Tag: best

Go to the cinema

Posted on by

5 tips for taking your kid to the cinema for the first time:

Make sure your child is ready

A cinema can be a strange environment for a child, firstly it’s dark, can get very noisy and the screen is much larger than normal but it can be great children’s entertainment. If your child is sensitive to loud noises or is anxious about the dark, it’s probably best to wait until they are a little older as you don’t want them feeling uncomfortable from the start.

Pick the right film

Even when you follow the guidelines when it comes to age-appropriate films, it’s still a good idea to have a read of the general storyline before going to watch. You want their first film to be something gentle and heartwarming with enough of an engaging storyline that is easy for young children to follow

Have plenty of snacks and water

Even if you do decide to pick up some popcorn for yourself or older child before going into the cinema, do still make sure you have plenty of healthy snacks and water in your bag as these are key for helping to keep your kids sitting in their seats. These come in especially handy if you hit a slow part of the film and they are starting to lose interest. Another tip is you could also encourage your children to watch the whole film with the promise of something nice afterwards, such as a hot chocolate or ice-cream, sometimes a little bit of bribery in these circumstances can really help!

Pick an aisle seat

As adults we usually opt for the middle of the row to be as central to the film as possible, don’t make that mistake with your kids. You want to be as close to the aisle as you can should they need to go to the toilet or are just getting to unsettled and need to stand or have a quick 5-minute walk. That way you cause as little disruption to the rest of the cinema-goers and you can get in and out of your seat quickly.

Don’t be embarrassed to leave

If your child is really not enjoying themselves, is distressed, unengaged or you feel the film is unsuitable than don’t feel bad or embarrassed to leave, you certainly won’t be the first parent to do so and it’s better than putting the rest of the cinema goers through constant crying and upset. Also, all your child may need is to have a quick walk to the bathroom or just a bit of fresh air and may want to return to the film. If you do have to leave don’t make your child feel bad, its a bit of a trial and error when it comes to these things so you want to keep it a positive experience. If it does go well and they are not too sugar-high from snacks you could celebrate with an ice-cream or something fun.

If things don’t go right the first time, don’t panic! There are so many factors that go into a good cinema trip and you can always just wait another month or so and try again. Look out for special toddler-friendly screenings too, or special cinema events designed to help introduce children to the cinema – Peppa Pig’s My First Cinema Experience is a great example

Go wild in London

Posted on by

Despite all the noise and never ending traffic the capital city has a lot of outdoor wild spaces for children to explore and what is best is a lot of these spaces are completely free making them the perfect stop when your in the city on a budget this summer. So pack a picnic and waterproofs and get ready to go wild in London.

Regents Park

Did you know there was an allotment space ready to explore and open to the public right in the heart of London? Well Regents Park Allotment Garden is perfect for curious little ones who are interested in where their veggies come from. Another favourite is the Wildlife garden which has a wild flower meadow and is a great place for a bug hunt. You can also take in all the colours and beauty of the rose garden in Queen Mary’s Garden which has the largest collection of roses in London

Kentish Town City Farm

A city farm that is completely free to the public and inspires children and adults to get up close with a variety of farm animals and nature. The four acre site also has a wildlife pond and community gardens plus a farm kitchen where kids can learn to cook. This city farm is a charity run organisation and offers a lot for the local community and with over 50 animals to get up close and personal too as well as many other events going on you can easily spend a couple of wild, fun and free hours here

Kensington Gardens

If your looking for a truly magical play park that inspires imagination than the huge wooden pirate ship at the Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Playground is amazing and follows on from the famous Peter Pan stories. The ship sits among a sea of sand and also has a sensory trail and teepees and play sculptures. You can also go on a hunt to find the bronze Peter Pan sculptured their is also the stunning Italian gardens and also an allotment gardens to explore

Wildlife Garden at The Natural History Museum

The Natural history museum is great for a rainy day (well any day for that matter) but besides the dinosaurs inside there is something wonderful to be found outside and that is the Wildlife Garden. It’s home to thousands of British floral and fauna and is a great place for spotting different kids and birds and bugs including the robins, wrens and blackbirds who are building their nests or the frogs and frogspawn.

