What to do – Day 1

1. Reading riddlesA riddle is a word puzzle. You have to think carefully and look for clues in the riddle to work out its ‘hidden’ answer.o Read each of the Riddles.o Were you able to figure them all out? Check with the Answers.

2. Writing riddles.What were your favourite riddles?o Copy out the riddles you liked most on My Favourite Riddles.o Learn them off by heart.o Try them out on your friends and family.o See if you can make up your own riddles!

3. Finding WordsYou can use the letters in the letter boxes to spell out lots of words.o Read the instructions on Square Spellings and see how many words

you can spell.

Riddles

I slither on the ground. I often scare people. I can bite. I hiss when I am frightened. Who am I?

What has a bottom right at the top?

What is so fragile that even whispering breaks it?

What has a face and two hands, but no arms or legs?

What has a thumb and four fingers but no arm?

What gets wetter the more it dries?

You can catch me, but you can’t throw me. What am I?

What is black and white and read all over?

I run right round a garden without moving. What am I?

There is a bungalow where everything is yellow. The carpets are yellow, the curtains are yellow, the sheets and the pillowcases are yellow. The cups and saucers are yellow, the toys are yellow, the walls are yellow. All the clothes are yellow and so are the chairs and the lampshades. What colour are the stairs?

You are driving a bus with 10 people on it. At the first stop 3 more people get on and no one gets off. At the next stop 4 people get on and 2 get off. At the next stop 7 people get on but 3 people get off. What is the name of the bus driver?

Riddle Answers

I slither on the ground. I often scare people. I can bite. I hiss when I am frightened. Who am I? A snake!

What has a bottom right at the top? Your legs!

What is so fragile that even whispering breaks it? Silence!

What has a face and two hands, but no arms or legs? A clock!

What has a thumb and four fingers but no arm? A glove!

What gets wetter the more it dries? A towel!

You can catch me, but you can’t throw me. What am I? A cold!

What is black and white and read all over? The page of a book!

I run right round a garden without moving. What am I? A fence or hedge!

There is a bungalow where everything is yellow. The carpets are yellow, the curtains are yellow, the sheets and the pillowcases are yellow. The cups and saucers are yellow, the toys are yellow, the walls are yellow. All the clothes are yellow and so are the chairs and the lampshades. What colour are the stairs? There are no stairs – it’s a bungalow!

You are driving a bus with 10 people on it. At the first stop 3 more people get on and no one gets off. At the next stop 4 people get on and 2 get off. At the next stop 7 people get on but 3 people get off. What is the name of the bus driver? It’s you! ‘You are driving a bus...’ says the first line.

My Favourite Riddles

Letter Boxes

c t o p

r a n i

d e s n

u m b a

Square Spellings

You are going to use the letters in the Letter Boxes for a spelling game.Either play with another person or play against Ian the Owl.

Game for two players1. Look at the letters. Choose 2 or more letters to make a word, e.g. cat.

c touches a and a touches t so you can have cat. You cannot have son because s does not touch o. Letters can go in any direction – forwards, backwards, upwards or down, just so

long as they are always touching in the right order.2. Take it in turns to make a word.3. Write the words you have made down on your Words sheet.

The loser is the first person not to be able to create a new word. So, the person who makes the last possible word is the winner!

4. Check Ian the Owl’s Words to discover words you could have made. You might have found others, as long as you both agree they are valid they can count!

Rules for playing against Ian the Owl 1. Look at the letters and choose 2 or more letters to make a word.

c touches a and a touches t so you can have cat. You could not have son, because s does not touch o. Letters can go in any direction – forwards, backwards,

upwards or down, just so long as they are always touching in the right order.

Ian the Owl has gone first and made 30 words.Can you make even more than him?

Make as many words as you can and then compare themwith Ian the Owl’s Words.

Rule The next-door letters in the word must touch by a side or a corner

Ian the Owl’s Words

Ian the Owl found 54 words

An, art, to, ta, car, ton, can, cat,

cart, dean, seat, sat, sea, tan, ran, rant, dear,

tone, tones, toner, toned, tread, act, dart, den, snot, not,

snare, carton, cartons, sad,dumb, mud, due, meat, men,

mean, meant, means, in, ban, bans,bases, pot, pin, pins, pint, pine, pined, nine,

nines, nip, nab, nabs

Words

What to do – Day 2

1. Reading magic spellsDo you know any magic spells?

o Read the Magic Spells. Have you heard any of them before?

2. Spelling spellsThe spell from Macbeth is made by three scary witches.o On The Three Witches, draw the witches around their cauldron (really,

a big cooking pot), and write out the spell.o How much of the spell can you learn off by heart?

3. Magic handsYou are now ready to plan some magic.o Draw round your hand and make a magic hand.o Make up a magic spell of your own in the style of Double, double...

Magic Spells

This slightly scary spell is from a famous play called Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare.

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fillet – a slice ** howlet – a small owlThe Three Witches

Abracadabra!

Alikazam!Kimota!

Shazam!

Expelliarmus!

Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo!

