Category: OTHER STUFF

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Family Fun

There are loads of things to do online for families at the moment.  We’ve had a lot of fun putting together a list of some of our favourites you can enjoy as a family – no matter what age you are.

Harry Potter

Love Harry Potter? Love an Escape Room? Well, you will love this virtual Harry Potter escape room from the amazing Ms Sydney at Peters Township Public Library in Pennsylvania

Harry Potter Escape Room fun

If that wasn’t enough Harry Potter fun, then how about ‘Harry Potter from home’ from the official Wizarding World website. There’s so much to do, but our favourite is finding out our Hogwarts House (fun fact – many library staff are Ravenclaws, famed for our wit, learning and wisdom).

Disney

If you love a bit of Disney and always wanted to be a Disney Imagineer, then this amazing online tool lets you create and build from home

Love to draw? Want to learn from an expert? Then head over to the Disney Parks – How to Draw Series where Heather Worley from Animation Academy at Disney’s Hollywood Studios will show you how to draw Stitch, Winnie the Pooh, Anna, Minnie Mouse, and many more

Scottish Book Trust

Little people love books and singing. Why not download the Bookbug app from the Scottish Book Trust and enjoy a lovely at home Bookbug session.

Calling all 11 – 18 year old budding writers – if you can write in Scots, then this is for you. The Scottish Book Trust have a Scots story competition running until Wednesday 24th June with the theme of Til a’ the seas gang dry. Head over to the Scottish Book Trust website for more information (in English and in Scots). As they say themselves:

We are invitin aw young fowk aged 11 – 18 tae tak pairt in a braw new competition tae scrieve a poem, a story, a play or a sang in the Scots leid. The theme for this year’s competition is Til a’ the seas gang dry.

Scrieve a poem, a story, a play or sang under 200 words, an ane page comic or a video of you telling a story in three minutes or less on the theme by Wednesday 24th June.

David Walliams

David Walliams is an amazingly popular author and his website has a lot of fun activities – from quizzes, to spot the difference, to how to make your own Spitfire!

The Bairns are everywhere!

Finally, Falkirk’s own Jim Barker has been creating some fantastic colour ins for the Bairns!

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Do you do doodles?

Whether you’re a budding artist or you just like drawing stick figures in the margins, you’ll find tons of doodling fun below, from children’s book illustrators and more.

We’ll keep adding to this list, so check back! We’ll add a NEW to any additions to the page!

Ed Vere

Artist Ed Vere is posting easy ‘how to draw’ videos on his website every Wednesday and Friday at 10am GMT.

Sarah McIntyre

Illustrator Sarah McIntyer is known for some of the funniest kids books out there! Head to her You Tube playlist for a a whole bunch of tutorials.

Mo Willems at the Kennedy Centre

For three weeks, every lunchtime, Kennedy Centre Artist-in-Residence Mo Willems doodled! Find out more about the project here: https://www.kennedy-center.org/education/mo-willems/

Watch all episodes below:

Booktrust at Home

A hive of reading, writing and drawing activities. Check out their You Tube Drawing playlist below! Ed Vere features here too.

Art for Kids Hub

This family You Tube channel has enough drawing tutorials to keep you occupied for months!

Found any more? Let us know in the comments below!

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Online reading for adults

Sometimes we want to bury ourselves deep in a book.  If so, head over to our free ebook , eaudiobook and emagazine service to hunt for your next read.  Other times we want others to tempt us towards something new and different.  These videos are all tantalising glimpses of your next possible read.  Settle down and be tempted …

A Shakespeare sonnet read each day by Patrick Stewart has been one of the joys of the past few weeks

 Shakespearean sonnets beautifully read by Patrick Stewart

Beautiful scenery and some lovely reading of Marram : Memories of sea and spider silk by the author, Leonie Charlton

Marram by Leonie Charlton

Author Rachel Ward reading from The cost of living – one of our recommended ebooks on RB Digital

Jarvis Cocker’s calming tones are perfect for bedtime. Track his Bedtime Stories on YouTube and IGTV.

Neil Gaiman reads beautifully – enjoy one of his stories from Norse Mythology here

Neil Gaiman reading from Norse Mythology
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Sunday Storytime

We’ve had a lot of fun tracking down some amazing stories read for you online.  Authors and celebs are getting in on the act of sharing the joy of children’s books and we are here to make sure you know about them. Books shared are for a wide range of ages, from the tiddliest tot, to teens (and older!)

Giraffes can’t dance by Giles Andrae, illustrated by Guy Parker-Rees is an absolute classic that we all love.  Share the jiggling, giggling, dancing fun with your little person, read by Brie Larsen on Facebook

When I grow up by Al Yankovic, illustrated by Wes Hargis was a new book for me, but watching ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic read this beautiful book certainly put a smile on my face

Arnie the doughnut by  Laurie Keller by is a very silly and very funny book.  Enjoy Chris O’ Dowd reading this delicious treat

Story Time From Space is exactly as brilliant as it sounds.  Astronauts on board the International Space Station read fabulous story books to children.   A fantastic selection of books and astronauts, including Tim Peake, are involved.  Most are in English, but there’s one reading in Spanish and another in Japanese.  One of my favourite websites

Benji Davies reading his own books, The storm whale, and The Grotlyn is really lovely. Especially with a little help from Esther

J K Rowling reading from her books is a bit of a treat. Here she is reading from Harry Potter and the philosopher’s stone (Harry Potter and the sorcerer’s stone in the US)

We all love the How to train your dragon series. Here is author and illustrator Cressida Cowell reading the Prologue and Chapter 1 of How to train your dragon, the first book in the brilliant series

And finally, the very talented David Walliams is sharing himself reading from several of his short stories on his website

David Walliams shares some fantastic stories each week