Canal side Walk

If your looking for a quite and peaceful walk and seeing London from a different perspective than an early morning wander along the Regents Canal is a great way for kids to see the waterways and wildlife that lives along them. We recommend starting around Little Venice and walking to Camden which takes around 1-2 hrs. Children will really enjoy spotting all the colourful houseboats and you keep your eyes open as you pass the London Zoo as you maybe able to spy a few animals.

Bluebell walks

Posted on by

The great thing about bluebell walks is that you never have to travel far to find them. With bluebells blooming all over the UK, we reveal some favourite bluebell walks . So add a spring walk to your to-do list, and check out some of these tried and tested family fun beautiful bluebell walks:

Tilford Woods, Surrey

Nestled within the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the enchanting woodland area is the perfect place to find bluebells each spring.

Cowleaze Wood, Oxfordshire

Cowleaze Wood is set high in the Chiltern Hills with amazing views over the surrounding countryside. The bluebells bloom each spring, making the carpet like display a must-see!

Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire

Next to the River Wye, this charming ancient woodland gets the thumbs up from us. With plenty of walks to explore, there are lots of opportunities to find stunning bluebell displays!

Buckland Abbey, Devon

This ancient gem is the perfect place for discovery, tranquillity and history – not forgetting bluebells! Head to the Great North Wood to see the stunning display.

Clumber Park, Nottinghamshire

The appropriately named Bluebell Wood is unsurprisingly one of the most popular bluebell sites in the UK. With millions of bulbs growing closely together in one wood, it creates one of nature’s most stunning displays.

Clent Hills, West Midlands

Escape the hustle and bustle of Birmingham city centre, by heading a short 10-miles to Clent Hills. Known and loved by dog-walkers, it’s also a great place to find bluebells. One of the best spots is in the valley behind the Four Stones, where the sides of the valley are covered in bluebells.

Coughton Court, Warwickshire

Head to the gardens of this striking Tudor house to discover a sea of bluebells. Take a gentle walk to the best spot in Timm’s Wood!

Coed Cefn, Crickhowell

This Woodland Trust wood comes highly recommended by Emma Meredith, looking over the beautiful town of Crickhowell in Powys South Wales

Plas yn Rhiw, Gwynedd

With a different colour each season, spring is definitely about the bluebells at this Welsh manor house. The parkland around the property is home to a stunning bluebell display each year.

Coed y Bwnydd, Monmouthshire

As the largest, and possibly best-preserved, Iron Age hill fort in Monmouthshire, Coed-y-Bwnydd is the perfect place to see the fields and woods that surround the fort. The National Trust property comes alive with a sea of blue each spring, as bluebells are joined by primroses, orchids and red campion for a spectacularly colourful display.  

Making the most of family weekends

Posted on by

If you are at work all week, the main problem with weekends is that you use them to catch up on all your household chores, life ends up getting in the way and that 48-hour window just passes by in a blur of washing and cleaning.

But, with a bit of planning, you can take back control of your weekends for some good old family fun.

Doing at least one fun activity together as a family can bring you closer, whether it be playing a board game indoors on a rainy day, jumping in the biggest, muddiest puddle you can find or taking a walk through the forest or along the beach.

Round the kids up and get them helping out with the chores, with the promise of some outdoor fun when you have finished. Give the kids a duster and the vacuum cleaner and make them enjoy your least favourite job – pairing socks!!

Once you have finished it is time to get out and have some fun…

So get out and have a fun family outdoor adventure and if it’s Autumn there’s nothing more better than crunching through fallen leaves and hunting for conkers that have fallen from a giant  tree.

If it’s that time of year give the kids a plastic tub and get picking, promising them the chance to make and eat a scrummy blackberry and apple crumble with lashings of custard as a reward when you get home.