Double, double, toil and trouble;Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

Fillet* of a fenny snake,In the cauldron boil and bake;Eye of newt and toe of frog,

Wool of bat and tongue of dog,Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting,

Lizard's leg and howlet's** wing,For a charm of powerful trouble,Let the cauldron boil and bubble.

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My Magic Hand

Follow these instructions Draw round your hand On each finger something you would like to magically make happen!

But remember…

Write your own spell

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It will just happen once!

You can’t wish for anything permanent

It can’t hurt or harm someone else!

Now write your own spell in the style of Double Double…

What to do – Day 3

Magic WandsEvery good magician must have a wand.o Follow the instructions on Making a Magic Wand to create your very

own wand. o Swish your wand through the air.o Cry out your spell and add a magic command: Bring..., Make..., Give...,

Build..., Tidy..., etc.

Now try this Fun-Time Extra Be amazed! Watch the magic tricks at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uA7BxSrhjw4

Making a Magic Wand

What you will need:

Quite long, thick, straight twigs or sticks (twigs, chop sticks, old pencils or dowelling rods)

Newspaper torn up into small pieces White or neutral- coloured tissue paper PVA glue plus water or a nice sticky flour and water mix String and Paints

Instructions:1. Find a suitable twig or stick in your garden or at the park. It doesn’t need to be

completely straight – in fact, slightly twisted wands look the best. 2. Blend water with PVA glue (use a ratio of about 4 glue to 1 water) and dip your

newspaper pieces into the mix.3. Wrap the gluey paper sections around your stick until the whole thing is

covered. Do another layer after the first one so that the stick is thickly coated.4. If you want your wand to have a ‘bulb’ at one end, keep adding paper to this

part until it bulges out like a ball. 5. When you have the shape you really like, cover the whole stick with pieces of

gluey white tissue paper.6. Dip a piece of string in the glue and then wrap the gluey string around your

wand. You may need to add extra glue to hold it in place.7. Allow the stick to dry

completely.8. Paint your wand any colour

you like and let the paint dry.9. You are done.

Ready for making magic!

What to do – Day 4

1. Dictionaries and definitionsThere are about one hundred and seventy thousand words in the English language – how many of them do you think you know?!o Look at What’s My Meaning?o Follow the instructions.o Use a dictionary to find the correct meaning of each of the words in

yellow boxes.

2. Making a word meanings puzzleYou are going to make your own page of What’s My Meaning? word puzzles for someone else to try and solve.

o Read the instructions on Creating Your Own Word Puzzle.o Use the blank What’s My Meaning? page to write out your puzzle.

3. Making a word chainYou are going to make a chain of words.o Read the instructions on Word Chains.o Write your word chain out in the box.

Now try this Fun-Time Extra Go back to the page of What’s My Meaning? that you started with

earlier. Use the dictionary to find what the opposite (antonym) of each of the words in the yellow boxes is.

What’s My Meaning?

What to do: Read the word in the yellow box. Read the words in the boxes below and say which you

think it means. If you do not know the word, look it up in the dictionary.

Use a paper dictionary or go to https://kids.wordsmyth.net/we/ Highlight the word that is the closest in meaning. Check with the Answers. Look up any other words on the page that you don’t know the meaning of.

colossallose shout huge

coarseboat exclaim rough pony

valiantcheap hill brave relative

pursuefollow wallet girl rumble

waffledfought smelled fled chatted

astutedonkey statue cooking clever help

jettisonaeroplane child discard bridge drink

AnswersWhat’s My Meaning?

colossallose shout huge

coarseboat exclaim rough pony

valiantcheap hill brave relative

pursuefollow wallet girl rumble

waffledfought smelled fled chatted

astutedonkey statue cooking clever help

jettisonaeroplane child discard bridge drink

Creating Your Own Word Puzzle

You are going to make your own version of What’s My Meaning?

Use the blank puzzle page to write down all your words.

What to do: Open a book or a magazine at a random page.

Close your eyes and put your finger on the page.

Open your eyes again and find an unusual word near where your finger has landed. You may need to look around a bit till you find a funny or uncommon word.

Write this word carefully in the first yellow box.

Look the word up in the dictionary at https://kids.wordsmyth.net/we/ and put a word that means the same thing as it in one of the empty boxes underneath.

Fill out the remaining boxes with other words that mean different things.

Vary the position of your ‘right answer’ word so that people can’t just guess it because of where it is.

Repeat for all the other yellow boxes.

Give your puzzle to a relative or friend to try and solve. Can they do it without the dictionary?

What’s My Meaning?

Word Chains

What to do:1. Think of any word you like. If you get stuck for a ‘start’ word, chose one from What’s My Meaning? 2. Write your word in the yellow box below and look at the last letter of the word. 3. This letter will now be the first letter of your next word. Think of a word that begins with that letter. Write it after your word. 4. Now look at the last letter of that word and repeat. You are making a chain of words.

How many words can you make your chain out of? Can you avoid using the same word twice? Try including some funny and unusual words in your chain. You must look these words up in the dictionary so you know what they mean.

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