AimsTo help Penguins make good use of their leisure time by encouraging them to take up a range of interesting and enjoyable hobbies.

ObjectivesPenguins should be able to:

Creative

• make simple objects out of playdough or clay • make prints using a variety of objects • create an attractive picture or design through painting or marbling • make a collage out of different materials.

Performing

• be aware of the main types of music and the instruments which are used for each • make their own simple musical instruments • understand that there are a different kinds of dance and express themselves through dance • plan and take part in a short dramatic presentation.

Outdoor hobbies

• know what is involved when cycling on roads • understand in simple terms the basics of photography • take an interest in what they can see when walking in the country or in town • make and fly a simple kite.

Indoor hobbies

• develop an interest in collecting and in organising their collections • make an imaginative model • make a simple puppet and participate in a puppet show • make a simple handicraft item out of fabric, wool or paper.

The objectives listed above indicate the options available. Two objectives per section need to be met to complete the hobbies badge.

Hobbies

Penguin

Hobbies Penguin

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CreativeModellingMake playdough, salt dough or cornflour clay.

The Penguins will probably have plenty of ideas as to what they can make with their dough or clay. Or, try some of these:

• Dough Christmas ornaments • Robot play dough • 30 salt dough crafts • Create a self service dough area, and encourage

Penguins to follow the recipe and make their own. Include things like glitter, spices and essences or essential oils so that they can personalise it.

PrintingThe secret of making a good print is to have the paint the right thickness (You can make your own paint, or buy it at $2 shops etc). You may need to experiment with this, using flour as a thickener and water as a thinner. Use thick non-shiny paper. Putting a thick wad of newspaper under the paper helps to get a clear print. It makes a change sometimes to use black paper and print in white or light colours.

The Penguins can use a brush to put the paint on the object they want to print with or they can dip the object into the paint. It may be easier to use a piece of thick cloth, sponge or foam rubber to apply the paint. It is also handy to have somewhere to dry the prints. It is best to dry them flat but if you don’t have the space, you could rig up a string dying line and hang them up with clothes pegs.

As to what the Penguins can use to print with, the choice is almost limitless:

• For patterning and different textures, you could use cotton reels, the end of a cardboard tube, a thimble, straw, balloons, pegs, pieces of polystyrene packing, pasta, corrugated card, or combs.

• This idea works well with cardboard or styrofoam. • Try cotton bud prints, Leaf prints, block

printing and bubble wrap printing • Take in large sheets of paper and get the

Penguins to make their own printed wrapping paper, or with smaller pieces of card they could make Christmas/Easter/birthday cards.

Painting and marblingPainting You can make your own paint, or buy it at $2 shops. Paint can be given an interesting texture by adding sand or glitter. Try painting on different kinds of paper: smooth, rough, coloured, shiny, or use other kinds of ‘brushes’: pieces of foam sponge, pipe cleaners, old toothbrushes, dish mops. Polystyrene dishes and old yoghurt pots make good containers for mixing paint, and recycled egg containers are good for putting different colours into while Penguins are painting.

Marbling There are a number of different ways to marble paper, depending on the materials you have at hand. Marbling is a good technique for making wrapping paper or gift tags.

Activities • Talk about colour mixing. Do the Penguins know

that the full range of colours can be made from just red, yellow, blue, black and white? Let them experiment.

• Try to marble a picture frame, using nail polish, or make a marbled paperweight, or marbled jewellery

• Paint with straws, bubbles, salt, chalk, or ice.

CollageMaterials You will need to collect lots of different materials: scraps of material of all types, wool, wallpaper, straws, cotton wool, tissue paper, silver foil, egg boxes, corrugated etc. are just some of the things that could be useful. Use either non-toxic glue or wallpaper paste.

Different kinds of collage Collages create a raised surface image, and can be made by gluing found materials onto a surface.

• Make curls of paper by wrapping a strip of paper around a pencil and then pulling it off gently.

• Read a picture book by Eric Carle, like The Hungry Caterpillar, and make tissue paper collage

• Use contact paper and wool to create a collage image

• Make collages around a theme or a person, using found materials collected by the Penguins.

• Make marionette puppets with collage paper • Collect items from nature and collage a simple

suncatcher.

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The performing artsEnjoying the performing arts doesn’t have to be about performance. Remind Penguins that the performing arts are a way of expressing feelings, giving information and telling stories, and can be an enjoyable individual pursuit too.

DramaDrama can be an single narrative, or extensive dialogue. For group drama to work, Penguins need to feel comfortable enough with the rest of the group to take a few risks. The team building and trust exercises below are a good way to foster creativity and confidence.

Activities • Collect old clothes, hats and scarves and have a

costume basket that Penguins can select from if they are telling a dramatic story. You could have a similar one with a collection of different objects to use for props.

• Use this list as prompts for charades, or mime. “Perform” individually or in pairs, and see if the other Penguins can guess what they are doing.

• Play drama games that help with team building and creativity.

• Make puppets (see below) or masks, and create characters. Get the Penguins to describe their characters – what they are like, where they live, etc.

• Act out a story. Try the Maui legends, by Peter Gossage, Where the Wild Things are, by Maurice Sendak, or Caterwaul Caper, by Lynley Dodd.

• Have a make believe night. Choose a theme, and invite penguins to dress up and play games. Suggested themes are:

- A pirate night – make a ship out of cardboard boxes, choose a pirate name, hunt for treasure, act out the story of Pirate girl, by Cornelia Funke.

- Astronauts – create jet packs, helmets and boots, then make a star torch, repair your aircraft, and blast off! Penguins can act out the jourmey, then floating and jumping in zero gravity. They can explore the moon, or mars, and maybe even try some mars soil to eat.