Why not marvel at the spectacle of green leaves turning rich reds and yellows, making it the perfect time to be out and about with a camera. Let the kids get behind the lens or take some fun videos of them throwing leaves into the air or rolling down a really big hill.

The gardens and colours at National Trust sites are at their best in the autumn season and they also run activities to keep the kids interested. Autumn is also the perfect time to visit the beach, which we avoid like the plague in the summer as it is far too busy, but often get lovely warm weather in September and are always surprised by how quiet the beaches are.  If there is a nip in the air, take your bike or scooter for a ride along the promenade instead.

Holes-in-one fun

Posted on by

Ready for the challenge and wondering where the best mini golf near you is located? We’ve teed up some of the best mini golf courses in the UK, so all that’s left to do is grab a club and set off in search of that elusive hole-in-one…

Congo River Crazy Golf, Leicester

Giving a little taste of the sunshine state, this Florida-style adventure golf course is the ultimate in family fun. Putt your way through Congo River Crazy Golf 18 outdoor holes, navigating tunnels, inclines and even a broken-down plane – how close can you get to par? With no need to book in advance, it’s the ideal spontaneous family fun day out in the East Midlands. This mini golf course is indoors, like many others on the list, which makes it a good day out when the weather isn’t great – it’s a good choice for winter school breaks.

Best for:

Last-minute family fun

Paradise Island, Manchester

There’s much more than just shopping at intu Trafford Centre, including two tropical adventure golf courses! Choose the Tiki Hut Trail or Temple Runs Adventure course, or combine both for a whopping 36-hole adventure, all under one roof. With two levels of paradise-themed golf fun, this is sure to bring out your competitive edge!

Best for: When 18 crazy golf holes just aren’t enough…

Dinosaur Safari, Barnet

Setting the scene for adventure in North London, you’ll find this crazy dinosaur golf course under the watchful eye of nine prehistoric dinosaurs! Compete for glory around the 18-hole outdoor course for adventure golf with plenty of bite, but be sure not to blame the roaring dinosaurs for any wayward putts…

Best for:

Dinosaur loving little uns

Birmingham Mini Golf, Birmingham

Found within the popular Cannon Hill Park in Moseley, Golden Putter Mini Golf is filled with putting islands, bridges and wild waterfalls to put you to the test. Choose from 18 or 36 outdoor holes and see if you can make it on to their ultimate leaderboard. After, make sure you check out the rest of the park too!

Best for: A jam-packed day out

The Lost City, Nottingham

Delve into the deepest rainforest to uncover the Lost City Adventure Golf, home to two 18-hole indoor courses designed to put you to the test. Follow the Temple Trail where you can try and get a hole in one at Stone Face Rock, spot lucky parrots and slither past the 23 ft long snake, all aiming to reach the Temple. Intrepid explorers should opt for the Sacred Skull course, navigating alligators, Bengal Tigers and dragons, before tackling the challenging 17th and 18th holes.

Best for: The bravest of little explorers

What to do this Easter

Posted on by

Easter comes packed with chocolate, egg hunts and adorable animals. That all sounds pretty magical to us! It’s a time when we can finally shake off those winter chills and head outside again, especially when the Easter school holidays start. To help enjoy this wonderful time of year, we’ve rounded up the key dates, along with the best children’s activities for the easter holidays.

When are the Easter school holidays in 2018?

The holidays unsurprisingly fall around the Easter weekend. We’ve put the different dates for each country below.

England

26th March – 23rd April

Scotland

19th March – 13th April

Wales

26th March – 16th April

Northern Ireland

29th March – 6th April

These dates are an outline of the school holidays across the UK – please check with your specific school to get exact days for your school.

Top Easter activities and days out

Top of your list of fun things to do in the Easter holidays is to throw your wellies on and get out to your local farm park. Seeing furry, fuzzy and indeed feathered friends is always a treat at any point of the year but it’s around this time that loads of newborn babies are taking their first steps. Lambing in particular is always popular and loads of farm parks let families get up close and cuddly.

