Tag: entertainment

Bug hunting

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Let’s go and find some creepy crawlies in the great outdoors,

We’ve pulled together this handy guide to help you explore!

Whether they’re hiding under rocks, shrubs or even up a tree,

You’re sure to be surprised… who knows what you will see!

What You’ll Need:

  • Viewing pot with a lid and air holes
  • Tweezers
  • Camera or Sketchbook
  • Hand wash
  • Magnifying Glass

Choose Your Location

The first step of making a fun filled and non disruptive bug hunt is deciding where you’re going to hunt for little critters! There’s plenty to be found in your very own back garden, but there’s no harm in making a fun day out at your local park, garden or even forest. You could even bring along a picnic too!

Be Considerate

Before you start your hunt, be sure to remind your little explorers about how to handle and approach wildlife to make sure you avoid any nasty stings and bites, and how to disturb your surroundings as little as possible! This includes only handling a few of each species and replacing any of the wildlife’s environment (e.g. overturned logs and stones) as you leave.

Get Hunting!

Now that you’ve chosen your location, it’s time to make a start! The best places to find some beautiful bugs are usually shrubs, trees, rotting logs, large and small stones, flower heads and grasses… but the list is endless!

What Bugs Can You Hunt?

Here are some ideas of different type of bug that your little ones can look for.

  • Woodlice

  • Stag Beetle

  • Ladybird

  • Cabbage Butterfly

  • Ant

  • Shield Bug

  • Centipede

  • Worm

What Can You See?

Once they’ve found their bugs and have carefully placed them into their viewing pots, be sure to get them making note of what they’ve discovered! Get them either taking or drawing a picture and noting down any features that really stand out. For example, what colour is it? How many legs does it have? Where did you find it? How big is it? And so on!

Let it Go!

Now that they’ve made a note of everything they can, get them returning their new friend to its home and, as mentioned earlier, be sure to replace anything they might have moved to find their critter!

Make some Memories!

Once they’ve completed their bug hunt, it’s up to them how to combine their findings! If they took or drew lots of lovely pictures, why not get your kids making a fun mini booklet to remember their hunt by and impress their teachers? This is a great rainy day crafting activity for kids on those showery summer days!

 

Cat party themes

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Is your child ‘Cat crazy?’  It could be anything from Hello Kitty or the cute furry things themselves. Why not create your very own cat party for your child?  Here are a few ideas that other people have done and we hope you are inspired to follow:

For the invitations you can always find pretty stationary with cats on them, you can write invitations on these and will be a lovely keepsake for anyone loving cats.

When your guests arrive why not face paint the guests as cats? You could paint a nose and whiskers and also think about headband ears made of felt and glitter, or get your guests to make a pair?

Now, what about games? You could play ‘pin the tail on the cat?’ or as cat’s love string you could create a sting maze. Attach a toilet paper tube to both end of 7 pieces (for approx. 14 guests) of string or wool, on one end, the tube has a picture of a cat, the other tube has a picture of a mouse. Maze them around the room, underneath chairs, tables and benches and each child has to find who is on the other end of their string.

For crafty children’s birthday party ideas you could buy a set of paper white plates with black card, pipe cleaners for whiskers and googly eyes, guess what these are going to be make into? Yes, you have guessed it, cat faces!!!

For food, make it fun with little sandwiches cut into goldfish shapes.  If you are feeling adventurous food bowls could be decorated with cat ears and whiskers!!  And don’t forget to serve milk!!

For the cake, you could obviously buy your own, but why not make a cake similar to your kids favourite kitty? Hello Kitty is a favourite, but if he or she has her own special cat why not model the cake around this?

Party Bags can be filled with chocolate cats or mice and cute cat stickers and anything you like that involves cats. This is sure to be a success and at a reasonable price too.

 

Ice-skating party

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My daughter’s tenth birthday party was fastly approaching and we needed to plan a children’s birthday party that wouldn’t require too much money. That is when my daughter asked if we would be able to do an ice skating party. Of course, I thought this would be a great idea since it was not our home, so we wouldn’t need to clean up or plan much. So, the next day I called up the local skating rink and they told me I could rent a party room for 3 hours for only £80. This was great!