• Go to a local dramatic production together, or invite a high school drama group in to perform something for/with the penguins.

PuppetryProvide plenty of material for the Penguins to show their creativity. Cereal packets, tubes, brightly coloured material, old socks, old gloves, and envelopes can all become puppets. You will also need lots of glue and sellotape.

Activities • Make felt finger puppets to act out a fairytale or

other story • Make shadow puppets, or use your hands, and

perform behind a sheet • Use recycled socks, cardboard and rubber gloves

for this selection of fun puppets.

MusicThere are so many different types of music that you and the Penguins can introduce each other to. Talk to the Penguins about the appropriateness of the music they share with the group, and be open to listening to it before it is shared more widely.

Activities • Let Penguins bring in music that they love. You

could listen to a couple of songs a session, and maybe create a penguin playlist to share with other Penguin groups around the country.

• Begin by looking at rhythm. Make rhythm sticks, from wood, rolled up magazines or cardboard tubes. Experiment with using rhythm, beat and movement.

• Learn E Papā Wairari, so the penguins can showcase what they have learnt.

• Try the Cup song with the Penguins, or a Samoan sasa.

• Make tin can drums, or a rainstick • Explore pitch and volume. Make musical

instruments, and practice making sounds that are soft or loud, high or low, and at different speeds.

• Sing together. Choose songs from a Spotify playlist, learn a waiata, or a song in a Pasifika language.

• If you can play an instrument, take it in to demonstrate to the Penguins. Or there may be a Penguin or a parent who would be prepared to do

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this. If not, ask a musician to come and perform, and to talk about his/her instrument.

DanceDancing is a way of expressing moods and feelings which is as old as human beings themselves. There are several kinds of dancing which young people learn to do.

Activities • Talk about the different kind of dancing the

Penguins learn, do or enjoy. Can anybody demonstrate some dance steps? Try some of these games and steps with the Penguins:

- Hip hop games - Using movement cards - Warm up games - Three dances from around the world

• Teach the Penguins how to make poi, and learn a simple poi action song.

• Play different kinds of music and ask the Penguins to dance to it, in whatever style they want. Try to find music that has a particular mood, e.g. quiet, dreamy, noisy, jerky, or that creates an atmosphere, e.g. pouring rain, walk in the woods.

HobbiesIt would be impossible to cover every hobby here, so these are a few ideas that can be achieved in a Penguin session, and use materials that are easy to find. Let your Penguins guide this badge. A lot of them will have hobbies established in their lives already, and you could have sessions with them showing leadership, and teaching others.

Kite making and flyingIt is best to fly your kite on raised ground, away from trees and power lines. Start by unwinding a few metres of your flying cord and then run into the wind until the kite is carried into the air. Stand up with your back to the wind and unwind the cord whenever the kite is taken up by a gust of wind. Wind it in as soon as the kite drops.

Activities • Start with very basic paper kites and then move

onto something more difficult:

- Japanese Carp Kite - Goldfish kites for Chinese new year - A simple bird kite - Make a kite from a plastic bag

• Read The Seven Kites of Matariki, by Calico McClintok and Dominique Ford. Penguins can make their own Matariki manu taratahi from materials found in nature or household items.

Making modelsTry to collect as many household materials as you can for the model-making session: cereal packets, shoe boxes, scraps of material and wool, food containers of various kinds, pipe cleaners, toilet roll tubes, etc.

Activities • Create a cardboard construction set, out of tubes

or flat cardboard pieces. • Make egg carton vehicles or animals. • The possibilities are almost endless:

- A house, and the furniture to go in it - A garage - A labyrinth marble game - A puppet theatre - A box city

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• Suggest the Penguins bring in a bag of LEGO bricks or similar. Working in pairs, what can they make within the session? Try these LEGO challenge cards for ideas.

• Look for ways to relate what the Penguins make to other Penguin topics, e.g. can they make a model of a safe playground (safety Penguin), a flower or vegetable garden (resourceful Penguin)?

• Encourage the Penguins to write or draw instructions for other people to make the same models as they have made. They will need to list the materials they have used and then give step by step guidance. What about putting these into a booklet, to be used by other Penguins in the future?

• Divide the Penguins into groups. Give each group a pile of household material. Prepare cards, each with the name of something, e.g. castle, spaceship. Give one card to each group. Which is the first group to produce a model?

HandcraftsThere are many different handcrafts penguins can be interested in. This would be a great opportunity to visit a rest home or retirement village for tutorials from older residents, or to make crafts that can be used by a playcenter or plunket playgroup or given to children in hospital.

Activities • Try simple stitching with this tutorial • Make a no sew pouch for keeping collected

treasures safe, a no sew bookmark, or an art pouch

• Use wool for a Finger knitting octopus or bunny, or for crafts using pom poms.

• Create puzzles – from craft sticks, a coffee tin, or wood.

• Use beads and fabric to create necklaces, a bowl, a wind chime.

• This hopscotch mat would be a great donation to a local kids hospital playroom.

• Younger children will love playing with this magnetic fish game, fabric memory game, or this bead game.

• Craft with wood, by making house blocks, a play tent, or this xylophone.

• Read the tikanga associated with harvesting and using harakeke, and then try some weaving with the Penguins. Begin with basic nature weaving, and then try an ika (fish) or putiputi (flower).15

Respect, value and support what others contribute.

What this looks like:

• Doing our best to be our best • Looking after each other • Valuing the contribution of others • Embracing diversity of views and ideas • Being inclusive and collaborative • Working together to learn and share

knowledge, resources and successes • Acknowledging that we can achieve

more when we’re united • Valuing each other and enjoying working

together • Actively helping and supporting people

without needing to be asked, creating an environment for others to succeed.

Tū Tahi

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