Up to 800 followers, in Zara’s case. They’re the fans

who regularly read her tweets and pitch in with valuable advice. “When I had a problem with an estate agent, I had two tweets telling me how to complain. And when I was trying to decide on a TV package, Virgin tweeted me a special deal.” Suddenly, it all looks more appealing. Twitter is instant, brief and perfect for finding a plumber or publicising a business. (If that’s your goal, include a website link and make sure your tweets are lively.) Once you’ve signed up, you can download TweetDeck to keep your contacts together. Just remember, it’s a public forum and a Google search picks up content from Twitter. Do you really want the world to know about your troubles with your ex?

...drag kids away from the Xbox

How to

“WALK” IS THE FOUR- LETTER WORD STILL GUARANTEED TO SHOCK TEENAGERS.

No matter how lovely the day, they’ll always have something better to do in the virtual world. So how

imaginative things to do for ages eight to 80. “Tell them you’re going to make bows and arrows and they’ll rush out of the house.” The idea is to make use

of what’s under your feet. A piece of driftwood can become a rounders bat, a raft or a sculpture. You can spend as much time as you (and they) want, from a day on the beach to a quick dash to the playground for leaves and twigs to work magic on at

do you tempt them outside? “It has to sound like an

adventure,” say Jo Schofield and Fiona Danks, whose books (the latest is Make

It Wild, Frances Lincoln,

£16.99) are crammed with

home. “Everything you need is out there and it’s free,” says Schofield. Try these ideas to get them going.

• Make instant art. A

cairn of stones, leaf snake, pebble picture or a rubbish

sculpture (check the litter first and bin it afterwards) only require imagination.

• Go back to the Stone

Age, keeping your eyes open for clay to mould into pots. (Hint: head for old brickfields.) Light a bonfire to harden them.

• Make an Easter mobile.

Weave willow twigs to form a shallow dish and line with moss. Fill with chocolate mini-eggs, fix feathers and pastel-coloured hen’s eggs (blow them first) round the edge, and hang up with wire. Add more willow rings to form an egg shape for a more elaborate mobile.

• If they won’t be parted from technology, go geocaching—a treasure

hunt that uses the satnav on smart phones. Find your nearest hoard on geocaching.com.

COURTESY OF FRANCES LINCOLN Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24