Vishnu M Nair is a visual artist based out of Delhi. He creates contemplative, surreal and humorous narratives in his artworks in many styles and mediums.

'How Far is Far' is a story about scale and comparison, starting small and ending really really large.
The scale of it all really excited me. Below is how I went about planning and illustrating for page 2 of the book i.e 10 m - the second step of the ladder.

Step 1/Layout

Since the imagery of the book was so rich and quirky I chose not to tweak it.

"A three storey building or a mango tree is roughly 10 metres high. A cricket pitch is about twice that length."

I drew the above description out. It would be so strange to see such a visual - so I drew some dumbfounded characters around it.

Step 2/Pencils

A few years ago I learned this neat trick for colouring on photoshop and I planned to use the same method(which you will see later).

I drew out the scene in more detail in pencil - adding more characters and textures - making it believable.Dish antennas, annoying pigeons and a kaamwali bai shooing them away, an ignorant uncle and two boys who's game had just been ruined by this lesson. Adding my own tinier stories into the bigger one is always fun.

Step 3/Colour

I scanned the image into photoshop and cleaned it up a bit first - I also added the ladder from another image into this one.

Then I masked out parts like 'ground','tree' 'mangoes' etc in different layers and coloured them in one by one using a gradient map.

Patient work... but slowly, layer by layer I saw the final image unravel.

Step4 / Lines and numbers

And finally I added lines and numbers to the artwork to complete it.

Voila!

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How do Aeroplanes Fly? by Aditi Sarawagi and Lavanya Karthik is a book that will give a child's imagination wings! 

Sarla wished she could fly high like an eagle or like an aeroplane. Of course you can fly, said her new teacher. Sarla shares all that she has learnt about flight and aeroplanes in this delightful book. 

ACTIVITIES

Cargo Planes

(Source: http://kidsactivitiesblog.com/77853/stem-paper-airplane-challenge)

Resources

• Construction Paper

• Cellotape

• A handful of coins of different sizes and weight

• A doorway

• Whistle

What to do

• Ask each child to create a paper aeroplane using the YouTube tutorial shared here:

https://youtu.be/qhuRw88A-8c

• Once their plane is ready ask them to stick coins of different size and weigh to it using tape (this is why you need to use construction paper and not regular A4 paper)

• Decide upon a start line and mark it with masking tape or even a long rope. Make sure it’s opposite a doorway!

• Ask the children to line up together at the ‘starting line’.

• When you blow the whistle they all launch their planes.

• The plane that glides the farthest wins!

Straw Rockets

(Source: http://lifeasmama.com/10-rainy-day-activities-your-kids-will-love/6/)

Resources

• Drinking straws

• Paper

• Glue or cellotape

• Scissors

• Crayons or markers.

 

What to do

• Cut down pieces of paper and decorate to your desire.

• Then lightly fold around the end of a straw and tape the paper together (not to the straw) like a cap

• Then just blow! Kids can see how far each can blow their rockets or come up with their own games.

Target Practice

(Source: http://lifeasmama.com/10-rainy-day-activities-your-kids-will-love/7/)

This is a variation of activity 1, but a little more tricky!

Resources

• Paper

• Large sheet of thick board paper.

• A doorway

• Whistle

• Scissors

• Masking tape.

What to do

• Ask each child to create a paper aeroplane using the YouTube tutorial shared here: https://youtu.be/qhuRw88A-8c

• Cut out different sized holes on the board paper and hang it over an open door using masking tape

• Ask children to line up at a pre-determined ‘starting point’ with their paper aeroplanes.

• Blow the whistle. Kids must try and get their planes through the holes on the board sheet!

If you have some fun activities based on 'How Do Aeroplanes Fly' share them with us in the comments section below or on Twitter or Facebook.

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How Far is Far?

If you thought your friend's house on the other side of town was far away, you have clearly not read this book. Climb the Magic Math Ladder to get from where you are to the top of Mount Everest, to Kashmir, to the moon, the Sun, and ultimately, to the edge of the Universe, which is very, very, VERY far away indeed. Ready, steady, go!

ACTIVITIES

Use Your Body

Resources

• A Metre scale or strips of newspaper cut and taped together into meter long strips

What to do

• Find something long to measure. It could be a boundary wall, the length of garden pathway - anything you like!

• First ask the children to lie down head to toe, one after the other along the length of the item and find out how many ‘children’ it takes to measure the wall.

• Next, ask them to measure the same distance with their metre long strips of newspaper.

• What’s the difference in the measurement? Talk about how it’s important to have a standardised unit of measurement!

Globe Guesstimate!

Resources

• Globe

• Google

Ask the children to pick any two places on the globe and guesstimate how far apart they are. Then use Google to find the correct answer.

The closest guestimates win a prize!

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