Two ten-year-old girls tell JO HAYWOOD to get knotted as they try to show her the latest craze.

WHY are kids up and down the country dumping their computer games in favour of tying knots in colourful plastic strings?

It's a mystery worthy of Scooby Doo and his gang of pesky kids. Which is bizarrely appropriate as the craze that is sweeping school playgrounds is called Scoubidou (also known as Scoobies or Skoobies).

Fingers that once used to text friends at break time (usually friends standing ten feet away) are now feverishly tying together long threads of jazzy plastic to create friendship bracelets, keyrings and cute animals.

And it's not only girls who are getting their Skoobies in a knot, boys are getting hooked on the crafty craze too.

Scoubidou is not advertised on TV; it's cheap (usually about £1.99 for 30 strands); and it doesn't involve batteries, a joystick or the zapping of alien zombies. So where has it come from?

The craze supposedly began in France when fans of the French singer Sacha Distel fashioned a bracelet for their hero out of wire insulators after a concert. They named the gift Scoubidou after the crooner's 1958 hit.

Skoobies arrived in this country in October last year and now sell at a rate of a million packets a week.

Their appeal is generally lost on adults, so who better to ask about their popularity than two ten-year-old York girls?

Friends Maddie and Laura are skilled Scoubidou fans. Throughout our chat their fingers continue to fly around their latest creations, knotting a string here and threading a string there without ever losing the thread of their conversation.

Laura first spotted Skoobies while holidaying in France last year, but didn't learn the technique until this year when Maddie returned from an Easter break in Bath as a fully paid-up member of the Scoubidou fan club.

"My friend Sophie taught me in Bath and I taught Laura when I got home," said Maddie. "That's how it works; one person learns and they pass it on."

There are numerous books available stuffed with patterns and tips, and you only have to type the word 'Scoubidou' into Google to get all manner of free hints and offers of bargain threads.

Skoobies are available in a number of high street shops including Woolworths, Fenwick and Claire's Accessories. Laura's top tip is to shop at Home Bargains at Clifton Moor, where you can pick up 50 threads for 50p.

The girls admit that they work on their Skoobies every day, spending break times at school with their fingers flying.

"We thought it would be banned at school by now because everything is, but it hasn't been," said Maddie. "As long as we don't do it in class, the teachers don't seem bothered."

Both are now adept at basic square and spiral patterns and can knock up a helicopter in no time.

They are now keen to make their way on to the harder patterns in their books. The threads are actually hollow, so wires can be threaded through to create 3D shapes like owls and - gulp - spiders.

"We have experimented with wool," said Laura.

"Yes," said Maddie, picking up the thread, "but it was a bit thin and droopy."

Which is a pretty fair assessment of my own attempts at mastering Scoubidou. Hopeless is the most polite word I can think of to describe my complete lack of skill, coordination and dexterity.

"Mums and dads are not generally very good at first," said Laura politely, while Maddie struggled to stifle a titter. "It takes a bit of practice."

The girls have not been tempted to try any other crafts, but are not ruling out jewellery-making once the Scoubidou craze has abated.

Is that likely to be anytime soon?

"Some people are already going off it," said Laura. "But we still love it."

"It might just be a summer thing I suppose," Maddie added. "We might all be doing something else in September."

I hope it's not the hula-hoop; I was rubbish at that too.

Instructions for tying a 'simple' Skoobie box knot

Tie two strings round a pencil so you have four ends hanging down. Take lace 1, fold it in front of lace 2 and 3. Take lace 4 in front of lace 1, then behind lace 2 and 3 and into the loop made by lace 1. Pull lace 1 and 4 tight.

Got it? No, me neither.

Updated: 16:18 Friday, July 15, 2005