Who doesn’t enjoy a good magic trick? The following trick is very easy to do, but it never fails to surprise the audience. You will make ribbons or silk handkerchiefs magically appear from an apparently empty tube.

Materials:

• Two sheets of paper
• Scissors
• Clear adhesive tape
• Some small flat objects, such as ribbons or silk handkerchiefs

Instructions

• Roll one of the sheets of paper into a cylinder and secure it with some adhesive tape. Take the other piece of paper and roll it into a cone, with one end measuring the same diameter as the cylinder and the other end a bit smaller.
• Insert the cone into the cylinder and cut off the excess from around the edges, so that the cone ends up looking like a regular cylinder.
• From the side, you can see a “secret compartment” where you can hide and take out objects from. Try putting in a few ribbons or silk handkerchiefs, wrap them around the cone, and then get yourself an audience for the trick.
• When you show the cylinder to the audience, face the larger part of the cone towards them so that it will look just like a normal cone from their perspective. From your side, you’ll be able to see the ribbon hidden inside.
• After showing them the empty cylinder, pull out the ribbons by shaking the cylinder. Enjoy their surprised expressions.
• You can also customize the cylinder by drawing on it or adding some stickers to make it look more magical!

This post first appeared on April 7, 2013 written by the same author.

On Christmas Day, my roommate debuted a game called Werewolf at our dinner party. Based on Mafia rules, the premise is deceptively simple: Werewolves lurk among a group of villagers, killing them off one by one at night. The goal of the villagers is to identify the werewolves and lynch them; the goal of the werewolves is to kill off all the villagers.

Though the evening started out innocently enough, the 12 of us soon spiraled into a vortex of recriminations, suspicions, double-crossing, and mob justice. In other words, it was awesome.

The Basics
The game is best for groups of at least seven players. The game is split into successive rounds of night and day in which different roles can take different actions.

The Moderator shuffles the cards and passes one out to each player, who are allowed to look at their card but can’t reveal it to others. There are five basic roles (one non-player role and four player roles):

• The Moderator: The omniscient Moderator serves as the narrator, game master, and chief whip. They know each player’s identity and ensure that the game moves along at a brisk pace. The quality of the Moderator directly affects the quality of the game.
• Werewolves: Werewolves are the game’s “informed minority” whose members are aware of each other. When night falls, the Werewolves choose one victim to kill. Their goal is to kill all the Villagers without being found out and lynched. For a group of seven without any special roles (more on those below), two Werewolves are enough. (For 12 people, three Werewolves was a good number.)
• The Seer: Arguably the most important role in the game, the Seer is a villager who can “investigate” one player each turn to find out if they’re a Werewolf.
• The Doctor: The Doctor is a villager who can “protect” one player from being killed by the Werewolves each turn.
• Villagers: Everyone else is a Villager, the game’s “uninformed majority.” The Villagers must figure out the Werewolves’ identities through deduction and discussion, and avoid accidentally lynching other Villagers.

Gameplay
Once everyone has their card, Werewolf can begin. The rules below are greatly simplified; click here or scroll to the end of the post for complete rules.

Phase 1: Nighttime

• The game begins at night. The Moderator sets the scene (“It was a cold January night with 500 AQI…”), then instructs all the players to close their eyes.
• The Moderator instructs the Werewolves to open their eyes and asks them who they want to kill. The Werewolves must silently agree on a victim, then signal their choice to the Moderator. The Moderator asks the Werewolves to close their eyes.
• Next, the Moderator instructs the Doctor to open their eyes and asks who they want to save. The Doctor silently signals their choice to the Moderator; note that Doctors are allowed to save themselves. The Moderator asks the Doctor to close their eyes.
• Then, the Moderator instructs the Seer to open their eyes and asks who they want to investigate. The Seer silently points to a player, to which the Moderator will either nod or shake their head (you can also do thumbs up or down). The Moderator asks the Seer to close their eyes.

Phase 2: Daytime

• It’s now daytime; the Moderator asks everyone to open their eyes and announces the name of the player who was killed last night. Dead players aren’t allowed to talk.
• This is where things get interesting. The Villagers must figure out who the Werewolves are. They can use deduction, act on hunches, observe other players’ reactions, etc. Meanwhile, the Werewolves must avoid suspicion by drawing attention to other players, lying, acting natural, etc.
• Once the Villagers settle on a suspect, that player is lynched. If the person was a Werewolf, they must reveal their card. If the person was a Seer or Doctor, they can’t reveal their special role.
• Once a player is lynched, night falls and the cycle starts again. The game continues until either the Werewolves or the Villagers are killed off.

Extra Roles
Once you get the hang of Werewolf, there are many special cards that can be used to spice up the game. Here are a few:

• The Witch: The Witch is a Villager with extra powers; she has one potion and one poison, which can be used at any point in the game. The potion brings a player back to life while the poison kills a player.
• The Village Drunk: The Village Drunk is a Villager who can only communicate with gestures or noises. They can’t talk at all during the day; if they do, they automatically die the following night.
• The Alpha Werewolf: The Alpha Werewolf is a player who can turn a Villager into a Werewolf. This can only be used once.

