Category: Children

Traditional Sports day

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For as long as many of us can remember sports day has always resided at every school in the summer months showing off pupil’s talents at physical education. Parents, teachers and children alike congregate on a school field or local green patch for an afternoon of races and related fun. The concept of sports day has always been straight forward fun for all the family. However, when looking in to the event more closely the activity of sports day could in fact have other effects on the children which are not as welcoming as the element of fun. Looking at each aspect in turn we can learn the inside scoop of what sports day is really about.

The Children

Children love nothing more than to let off some steam by running around with their friends and having lots of fun. Running races and playing games can be seen as great fun from a child’s perspective. Boundless energy and no limitations of what people think of them make them great at enjoying themselves actively. Yet on the introduction of rules and competition are put in place the fun factor could be sufficiently reduced. The reduction in the key element of fun can leave children restless and a little unwilling to take part as it is not what they consider fun. On the flip side if managed properly the fun element can be stay intact and the children will be more cooperative in the races planned.

The Teachers

Along with the education side of schooling teachers are also obligated to encourage children to take part in physical education. P E lessons are part of the school curriculum and are compulsory to all pupils until later on in their education. Many children don’t enjoy these lessons so sports day is a good example of making sports fun. Organising novel races such as the egg and spoon race help children to forget about the fact they are taking part in physical education.

Competition in sports activities for kids can be taken either way in a discussion. First of all, not all children have the capability to be as sporty as others. Having asthma for example can limit the distance they can run substantially in a race either short or long distance. Therefore, instantly giving others an unfair advantage which isn’t the child’s fault. On the other side competition is healthy and can give children that extra little push that they need to win the race.

The Parents

Parents can be divided into 2 categories, pushy parents or proud parents.  Children’s sports day can mean different things to different families. The proud parents are supportive of their children and promote the thinking of doing the best that they can. Even though a child may not win the race the parent is full of pride that they did the best they could and praise them for it. Pushy parents are of the nature that their child is and will be the best no matter what. Whether it entails any praise or no praise at all the child must win the race at all costs.

Status of families can also be reflected in the competitions as pushy parents do not want other families seeing their child lose. Leaving a supposed image on the family. Although this aspect of parenting is frowned upon it is too commonly found in schools to be ignored.

Healthy Competition

Learning about competition can be very productive towards a child’s development. Knowing that other children may be better at some things than themselves can help children get the motivation they need to work harder. This motivation gives more satisfaction to get the job done. Many children strive to make their parents proud or at least to do it for themselves. With the support of families any and all hard work that goes in to the end result can be highly beneficial. Children pushing themselves to be all that they can be is a great start for methods which can be used much later in life to their advantage.

In it to win it or the taking part?

Once again this issue always comes to conflict between many different people. Some competitors are simply in the event to win it whereas others just want the opportunity to take part and have a go. On some occasions sports day can be seen as being too competitive although essentially it is put in place to aid a healthy development. Taking part in events is a positive experience on a child’s social development which is also key to their cognitive functions. Being able to be social with others is a skill most valued in a child’s upbringing. Though competition is essential to push motivation the taking part in the event counts both morally and physically.

Top attractions to take your children in the holidays

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There are some amazing attractions around the country ranging from historic buildings to zoo and gardens.  So if you are planning to visit somewhere this summer and have a little money in your pocket, where are the top paid visitor attractions around England?  Here we look at the top 10 for children’s entertainment and fun family days out.

Tower of London

The historic castle standing on the banks of the River Thames has been one of the most popular tourist attractions in the country for generations.  It stands within the Tower Hamlets borough of London and was originally founded in 1066 as part of the Norman Conquest.  It is also home to the Crown Jewels, the queen’s famous collection of jewellery and gems.

Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey is the Gothic abbey church within the City of Westminster and to the west of the Palace of Westminster, better known as the Houses of Parliament.  It is the traditional coronation and burial places of the British royalty.

St Paul’s Cathedral

St Paul’s Cathedral is the seat of the Bishop of London and stands on Ludgate Hill, the highest part of the City of London.  It is dedicated to Paul the Apostle and the originally church was founded back in AD604.  The current building was designed by Sir Christopher Wren in the late 17th century in English Baroque style following the Great Fire of London.

Flamingo Land Theme Park & Zoo

Flamingo Land combines a theme park, zoo and resort near the village of Kirby Misperton, North Yorkshire.  Major attractions include Hero, a suspended flying rollercoaster and Pterodactyl, a vertical swing.  In the zoo part are animals as diverse as camels, zebras, giraffes, parrots and meerkats.

