The Express Tribune hi five - June 7

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Your Proofness: Dilaira Dubash Master Storyteller: Hurmat Majid Creativity Analysts: Jamal Khurshid, Essa Malik, Talha Ahmed Khan, Omer Asim, Mohsin Alam, Aamir Khan, Eesha Azam, Maryam Rashid, Hira Fareed and Umar Waqas

Indoor summer fun PAGE 2-3

The story of ladybugs PAGE 4

Under the sea PAGE 6

Rainbow ice lollies PAGE 8

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, JUNE 7, 2015

Hi light

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Summer has begun and so have summer vacations, but with the sun shining bright it becomes nearly impossible to go outside during the day. Even when you’re indoors there is so much more you can do than spend the day lazing about in front of the TV or whining about how you can’t have any fun. This week we have brought you some summer activities to brighten up your days indoors.

Reading is a great way to kill boredom. Many people call it the cheapest way to go on vacation. What makes reading more fun is when you do it with your friends. This summer form, a book club with three or four friends. The rules of the club are simple — everyone has to bring at least one book that they have already read. Everyone reads the same book and finishes it by the next meeting which is set at least a week later. Everyone marks out their favourite parts of the books as they read and then at the next meeting the book is discussed and the next book to be read is decided. By having a readers club you get a chance to share the experience of reading with your closest friends and find out about new books and genres.

Here’s a basic reading list your club could start with: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe The Land of Stories and Wishing Spells Matilda Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief The Diary of a Wimpy Kid Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Everyone likes to create something or the other with Play Doh from time to time, the problem is, eventually those sculptures get destroyed, either because of dust or they lose their shape because of heat. Polymer clay, however, has solved this problem. It is made of a material which has a texture similar to Play Doh, only that it hardens when baked in the oven or left to air dry. This way your mini sculptures stay the way they are forever. Polymer clay mini sculptures are cute and creative, they provide you with the perfect activity for a lazy sunny afternoon. Here are a few tips to start sculpting with polymer clay: Start with easy things to make, that don’t need too many colours or fine details.

The clay is hard; you’ll have to take a while to knead the piece you are planning to work with to make it soft and pliable.

You can mix together two colours to create a third but that takes a lot of effort. Ask an adult to help you knead two colours together.

If you plan to let your sculpture air dry, set it somewhere it would not be disturbed and leave it for 48 hours. Do not touch the sculpture during that time so that it has the time to dry out and harden.

If you’re planning to bake your sculpture to harden it faster, make sure you do it at 102oC for ten minutes, under adult supervision.

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, JUNE 7, 2015

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Holding a puppet show for your family and friends is a great idea. It’s fun, it’s creative and it showcases your storytelling abilities. If you like to tell tales and have that knack of developing characters and doing different voices, then this indoor activity is definitely for you. The best part is you don’t even need too many supplies to prepare a mini puppet theater. You can involve your siblings and friends in the show; the more the merrier.

Material: • Small cardboard box • Thick string • Scissors • Decorative paper napkin

• • • •

Hi light

Paint Paintbrushes Coloured long sock Buttons 2

Directions: Cut a hole the desired size on the side of the box. This is where the puppets will perform.

Paint and decorate the box just the way you like it.

Attach a length of string inside the box with duct tape.

Cut your paper napkin in two and drape halves over the string.

To make sock puppets, wear a clean long sock on your hand, then mark the place where the eyes should be.

Take the sock off and glue or sew two buttons at the places you marked for the eyes.

You can add a nose or hair to your sock puppet to make it fancier.

What’s better than to tap out your artistic abilities during hot summer days? Be it drawing sketching or painting, creating art is a very rewarding and satisfying activity.

Fabric painting is an easy way to start exploring your creative abilities and once you learn the basics you could move on to other more complex forms of painting. Here’s a really fun way to start experimenting with fabric paint.

Amp up your old tee Material: • An old plain tee-shirt • Fabric paints • Paint brushes Directions: Place your old tee on a flat surface and mark the place where you want your painted design to go.

If you want you can trace the outline of the design on the tee or you could paint free hand, creating the design as you go.

Make sure you place a piece of cardboard or a few newspapers flat inside the shirt before you start painting so that the wet paint does not seep to the other side.

When you’re done let the paint dry. Once the paint has dried turn the tee inside out and iron it to fix the colours of the paint.

What would you like to see in Hi Five? Send an email to hifive@tribune.com.pk and let us know!