One commercial version of the game, Ultimate Werewolf, includes more than 40 player roles. With so many discussion threads dedicated to extra roles, there’s potential for endless variations on Werewolf.

Where to Find Werewolf
The best part? Werewolf is free. Though many commercial versions are available, fans of the game have released their own printable card sets for download. Alternatively, make and laminate your own cards with the kids; even Post-It notes with roles written on them are just fine.

My roommate downloaded the beautiful card set by American designer Max Temkin. (If his name sounds familiar, that’s because he’s the co-founder of the decidedly un-kid friendly Cards Against Humanity). Temkin’s PDF template includes the Witch and six blank cards for extra roles.

Here is another downloadable card set featuring cute stick figures from a website dedicated to “print and play” games.

For complete Werewolf rules, click here.

Werewolf is recommended for ages 10 and up.

Sijia Chen is a contributing editor at beijingkids and a freelance writer who has covered travel, tech, culture, parenting, and the environment. Her work has appeared in Travel + Leisure, The Independent, the Beijinger, Midnight Poutine, and more. Follow her on Twitter at @sijiawrites or email her at sijiachen@beijing-kids.com.

Photo: mikequozl (via Flickr)

Several years ago, I wrote about a novel use for an inflatable wading pool in the middle of winter – transform it into a pillow pool. When Reina was three, she and her friends spent hours jumping off the bed into the pillows, transforming it into a fort, and just having a laugh. However, as Reina got older, the pool lost its luster and stayed in storage.

Now that our boys are over 19 months old, I’ve renewed the life of the pool, and worn out my arm inflating it with a hand pump, so that Reina can teach her little brothers the joys of jumping into a pool filled with pillows. Since they are frequently trapped at home on high pollution days, this gives Bryson and Ryder one more way to burn off some energy while working on their face-planting skills without getting hurt. As they are still learning to swing themselves out of the pool without falling to the floor, we lined the exterior with cushions from the sofa so that there is a soft place to fall when they roll off the edge of the pool. Even though Reina is now 7, she can still jump off of the sofa into the pillows without causing any damage to the pool itself. Perhaps it is time I took a dip as well.

Photos courtesy of Christopher Lay

Create a personalized notebook, draw your favorite cartoon character on it (or some flowers, stars, whatever are your favorite things), add a beautiful spine, some airbags to protect it and put a box inside where to keep your memories and secrets (photos, drawings and little presents).

Materials:

• A notebook
• Liquid glue
• Old newspapers
• Brushes
• Tissue paper
• White Cardboard
• Paint colors
• Small lock and key

First of all we need to create the fake spine of the notebook, so that it will look just like a real book.

1. Draw the shape of the spine on the cardboard and cut it
2. Now, take some liquid glue and mix it with some water in a glass or a small bowl (50% water and 50% glue)
3. With a clean brush, use the mix of glue and water to stick some small pieces of newspaper on the spine, cover it all and make a few layers
4. Let it dry
5. Now paint it with the colors you want

Let’s decorate the notebook

1. Cover the notebook with tissue paper and stick it with some glue
2. Draw the mouth and the eyes of your character on the cardboard
3. Cut them and stick them to the front of handbook
4. Use some paints or marker to color the character
5. Stick the spine of the book we made before on the spine of the notebook.

Create some airbags for the notebook, so that it won’t get damaged if it falls on the floor

1. Cut two triangles from the cardboard
2. Make them thicker by sticking some pieces of newspaper around
3. Then cover them all with tissue paper, make them as thick as possible and then use some glue to fix it all together
4. Now you can paint them if you want and finally stick them to the front cover of the notebook.

Now it’s time to decorate the inside of the notebook with the box of memories and a label with your name and information written on it

1. Take some pieces of cardboard and prepare a little box 
2. Paint it and when it’s dry write something on it (such as ‘Memories’)
3. Stick it to the back cover of the notebook
4. Cut a rectangular from the cardboard or take a piece of paper
5. Write on it your name (and some other information if you want) and stick it on the front cover

Finally we need to create the hooks to put the locker in

1. In the same way we did the airbags, draw two hooks on the cardboard and cut them
2. Use some newspaper to reinforce them, and cover them with tissue paper
3.  Stick them on the side of the notebook
4. Now you can close it with a lock
5. Keep the key in a safe place!

This post first appeared here on May 15, 2013.

DIY Wall Decals

Difficulty Level: Easy
Materials:
Xeroxed copy of silhouette images found online
Contact paper (贴纸  tīe zhǐ) – purchase at copy shops or markets that sell stationery
Scissors
Pen or marker

Directions:
1. Find your favorite images on the web – search silhouette, stencil, or clipart websites for suitable stock images or use your own photos.
2. At a copy shop, enlarge the image to the desired size.
3. Using scissors, cut out the image along the border. This will be your template.
4. Cut a piece of contact paper larger than your template.

