AQUILA Blog

Greetings intrepid interweb explorer, and welcome to AQUILA magazine’s extra special blog. Here you’ll find all kinds of facts, activities, competitions and general knowledge based nonsense. If you like what you see, you’ll definitely love our magazine.

Check out our shop here for products and subscription options.

AQUILA Blog

Greetings intrepid interweb explorer, and welcome to AQUILA magazine’s extra special blog. Here you’ll find all kinds of facts, activities, competitions and general knowledge based nonsense. If you like what you see, you’ll definitely love our magazine.

Check out our shop here for products and subscription options.

Kids

Make Firework Art

Make your own firework art This make is quick, fun and really satisfying; a great activity for a fireworks party – especially if the weather

Read More »
Kids

Make a wizards castle

Make an Enchanted Wizard’s Castle Just like Harry and his cohorts, there’s nothing I love more than conjuring something out of nothing. My enchanted wizard’s

Read More »
Kids

The Pendle Witches

The Witches of Pendle Hill Witches in fiction are such fun. We enjoy hating the nasty ones, and laugh when their magic fails and they

Read More »
SISTER ACT Titanic’s sister ships
Kids

Titanic’s Sister Ships

Titanic’s sister ships The Titanic, because of its tragic demise after hitting an iceberg in 1912, has become an icon in the history of seafaring

Read More »
Kids

Famous Shipwrecks

Sunken treasure – the oldest shipwreck in the world Sailing around the Mediterranean in the ancient world was very dangerous. Sailors risked their lives every

Read More »
Kids

Sink or Swim

SINK OR SWIM? If you want to see a deep-water shipwreck, you are going to need some sort of submersible. Submersibles are slightly different from

Read More »
Kids

Iceberg Experiment

WHAT HAPPENS IF THE ICE MELTS? Our planet has a lot of water. Around 71 per cent of the Earth’s surface is covered in it. 

Read More »
Kids

Forest Figures

FOREST MATHS TRAIL You probably already know that woodlands are vital for the planet’s wellbeing, but did you know they’re also the ideal place to

Read More »
Kids

Go camping

TIPS FOR CAMPING IN A FOREST How to survive a night in a forest? Firstly, you don’t have to. You probably have a nice warm,

Read More »
Kids

Camping Calzone Recipe

CAMPING CALZONE RECIPE Things you don’t usually have when you go camping: a fridge, an oven, a bath. We’re all absolutely fine without a bath

Read More »
Victorian Street Food
Kids

Victorian Street Food

Victorian Street Food Imagine walking through your local fair or market. The smells from all the food stalls are making you hungry. What would you

Read More »
History of the politics of food
Kids

Food Politics

Food Politics Food has enormous power. The divide between those who have an abundance of things to eat and those who are desperately hungry has

Read More »
Kids

Life and Times of Alan Turing

The life and works of Alan Turing While other mathematicians and scientists like Blaise Pascal, Gottfried Liebniz, Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace may have experimented

Read More »
Kids

Very Big Numbers

Very Big Numbers In a word A billion is certainly a large number but it used to be even bigger. In Britain, until the 1970s,

Read More »
Kids

Make Gladiator Battle Cards

MAKE GLADIATOR BATTLE CARDS Terrifying fighters. A roaring audience. A gory, stinky fight to the death. Sounds horrid, doesn’t it? Well, believe it or not,

Read More »
Kids

Make a Roman Dip Recipe

A POMPEII PARTY The ancient Romans loved their grub, and made the most of any opportunity to eat and drink together. Celebratory feasts were an

Read More »
Kids

Ancient Roman Feast

Roman Feasts When you sit at the table to eat a meal, are you expected to sit up properly, stop playing with your food and

Read More »
Kids

Make a chocolate bar

MAKE A CHOCOLATE BAR Have a go at making this bonkers chocolate-y treat, it makes the perfect gift. You can tailor your bars to suit

Read More »
Kids

Do Animals Make Us Happy?

Do Animals Make Us Happy? If you’ve ever had a pet or struck up a friendship with someone else’s, you’ll probably already know the following

Read More »
Shark quiz trivia questions and answers
Kids

Shark Quiz

Shark Quiz – Test your knowledge Sharks get such a bad rap. Films often depict them as dangerous predators ready to pounce as soon as

Read More »
zebra sharks baby
Kids

Zebra Sharks Baby Sharks

BABY SHARKS (do doo do do da doo) Have you seen one of these before? It’s a zebra shark (Stegostoma fasciatum). Actually I THINK you’ll

Read More »
Kids

Working with Sharks

Jobs working with sharks Andre Hartmann, a South African diving guide can calm down a great white shark: ‘When the shark is next to the

Read More »
An illustration of the sun and the solar system
Kids

What if the sun disappeared?