Then, my daughter and I picked up some nice stationary from a hobby craft shop and wrote all the information down on a piece of it – one for each guest (we invited 12).

The day of the party, we went to the rink early to set up the tables and decorations, and to rent the skates (we had called everyone in advance and asked what shoe size they were). The skates were complimentary with the party room.

An hour later, almost all of the guests had arrived so they got their skates on and met up with one of the rink instructors who would be leading the party. For about an hour, she showed them tricks and they played a variety of skating games.

Later, they were called to lunch where they were given their choice of pizza, hot dogs, or chicken nuggets. We also laid out hot chocolate so they could come back from skating to get some whenever they wanted.

When they finished lunch, they went back to skating and there was disco lights and music playing! They all had great fun and skated to a light show for about 30 minutes, when they got tired and decided to come back in and open gifts. Before they knew it, it was time to go.

They were each given their goodie bags which were supplied by the rink. They were a plastic bag with an ice skate on it, an ice skate keychain, sweets, ice skating pencil, and other traditional party bag treats.

This party was great – they had fun, there was no clean up, it was extremely inexpensive, and it required about 30 minutes of planning!

Children’s Parties on a budget

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Kids parties can be hugely expensive. With growing pressures to keep up with the Jones, kid’s parties can be a big stress if you’re on a budget.

The good news is that you don’t have to spend a fortune to give the kids a good time. In fact, we’d even say the kids will quite possibly have more fun if you don’t!

When it comes to parties, kids love simplicity! They don’t need loads of different things to have a good time. It’s amusing to see, that often the more lavish a party is, the less the children enjoy it. Quite simply because there are too many activities competing for the kids’ attention: a bouncy castle in one corner, entertainer in the other, then a face painter, a mascot thrown in for good measure and why not a popcorn machine? Sounds amazing but it’s too much!

Kids will become frantic and not be able to concentrate on very much for very long and it’s usually a big stress and panic to squeeze it all into the 2 hrs.

The first thing is to decide what you want to do for your kid’s party. Give your child a few options and ask what they think they might like.

  • Themed parties have loads of mileage and give you a lot of room for creativity at very low cost.

  • Costumes- You can have a lot of fun making your kids costume and it will cost you nothing. e.g. a pirate costume -get out the scissors and snip away at an old white shirt and tatty old pair of school shirts/ trousers, and a nice red scarf around the head.

  • Or what about fairy wings cut out from cardboard and covered in pink wrapping paper and sprinkled with a bit of glue and glitter. These give just a few ideas of how to make costumes from very little.

  • Party Invites – if you are computer savvy and have a bit of creative flair you could do your own cool invites on the computer, of just do an Internet search for party invites and download free templates available.

  • Make your own Cake – the sky’s the limit when it comes to cake ideas.

  • Decorations – balloons are very cheap and usually all you need to create a super party atmosphere. Just have lots of them!!! You could also make your own colourful paper chains, or get some reasonably priced party decorations from any online party store.

  • Entertainment – every party needs some sort of entertainment. You could of course do the kids party entertainment yourself but you’d need to be confident you could lead a group of kids through sufficiently fun activities for 2 hours. If you can’t then this is something you might want to budget for. if you are hiring a Children’s entertainer then this is likely to be where most of the cost of your party will go, but you needn’t spend a fortune – if you went for a weekday after school, then entertainers are far more likely to give better deals as weekdays are not as busy as weekends. or a morning slot like 11 am – 1 pm.

  • Food – parents can work tirelessly in the kitchen to create the most amazing party food but you’ll be surprised how little kids can eat at parties so do remember this before buying loads or going to loads of trouble. If you want to keep it cheap and simple, sandwiches and crisps and a few finger foods like sweets and small fruit like strawberries, grapes etc. is perfect. Finger food is always best. But if the creative guru in you can’t resist to try and dazzle and amaze, then you can be super creative and theme your food in so many different ways whilst still sticking to your budget.

