How to | Hula Hoop

Because it’s a skill everyone should be able to surprise their friends with

Our July cover photo had us all wanting to invest in a hula hoop and rotate our hips like hula-pros. So we thought we’d put together a short guide on how to get started with hula hooping.

1. Invest in the correct-sized hula hoop - you need one that comes up to your belly button when it is standing on the floor in front of you.

2. Once you have your hula hoop, hold it in front of you and step inside the hoop with your feet towards the back. Bring the hoop to your waist level with two hands and stand your feet shoulder width apart. 

3. Keep your body long and give the hoop a big flat spin and then start to push forwards and backwards. If you’re right-handed spin it anticlockwise. If you’re left-handed spin it clockwise. Keep your knees, chest and hips still and just move the belly and back if you can. 

4. Move your waist in a circular motion, moving your belly froward as it crosses your front and pushing backwards as it crosses your back. You need to move the part of your body you want the hoop to sit on and keep the other areas still as much as you can.

5. Put one foot in front of the other if it feels easier. If you feel the hoop starting to drop, go faster, or turn your body in the same direction as the hoop is moving while pushing faster. 

6. Once you’ve got the momentum and you can do a few hoops, you can start being fancy. Try taking a step forward and back or moving across the room. Try these tricks for beginners if you like.

More skills to learn…

More from our July issue…

Learn | to play a little sunshine on the ukulele

Gain a new skill and spread a little sunshine along the way

We hope you liked our ‘sunshine’ chalkboard*, that we featured in our May issue. We’ve been humming ‘You Are My Sunshine’ all month.

If, like us, you’ve been trying your hand at a new skill or using lockdown as time to improve on a skill you already have, you might have dusted off an old instrument or two. We know lots of people have dug out their ukuleles or bought one online recently. They’re a really easy instrument to learn. If you fancy having a go, we’ve started you off here with the chords for You Are My Sunshine. It’s the song most uke players start off with because it only uses three really simple chords.

Here are the chords you need to know to play You Are My Sunshine. (The left hand side is the top of the fret board, so with C you would place your ring finger on the bottom string on the third fret).

You Are My Sunshine (Jimmie Davis, Charles Mitchell, 1939)

You Are My [C] Sunshine
My only sunshine.
You make me [F] happy
When skies are [C] grey.
You'll never know, [F] dear,
How much I [C] love you.
Please don't take my [G7] sunshine a-[C] -way

The other night, dear,
As I lay sleeping
I dreamed I [F] held you in my [C] arms.
When I a-[F]-woke, dear,
I was mis-[C]-taken
And I hung my [G7] head and [C] cried.

You Are My [C] Sunshine
My only sunshine.
You make me [F] happy
When skies are [C] grey.
You'll never know, [F] dear,
How much I [C] love you.
Please don't take my [G7] sunshine a-[C] -way
Please don't take my [G7] sunshine a-[C] -way

*You can buy a selection of our chalkboard pictures as postcards from our online store.

Buy this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

Three more new things to learn about…

How to create a podcast

In our January issue, podcaster Kat Brown introduces some of her favourite podcasts out there. Fancy making your own? Follow Kat’s steps to give it a go:

• Find a theme you’re passionate about, and make a plan for how each episode will run. Will you have a co-host? When can you record? How many episodes will you aim for?

• Record in a small, quiet space that won’t echo or have eg trains running through it.

• Allow a mic per person, ideally – Blue Yeti Snowballs aren’t too pricy – or get a table mic. Keep it on a mat so it doesn’t knock over, and use a good pair of headphones to keep an ear on sound levels.

• If your interviewee is remote, programmes like Zencastr allow you to record each end of the interview and save the files. Make sure to plug a mic into your computer.

• Audacity is a good, free tool for editing audio – it looks tricky, but there are plenty of sensible YouTube tutorials.

• Choose a podcast server – there are plenty, and opinions are divided on which ones are best. Libsyn and Podbean are popular choices.

• Record and publish a ‘zero episode’, a trailer that will make people aware of your and give listeners something to subscribe to before launch day!

• Get the word out there – create a social media profile, send out a press release, get people in your community talking about it. Be passionate and proud – it’s catching.

• Make sure any guests you have agree to publicise their episode. Send them a piece of artwork and/or the link afterwards to make it easier.

• If you’re on Facebook, Helen Zaltzman’s incredibly useful Podcasters’ Support Group is a haven of advice, from good free music, to logo design.

More new year inspiration…

More from our January issue…

Learn something new: Dog agility

Training a dog for most of us never goes much beyond ‘sit’ and ‘stay’, so how wonderful it would be to have a dog that can obediently fly over jumps and dart through tunnels. Dog agility is basically an obstacle course for dogs and a test of the handler’s ability. Agility pros claim most dogs naturally love it and it is a fun and friendly way to keep you and your dog fit.

To see if you can teach an old dog new tricks, try it out first in your garden: it is as simple as setting up some (low) jumps with garden canes and buckets and bringing out a bag of dog treats. Entice your pet over and pretty soon they’ll get the idea and jump without even being asked just to get the tasty treat over the other side.

You don’t even need your own dog – schemes like borrowmydoggy.com will loan you one to exercise. Puppies and young dogs that aren’t fully grown can’t do agility, so it’s a good way to bond and train with older or rescue dogs (top agility dogs peak aged 4–6).

It’s easier than you think to get started – there are hundreds of groups and clubs around the country, not all of which involve competing, if that’s not your thing. But if the bug (as opposed to the dog) bites, then there are plenty of competitions to choose from, at every level. Breed doesn’t matter a jot, but if you do take it seriously, you probably need a border collie – they nearly always win! 

See how it’s done at Crufts (9–12 March at The NEC Birmingham and on Channel 4 and More 4; crufts.org.uk).

More from the March issue:

More pet tips:

Get hold of your copy of this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

View the sampler here

Learn something new: Origami

Master how to fold a flapping bird (or ‘crane’ as it’s correctly known) and you will always have a dinner party trick up your sleeve. A paper napkin can, with a bit of dextrous folding, be transformed into a thing of wonder. Your fellow diners’ jaws will drop as you crease and sculpt and then reveal a creature whose wings flap when they tug its tail.

One of the marvels of this Japanese art is that all it needs is one piece of square paper. Pre-cut squares, some bi-coloured, some patterned, can be bought at Paperchase, £8.29 for 49 squares, which is not too crippling an expense when you consider that no glue, scissors or tape are necessary. Ingenuity is all that’s needed, that and some good, clear instructions.

Back in the Seventies, the king of origami was Robert Harbin who introduced the word* to the British public via TV programmes and a series of books. His books are still as good a place as any to learn but there is plenty of advice on YouTube and on dedicated websites such as origami-instructions.com and origami.me. The trick is to master a few basic folds (inside and outside reverse, the petal fold, the valley and mountain fold) and a couple of bases (bird base, diamond base, kite base, waterbomb base) and then a world of paper folding will, well, unfold for you. Soon you will be surrounded by ninja stars, hopping frogs and lotus flowers and a circle of slack-jawed friends.

* The word ‘origami’ comes from the Japanese ‘ori’ meaning folding and ‘kami’ which means paper.

Words: Clare Gogerty

Want to try more? Head over to Pinterest where you'll find paper ideas galore.

Follow The Simple Things's board Origami on Pinterest.

Read more:

From the September issue

Learn something new

More from The Simple Things' Pinterest boards

September's The Simple Things is on sale - buy, download or subscribe now.