Tag: education

Shops they’ll love

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If you’ve got little elves and angels in tow whilst hitting the shops, then why not take them for a peek around a shop they will LOVE?! Here’s a roundup of some of some fun, family favourites!

Lego Store, London

Come along to the largest Lego store in the world, which stocks many amazing fun and educational ranges for little builders to get stuck into. You can also marvel at their Lego creations, which includes Big Ben and a replica of William Shakespeare!

Hamley’s, London

Hamleys, which is the oldest and largest store store in the world with over seven magical floors, naturally offers a toy to please even the fussiest of kids! You’ll find every toy imaginable, from soft toys, children’s arts and crafts and even mini cars!

The Harry Potter Shop at Platform 9 3/4

Visiting this shop is a must for your little witches and wizards who love Harry Potter! Come and try some Bertie Botts Beans, find your perfect wand and browse amongst so many more themed items.

The Disney Store, Manchester

This shop is a must for all Disney lovers (little and big alike!) looking to find their favourite character amongst an array of soft toys, stationery and so much more!

Sylvanian Families Shop, London

For little lovers of Sylvanian Families (or just cute animal lovers alike!) this lovely shop is a must. Kickstart your collection, add to it or have a browse at their latest ranges!

Science Museum Shop, London

Little budding archaeologists will love exploring what the Science Museum Shop has to offer to fulfil their curious minds! There’s also exhibition related gifts, so if you’ve seen a collection that catches your eye don’t forget to take home a souvenir!

Build-a-Bear Workshop

This cute shop, which has various locations all across the UK, is perfect for those looking for a unique take on having their own teddy bear. Choose your bear (or character from a much loved film!), add personalised touches such as recorded messages and clothing, then watch as your very own bear comes to life!

Harrods, London

Come along to marvel at Harrods stunning decor and vast array of ranges on every floor, which includes an amazing toy floor with every gadget, soft toy and more that you could imagine! Make sure to stop by their Disney themed cafe on the fourth floor too

Free days out in Liverpool

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If you’re looking for some fab (and free!) days out in Liverpool, look no further! Check out this handy list full of great children’s attractions and activities that all of the family will love, whether you’ve got a budding artist, little bookworm or explorers in town.
Merseyside Maritime Museum

 

Merseyside Maritime Museum is a fantastic day out with the family! Here you’ll find a fascinating array of different exhibitions displaying Liverpool’s maritime history. There will always be lots to see and do as they regularly have activities and workshops for families. There’s also a ‘Sea Urchins’ play area for kids under the age of 8!

The World Museum

The World Museum has world-class shows and displays, including the Planetarium and Aquarium to the fascinating Clore Natural History Centre. You will find lots of exciting objects including Egyptian mummies, Samurai armour, casts of dinosaur bones, meteorites and many more treasures. Throughout the year they have many family events and many different temporary exhibitions so keep an eye on their regularly updated calendar!

Tate Liverpool

Tate Liverpool has many exhibitions displaying various artists and their work. There is a lot to offer visiting families, including events and workshops! You can make your way around the gallery at your own pace and start wherever you want.

Sefton Park

This beautiful park has some great facilities for all of the family to enjoy. There’s lots to explore, including the Grade 2 listed Palm House, fountain, grotto, boating lake, fairy glen and lots more! There’s a playground for the children to let off some steam and plenty of walkways ready to be explored.

The Bluecoat

The Bluecoat, known as Liverpool’s creative hub, is home to an array of art, theatre, music, dance and lots more! It is the most historic building in Liverpool and hosts many temporary exhibitions. It caters for families, offering creative activities every Saturday so your little budding artists can make their very own pieces of art.

Liverpool Central Library

This imposing historic building has been thoroughly modernised and is a fantastic place to bring the family! There is a children’s room where you will find brightly coloured interiors with lots of books and hidey holes. There are excellent facilities including an Xbox 360, computers, iPads and lots more.

Walker Art Gallery

Walker Art Gallery is a great place to bring the family on a day out! They offer an array of activities including the Big Art for Little Artists gallery, which can be found on the ground floor. There are often events and workshops taking place, which kids can get involved in.