  • Party bags often go in the bin or get left lying around the minute kids get home if they’re just cheap toys, so you might want to settle for a piece of cake and a small but decent quality toy.

 

Entertainers for Kids Parties

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Children’s entertainers were something of a rare treat at kids parties some twenty years ago. Now they seem to be a necessity for every children’s party. You’d almost be hard pushed to find a child that hasn’t had a children’s entertainer at some point, between the ages of 4-8. As this seems to be the most popular age for kids to have children’s entertainers.

Parents have realised more and more the benefits of getting a children’s entertainer for their kid’s party. Children’s party entertainers certainly help take the stress off of organising a party yourself. Many parents have retold tales of how they organised their own kids party, and whilst it went well they’d never relish the idea of doing it themselves again, owing to the levels of stress that went along with it. Plus, it seems rather a shame, that whilst the kids are having a great party, the parents have so much to organise that they don’t get to enjoy seeing how much fun their kids are having and all the fun activities that children’s entertainers do for the kids. After all a children’s party only happens once every year.

The advantage of hiring children’s party entertainers is that they know what they’re doing (well the good children’s entertainers should know what they’re doing!) and so it can take the stress off parents a great deal if they hire someone to take care of the children’s party entertainment for them. It is also much more likely that the kids are going to enjoy themselves a great deal more with a kid’s entertainer than if parents try to do it themselves (unless of course you’re a teacher that is used to handling 30 kids at once) but even then, a kid’s entertainer can usually offer a great deal of variety for children at a party.

That said, even with a children’s party entertainer, there can still be plenty of other things for parents to organise and worry about like the hiring of a venue, organising the food, getting RSVPs back. The best advice is simply to plan well in advance so that is doesn’t have to be done all at once. If done in good time, organising a children’s party should be a really enjoyable experience and dare it be said – fun! But if left to the last minute it can be a daunting and stressful task. All in all, leave plenty of time to plan a children’s party and try to enjoy it!!

 

Christmas children’s parties

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Christmas is by far one of the most magical experiences of childhood. From being too excited to sleep to peeking out of the window, hoping to catch a glimpse of Santa’s sleigh, the memories of the holiday season become some of our most treasured.

In the run up to the big day, throwing a Christmas party for the kids is a great way to make this year even more memorable. Plus, it’s an opportunity for you to get your creative juices flowing and fill the house with festive fun.

Invitations

Snowman Invitations: To make, simply cut out a snowman shape from white card. You can then cut out and stick on a hat made from black card, and stick on a scarf made from felt. Add the face with coloured pens, or use googly eyes for extra impact.

Fancy Dress

When it comes to fancy dress, you’re spoilt for choice. Ask all of the kids to dress as something Christmassy – this can be anything from a penguin to Santa Claus. Provide them with a few ideas on the invitations to get them started.

Decorations

Aside from the essential Christmas tree, you can have lots of fun creating a festive wonderland in your home.

Santa’s Grotto

A great idea is to create a Santa’s grotto – choose a small room, which you don’t need to use and drape the walls and any furnishings with fabric in deep red and purple.

You can then decorate the room with fairy lights, Christmas lights and decorations to make it feel festive. Get one of the adults to dress as Santa Claus and send the children into the ‘grotto’ to collect their party bags and any other treats.

Get Crafty

There are lots of simple Christmas decorations that you can easily make with the kids and the whole family. Try making garlands from pine tree leaves, pine cones, tinsel and baubles. Other ideas include; painting the tips of pine cones white for a snow-effect, cutting snowflakes out of paper to string around the house.

Activities

Every party needs plenty of fun activities to keep everyone entertained. Why not try:

Pass the Parcel

This is a classic game, which can easily be adapted for the festive season. Hide gifts between layers of wrapping paper – the kids pass the parcel round the circle, and if they’re holding it when the music stops, they get to open a layer.

Gift Wrap Relay

Divide the children into two teams and provide each team with a gift-wrapped box – you should also prepare stations with pre-cut wrapping paper and cello tape. Each child has to run to a station, un-wrap and then re-wrap their box, before running back to their team and passing it on to the next person. The first team in which every child unwraps and rewraps the box, wins.

