Building a woodland den with friends and family is a great way to explore nature, have fun and improve your teamwork skills.

A good place to build a den is in a forest or wood. You need to have lots of fallen branches, sticks that bend and perhaps some leaves. Never break branches off trees. Some parks have areas on the edge of woodlands set aside for making a den, with a good supply of materials already on the ground. Don’t build on a slope because this could make your den unstable.

One method is to place long branches upright against a tree. Push them hard into a fork in a low branch of the tree to make it stronger. Fan the upright branches around in a teepee (圆锥形帐篷) shape, making sure the wood won’t slip. Now you can carefully weave smaller, bendy sticks between the uprights to fill in your shelter. Leave some of the higher areas clear so that you can see out.

Keep an opening to act as your entrance and exit. If it’s sunny, use a compass (there are phone apps for this, too) and put your “door” facing south so that you get more sunlight and warmth. Dried leaves can be scattered inside to make the ground better for sitting on. You could also make a tent-shaped den if you have two trees or branches near each other.   Place a long branch level between them and put upright branches against it on both sides. Be creative with your shelter structures and make the most of what’s around. You may want to bring string or rope to tie branches together, or perhaps a waterproof sheet to help make a roof or act as a groundsheet.

When you’ve finished, take your items home with you, take your den down and leave the land as you found it. Other people can then build dens and have adventures, too. Remember: always make sure you are accompanied by an adult or have sought their permission first before you set off.

It cannot be denied that Hakka earth buildings, or Kejia tulou, are totally different to traditional architectural styles both in China and abroad

Beyond their giant size, earth buildings are unique for their robust(坚固的)architecture. The multi-storey buildings were built with a mixture of earth, sand, glutinous rice , bamboo and wood chips, solidly tamped(夯实)into walls up to two metres thick. Each building could shelter hundreds of people——all sharing the same surname. If danger approached, the doors would be swiftly bolted(闩上)shut. Weapons would then be distributed among the men. Food would be stockpiled in advance and water drawn from the wells located within the building.

Though sometimes called roundhouses, not all earth buildings are doughnut-shaped. Oval square and rectangular ones can be found as well. Some earth buildings bunch up in picturesque clusters, but many stand alone

While some of the oldest existing earth buildings date back to the 12th century, the most recent examples were built in the last century. In a typical earth building, rooms are arranged in a ring-like formation, which face onto a circular central courtyard.

For anyone numbed by the impersonal nature of modern Chinese apartment blocks or the rapid pace of urban China, the earth buildings are charming reminders of what communal village life was like in the past. The Chinese frequently say, “A nearby neighbour is better than a distant relative.” The earth-building-living Hakka have the best of both worlds, as neighbours are also relatives.

Despite their sturdy defences, the earth buildings are falling victim to a gradual hollowing out from within. Like so many villages across China, grandparents and grandchildren can be found playing together, but there is often less and less indication of the presence of the labouring generation between the two. The young and the middle-aged have left to earn money in the country’s cities and towns, leaving many earth buildings largely depopulated.

Roughly the size of a soda can, sitting on a bookshelf, a relatively harmless device(设备) may be turning friends away from your home. The elephant in your living room is your Internet-connected camera, a device people are increasingly using for peace of mind in their homes. But few stop to think about the effect these devices may have on house guests. Should you tell your friends, for instance, that they’re being recorded while you all watch the big game together?

"It’s certainly new territory, especially as home security cameras become easier to fix," says Lizzie Post, president of the Emily Post Institute, America’s distinguished manners advisors. " I think it will be very interesting to see what manners appear in terms of whether you tell people you have a camera or not, and whether guests have a right to ask that it be turned off, if it’s not a security issue. "Post wants to make clear that she’s not talking about legal rights, but rather personal preference.

When it comes to security cameras, Post says it’s a host’s responsibility to make sure guests feel comfortable within their home. If the host casually acknowledges that there is a camera in the room by telling a story about it, that may be enough to provide an opening for a guest to say if they are uncomfortable.

However, if a contractor(合约工)is working in your home, you don’t need to tell them that there are cameras watching. Then again, the camera can also work in contractors’ favor. "If anything does go wrong while they’re in the house, they don’t want to be blamed for it," she says. "In fact, the camera could be the thing that proves that they didn’t steal the $20, or knock the vase off the table.