Liverpool World Heritage Site

The port area of Liverpool is listed as a World Heritage Site, which stretches along the waterfront. In the Pier Head area you’ll find the grand historic buildings of The Royal Liver Building, The Cunard Building and Port of Liverpool building. There’s also the modern building of the Museum of Liverpool (free entry) and the chance to watch narrow boats pass through the Canal Link. You will also find the modern district, Mann Island, where there are restaurants galleries and cafes.

Wonderful book days out

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Regardless of your child’s reading ability or age, these wonderfully wordy days out are a great way to get children excited about books and the wonderful imaginative world of stories!

Library of Birmingham; Birmingham

This huge, modern building is home to over 400,000 books available to be read by the public, as well as a studio theatre, rooftop gardens, an outdoor Amphitheatre and a panoramic viewing gallery. Children will love exploring the children’s zones, listening to story telling sessions and getting involved in kids’ activities!

The Roald Dahl Museum & Story Centre; Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire

Located in the very place that Roald Dahl lived and wrote is the wonderful Roald Dahl museum! Aimed at children aged between 6 and 12, it features galleries, a story centre and loads of interactive displays all around this much loved children’s author.

Liverpool Central Library; Liverpool

Inside this very large, historic building is a modern discovery that the whole family will love! Inside the children’s room you will find brightly coloured interiors brimming with books and nooks to read in. There is even an Xbox 360, computers, iPad and more technology available to the public!

The Story Museum; Oxford, Oxfordshire

Children will love getting lost in the wonderful world of stories in this unusual but amazing museum that is specifically centred around stories! Perfect for kids of all ages and reading abilities, and of course adults too!

The British Library; London

The British Library is a great place to lose a few hours. Find endless knowledge and stories in so many different formats including print, digital, manuscripts, journals, newspapers, magazines and so much more!

Discover Children’s Story Centre; London

Explore the indoor story trail and discover a magical adventure, or let off some steam in the story garden where kids will love discovering giant musical instruments, a spacecraft and a monster’s tongue! There’s so much fun to be had at Discover Children’s Story Centre with a sprinkling of imagination.

Working Class Movement Library; Manchester

The Working Class Movement Library in Manchester is an amazing place to discover real stories about the extraordinary people who fought to have their voices heard. Explore books, archives, photographs, poetry, posters, journals, reports and so much more in this wonderful library.

Seven Stories Centre; Newcastle Upon Tyne

Seven Stories is built to inspire children through reading and stories. They will love exploring their imaginations through workshops, the many libraries and a literary adventure playground

The Elves and Shoemaker

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Join Full House Theatre at The Civic on Sunday 23 April on a high jinks journey of joy and rediscovering of the past in their family fun show The Elves and The Shoemaker.

In this topsy-turvy re-telling we meet Geoff, a lovable retired shoemaker. Now in his twilight years Geoff struggles with his memory and the patchwork of his past.

One day at the bottom of his garden he is visited by two magical friends who help him to recall the old days in the shoe shop, reliving the hard times, the good times and the magic! The Elves help Geoff to remember his glorious past and eventually he realises that a little bit of elf magic is all he needs to give his wife the only thing she’s ever wanted, just in time for her 90th Birthday.

The show features original toe-tapping music, laugh out loud characters, puppetry and even a little bit of real magic! Just like a comfy old slipper, The Elves and the Shoemaker is a story sure to make old and young alike feel all warm and cosy inside.

The Elves and The Shoemaker is at The Civic on Sunday 23 April at 2.30pm. Tickets are £8 full price, £6 concessions and £5 children.

The Civic, Barnsley

A multi-purpose theatre and art gallery based in Barnsley, The Civic presents world-class accessible performances and exhibitions throughout the year, to audiences in the heart of South Yorkshire.

Opening times

Gallery: Tuesday – Saturday, 10am-5pm (last admission is 15 minutes prior to closing time)

Box Office: Monday – Friday, 10am-6pm / Saturday, 10am-5pm / Sunday, 10am-4pm (on family performance days)

Sea Life Brighton

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One of the South Coast’s most loved visitor attractions, Sea Life Brighton, has unveiled a packed events calendar for 2017 with adventures in store for visitors of all ages.

