More than 7,000 children have now signed up to a club originally created between the wars to entertain kids and now reinvented for a generation of youngsters in lockdown.

Chipper Club sets a weekly challenge for kids to complete, incorporating traditional themes of friendship, helping others and being kind to animals.

As lockdown moves into a new stage, Chipper Club plans to continue entertaining and inspiring children with new ideas and projects to try at home.

While thousands of children are returning to school this week, plenty more will still be home and will be missing their friends after 10 weeks apart.

Chipper's latest challenge is all about those friendships and ask children to create their own paper doll chain and draw onto it the faces of all their friends.

The challenge is inspired by the Julia Donaldson book Paper Dolls in which Ticky and Tacky and Jackie the Backie and Jim with two noses and Jo with the bow come to life in the mind of a little girl.

How to make a paper doll chain

First, take a long strip of paper or card - the longer the better - about 10cm high and fold it lengthways, accordion-style, into equally sized folds of about 6cm wide.

Next, draw an outline of your paper doll on top of the folded paper, making sure the arms touch the sides. Cut around your paper doll outline, making sure you don't cut around the areas where the arms touch.

Unfold the chain and decorate your dolls using pens and crayons or stick on all sorts of outfits. You could name each of your paper dolls after all your friends.

When they're done, why not make a video talking through each of your friends on the paper doll chain and send it to them.

Make sure you also submit a picture for Chipper Club with your child's first name, age and where you're from to info@inyourarea.co.uk by Thursday, June 4, and we'll showcase them all online and in your local paper.

Chipper Club

Chipper Club has now set 10 challenges for children in lockdown, featuring hundreds of completed projects online at www.inyourarea.co.uk and in local papers across the Reach Plc network.

All Chipper Club members who send in their completed projects will receive a certificate, with a special reward for those who’ve finished every challenge.

Here are all the challenges so far for all those who want to catch up:

Chipper has set seven challenges so far for kids in lockdown and it’s not too late to catch up:

  1. Create your own Smile Tree with every leaf representing someone or an activity that makes you happy;

  2. Make your own Easter eggs for the windows;

  3. Say thank you to your doorstep heroes with a picture for your binmen, posties and delivery drivers

  4. Create your own Chipper Team full of the people you love the most - and give them a name.

  5. Signs of Spring to create your own poem or picture to celebrate Springtime.

  6. Create your own lockdown castle

  7. Set your own treasure hunt

  8. Create your own superhero with superpowers to save the world

  9. Make your own animal prints

To sign your child up to the Chipper Club and get the weekly newsletter with details of each week’s challenge, all you need to do is fill in the form below or at this link .

Chipper Club Time Capsule

Chipper has now created a Time Capsule for kids to fill in with their parents to capture the memories of lockdown and their challenges so far.

The free downloadable worksheets invite youngsters to draw pictures of their lockdown families and friends, capture how they’re keeping in touch with their communities and note down their favourite toys, movies, books and food.

They’re also asked to write a letter to their older self explaining what life is like right now in this sustained period of lockdown and homeschooling.

Download the Time Capsule here

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Stay home. Stay safe. Stay Chipper!