What if the Sun Disappeared? Don’t worry! The Sun’s not going anywhere. But hypothetically, we thought we’d explore what would happen to the Earth if

Read More »
illustration of constellation animals and gods words Set by step guide to stargaszin
Kids

How to go stargazing

GUIDE TO STARGAZING Have you ever looked up at the night sky and wondered how to find the constellations? It might seem impossible at first,

Read More »
Kids

Star facts for kids

SUPER STAR FACTS FOR KIDS! One way to make written information a little bit different is to use an acrostic. In an acrostic, the initial

Read More »
kids mini enterprise
Kids

Mini Enterprise

You’re Hired! – Create a mini enterprise! Have you ever watched the TV show, Dragon’s Den? In it, budding entrepreneurs pitch their business plans on

Read More »
Kids

Tulip Mania Money Bubble

Tulip Mania It’s easy to understand why people might get excited about some things: football, ‘Strictly’, ‘Dr Who’. But tulips? Surely no one could get

Read More »
Kids

Make A Vendor’s Tray

MAKE AN INVITING VENDOR’S TRAY This eye-catching vendor’s tray is a really fun way to test out your newfound money-making skills. It can be used

Read More »
Kids

Charles Fraser-Smith

Charles Fraser-Smith, gadget-designing genius Have you ever looked at your hairbrush and thought: ‘I could definitely turn that into a hiding place for a map

Read More »
make vendors tray
Kids

Make A Secret Book Safe

MAKE A SECRET HOLLOW BOOK SAFE The main problem with living a life fraught with intrigue and mystery is that you’re always running out of

Read More »
Kids

Undercover Animals

UNDERCOVER ANIMALS If you’re on a secret mission a good disguise is important. The animal kingdom offers some of the best disguises out there. If

Read More »
Kids

Make an Art Sculpture

Make a sculpture worthy of the Turner Prize! POLLY’S MISSION To celebrate this year’s Turner Prize exhibition (not to mention our brand new ART SHOW

Read More »
Illustration of graffiti art through time including basquiat and ancient cave carvings
Kids

History of Graffiti Art

The history of graffiti art On Tuesday 14 July 2020, the famous graffiti artist Banksy posted a video of his latest work on his Instagram

Read More »
Kids

Make A Screen print

Super-duper screen printing Screen printing is a process used by artists and printers. By the 1600s it was a highly-developed art in China and Japan,

Read More »
Kids

What is Pop Art?

WHAT IS POP ART? Artists take inspiration from lots of different places and art comes in all kinds of shapes, sizes and styles. In the

Read More »
Kids

Aquila magazine 30th Birthday

https://vimeo.com/847026372https://vimeo.com/847025047 30 YEARS OF AQUILA Unbelievably, AQUILA magazine is 30 years old this month!  We’ve made around 360 issues and covered almost every topic, from

Read More »
Kids

Make a Custom Jacket

Make a Custom Jacket Customising old and unwanted clothes can be a brilliant way to express your unique personality, save items from landfill AND spread

Read More »
Kids

UK Fossil Hunting Guide

UK Fossil hunting guide Fossils are the remains of creatures and plants that died long ago and became preserved as stone. Many fossils were formed

Read More »
Kids

Dinosaur Fossil CSI

DINOSAUR DETECTIVES We can’t really clone dinosaurs, let alone create hybrids by combining the scariest bits of the nastiest beasts. Modern technology can, however, provide

Read More »
Kids

Manga facts for kids

Manga facts for kids AQUILA’s May issue is all about Manga and frankly we are OBSESSED with discovering as much as we can about this

Read More »
Kids

Make an Origami Fox

Make an Origami Fox Stuck on a train? In a traffic jam, or just whiling away the hours hanging out at home? Just beg, borrow

Read More »
Kids

Bullet Trains

Bullet Trains Sometimes train travel is all about the journey. It’s a great opportunity to gaze out of a window and take in the scenery

Read More »
Kids

Beaver facts for kids

Brilliant Beaver Facts In the Ingenious Engineering issue of AQUILA Magazine we made a crafty camshaft-driven beaver automaton. But why did we choose a beaver?

Read More »
Kids

Engineering facts for kids

Ingenious Engineering facts for kids Engineers are driven by a need to make things work better. They use creativity, maths and science to invent, build

Read More »
Kids

Wolf facts for kids

Wolf facts for kids Humans and dogs go so well together, don’t they? That is, unless you’re a cat person… we’ll save THAT discussion for

Read More »
Kids

Colour facts for Kids

Colour facts for Kids Hello, AQUILAnauts and Happy New Year! This month’s issue is all about the Science of Colour. So, are you ready to

Read More »
Make some sweet iced Christmas houses
Kids

Sweet Iced Houses

Iced sweet houses Why not have a go at making these no-cook sweet treats at home. They’re fun to make and even better to eat,

Read More »
Kids

Roll Up, Roll Up!

Our sensational Showstoppers issue was packed with fun – and there’s plenty more where that came from! An exciting array of Awesome Activities awaits our

Read More »
Kids

Ten theatre facts for kids

This month’s Showstoppers issue of AQUILA is all about treading the boards. Let’s get our show on the road, with some thoroughly thespian theatrical facts.

Read More »
Competitions

Looking Book Competition

LOOKING BOOK COMP We had so many marvellous entries to our Looking Book competition that featured in the Time Travel issue (Jul/Aug 2022) of AQUILA.

Read More »
Competitions

Indigo Bing Competition NOW CLOSED

COMPETITION NOW CLOSED Announcing: Indigo Bing and the Missing Mind Disc Our brain-boggling postal escape room At last! Amazing news for AQUILAnauts and soon-to-be AQUILAnauts

Read More »
Kids

Spooky Fun!

The leaves are falling, the nights are drawing in, and Halloween and bonfire night is just around the corner. It’s time to get cosy with

Read More »
Puzzles

Make a lava lamp

Have you ever wanted to make your very own Lava Lamp?! Well now you can, in just 4 steps! Let’s go… See what effects you

Read More »
Kids

Nine Spooky Facts For Kids

Fancy spicing up your Halloween with some sensational spooky facts for kids? Why not frighten, delight and discombobulate your mates with these absolute belters! 1.

Read More »