5. Place template upon contact paper. Trace the image onto the contact paper. Decal will be a mirror image of the template. (Tip: Use tape to secure the template).

 6. Cut out the decal.

  7. Peel off the decal and stick it on your wall.

This post first appeared here on June 9, 2009 and was published in the beijingkids June 2009 issue.

Spring may not officially begin until March 21, but the winter chill still lingers – meaning that staying indoors is often still the best option. Luckily, there’s a shopping center in town under one glass roof: Indigo Mall.

If you’re planning to spend a Saturday or Sunday at Indigo, the ideal place to sate that lingering winter appetite is at at Feast by EAST Beijing. EAST Beijing, the newest hotel operated by Swire (which also runs the modern-chic Opposite House), is insistently serene, minimalist but warm, and is directly attached to Indigo Mall. The motto of all food done at Feast is “simple things, done well,” and the weekend brunch lives up to that motto in two or three scrumptious courses. The sun-bathed restaurant has a pleasant view of the eastern Lido area, and the friendly staff and kid-friendly ambiance make for a pleasant, brunch.

To aid digestion, ramble through Indigo, which you can access through a door just past EAST’s front desk. Indigo doesn’t flow like a standard mall, with a block of escalators in a stack; instead, escalators are staggered throughout the meandering mall, giving
patrons time to savor window shopping.

While some stores are still in the process of opening, Indigo is already fortified with local toy and baby shop darlings on the third floor, like Kids Land, Baby Land, and The Fifth Avenue. It will also be rounded out by the forthcoming Counting Sheep – also on the third floor. Kitchen enthusiasts can rejoice in the newest Cuccina store (on B1/F), which has all the cooking gadgets a chef could wish for. Tech fiends will relish the large Lenovo store (3/F) as well as all-around electronics purveyor Sundan (B1/F). There’s a Toni & Guy salon (B/1) if the family needs a trim, and Sephora (1/F), Watsons (B1/F), and Herborist Spa (B1/F) to round out the health and beauty side of things. There are shops aplenty to fill the wardrobe of any family member, including popular chains H&M (1/F, 2/F) and Gap (1/F, 2/F), – which both feature children’s sections. Pick up more threads at Tommy Hilfiger (1/F), Vero Moda (2/F), and Crocs (B1/F).

Be sure to head to Page One (B1/F), the plush but affordable bookstore chain. The Indigo branch has a nook with a decent selection of English children’s books and young adult fiction. The rest of the store has a large collection of English language fiction, non-fiction, and more, as well as a breathtaking art and design books that make for great browsing.

When you’re shopped out, catch a flick at CGV Xingxing International Cinema on the fourth floor. Savor the Hollywood feel of the light bulb-studded ceiling as you ascend the escalator. Screens at the entrance will tell you exactly what’s playing and what languages the films are in (Chinese only or Chinese with English subtitles). Snack combos are reasonably-priced (RMB 25 for popcorn and one drink or RMB 35 for popcorn and two drinks).

In the lobby of the cinema is Cine Shop (4/F), and film buffs will love browsing the modest but intriguing selection of music, DVDs, books about movie stars, and movie-themed accessories. There’s also a Twosome Coffee (4/F) if you want to linger after a showing or enjoy a snack on their terrace that overlooks the mall’s atrium.

When tummies really start rumbling, there’s a wide selection of cuisines and restaurants. Blue Frog (1/F) and Hercules (1/F) make up Western favorites, while there’s Bibigo (1/F) for Korean, Toyo Jazz (2/F) for Japanese, and Xihe Yayuan (1/F) for Peking Duck. If no one can decide, there’s always the Food Republic (3/F) and its abundance of Chinese food court selections. Pick up some sweets for the way home at Godiva (1/F), across from Blue Frog. For steak fans, Flamme is now open from 11am-5pm. Stay tuned for more restaurants, including Element Fresh, Tous Les Jours, Muse, Middle 8, Honeymoon Desserts, and Cold Stone Creamery.

Find out how to get there here

This article first appeared on the March 2013 issue. Read it here

1. Stack three to four sheets of the pink tissue paper together, then cut them into strips measuring around 30cm (12 inches) long and 10-13cm (4-5 inches) wide.
2. Cut off around 4cm (1.5 inches) from the end of the pipe cleaners and set the sections aside.  
3. Lay about 5cm (2 inches) of the pipe cleaners onto the pink tissue paper and roll the paper (from the short end) around the stem.
4. Now use the shorter pipe cleaner sections that you set aside earlier and twist them around the bottom of the tissue paper. 
5. Cut 6cm (2.5 inches) slits along the top of the rolled tissue paper. Keep going until all the strips are cut. 
6. Take a 15cmx5cm (6×2 inches) piece of green paper tissue, roll it up, and place it at the top of the flower stem.
7. To create the flower’s leaves, take the bottom of the stem, bring it up and over the green tissue paper, and twist tightly.