Windermere Lake Cruises, Bowness

Windermere is the largest lake in the Lake District and the Lake Cruises are a great way to see the most of it.  There are a range of cruises running from 45 minutes in length to three hours and even an all-day option.

Chester Zoo

Chester Zoo is named as the best zoo in the UK and the 7th best in the world and is also one of the largest zoos in the country.  There are over 400 species to be seen and in excess of 12,000 animals so something for all tastes from cute and cuddly to creepy crawlies.  The zoo is the most visited wildlife attraction in Britain with over 1.4 million visitors every year.

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Gardens

The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew is an international important botanic research and education institution.  Based in Kew, in Richmond-upon-Thames, the famous gardens have much to see but has a serious purpose as well.

Stonehenge

Stonehenge is arguably the most recognisable prehistoric monument in the world and is found 8 miles north of Salisbury in Wiltshire.  The standing stones are part of a larger complex of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments including burial mounds and is believed to date from 3000BC onwards.

ZSL London Zoo

ZSL London Zoo is the oldest scientific zoo in the world and opened in 1828 to study animals.  Today there are some 800 species represented amongst the 19,000 animals who call the zoo home, meaning it is one of the largest collections in the UK.  It is separated across a number of special sections including the Gorilla Kingdom and the Rainforest Life.

Houses of Parliament

The Houses of Parliament, also known as the Palace of Westminster, is the meeting place of both houses of the British parliament, the House of Commons and the House of Lords.  It stands on the north bank of the River Thames in the City of Westminster, beside Westminster Abbey.  At one end is the iconic clock tower nicknamed Big Ben.

School Holiday changes

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It can be hard to keep track of everything as a parent whilst trying to plan activities with the kids so here is a roundup of the big recent stories.

Lincolnshire breaks the mould

Two schools in Lincolnshire have become the first to change from the traditional summer term.  White’s Wood and Mercer’s Wood Primary Academies in Gainsborough have confirmed that when the school term ended last week, their children would have a four-week holiday instead of the normal six weeks.  Their opinion is that this will both help with learning and allow parents to take their kids on holidays during off-peak times.

The government welcomes the change and said it was aiming for all schools to be able to set their own term dates in the near future.  This is also a move to help combat the fining of parents for removing children during term time.  The kids will return to class on 19th August and will have two extra weeks added to terms in September and November as well as in May. 

Easter holiday clash

Parents in Dacorum, Hertfordshire, are facing a complex Easter holiday schedule after many of the secondary schools elected to split up the traditional Easter holidays.  Their plan would involve a long weekend for Easter then returning to school for four days before then having two weeks off.  But it seems that the primary schools in the area, despite being in favour of the change, didn’t put it into place.

What this means for parents is that if they have a child in both primary and secondary schools, they will be facing a different holiday period for each with only a week overlapping.  The schools normally get together each year to organise holidays under the new county council model but somewhere the communications broke down and now parents will find themselves in a potentially awkward position over time off at Easter. 

No fines for Carmarthenshire parents

Good news for parents of kids in Carmarthenshire schools after the council announced that next year there would be no fines for taking kids out on pre-booked holidays.  The move comes after the announcement of new school holidays and terms times from the Welsh Government that were in conflict for those already published by the schools in the area.  The mix up included October half term being a week earlier and the return from the Christmas break also being a week earlier.  Even the January 2017 term will be slightly different.

The confusion led to the county council saying that pupils would not be fined for not attending school for holidays booked in those times, when the parents thought the kids were due to be on holiday.  However, the move has yet to be signed off by the government in Cardiff so parents are advised to speak to the school directly if holidays are being affected.

Inset days used to save parents money

A school in Newport has come up with a new way to help ease the pain of parents wanting to take their kids on holiday but finding that peak times are too expensive.  Eveswell Primary School have said they will use their five teacher training days all together at the end of the Whitsun half term in June 2016 to allow parents to make use of cheaper holidays

Avoid School Holiday Traffic

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So it’s the school holidays and the weather is good so you plan a day trip somewhere that the kids have always wanted to visit.  However, there is a problem, so has everyone else and the traffic will likely be a nightmare.  Bank Holidays or a sunny day when the schools are off can see thousands of parents are looking for ways to entertain children and set out to popular tourist attractions to spend a day with the kids.  So what can you do to avoid the traffic jams?  And, how to do you keep the kids occupied if you do hit traffic?

Plan Ahead

The first step is to plan ahead – sit down the night before and check the route you are going to take.  The Highways Agency is a good site to check for information on road works on major roads and there are various other traffic sites for different parts of the country that are regularly updated.