Design by Eesha Azam

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, JUNE 7, 2015

4 Q. Where did the school kittens go for their field trip?

A. To the mewseum.

Q. What rains at the north pole?

A. Reindeers

Q. What kind of dog likes baths?

A. A Shampoodle

Fun Facts about the Sun Because of the Sun’s huge influence on Earth, many early cultures saw the Sun as a deity or god. For example, Ancient Egyptians had a sun god called Ra while in Aztec mythology there is a sun god named Tonatiuh.

Around 74% of the Sun’s mass is made up of hydrogen. Helium makes up around 24% while heavier elements such as oxygen, carbon, iron and neon make up the remaining percentage.

The Sun’s surface temperature is around 5500 OC. The average distance from the Sun to the Earth is around 150 million kilometers.

The Sun produces a solar wind which contains charged particles such as electrons and protons. They escape the Sun’s intense gravity because of their high kinetic energy and the high temperature of the Sun’s corona, a type of plasma atmosphere that extends into space.

At around 1,392,000 kilometres wide, the Sun’s diameter is about 110 times wider than Earth’s.

Q. How does the Easter Bunny stay fit?

A. Eggs-ercise and hare-robics

The Sun generates huge amounts of energy by combining hydrogen nuclei into helium. This process is called nuclear fusion.

At around 4.5 billion years old, the Sun has already burned off about half of its store of Hydrogen. It has enough left to continue to burn Hydrogen for approximately another five billion years. The Sun is currently a type of star known as a Yellow Dwarf.

Q. How do you make a witch itch?

A. Take away her W

Did you know?

The story of ladybugs There are about 5,000 different species of ladybugs in the world. They come in many different colours and patterns, but the most familiar is the seven-spotted ladybug, with its shiny, red-and-black body. Most ladybugs have oval, dome-shaped bodies with six short legs. Depending on the species, they can have spots, stripes, or no markings at all. Sevenspotted ladybugs are red or orange with three spots on each side and one in the middle.

They have a black head with white patches on either side. In many cultures, ladybugs are considered good luck.

Most people like ladybugs because they are pretty, graceful, and harmless to humans. But farmers love them because they eat aphids and other plant-eating pests. One ladybug can eat up to 5,000 insects in its lifetime. Ladybugs are colourful for a reason. Their markings tell predators to be wary of them. When threatened, the bugs will secrete an oily, foul-tasting fluid from joints in their legs.

They may also play dead. Birds are ladybugs’ main predators, but they also fall victim to frogs, wasps, spiders, and dragonflies.

Ladybugs lay their eggs in clusters or rows on the underside of a leaf, usually where aphids have gathered. Larvae, which vary in shape and colour based on species, emerge in a few days. Seven-spotted ladybug larvae are long, black, and spiky-looking with orange or yellow spots. Some say they look like tiny alligators. Larvae grow quickly and shed their skin several times. When they reach full size, they attach to a leaf by their tail, and a pupa is formed. Within a week or two, the pupa becomes an adult ladybug.

Ladybugs can live in many different habitats, including grasslands, forests, cities, suburbs, and along rivers. Seven-spotted ladybugs are native to Europe but were brought to North America in the mid-1900s to control aphid populations. Ladybugs are most active from spring until fall. When the weather turns cold, they look for a warm, secluded place to hibernate, such as in rotting logs, under rocks, or even inside houses. These hibernating colonies can contain thousands of ladybugs.

The name “ladybug” was coined by European farmers who prayed to Mother Mary when pests began eating their crops. After ladybugs came and wiped out the invading insects, the farmers named them “beetle of Our Lady.” This eventually was shortened to “lady beetle” and “ladybug.” NASA even sent a few ladybugs into space with aphids to see how aphids would escape in zero gravity.

SOURCE: KIDS.NATIONALGEOGRAPHIC.COM

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, JUNE 7, 2015

Get your weekly dose of unusual and funny news from across the globe!

World wide weird

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Snake and eggs Forget about boots and planes, you should really be worried about snakes in your eggs. Laura Neff recorded a video of a 4-foot snake that managed to find its way into her home in Charlotte, North Carolina, last week.

“It was a run of the mill Sunday afternoon here on our little farmette, until a noise in the kitchen made us look up at the spice cabinet where the snake was descending toward a basket of fresh eggs on the counter,” Neff wrote in a description of the video.

The black creature turned out to be a non-venemous rat snake, one of the most common reptiles in North Carolina. They’re strong constrictors that usually eat rodents and birds, and sometimes, eggs.

Neff said she let the hungry slitherer finish off its meal before removing it from her home using two brooms to nudge it out an open window. HUFFINGTONPOST.COM

Teletubbies coming back

The comeback Teletubbies have been revealed. The classic show is returning, almost 20 years after Tinky Winky, Dipsy, Laa-Laa and Po made their debut — then with TV screens on their fronts. The creatures still have antennas on their heads but the TV screens have been replaced by “21st century touch screen tummies”.