Equally, if the weather isn’t playing ball, don’t worry: the Easter school holidays were pretty much made for getting covered in glitter and glue with egg experiments, crafting bonnets and your very own Easter basket. Getting crafty with kids is a fantastic way to fill a day and there are more than a few pottery painting cafes who’d be happy to help with your festive creations.

Top Places to go this Easter

There’s plenty of places open over the Easter weekend: we’ve pulled together a few of our favourite days out so take a look and start filling your calendar:

Mead Open Farm – Introduce your tribe to some of the cutest creatures out there, including bunnies, chicks, ponies and more. Feed the goats, watch the sheep race and then let loose in the play areas – including a high ropes course for the most adventurous! It’s more than just a fabulous farm.

Charlecote Park – To take part in the national Cadbury Easter Egg Hunt in 2018 you could turn up and pretty much any National Trust site, but we really like Charlecote Park for an afternoon with the kids. It’s a treasure of a stately home which has been in the same family for 900 years. Adults can get their dose of culture and beautiful scenery while helping kids unravel egg hunt clues for a chocolatey prize.

Cadbury World One word: chocolate! Go to the source with a few hours of indulgence and enjoy rides, characters and history to boot. Take a peek behind the scenes in the factory to see where your favourites are made – taking advantage of some samples along the way, of course!

Mella Mella’s Pottery Cafe – Get crafty this season at this place of pottery. Kids can be “experimental” with colour, paint, glitter and clay and you don’t have to clean up. Result. Plus, you’ll have a new piece of art for pride of place on the mantelpiece.

Pennywell Farm – ‘Tis the season for meeting cute and cuddly animals, and what could be more adorable than the miniature Pennywell Pigs?! That’s not all this day out has to offer though, the action packed scheduled includes multiple shows, family-friendly go kart racing, train riding and ferret encounters – to name just a few things!

Shopping with your kids

Posted on by

As you’re shopping let your kids help you pick out fruit and veggies in the produce department, have fun counting the number of apples they add to the bag, the different colours of peppers to choose from, and the funny names of the melons.

Before going into the store tell your kids exactly what you expect from them.

Expect that they:

  • will stay nearby and not run through the store
  • will try to be aware of other people and not get in their way
  • will not throw a fit if they don’t get something
  • will be helpful and participate in the process.
  • Before we step foot in the store, remind them of my expectations.

Make A List

Go armed in the supermarket with clipboards, paper, and pencils, ready to check off each and everything on your lists.

  • Giving them a fun tasks keeps them engaged in the shopping experience.
  • Make Kids Your Helper
  • Continually engaging the children in the shopping process.

Not only does this keep them from getting bored and restless, it also teaches them how to shop.

If you use these new tools, most of the time you will actually enjoy your shopping trips together.  It’s not always perfect and there will be times when you have a rough day, but that’s life?

Bedtime stories

Posted on by

Experts say that there are three very important times of day to connect with your kids, when they first wake up, when they get home from school, and at bedtime.

Because bedtime is usually a chore, we’ve picked out the best books for storytelling that make both you and your children laugh-out-loud.  After all, there’s no better medicine than laughter…

The book with no pictures; by B.J. Novak

The premise of this book is that whoever reads the book, has to read every word….no matter how silly the word is.  So parents are stuck yelling words like “Blork!” and sentences. Is there any better way to get kids to laugh, than by making the adults in their lives look silly?  

A Perfectly Messed-Up Story; by Patrick McDonnell

It’s a story about a boy named Louie, who just wants to tell you a story, but keeps getting interrupted by…you.  How dare you drop peanut butter and jelly on him when he’s telling his story?!  These little instructions send little Louie over the edge a bit, and he has to learn to persevere and be okay with a little bit of a mess.  