The world’s oldest operating aquarium, open to visitors for more than 140 years, Sea Life Brighton is home to more than 3,500 creatures including sharks, turtles, seahorses, rays and an anaconda.

Highlights include feeding demonstrations throughout the day, an interactive rock pool and the fantastic 360-degree Ocean Tunnel.

Sea Life Brighton also offers visitors the opportunity to experience the marine world from the unique perspective of a glass-bottomed boat – the first aquarium in the UK to do so.

A popular attraction with visitors of all ages.  The aquarium is open every day apart from Christmas Day, from 10am. Check current closing times on the website.

Brand new for 2017, the aquarium will celebrate February half term with Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler’s The Snail and The Whale.

From 11 February until 05 March, visitors will be able to put on their snail hats and experience the beloved children’s book like never before as they follow the story around Sea Life Brighton, through an amazing underwater world.

Looking further ahead to April, Sea Life Brighton will unveil a thrilling, but currently top secret, new attraction which the aquarium is sure will quickly become a family favourite.

The year’s fun does not end there, with a raft of exciting events in store including its ever-popular Pop Badge swaps. The aquarium will also be hosting interactive events across school half terms throughout the year – making it the perfect way to entertain youngsters during the holidays.

Port Jackson sharks – some of the creatures that have lived in the seas unchanged for millions of years – and an interactive display that includes being charged by a Megalodon delight visitors as the new Jurassic Seas display opens.

 

Sea Life Brighton is open from 10am every day apart from Christmas Day.

Family days out

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Bracknell Leisure Centre

Get active when planning a children’s day out in Berkshire! There’s plenty of fun to be found for the whole family at Bracknell Leisure Centre. The range of facilities and children’s activities will get you and your little ones burning off excess energy and creating healthy habits for life.

Family tickets are available for the swimming pools enabling everyone to get splashing and save money! There are also plenty of badminton courts and tennis tables available. With lots of other bookable and pay-as-you-go activities such as soccer dribblers, tweeny tumblers, fun sessions, go karts and gymnastics, it’s a great place to go with the kids over the summer.

The Time Out Café and Bar is ideal for meeting and unwinding during a visit to the leisure centre. This warmly decorated and comfortable venue offers a mouth-watering menu and an excellent choice of snacks. Choose from a menu including sandwiches, panini’s, jacket potatoes, soup of the day as well as a daily special. Inflatable Aqua Run and Water Walker birthday parties for children are available.

British Motor Museum

The newly refurbished British Motor Museum is home to the world’s largest collection of historic British cars – from the very first Land Rover to Lady Penelope’s FAB1.

Experience the sights, sounds and stories of the British motor industry and get ‘under the skin’ with our interactive exhibits. Explore how motoring and family life has changed through the decades as the cars are brought to life by costumed explainers and free guided tours.

Family trails and school holiday activities add to the family fun, whatever the weather! Nearest train stations are Warwick or Banbury.

Arundel Castle

For a lovely day out with the family, visit Arundel Castle which is set high on a hill in West Sussex. Steeped in 1,000 years of history, Arundel Castle offers a full day out with guided and free-flow tours of the finely preserved castle rooms, including the Baron’s Hall, 14th Century Catholic Fitzalan Chapel, Regency Library and Victorian bedrooms.

There are also opportunities to ascend the Norman Motte and Keep and enjoy The Collector Earl’s Garden, which was opened by HRH The Prince of Wales in 2008. Special event prices apply for the Castle Siege and International Jousting and Medieval Tournament.

Should I shout?

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Shouting does not make a someone a terrible parent.  I bet that most people shout because they are GOOD parents.

You see good parents try. They want to do better. They have expectations for their children.  They get frustrated when their children don’t live up to those expectations.

They are worn down because they work all day to take care of their families.  They try hard to make sure that their children have everything that they need.

They feel bad that they can’t do enough, or that they just aren’t enough for their children.

So it’s not surprising that we lose it every once in a while.