Another aspect of planning is to check the weather forecast.  Yes, you want to know if the weather is suitable for the trip you have planned but also will the weather have an effect on the traffic?  If you are going to an indoor venue, there will be more congestion on the roads if the weather is poor.  Alternatively, if you are going somewhere outdoors and it is going to be particularly hot, areas such as the coast will be busier than normal.

Look at avoiding rush hour, as there are far more vehicles on the road at this time of day and prepare an alternative route to the one you intend to take in case something occurs while you are travelling.  Some satellite navigation systems have alternative routes programmed into them or they can even suggest a different route when requested.

During the trip

When you are on the road, tune into the local radio to keep track of any incidents.  The BBC operate radio stations in every area that give traffic information and most modern car radios have the facility to seek out traffic updated.

A smart phone can also serve a similar function if you have someone in the car that can monitor it, which many of the kids are more than able to do nowadays!  Motoring organisations such as the AA are a good place to see what is happening and the Highways Agency do update their site with incidents as well.

Make summer holidays educational

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School Holidays has there ever been a more magical combination of words to a child’s ears? A time to play, a time to explore and a time to learn?

Most children will balk at the idea of studying during the half term. With friends outside beckoning in the park and plenty of cartoons on the television, school work may be the last thing on your little one’s mind. That said, there are plenty of ways to incorporate education into a fun and exciting day out for children or afternoon at home.

Take it outside 

Summer is here, and there are plenty of learning opportunities in the back garden, in the park or by any body of water. Going for a splash in the creek can yield the magic of frog spawn, and an excellent time to revise biology. Inspecting new buds and fresh grass are great times to explain photosynthesis, and a visit to the petting area yields a perfect opportunity to talk genus and species. No matter what science or nature topic is being covered in class, chances are the great outdoors is your ultimate study buddy.  

Inside learning fun.

All child friendly attractions and museums offer special half term programmes for children of all ages, usually at no charge. Keen to explore history? A museum may be for you and your brood. Perhaps a jaunt into the belly of whale? Definitely the Natural History Museum Arts and culture? How about the Tate? Even niche topics such as human pathology and zoology are covered in the UK’s fascinating museums. What your child learns in a museum will complement and contextualise their studies – and provide for a good family day out.

Make a Game of it 

Turning an otherwise dry or dull subject into a fun game is the perfect way to bring schoolwork alive. Family living room quiz shows with fun prizes, board games and even small skits and plays can all turn a topic they are bored of into a fun and exciting play activity. Before you know it, they’ll be begging for their Shakespeare lessons. 

Get Crafty 

Fancy snuggling up indoors during half term instead of venturing outside? A fun way to encourage revision is to provide a table filled with exciting craft supplies – pipe cleaners, sparkly stickers, crepe paper and more – and help your kids to create wondrous masterpieces related to their studies. It’s easy to sneak in some stories and facts while colouring a Georgian mansion or building a model ship. They’ll be learning and they won’t even know it.

Rainy day indoor activities

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On a sunny day, children can play outside or go to the park but when it’s raining, everything seems grim and dull. Wet weather in the school holidays can drive parents crazy, especially for those on a budget and for many that mean’s a day in the house.  How you keep the kids entertained without spending a fortune?

Cupcake Creations

Doing a spot of cookery with kids is great fun and they will enjoy serving up their creations to the rest of the family.  If you aren’t the most confident home baker, then most supermarkets sell bun making or cupcake making kits that need just a little water and an egg.  The kids get to do most of the work with a little supervision and will love arranging the decorations on the icing once they are cooked. 

Cooking, Creating and Painting

As well as edible projects, you can also make salt dough in the kitchen.  This uses 2 cups of plain flour, 1 cup of salt and up to 1 cup of water to make dough that can then be cut with shaped cutters or just by hand.  It is baked in the oven at a low heat for around three hours and can be then be painted with acrylic paint, varnished and glittered.  This activity is great for making decorations or beads to then be strung together. 

Make a Den

There aren’t many kids who don’t love the idea of having a den in the house and a rainy day is a great opportunity to do this.  Get some kitchen chairs together, hang bedding and blankets over them and secure everything with clothing pegs.  The kids can then play inside with their favourite toys and games and will probably be very difficult to get out come bedtime! 

All Children like a Good Treasure Hunt

With a little preparation, a treasure hunt around the house is a great children’s activity idea and will be great fun, with a little treat as the treasure.  Set up clues that have them thinking things through without being too difficult and send them up and down stairs as much as possible – a bit of hidden exercise while in the house.

You could even integrate a little learning into the treasure hunt, ask them a mathematical problem or how to spell a word. 