I Broke My Trunk; by Mo Willems

These books are amazing!  They are seriously funny for both kids and adults. The series is about two friends, Elephant and Piggy, and their hilariously funny conversations.  These books are witty, a bit quirky and always end in hilarious, unexpected ways.

Stuck; by Oliver Jeffers

The authors books are quirky and funny for both parents and kids.  Stuck , is a story of a boy whose kite gets stuck in a tree, so he throws up his shoe to get it down, but that gets stuck too.  Oh but he’s not deterred, this boy is determined to get down his kite…no matter what.  Things spiral a bit out of control in this book, and the boy’s antics will leave any kid rolling on the floor with laughter.

Little Ballerinas

Posted on by

If your little lady or man hasn’t seen the film ‘Ballerina’ yet it follows young orphan Felicie, who dreams of becoming a ballet dancer in Paris. With the help of her best friend Victor, Felicie must learn from her mistakes and fight like she never has before, but learns that nothing is impossible when it comes to achieving one’s dreams.

The Royal Academy of Dance’s Ballerina-inspired classes are available exclusively and have registered teachers and will explore the themes of friendship and never giving up on your dreams, as inspired by characters in the film. The classes also explore French culture through music and imagery and introduce young dancers to classical ballet repertoire. From acting out Felicie and Victor’s chores at the orphanage to imagining dancing on stage at the Paris Opera Ballet, children will be taken on a creative journey through movement and dance to realise Felicie’s dream of becoming a ballet dancer.

Storytelling is a wonderful way to inspire kids about the world of dance. The Royal Academy of Dance are delighted to be partnering with Ballerina to take kids on a dancing journey with Felicie and Victor in a series of nationwide classes.

The classes, which will run and will be available for children aged 4–7 and 8–13 across the country. Further details about upcoming Ballerina classes can be found here: Ballerina Classes

To find out more about upcoming events, visit Royal Academy of Dance Events

Have a Skylanders party

Posted on by

Get ready to choose your elemental category and become a brand new playable character when you have your Skylanders party!

In order to throw the best children’s party possible, you need to plan appropriately! One of the most important planning decisions to make is where your children’s party venue will be. Your home, your garden, or a hall would all be great places to host your fun Skylanders themed party. No matter where you choose here are some ideas that will go well at your party:

  • Your Playstation, Xbox, or Wii along with your Skylanders figurines so that your guests can play their favourite video game during the party

  • Skylanders plush characters

  • Skylanders masks

  • Printed badges of the eight elements so that your party guests can wear their favourite

  • Skylanders costumes so that your guests can dress up as their favourite character

Skylanders Party Decorating & Food Ideas

  • Decorate your home with Skylanders figures.

  • Bring the Skylanders to you! Create your own using brown string and brow, golden, and green tissue paper that you can cut into leaves. These can be hung anywhere around your party venue.

  • Bake your kids favourite type of cake and put Skylanders figures on top.

  • For the undead among you, create some Skylanders Undead Bone Pretzels! Simple poke a piece of popcorn on each end of a skinny pretzel stick and dip in melted white chocolate until set.

  • For a healthy snack, buy some watermelon–after all, it heals and rejuvenates the Skylanders, so it’s the perfect way to give your kids a boost of energy!

  • Sheep are included in every Skylanders game, so make sure you include them at your party with these Skylanders Sheep Cupcakes! Ice cupcakes with white icing and cover with mini marshmallow use a chocolate donut hole for the head and give it eye with icing.

Make sure you let your guests know how much you appreciate them coming by giving them each a Skylanders goody bag at the end of your party! Things to include are:

  • Skylanders stickers

  • Skylanders 3D rubbers

  • Skylanders character masks

In addition to these items, you can include in your goody bag, such as lollipops, space putty, glow sticks, and bubbles to make your guests feel really special. With all of these options, you can mix and match until you create your perfect and unique goody bag for you guests. The possibilities for your Skylander favours are endless!