Stand-up comedian and Eric And Ernie actor Daniel Rigby will narrate the new series, while Sunshine On Leith actress Antonia Thomas will lend her voice to the opening and closing lines.

The original show was seen by around one billion children in over 100 countries following its launch in 1997.

Several classics, including Danger Mouse and Clangers, are being remade for today’s young audiences.

“I’m a bit sad. It comes down to the times we’re in,” Anne Wood, the producer who sold the rights to the show to raise money to make new programmes, said.

“People feel safer remaking hits of the past rather than investing in something new.” TELEGRAPH.CO.UK

Superglued teeth Devoted movie fan The retired hairdresser started going to the Odeon Cinema in Swiss Cottage, north London, at the end of the Second World War in 1945 when he was just five.

Movie-mad John, 75, has often clocked up three trips a week over the last seven decades to catch the latest blockbusters on the big screen. And, not surprisingly, the Hollywood lover’s now been crowned “the most devoted film fan” by one of the mightiest picture house chains in Europe. Mr Gale, of Hampstead, said, “I’m proud and delighted to have been awarded this accolade.” He beat off stiff competition after watching an extraordinary 657,000 minutes or 469 days of films at his local picture house — becoming a huge part of the furniture for almost its entire life.

John has now spent well over a year altogether inside his favourite movie theatre.

He’s thrilled after being hailed by the Odeon as their “most devoted film fan” as the cinema giant gave him a free pair of tickets for every year he’s been going. Elated John said as he strolled down memory lane: “The cinema has become a very special place for me — it’s become my real second home. EXPRESS.CO.UK

Angie Barlow, who works as a professional dog walker in Greater Manchester, England, said:, “I’ve always been scared of the dentist because my mum died at 34 from throat cancer. She had a tooth out, and that’s how they found she had cancer. That fear has always been in the back of my mind.”

But, at one point, her smoking had damaged her teeth so badly that Barlow began to lose her teeth. And instead of going to the dentist, she just used superglue to reattach them. “When the tooth comes out, I just put a little bit of glue and try and hold it in place to keep it, so I don’t have a gap in my teeth,” she explained in a video. “I use glue on the top of the tooth, and then I put it back in place until the glue is set.”

The quick-fix solution, although pain-free, turned out to be rather unsightly. Barlow’s embarrassment over the state of her smile led her to become reclusive.

After 10 years of supergluing her teeth back in her mouth, Angie finally built up the courage to see a dentist, who told her that the toxic chemicals in the glue had damaged 90 per cent of the bones in her upper jaw. “It’s probably one of the worst cases that I’ve seen and certainly one of the worst cases of desperation, to superglue a tooth back in the mouth,” said Dr Serpil Djemal of King’s College Hospital, who had to perform surgery to fix the damage. Eleven of her top teeth were extracted during the operation, and six titanium screws were inserted into her jaw with 12 new permanent teeth. ODDITYCENTRAL.COM

The story of a wealthy town

By Mohammed Shees Once upon a time there was a town named Amber Tony. The people living there were very wealthy. The mayor of the town was proud and glad to see the prosperity around him. The people of the town never wanted to spend their money on armours and weapons. Due to the high cost they considered it a waste of their wealth, which was why they were unarmed and unprepared whenever they were attacked.

Once a wise old man visited the mayor and advised him to create reasonable defenses against these threats, lest something disastrous may happen, leaving the town deserted. The mayor got angry and considered his suggestion as undue criticism. He used foul language and made the old man leave the town immediately.

After a few days the mayor’s family was attacked by some thieves and his son was badly injured. Seeing his wounded son reminded him of the old man words, convincing him to develop a well-equipped fighting force. The mayor became so obsessed with this concept that the town soon started massive production of advanced weaponry. The obsession didn’t stop here; they continued to develop nuclear arsenal.

Within a few years Amber Tony had a powerful force with advanced weapons. Surprisingly, the old wise man again visited the Mayor, who proudly showed the old man his capable force and weapons, which had brought the town peace. The wise old man said, “Indeed you have developed a huge armoury, but look at the mess created.

You didn’t bother to safely dispose the waste from the weapon production.” The mayor stood astonished. He negated the old man remarks and asked, “Why shall we waste our finances on disposal, it is a clear waste of resources.”

The old man begged leave, unsuccessful in convincing the mayor. With the passage of time, Amber Tony, once famous for its wealth was now known more for its weaponry and pollution. Most of the people started suffering from deadly diseases caused by pollution and toxic waste, mostly from their weapon production, but the worst was yet to be seen. One dark night the town’s nuclear plant was damaged and the nuclear waste started flowing in the streets. The whole population had to be evacuated. A city once glorified for its wealth and resources was deserted, due to the lack of will to spend on a cleaner environment. The whole city had to be abandoned.

