If you’ve been inspired by Jacqueline Wilson’s stories, then we hope you’ll enjoy these activities!
Dress up as Tracy Beaker
Dress up as the feisty and laugh-out-loud funny Tracy Beaker from Jacqueline Wilson’s well-loved books, using this easy DIY costume hack.
Now you’ve everything you need to transform yourself into everyone’s favourite heroine. Time to have some crazy adventures, just like Tracy!
Draw Hetty Feather with Nick Sharratt
Get your pens and paper ready – it’s time to learn how to draw Victorian heroine Hetty Feather with illustrator Nick Sharratt.
Create your own Hetty Feather Christmas tree decorations
In Hetty Feather’s Christmas, Hetty is entranced by the beautiful Christmas tree at the Rivers’ house. Why not have a go at creating some wonderful decorations for you own tree?
You will need:
• A printer
• A4 paper
• Tracing paper
• Card
• Some string
• Colouring pens or pencils
• Scissors (always ask a grown up for help when cutting out)
How to make it:
1. Find some tracing paper and trace around the bauble shapes on the downloadable pages – or if you have a steady hand, see if you can simply copy them onto a piece of card.
2. Colour them in and ask a grown up to cut them out carefully
3. Pop a little hole at the top to attach string so that you can hang your baubles up, and have a very Victorian Christmas, just like Hetty!
Bake some Hetty Feather Christmas gingerbread
People have been baking gingerbread for more than a thousand years! But the Victorians (like Hetty Feather) loved gingerbread as a special festive treat.
Here’s how you can make your very own gingerbread biscuits – wrap them as gifts for your friends, thread them with ribbons to add a sweet touch to your Christmas tree or munch them all away with a glass of milk and a good book.
You will need:
• 50g plain flour, plus a bit extra for dusting
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 125g butter
• 175g brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 4 tsp golden syrup
Optional, for decorations:
• Icing in whatever colours you like!
How to make them:
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4 (make sure you ask a grown-up for help when touching hot things).
2. Line two baking trays with greaseproof paper.
3. Mix the flour, bicarbonate of soda, ginger, cinnamon and butter, and whizz in a food processor or rub it in with your fingers until you have a mixture that looks like breadcrumbs.
4. Stir in the sugar.
5. Beat the egg and golden syrup together and add to the mixture. Stir or whizz again until the mixture clumps together.
6. Tip the dough out onto a clean surface. Knead until smooth, wrap in clingfilm and leave to chill in the fridge for 15 minutes.
7. Roll the dough out on a surface lightly dusted with flour, so it about a centimetre thick.
8. Using cutters, cut out shapes in the dough. Place carefully on the baking tray, leaving a gap between them. If you want to thread a ribbon through, make a small hole in one point of the shape.
9. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until light golden brown. Leave on the tray for 10 minutes and then move to a wire rack to finish cooling.
10. When cooled, you can decorate your gingerbread with icing. Then wrap them in cellophane to make a lovely gift, thread with a ribbon for a Christmas decoration or enjoy them as a tasty festive treat.
