Author Archive: The Martin

A Giant Snowflake

15 December 2018

Have you ever tried to freeze water? I did and the water became ice. So I would have thought that when rain freezes it turn into tiny pieces of ice, but according to these pictures the snow has patterns! We rarely get snow in London, so I was really amazed to see this! And it left me wondering what makes water to freeze in this way? Maybe in science lessons we will learn this. These pictures were taken by a photographer called Alexey Kljatov.

Macro photos of snowflakes by Alexey Kljatov

Amazing Stuff, Science for Children

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Shard building

12 December 2018

Shard is the tallest building in London, it has 95 floors. I have never been inside it, only saw it from outside. It looks very futuristic, especially in comparison to old buildings around it, but I am not sure I like because it looks unfinished on the top. Shard means a piece of broken glass with sharp edges. It will be interesting to know how the architect came up with this idea. And why? Here is a picture I took. 

Shard Building in London
View of Shard building in London

Kids Travel - Children's Trips

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Karate cats

14 October 2018

Have you even seen karate cats? I just have!  Japanese photographer Hisakata Hiroyuki took photos of cats during their fights. It really looks like they know some ninja moves. So COOL! I practice karate for two years now, but I am not as good as these cats yet. I think I need to spy my grandma’s cat 😊. The most interesting thing for me is how the photographer captured their movement in the perfect shots. When I do photos of the moving objects, they come out blurry. Can you share any photography tips?

thrust kick cathandstand catnife hand block2karate catscaredy cat

Amazing Stuff

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DIGITAL LEADER

1 October 2018

A few days ago, I did a post about my Scratch game (click here to see it). Well, the reason I developed that particular game is for my application for a Digital Leader position at school.

A Digital Leader position is something new in our school. It is actually a job (unpaid unfortunately) for children in Year 5 and 6. But fortunately, a Digital Leader can do a lot of exciting things like helping teachers with IT (Information Technology) lessons, running parent workshop and helping kids with IT problems. I had to apply for this job and explain why I will be a good Digital Leader, and looks like I did well because I got the JOB!!! HOORAY!

I will now be going to regular training sessions with my IT teacher and will even go to a Technology Fair at the end of the year. I will also be given a badge, so that the school knows who is the ‘Go To’ person for all things related to Computing. Let me know if you have any questions about programming!                                                                                                                 

Does your school have Digital Leaders?
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School Stuff

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My Scratch Game

30 September 2018

About two years ago we started having programming lessons in school. That’s is how I found out about Scratch. I spent extra time at home practicing and learning about Scratch, and became good at it. I do enjoy programming in Scratch because it is easy to work with, more like a little puzzle. It is not a real programming language, but a good fun for kids like me. I made this game as part of my application to become school’s Digital Leader job. (click here to find out about Digital Leaders). You can play my game here.

Have you ever used Scratch?
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School Stuff, Science for Children

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Egypt map homework

11 May 2018

In my school we get homework once a week, every week. But we also get something called Monthly Homework. These are more creative tasks and so we get the whole month to plan and do it. I thought you might like to see what things I have been working on.
Here is something that I created when we were studying Ancient Egypt. It is a 3D map of river Nile, actually just the delta of Nile – where the river spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. I guess you can figure out that the orange is dry sandy land, blue is water and green is the fertile agricultural land. I first created pyramids from think paper and glued them to cardboard. To create the 3D surface, I soaked tissue in liquid glue, squashed it and placed it on the cardboard as well. The whole thing was drying for at least 2 days, after which I was able to paint it. I wish sand dunes were bigger but I doubt the glue would have ever dried if there were any more tissues.

Egypt map
River Nile map

Children's Art, School Stuff

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Little Venice

14 March 2018

Have you ever been to Venice? No, I don’t mean the Venice in Italy, I mean little Venice right in the heart of London. There is an area in London that has a lot of canals and is called Little Venice, because is it sort of a replica of the real Venice. I have never been to the real one, but I can imagine it now. One weird thing about the Little Venice is all those boats where people LIVE all year around. London is not as warm as Italy, so I still cannot figure out how they survive inside. Can you imagine leaving in a boat 24 / 7, the whole year – sleeping, taking shower, cooking and eating inside little floating piece of metal? Hmm…

canal in LondonCanal boats in LondonLittle Venice in London

Forest - Parks - Beach - Playgrounds, Kids Travel - Children's Trips

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Stringo

11 February 2018

For my monthly home work this time we were asked to create a new musical instrument. The teacher said we should be able to change the pitch and volume of the sound. So after some research I came up with this design. Let me introduce you to THE STRINGO! The best homemade musical instrument designed and build by The Martin 😊

 I used a shoe box (cut our a hole in the centre), two wooden sticks and several rubber strings.Plus sticky paper to decorate the box.

To change the pitch you have to move the wooden sticks outwards or inwards, and to change the volume you simply have to hit the strings hard. Simple! And sounds like real music!

Handmade musical instrument
Handmade musical instrument – The Stringo

Children's Toys, School Stuff

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Christmas Festival in Rochester

14 December 2017

Every year in December we go to a small English town called Rochester. The people of the town celebrate the life and work of Charles Dickens who is a well-known writer of Victorian times, author of the Oliver Twist book. Apparently, many of his stories are base in and around that area and he was getting inspired by people living in the town at the time.

The festival is very unusual and always puts me in a Christmas mood. There are carols, market stalls, street performances, lantern parades and even a snowfall! The snow is guaranteed every year – because it is artificially made of foam (I figured it out a long time ago!). But the most interesting things are the people! The whole town dresses up in costumes, pretending to be characters of Dickens’ stories, some are even scary! I don’t recognise most of them, I guess I should start reading more 😊 Do you recognize any?

Parade at Rochester
Parade at Rochester

Kids Travel - Children's Trips

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Sushi Samba in London

14 September 2017

What is the highest floor you have even been on? In London we don’t have too many high-rise buildings, so when I went to 39th Floor of Sushi Samba restaurant – it felt really high. The view after sunset was very magical – lots of lights as far as I can see. I have seen London from the top a few times, but during the day the view is not as dramatic as at night. The sushi I had were nice, I liked the view much more!!!

Kids Travel - Children's Trips

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