like boats and a some small people so that they can create their own adventures.
• Colour in a giant colouring picture; Set it in the centre of the floor or on your dining table, make sure to put a protector underneath to prevent any ink bleed and layout some non toxic felt tip pens and colouring pencils
• Bake and decorate sugar cookies; These are great to fuel the imagination, lay out a decorating station with sprinkles, icing and edible paper decorations and let the fun begin
• Hide an object and let them scavenge to find it, if you hide it well this will make for a lot of fun and if you hide multiple items this can be an exciting treasure hunt
• A magic show; Find a kids magic trick video on YouTube for them to perform, then let them make their own show with costumes, sound effects and curtain reveals
• Tik tok dances; Learn and dance to a family tik tok dance, if you’re babysitting you can film it and keep it as something fun for their parents to have
• Finger painting, get a few large sheets of paper, some non toxic paints and some old or easily washable clothes, go outside and go wild
• Make houses and rooms for toys from shoe boxes; I did this all the time as a kid and all it takes is some toy accessories, some glue to stack and stick the boxes together to make a doll house and some scraps of fabric, magazine cut outs and pens to decorate
• Origami; Get a book of folding paper and hit YouTube, I made a rose with mine
• Fashion shows; Let the kids wear whatever they like, fancy dress, their own clothes, a bin bag toga, whatever! Create a runway space and put on some music and let them do the rest!
• Paint and build animal habitats; whether it’s a bird house, a hedgehog hide away or a bees nook this will not only teach kids how to care for their environment and local wildlife but also provide hours of fun, even better when you can see some critter visitors
• Decorate plant pots then Plant herbs, flowers and vegetables in the garden; buy plain large or medium plant pots, some brushes and waterproof paints and let the kids paint a pot each for the bedding plants and then help them to plant them. A creative and sustainable way to entertain kids while helping the environment.
• Create a den, gather duvets, sheets, cushions, blankets, pillows and Fairylights and make a cosy den to play, read and watch movies
• Make themed baths; this can range from space to mermaid cove, invest in a mood lamp, fun baths toys and skin sensitive bath bombs, depending on the theme you can personalise this eg for jungle themed, suspend plastic Ivy and vines around the walls and the bath, place plastic jungle animals in the bath and around the tub, plunge a green swampy bath bomb into the bath, use a green mood lighting and playing some jungle ambience music to set the scene
• Decorate masks, you can buy these from any craft shop, buy some paints, feathers, glitter, beads etc and enjoy!
• Make Halloween/Christmas decorations; This can range from making bat bunting to painting baubles to making Christmas paper chains, get some ideas from Pinterest and go from there. Paper chains are a great thing to do for any event as on each scrap of paper you can draw pictures and be creative
• Have a karaoke night with ‘microphones’ these can literally be wooden spoons or hair brushes, add in some sunglasses and a fancy scarf and you’ve got a mini X factor in your house
• A teddy bears picnic, this can be inside or outside depending on the weather, you and each of the kids can bring one cuddly toy to the picnic as their guest to share lunch/dinner/whatever meal with, this is even better if you voice talk the stuffed animals to make it more fun
• Make finger puppets and have a puppet show, whether you make a stage or not is up to you but I’m a big believer in that a piece of A4 paper, some glue and a few felt pens can bring so much fun
• Obstacle course; set it up throughout the house or garden with string ‘lazer’ beams, cushion stepping stones along the ‘lava canyon,’ the mop handle limbo pole and the dreaded skipping rope on the floor tightrope
• Makeover; Grab some cheap makeup and nail vanishes and let them make you into a super model
• Hair dressers; Again let them play with and style your hair, provide clips and hair ties and voila, even if you have short hair it still works!
• Slip and slide; Roll out a carpet protector in the garden or in your hallway, cover it in fairy liquid, get the kids in their bathing suits and enjoy the at home water park
• Water fight; Get some cheap water pistols, go out into the garden or the front of the building and go for your life!
• Paddling pool; Self explanatory fun!
• Garden/house camping; Set up a tent in the garden or the living room, put some sleeping bags and blankets etc in there with some fairy lights, roast marshmallows and pretend you’re out in the wild wilderness of the world
• Ball games; Football, basketball, netball, whatever it is it’s a great way to have fun in a larger group
• Play do; No need to explain this one
• Indoor mini garden; Get a box and fill it with soil, give the kids some rocks, twigs, fake plants and flowers and let them go wild
• Get some old (appropriate) magazines, some newspapers, glue, stickers, felt pens, a sheet of A2 paper and some paper letters, and let the kids express who their art in collage
• Movie marathons; Disney plus is a recommended purchase! Alongside some popcorn of course
• Simple YouTube crafts; watch the videos and make some cool stuff
• Paint water colour pictures; Less mess and less stress if you buy palettes
• Watch and follow drawing tutorials, it’s great to see what you come up with in the end and when you’re finished colour them in!
• The finding game; Keep a score sheet on paper and ask the kids to find things like the biggest stick in the garden, the smelliest sock and the largest stone, whoever gets the most points wins

Im sure there are loads more things I haven’t mentioned but basically just come up with whatever you think will be fun and safe for the kids to enjoy, sometimes the best things are in our own homes and they don’t need to be at any fancy places or using any fancy tech, just simple stuff used in the right way can be effective