Bad parents don’t feel those things.  Bad parents don’t try.  Bad parents don’t feel the guilt.  They don’t get run down trying to do it all.

Because we are good parents, we work so hard and feel so much guilt and frustration that we get overwhelmed frustrated and angry.

Good parents feel so many emotions, including anger, and bad parents don’t.

I Am Permanently Damaging My Children?

FALSE

Oh the guilt of shouting can be so heavy.

We know it’s not good for our kids, and there are articles after articles online telling us so.

But let me tell you, shouting may not be permanently damaging to children.

In every healthy relationship there’s a balance between positive moments and negative moments.  There have been studies and they show that for every negative moment, we need five positive interactions to keep the relationship healthy and in balance. These studies were done with couples, but have been applied to the parent/child relationship as well.

Positive interactions can be small, a smile, a touch, small gestures.  I bet you do a lot of those small gestures with your children throughout the day.

We are all going to get angry and do things that we aren’t so proud of, it’s how we make up for those things that count.

The trick is to keep things in balance.  If you feel like you need help with this, check out myth #5 below.

  • Don’t believe these myths about shouting.
  • You ARE a good parent.
  • You are NOT permanently damaging your children.
  • You are NOT the only one who shouts.
  • You CAN stop shouting.
  • But you might shout again, and that’s okay.

Why children get grumpy after school

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When things get hard, we fall apart on the people we feel safest with. Think about it.  After a hearing terrible news or during a hard day at work you’re able to keep it all together and not cry. But as soon as you see your safe person (husband, Mum, best friend) you end up a blubbering mess.

Kids do the same thing.

It takes a great deal of emotional and mental work to follow the rules throughout the day, especially for little kids.

Each time your child refrains from hitting that boy who took his toy, holds up her hand and covers her mouth so she doesn’t speak out of turn, or stops himself from running down the hall to break time, they have to restrain themselves.  This restraint builds and builds, almost like a bubble.

Then they walk into their safe place, and POP!  They can finally let loose and stop having to restrain themselves. They get to let it all go.

Honestly, it’s a good thing that your child feels safe enough to fall apart at home.

But, as a parent, that’s hard to deal with.  It’s frustrating when you have a child who hasn’t had a tantrum in months come home from school and cry and whine about every single thing.

How can you help your child with the transition from home to school so they don’t have to struggle, and you don’t get so frustrated?

Greet Without the Questions

When you see your child after a long day of school, you want to know about their day.  So you ask questions like “How was your day?”, “Do you have homework?”, “Did you get into trouble?”, “What did you do?”, “Did you make friends?”

No one likes to be bombarded with questions or grilled about their day as soon as they walk in the door.

By asking lots of questions, you could stress out your child, especially if they had a hard day.

Instead of asking them a million and a half questions as soon as you see them, greet them with statements like: “It’s good to see you again.” and “Welcome home”.  Then ask, “Do you want to tell me about your day now or at dinner?”  This gives him the power to decide when to talk.

When you ask about their day, keep the questions open-ended:

  • “What was your favourite part of the day?”
  • “What kinds of things did you do at school today?”
  • “Who did you play with today?”
  • “What new thing did you learn today?”

Ask questions that can’t be answered with yes or no.

These prevent one worded answers like “fine” and open up a conversation about school.

Please connect and ask, but do it at a time when your child is ready to talk.

Feed Them. When our blood sugar gets low and our tummies grumble it’s understandable that we get snippy and short tempered.

  • When your child’s stomach is full, they are less likely to be frustrated and angry.
  • Allow for Downtime
  • Give kids time to be kids.  Allow them to have time to play and let loose.

Children need to play, it’s how they process their world and handle their stress.  So, on particularly stressful days, it’s important that they get time for kids entertainment and play.

More great family places this summer

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Enjoy LEGOLAND Windsor

Stacks of fun awaits at LEGOLAND, with the emphasis very much on letting children enjoy themselves. It’s dedicated to kids aged 3-12 years, and is a very unique experience where imagination knows no bounds. Get drenched on the Pirate Falls, travel through the depths of the LEGOLAND castle and find the force in the Star Wars Miniland Experience. More fun than you can ever imagine having with large, colourful blocks. You can even stay at the hotel.

