6 top tips when visiting a bonfire display with children

I love a good bonfire display.

I remember as a child my parents taking me to a display ever year. I used to love the way the multi-coloured spectrums would explode across the night sky. With a cold air, which never seemed to bother me, the parading streams of read, green and blue would feel as though it lasted forever.

Today, my little ones enjoy a good display from the confines of our back garden they are not quite ready for a public display.

6 things to remember before attending a bonfire display with your children

• Check the weather. Some displays with still progress through wet weather – dress accordingly.
• Bus or Train? Big displays will be a parking nightmare. Plan in advance.
• Timing. Double check when the fireworks will actually be lit.
• Snacks and refreshments. Obvious one.
• Loo trips. We always encourage extra loo trips before going out.
• Pack some child ID Bracelets, or SafetyTATs with your mobile number on them.

These might come across as being a little basic. But, it’s always worthwhile planning ahead so as to avoid any little stresses.

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Halloween Safety For Kids

Halloween Party Games

Very shortly little people across the land shall be adorning their most gruesome clothes and knocking or strangers doors demanding a ransom of sweets and treats for their efforts.

Halloween – 31 October

Our children have never really embraced the whole Halloween traditional.

Picture the scene a 4 year old come to the door to be greated by a ghost with a familiar voice that goes to our pre-school. It is a heady mix of excited, confusion and terror.   So, I’m afraid this year we shall not be participating.

However, I do have a friend who’s children love it. They spend huge amounts of time on getting their costumes just right. Where they magic up  the time from for such endeavours I really don’t know.

Nonetheless she can always be seen, every 31 October walking the streets with a merry band of Ghoules, Goblins, Ghost and the occasional spiderman. Not only was she happy to take her children, she took her friends children too – 6 children in all.

Despite her roping in a friend to help, that number of children together always makes me nervous. You just never can tell what will happen.

Always make sure you have some SafetyTats or Children’s ID bracelets. They are really easy and just help reassure you that if one of your little cherubs gets separated from the group they are only a telephone number away.

Safe Trick or Treating to you all.

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Kids Gardening

We have recently started to encourage the children to get involved in the Garden.

They do spend plenty of time out there at the moment. But it usually takes the form of tearing about the plant beds digging up stuff with diggers and cars and mashing down anything delicate with footballs and the like.

The whole purpose of undertaking this project was to help encourage greater knowledge of where fruit and veg comes from ultimately, if they plant the seeds and grow the vegtables then they might…they just might eat them.

I know this might be a little bit adventurous, but, it’s the plan.

Garden Insects – Catch and Draw

A few years ago we discovered a stag beetle in the garden.  It scared the living daylights out of my wife and I.  This flying black creature with large claws, all in black and a noisy erratic flight, had us both running indoors.  Only later did we discover what it was.  If you find one, take the time to log it on the Great Stag Hunt website.

But they are magnificent creatures.  Boys will love them.

We also have several slow worms [video] in the garden.  They love cool dark places, preferably under a rock.

Both these animal are terrific for a miniature art project.

Plant some seeds

Every year we go to great efforts to encourage the children to plant veg.  In particular we plant peas and potatoes.  There is usually a mess and the children end up dirtier than the soil.  But when it comes to harvesting the plants we always say, “Who plants to dig up the potatoes”, closely followed by “You planted these…”.  And especially at dinner time we always over-emphasis the point.

But, it seems to work.  They do eat them.

Shortly we shall be planting spring onions.  Already I have my reservations. But I remember reading once that a child needs to try a new food 21 times.  If after that they still don’t bite [pardon the pun].  Go onto the next one.

Become a seed collector

In trying to explain where food comes from we have been recently looking at seeds.  I have just collected a load of poppy seeds from the wild poppies that seem to collect in our garden.  We wait until they dry out and then shake them into a sandwich bag.

For more fun ideas for what to do in the Garden, have a look at the BBC website.

Whatever you get up to in the garden.  Have a enjoy yourself.

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Fun things to do in the summer holidays

This is the last week of school.  Have you made any plans, or are you going to wing it for the next 6-8 weeks?

The Loose as a Moose blog will be taking a break from the usual Kids at school stuff to concentrate on the “kids at home” stuff.

Here is the list of forthcoming topics we will chat about over the Summer break.

• Kids Gardening
• Summer Blockbusters for 2011
• Harry Potter V’s Captain America
• Days out in August
• Video games v’s Days out
• Things to do on a rainy day
• Getting ready for School
• First-time school parents – top 10 tips

Hope you all have a great Summer – get plenty of rest.

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Festival fun for all the family

Everybody wants to be spontaneous, but spontaneity will come on its own at the festival. And when you’ve got your kids with you, advance planning brings peace of mind and never hurts.

don't get lost - but make a plan in case

There are some important guidelines to remember when festival camping that can ensure your safety and comfort while maximizing the fun. Most of these are common sense, but losing a child in a festival crowd is a terrifying experience and sometimes unavoidable. 90% of families will experience losing a child in a public place. So sit down with your kids and make a game plan – just in case!

SafetyTats are a fantastic NEW product from Simply Stuck. We often joked that it would be great to label the kids, and now you can!

just peel 'n stick You stick the tattoo directly to the child’s skin and write your mobile number onto it with the pen provided! So should you become separated from your child, you can easily and quickly be reunited. They are waterproof, hypoallergenic and last for up to 2 weeks! make sure your child knows what to do if lost

DON’T FORGET to think about your mobile phone charger – there are some great solar chargers out there, and spare batteries are always a good idea!