Marble Runs

Creating marble runs is a brilliant way to get the kids thinking.  Stockpile old toilet roll holders, margarine tubs and anything else they can put together to make a run for their marbles.  It won’t be long before they are becoming ever more inventive and trying to guess where the marble will go.  Just watch out they don’t end up under your feet!

Birthday cake from scratch

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One of my school Mum’s had never made a cake, let alone a birthday cake. Her son was quite specific about he wanted too – A Lego style theme! So the heat was really on.

When she posted the cake of Facebook we were all rather surprised how great it really was. We asked her a few questions, and this may help you decide if this is something you would like to do?

Given that you’d never made a cake before, what made you decide to make your own cake instead of buying one?

I think there’s something about making things yourself which brings about a sense of achievement and satisfaction. I knew finding a cake with everything my son was currently into would be a challenge and so I decided to take on the challenge myself and add a Mummy’s personal touch! I did have a look at the price of cakes and felt I wasn’t able to justify the expense and so found it so much cheaper ordering what I needed from the internet. I took inspiration from google images and Pinterest and thought I’d give it a go.

What was the theme and why did you choose it?

It was a mix of Lego with a little touch of football and pirates! This was part of the reason why I decided to make it myself, as I wanted to incorporate all his favourite themes onto the cake and make it extra special.

How easy was it?

I did ask a friend to help with the sponge as I am no baker! I then iced the cakes and the cake board (after a couple of goes at it) and handmade the decorations. I wanted everything to be edible and so it was (except for the little Lego men). I know the way children love to pull bits off the cake and gobble them up! I made the decorations whilst in front of the TV a couple of nights before the actual party to make it more manageable

Would you do it again?

I would definitely do it again! Once you start a challenge like this, you’d be amazed at how rewarding it is and how creative you can actually be.

What was your son’s reaction to the cake?

I was up on the last night putting together all the final touches pretty late, but in the morning I showed my son and he hugged me and told me how much he loved it! To see his genuinely sincere reaction showed me he was impressed and I had passed! It was all definitely worth it just for that.

Making a birthday cake is of course a fair bit more work than buying it, but it can be a lot of fun, and as Sarah said herself, it’s a great way to involve your child in the party planning process. It’s always nice to have your own personal cake at the end of it for your child’s birthday party.

Party Invitations made easy

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The invitations to any party are very important. This is one of the first things you should do when planning a children’s birthday party. So here are some great top tips for how to go about your invites.

Ready Made Options –
This is perhaps the perfect time to point out that you can get some great templates on the website for anyone that is stuck for ideas. Many of them can be printed off for free. 

Don’t Hang Around –

It’s important that you give your guests plenty of time to respond to your invites and so you need to get them out in good time before the event. Depending on when your party is, (busy times such as bank holidays and Christmas may need longer) about a month before the occasion is probably best. This should give most people enough time to reply and will also mean the date is firmly in their diary should anything else come up.
Consider Going Straight to the Parents –  
Although it’s exciting for a child to receive an invitation to their friend’s party, children can often forget to pass these onto their parents. You may therefore want to hand the invitations directly to the relevant adults so that you get a swift RSVP. Alternatively, you could get your child to hand them out to their friends but do then check with the parents of the children, that they know about it, in case the invite never made it home. Another option is asking the teacher of your child’s class to put them in the children’s book bags.
Have A Crafty Day –   
If you would prefer to create your own invites rather than use the ones on our We party’s website, then why not have a craft day in order to do this. Set out everything you need to make your child’s own invitations and then work on them together. Kids find this very exciting. This way they can have a bigger say in their party and they can show off their arts and craft skills to all their friends.
Try to Include Everyone – 
When inviting children to the party, it’s often hard to know who should get an invite. The amount of guests that can come will obviously depend on the size of the venue and the budget you have for the party, but where possible it’s a good idea to not leave anyone out and simply invite the whole class at school. If you don’t then some children (and parents) are bound to get upset. Some schools actually ask that you do invite the whole class if you are giving out invites on the school grounds, so it’s an idea to check what the school policy is with this. 
Check All the Information Is Correct –  
Before you send out the invites check that all the information on them is correct. This sounds obvious, but the last thing you want is for people to show up an hour early because you put the wrong time on the invites. Make sure you have included the address of the venue, what time the party starts and finishes, what day and date it is on and whether there is any specific dress code in line with your party theme. You may also want to add that parents are welcome to stay for the duration of the party if you decide you are happy for them to do so. We’d actually suggest they don’t stay (if the children are old enough) because the background noise made by parents charting can actually mean kids can’t hear the entertainer as well and it has an adverse effect on the children’s party. Of course it’s understandable that you may want parents to stay but we’d suggest that if they do, you have a separate room for them to be in.