Explore Jorvik Viking

Stroll through reconstructed Viking-Age streets at the dedicated Viking centre in York. The experience presents life as it was for the Vikings, complete with 1,000-year-old houses revealed beneath your feet and objects taken from excavations brought before your eyes. Adult tickets: £10.25 Children’s tickets (5-15): £7.25 

Go wild at Longleat safari

Pack up the car and prepare to be amazed as the big cats, zebras, rhinos and meddling monkeys cross your path, all in the UK. Longleat is the UK’s most popular safari park, and it’s easy to see why with its incredible crop of animals. Book ahead for one of the park’s newest features, hand-feeding giraffes in the African Village Adult tickets: £28 Children’s tickets (3-14years): £20.35

See a show at the Minack Theatre 

The Minack Theatre is the most famous open-air theatre in Britain. A beautiful theatre carved into the granite cliffs of Porthcurno in Cornwall, you can’t fail to be impressed with its magnificent views and structure, or by the seriously impressive shows it puts on during spring and summer, including storytelling and family specific performances. While you’re in the area, take a trip to Land’s End so your kids can tell their friends that they went to the end of the earth.

Go wild at the National History Museum

Packed to the rafters with dinosaur bones, fascinating fossils and interactive games, London’s Natural History Museum is a must-visit attraction for every child. They will marvel as they stride under the giant T-Rex on arrival and be blown away by the models and characters they will meet along the way. Better still, it’s free!

Take launch at the National Space Centre

The most frequently asked question about space travel is ‘how do you go to the toilet in space?’ Find the answer, and so much more with a visit to the National Space Centre in Leicester. See roaring rockets, shining stars and actual moon rock at this out of this world attraction. Adult tickets: £13 Children’s tickets (5-16): £11 

Be bookworms at Seven Stories

Seven Stories in Newcastle celebrates the wonderful world of children’s books, in a seven storey building no less. See original artwork and manuscripts, settle down to book readings for different ages and see fancy dress and props from different books all under one roof. Adult tickets: £7.70 Children’s tickets (4-16): £6.60

School uniforms

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The school uniform idea has been around for a long time and in all those years, there are plenty of kids who hate it and plenty who couldn’t care less.  For parents, there are plenty of pros and cons to consider when asked the question about whether kids should have to wear school uniforms and here we look at both sides of the argument.

Uniforms are good

One of the oldest arguments in favour of uniforms is also an argument against them for some people – the fact that all the kids look the same. But for parents who can’t afford to buy their kids a wardrobe full of designer clothes or wouldn’t even if they could, the uniform is a useful equaliser. Kids can be mean and if there are kids with expensive, designer clothes and those who don’t this can create conflict between the groups in various ways and lead to bullying. Then there are the problems when kids get older and their choice in clothes becomes a little less suitable for school wear.  By wearing a uniform, it is set in stone what they wear and there is no different between one child and another.

That’s not to say that a uniform can’t be personalised because it can. Everyone doesn’t have to look exactly the same, they just have to conform to a set standard. The way they wear the clothes can be different and they can add little personalised finishes. Even elements such as footwear can be slightly different to others, allowing them to express their individuality when they find it.

Expensive clothes and jewellery can even leave kids more liable to be attacked for these items. There are stories from around the world of children being attacked or even killed by other kids or older teenagers because they were wearing an expensive item that could be sold for a good profit. While those expensive trainers may seem a good idea, they could even make your child a target whereas generic school shoes are of interest to no-one.

Wearing a uniform and instilling a sense of pride in their school has been shown to help children learn about being a part of something. Yes, the family is the most important unit and the first one they learn about but being part of something due to attending the school, working with others and having pride in it is an important part of understanding their place in society.

The lack of choice involved in picking out a uniform can save a lot of time on a morning and relieve some of the stress of a hectic household.  Teenagers can spend serious time deciding what to wear and making sure they are happy with their outfits but by wearing a uniform, this choice is greatly removed.  Yes, they will want to do hair, and makeup with girls, add accessories and such but this takes less time than the whole wardrobe decisions.