Have Serious Fun

After hearing the words no one wants to hear--"you have cancer"--Jim Burns set out to articulate the most important principles for a life well lived and now shares them with you as a collection of essential truths for a healthy, balanced, and successful life. What's truly important for leading a life well lived? After being diagnosed with cancer and facing his mortality, prolific author and family-life expert Jim Burns learned what it really means to live a meaningful life from the perspective and practical wisdom only gained from facing death. Now cancer free, those same life-changing lessons continue to guide and enrich Jim's faith, work, and relationships in immeasurable ways. With his conversational style and heartwarming and entertaining stories, Jim brilliantly distills that hard-earned wisdom into 13 simple yet powerful life principles you can put into practice today. Jim will help you learn how to: Break the cycle of being overcommitted and underconnected once and for all Make family the priority you want it to be with an action plan that will nurture your closest relationships Embrace the discomfort of discipline and avoid the pain of regret Incorporate the vital element of fun in your life for connection and relief in even the toughest times Train your mind in reflexive gratitude to rise above negative circumstances. Don't wait any longer. Let these principles guide you into deeper joy, more purpose, and better connection--and start truly living today.

A flexagon is a motion structure that has the appearance of a ring of hinged polygons. It can be flexed to display different pairs of faces, usually in cyclic order. Flexagons can be appreciated as toys or puzzles, as a recreational mathematics topic, and as the subject of serious mathematical study. Workable paper models of flexagons are easy to make and entertaining to manipulate. The mathematics of flexagons is complex, and how a flexagon works is not immediately obvious on examination of a paper model. Recent geometric analysis, included in the book, has improved theoretical understanding of flexagons, especially relationships between different types. This profusely illustrated book is arranged in a logical order appropriate for a textbook on the geometry of flexagons. It is written so that it can be enjoyed at both the recreational mathematics level, and at the serious mathematics level. The only prerequisite is some knowledge of elementary geometry, including properties of polygons. A feature of the book is a compendium of over 100 nets for making paper models of some of the more interesting flexagons, chosen to complement the text. These are accurately drawn and reproduced at half full size. Many of the nets have not previously been published. Instructions for assembling and manipulating the flexagons are included.

A practical book for teachers consisting of 10 YC and TYC articles on the importance of integrating rich content-based, teacher-guided instruction with meaningful child-centered play to nurture children's emerging capabilities and skills.

Serious Fun is the first definitive step-by-step guide designed to help novice and experienced program leaders deliver truly exceptional and fun programs.Jam-packed with inspiration and practical advice, Serious Fun is specifically written for school teachers, corporate trainers, outdoor educators, conference organisers and camp & youth group leaders - anyone who works with people and wants to leave their group feeling incredibly valued and engaged, exceeding all of their expectations.From a five-minute conference energiser to semester-length school curriculum, this book will get you started on the right foot and help you add more fun and value in your program than you ever thought was possible.Inside these covers you will learn:The seven mistakes program leaders make, and how to fix them;The four-step sequence to leading programs that your group will love;The five elements every 'ice-breaker' must have to be successful;How to create a fun, safe and supportive environment for your group;How to motivate everyone in your group to willingly participate;How to manage difficult behaviours, such as dominant personalities;How to exceed your group's expectations; andAnswers to more than twenty common programming questions.If you want to make a difference, or simply have more fun in your programs, this book is your blueprint.

Unbored is the book every modern child needs. Brilliantly walking the line between cool and constructive, it's crammed with activities that are not only fun and doable but that also get kids standing on their own two feet. If you're a kid, you can: -- Build a tipi or an igloo -- Learn to knit -- Take stuff apart and fix it -- Find out how to be constructively critical -- Film a stop-action movie or edit your own music -- Do parkour like James Bond -- Make a little house for a mouse from lollipop sticks -- Be independent! Catch a bus solo or cook yourself lunch -- Make a fake exhaust for your bike so it sounds like you're revving up a motorcycle -- Design a board game -- Go camping (or glamping) -- Plan a road trip -- Get proactive and support the causes you care about -- Develop your taste and decorate your own room -- Make a rocket from a coke bottle -- Play farting games There are gross facts and fascinating stories, reports on what stuff is like (home schooling, working in an office...), Q&As with inspiring grown-ups, extracts from classic novels, lists of useful resources and best ever lists like the top clean rap songs, stop-motion movies or books about rebellion. Just as kids begin to disappear into their screens, here is a book that encourages them to use those tech skills to be creative, try new things and change the world. And it gets parents to join in. Unbored is fully illustrated, easy to use and appealing to young and old, girl and boy. Parents will be comforted by its anti-perfectionist spirit and humour. Kids will just think it's brilliant.

Serious Fun in English is primarily written as a supplementary English skills workbook filled with short, student-centred activities which focus on learning core skills and using vocab, language and punctuation skills as well as activities which draw upon comprehension skills. Each of the sections focuses on a particular skill (such as close reading or making connections) and has a wide range of activities: puzzles, spelling activities, word finds, punctuation activities, crosswords and dictionary skills as well as opportunities for original art and original stories via scaffolding. The level of difficulty of the tasks in each section range from very simple/straightforward all the way through to challenging/extension. A lot of the vocab used in the tasks comes from the first 1000 words of the Academic Word list. Students can work through the book on their own, via set class work but the book can also be used as in-class study as there is opportunity for teachers to extend on the tasks included as there is scope for pair and group work to enhance the learning and enjoyment.

UNBORED Games has all the smarts, creativity, and DIY spirit of the original UNBORED (“It's a book! It's a guide! It's a way of life!” -Los Angeles Magazine), but with a laser-like focus on the activities we do for pure fun: to while away a rainy day, to test our skills and stretch our imaginations-games. There are more than seventy games here, 50 of them all new, plus many more recommendations, and they cover the full gambit, from old-fashioned favorites to today's high-tech games. The book offers a gold mine of creative, constructive fun: intricate clapping games, bike rodeo, Google Earth challenges, croquet golf, capture the flag, and the best ever apps to play with Grandma, to name only a handful. Gaming is a whole culture for kids to explore, and the book will be complete with gaming history and interviews with awesome game designers. The lessons here: all games can be self-customized, or hacked. You can even make up your own games. Some could even change the world. The original UNBORED has taken its place as a much beloved, distinctly contemporary family brand. UNBORED Games extends the franchise -- also including UNBORED Adventure -- in a new handy flexibound format, illustrated in full color throughout. This is a whole shelf of serious fun the whole family can enjoy indoors, outdoors, online and offline.

Biography of Alan Gibbs, one of New Zealand's most influential and controversial businessmen and Aquada amphibious car developer. When Sir Richard Branson drove the Aquada high speed amphibious car across the English Channel it was a watershed moment. At last, had the holy grail of amphibious transport been achieved? The developer of the car, New Zealander Alan Gibbs, has since gone on to unveil a range of amphibious vehicles, including the Quadski, Humdinga and Phibian. Businessman, inventor, merchant banker, philanthropist, art collector, adventurer and inveterate traveller, Gibbs’ life has been far from ordinary. The one-time socialist became a very active participant and free-market champion when New Zealand’s economy was transformed in the mid to late 1980s. These days he is also focussed on developing Gibbs Farm, his remarkable sculpture park on the Kaipara Harbour, in New Zealand. The Farm, which has works by Richard Serra, Bernar Venet, Anish Kapoor, Tony Oursler and Andy Goldsworthy, among others, is of international stature. Gibbs lives in London and has factories in the UK, Detroit and New Zealand. It’s a life, as biographer Paul Goldsmith engagingly conveys, that’s been a lot of serious fun.