So if you are thinking of taking the family to a festival this year, here are 10 of the best:

Glastonbury 22-26 July

Cornbury 1-3 July

Latitude 14-17 July

Larmer Tree Festival 13-17July

Port Elliot 21-24 July

Camp Bestival 29-31 July

Womad 29-31 July

Big Chill 4-7 August

The Green Man 19-21 August

Harvest at Jimmy’s 9-12 August

ENJOY. Festivals can be great places for kids and adults together, so relax and have a great time.

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Iron-on Letters

A ‘hoodie’ has now become a must have for any respecting kid – whatever their age! So why not make sure these much loved items do not go astray and order some iron-on letters and customize them yourself!

customise!

Simply Stuck offer a comprehensive range of easy-to-use letter and number iron on labels – also great for that netball or rugby shirt or just adding a personal name or message to the back of your t-shirt. Whatever you want to say, they can supply the letters for you to say it.

The year 6 kids at my children’s school have just received their Netball Team hoodies all in the school blue, all the same. So they are all having their names put onto the back!

Get Creative

It’s a great, easy way to get creative too – these t-shirts were for last years summer holiday, the kids lived in their swimsuits and these t-shirts (I don’t know why I bothered to pack any other clothes!)

have a bit of fun!

white on white

Plus they are so nice at Simply Stuck, if you want to have a special font, give them a call and they will do what they can to match it! The letters are supplied in a soft flock material in a choice of colours and are easily applied with a domestic iron – machine and tumble iron safe!

The letters are 5cm high, and are just 50p each.

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Entertaining sick children – maps for kids

Flu season is well upon us. It seems that every other parent you talk to has had a child off sick with Flu or Flu-like symptoms.

So whilst your child is laid up in bed, how do you keep them away from the dreaded TV? And keep them from getting bored.

Capitals of the World game

Conscientious parents  much prefer to keep the learning process going when their kids are off sick.  I remember my parents putting a world map in front of me and saying “Learn the capitals of the World”.

So instead of vegetating in front of the television, I would sit in my bed and learn the cities of the World.  As geography games go it may or may not have helped me sai through my Geography GSCE.  (I got a B+).  Perhaps it kept me out of my mum’s hair for several hours.   Whatever the benefit I now do the same with my kids.

Map for Kids

A Scratch Map is an excellent map for kids.

The land areas are covered in gold foil that can be scratched off, so as you go from country to country and continent to continent, you can see the sum of what you have learned.

My Scratch Map

The My Scratch Map is 81.9 (W) x 58.2 (H)cm’s, which is approx 2.5 rulers by nearly 2 rulers.

It is boxed in a protective tube.

In March 2011  I will beginning my trip to the Arctic.    Read more about how this are going my Arctic Mummy blog.

Scratch map gallery

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Build your own Nativity scene with some Christmas Stickers

Dec the halls with Bells and Holly, tra la la la la la, lala, la la.

It’s time, to start thinking about Christmas Stickers.

If you are looking for some fun ways to start introducing the nativity to your children then why not try  some Nativity Stickers.

These Christmas stickers come in a pack and are designed to get the children to build a Christmas Nativity scene of their very own.

The Stickers have a nativity scene on them, which includes;

Mary, Joseph, baby jesus, 3 kings, 3 shepherds, 1 camel, 3 angels, 2 sheep, 1 stable.

These are removable and can be repositioned.

Stable approx 28cm high
average figure height 16cm

The Nativity Stickers costs – £25.00

Christmas Stickers

Simply Stick is decidicated to bringing a little fun back in to Stickers in the UK

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Shoe labels, Left and right

Teaching left and right to a school child is such an important skill.  So much depends on it.  Following instructions, crossing the road, putting on school shoes.   So, to me, it was important that my children understood the difference as sooner as possible.

At Simply Stuck fun is the name of the game. I always believe that kids only learn when it is, relevant and simple.   That’s why I think these shoes labels are so incredibly practical.

You simply peel of the vinyl shoe sticker and place half in each shoe to complete the picture.

When they are in place you child will see a picture of the farm animal.

It helps make getting dressed in the morning, just a little more fun.

They come in a pack of 8 and cost £3.00.

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Scratch map – Geography for kids

Scratch Map is an interesting way of teaching geography to kids.

Out of the box you have a good-sized world map.  Every week I try and teach the children about the Capitals or each country.  And if they get it right they can scratch off the gold foil – the edge of a coin will do.

Yes it’s low-tech, but it’s something we do together.  And it’s not a computer.

The Scratch Map costs £14.00 plus postage.

My Scratch Map

Alternatively, if you are a Globe trotting Phileas Fogg type then you can use it to catalogue all the places you have visited across the world.  But lets take stock here.  This is a kids toy!

There are not to many Cosmo-World-travellers that are going to regal their dinner guest with the latest trip to Namibia and then whip out the My Scratch Map and say “that’s another one off the list”. Get Real.

Dimensions of the scratch map

The My Scratch Map is 81.9 (W) x 58.2 (H)cm’s, which is approx 2.5 rulers by nearly 2 rulers.

It is also supplied in a protective tube

Did you know that I am planning a trip to the Arctic?  Read more about how the planning and sponsorship is going at Arctic Mummy.

At Simply Stuck we are constantly on the look out for things that make life a little easier.

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