Hosting an outdoor children’s party

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Providing the weather holds, there is nothing more exciting for children than an outdoor party. Rather than being cooped up inside, the fresh air and additional space will do your guests good and give them new terrain to explore. Here are a few top tips if you’re thinking about hosting a children’s party in the garden or a hired outdoor space:

Plenty of food
An array of party foods will go down a treat. Try to ensure that you:

• Balance healthy and sugary snacks, avoiding too many E numbers
• Keep fluid levels up with regular drinks, particularly on hot days
• Provide shaded seating while children are eating

Games
No party is complete without games, and being outdoors will give you plenty of scope. Depending on the size of your garden and the age of the kids attending you could also arrange a:

• Treasure hunt
• Water balloon battle (best to advise for kids to have a change of clothes with them though)
• Messy flour and water game – where you have 2 tubs (one filled with water and the other with flour.) The kids have to use only their mouth to ‘fish’ out a sweet in a tub full of water and then they have to do the same in a tub of flour. Only once they do it with flour, they will end up with their faces covered in it- loads of fun!!! They must keep their hands behind their back at all times!
• Relay race
• Talent show – get the kids into groups and give them ideas of what they could do e.g. sing, do a funk dance they make up for themselves, a mini play, a mini x factor style competition, or whatever they like.
• Obstacle course – another fun idea is to set up some pegs either side of the garden with string either side and tell the kids that the string are laser beams that they have to crawl under, like a spy or just a cool obstacle course game. If you have garden toys, e.g. a slide (where they have to slide down the slide before coming back through the ‘laser beam maze’ or paddling pool (where they have to fish something out of the pool full of water and bring it back through the laser beam maze).

With a bit of imagination – a lot of fun can be had!!!

Kids Party Entertainment
Professional children’s entertainers can really take the pressure off you as a host as well as making the birthday boy or girl feel really special. We have plenty of entertainment packages that are perfect for a spring party or birthday celebrations.
Children’s party entertainers bring so much fun to any party and can include some great activities such as:

• Magic tricks
• Puppet shows
• Comedy
• Musical or dance-based activities
• Balloon modelling
• Exciting themes
• Science parties
• Clowns
• Discos and more

Children’s Party Themes
Introducing a theme can pull all of the above elements together. For example, if your children’s entertainers will be doing magic tricks, a magician or wizard theme goes down well. The children can dress up as their favourite character and the food and games could have a magical theme incorporated too. If you’re planning an outdoor treasure hunt, guests could come dressed as pirates and your children’s entertainers can include a cool pirate theme throughout.

Budding archaeologists

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If your child is into ancient History, then maybe an Egyptian party would be just the thing;

You could ask your guests to come dressed as an Egyptian (not only would it be great fun but also very educational)

There could be lots of crafty making (seeing as the Egyptians love to build things) why not have a Pyramid building competition which cardboard recycling could be put to very good use. All you need it glue, glitter pens and the children’s imagination to build an amazing Pyramid!!  

PARTY GAMES & ACTIVITIES;

Mummy wrap game;

Divide the children into 3 teams and had them wrap one person as a mummy. Best wrap in 5 minutes’ win.  You will need lots of toilet tissue, try and buy the more expensive stuff as the cheap tissue will rip easily.

Next game is a scavenger hunt. Divided into teams and gave them hieroglyphic clues which they had to translate. There are a lot of websites that give ways to translate hieroglyphics, but not all of them use the same letter-to-hieroglyphic translations.  Tell the children that archaeologists weren’t always given complete information!

The first clue led them to an archaeological dig site (the sand box). They had to dig up a ring, necklace, gold coins, and their next clue. Use one of the pyramids to give instructions — particularly, one item per person; I wanted everyone to get one of each.

The second clue took them to buckets that they had no idea what was inside.  There were all sorts of horrible feeling things inside for example, Jelly, baked beans and custard and they had to dig deep to get their clues!!

The third clue took them to the Nile River. Planks were laid out in the garden and pretend water was underneath them.  The idea is that they balanced and didn’t fall. At the end of the Nile was a crocodile’s nest. They had to get the eggs from the crocodile’s nest for their next clue. 

Final stop was Tutankhamun’s tomb, for their prize there were sweets and prizes all stuffed into a treasure chest 

KIDS PARTY FOOD;

Sandwiches and crisps were laid out and ice cream scooped into bowls, so just had to bring it out from the freezer.  Oh and of course a Pyramid Cake!!!