The story of the town became a painful lesson for generations to come. Had the people not chosen to sacrifice their health and living conditions for accumulating more wealth, the town would still have been prosperous.

Share your short stories with us. Email them to hifive@tribune.com.pk

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, JUNE 7, 2015

Reading corner

Materials: • White tissue paper • Watercolours • Clothespins • Black marker • Glue

6 Directions: • Take a tissue paper and fold it in half and then fold it once more into a quarter.

• Pinch the tissue in the middle and clip the pinched part in a clothespin.

• One of the sides of the wing would be whole, so carefully cut it with a scissor. Fan out the two equal sides to form wings.

• In a deep plate dilute some watercolour and carefully dip the very edge of the wing into the paint and then watch it spread towards the inside of the tissue.

• Use a thin paint brush to create more textures on the wing with different watercolours.

• Draw eyes and a smiley face on the clothespin with a marker.

• Use rolled up bits of tissue to make the butterfly’s antlers.

SOURCE: KROKOTAK.COM

Under the Sea Little Mermaid In this amusing animated movie, rebellious 16-year-old mermaid Ariel is fascinated with life on land. On one of her visits to the surface, which are forbidden by her controlling father, King Triton, she is fascinated by a human prince. Determined to know more about her latest muse, Ariel makes a dangerous deal with the sea witch Ursula to become human for three days. But as usual, magic comes with a price and when plans go awry for the star-crossed lovers, the king must make the ultimate sacrifice for his daughter.

Finding Nemo A clown fish named Marlin who lives in the Great Barrier Reef loses his son, Nemo.

After he ventures into the open sea, despite his father’s constant warnings about many of the ocean’s dangers. Nemo is abducted by a boat and netted up and sent to a dentist’s office in Sydney. So, while Marlin ventures off to try to retrieve Nemo, he meets a fish named Dory, a blue tang suffering from short-term memory loss. The companions travel a great distance, encountering various dangerous sea creatures such as sharks, anglerfish and jellyfish, in order to rescue Nemo from the dentist’s office, which is situated by Sydney Harbor. While the two are doing this, Nemo and the other sea animals in the dentist’s fish tank plot a way to return to Sydney Harbor to live their lives free again.

A Turtle’s Tale Sammy and Ray, leatherback turtles and friends forever, are enjoying the task of shepherding new hatchlings Ricky and Ella out to sea. Suddenly, a poacher swoops in and ships them off to be part of a spectacular aquarium show for tourists in Dubai. The kingpin of the place, Big D the seahorse, enlists them in his plans for a great escape. But with their new friends, Jimbo the bug-eyed blob fish and Lulu the snippy lobster, Annabel the sweet Octopus, and a whole family of penguins, Sammy and Ray hatch breakout plans of their own. That is when little Ricky and Ella arrive, determined to break in to rescue them. After a series of thrilling adventures and narrow escapes, our heroes head South.

Do you have a favourite book or movie you would like us to review? Write to us at hifive@tribune.com.pk and tell us all about it.

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, JUNE 7, 2015

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Artwork

Hamnah Muaz Winner

Laiba Jawed

Ishmal Areej Winner

Kainnat

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, JUNE 7, 2015

Material

• A flat tray

Ingredients: Ice cream moulds Ice cream sticks Red, yellow, green and red jelly

• Food colouring (at least 3 different colours) 6 6 1/2 packet each

• Milk • Liquid soap

Directions: • Carefully pour the milk into the tray so that it just covers the bottom • Add about six to eight drops of different coloured food colouring into the milk at different spots • Add about five drops of the liquid soap onto the drops of food colouring and watch as the colours dance and merge.

Method: • Dilute each colour of jelly in water separately.

• Fill a quarter of each ice cream mould with the red jelly mixture and place it in the freezer until it sets.

• Pour the orange jelly mixture over the red and place it in the freezer to set again.

• Continue the same process with the next two colours and let everything freeze overnight.

• Your rainbow ice lolly is now ready.

Remember kids, always get permission from your parents before you start.

It’s always a good idea to have a helper nearby.

What is happening: The main job of dish soap is to go after fat and break it down. Usually the fat is on dishes from the food we eat, but fat is also in whole milk.

When you drop the liquid soap onto the tray, it tries to break down the fat in the milk. While it is doing that, it causes the colours to scatter and mix creating a very colourful display. Have fun!

SOURCE: SCIENCEBOB.COM