Mystery Stocking

Fill a stocking with a collection of ‘mystery’ party bag fillers, with a distinctive tactile feel. Each child has a chance to feel the fillers inside the stocking – if they can guess what they are without looking, they get to take them home.

 

Save on your children’s party

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Gone are the days when a sandwich, bowl of jelly and a game of pass-the-parcel were enough for a fun children’s party. Social media bragging and peer pressure have upped the ante.

Some parents admit to spending £800 on their kids birthday bash, with £300 being the average cost, according to a poll by Mums Show Live!

Extravagant parties include an entertainer for three hours at £435 (£145 an hour); catered food and drink for 30 at £3.95 a child (£118.50); hire of a hall at around £100; birthday cake £64.90 and party bags for everyone at £3.25 each add up to £97.50. Grand total: £815.90.

Here are simple ways to stop your party parting you from your money.

Invites

Email invitations or download them for free from websites.

  • A fun idea from is to write the details on an inflated balloon, let the air out and ask the nursery or school to hand them out after class.

  • Share the party with one of your children’s friends with a birthday around the same time and keep it short, say two hours rather than three. Keep numbers down by making it clear that guests’ brothers and sisters aren’t invited.

  • If you can’t face having it at home, or don’t have enough space, summer parties can be held in a local park or free outdoor play area with a picnic and energetic party games.

  • If you don’t want to take a risk with the weather, get a quote from a soft play centre or local hall. Avoid peak times – weekends, school holidays and half terms – when admission charges are higher. Babies often get in for free. Ask if you can bring your own food.

Entertainment

Professional children’s party entertainers are expensive. There are horror stories of the family pet savaging the magician’s rabbit and little ones being left in tears by grumpy clowns. Keep the stress and cost down by doing it yourself.

You can always organise traditional games such as blind man’s bluff, pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey and musical chairs.

Catering

Young ones typically don’t eat much, so don’t go overboard. Sandwiches, crisps and ice cream with a flake should be enough. Or ask family and friends to bring a dish and bake your own cake.

If you’re not a baker, and don’t know an enthusiastic amateur, buy plain fairy cakes and get the kids to decorate them.

Borrow a tablecloth and decorations from a friend. Or get a plain white paper cloth, scatter crayons and stickers on it and get the children to draw on it. Balloons are always popular, especially if you customise with glitter.

Party bags

These are a real bone of contention and thinking up what to put in them can be stressful. Even if you buy loads of plastic toys from a pound shop this can quickly add up.

One idea is to buy a set of books such as the Mr Men series and let the children choose one to take away. A book will last far longer than a tatty toy that will be broken by bedtime. Or do a lucky dip.

If you must have a going-home gift, decorate brown paper bags and buy seeds, multipacks of sweets and stickers to fill them and a slice of cake. Or fill a jar with sweets and tie a ribbon round it.

There are lots of ideas on the internet on how to throw a great party on the cheap. We are sure if you stretch your imagination it will be a real success!!

Top Zoos to go in the Holidays

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The zoo has long been a favourite place to visit for family and with over 60 to choose from spread around the country, there is always one within travelling distance.  But when you are wanting serious, full on animal exposure, then the big zoos offer the most critter for your cash and here are the top 7 zoo’s in the UK.

Chester Zoo

Chester Zoo comes consistently top of the rankings for UK zoos, for the most visited wildlife attraction and even the top attraction outside London in various polls and surveys.  The zoo is located in Upton, Chester and is one of the largest in the country cover 125 acres and being home to around 400 species.  Travelling around the zoo is easy with a public bridleway, called Flag Lane, bisecting the park as well as a monorail system with three stops around the park and even a circular boat rides on the Lazy River.

But it is the animals that are the real attraction and there plenty of them.  Over half the species at the zoo are currently on the IUCN red list for endangered and threatened species and around 130 of these are part of captive breeding programs to boost numbers.  There are 79 species of mammal and 150 bird species as well as reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates and fish.  The latest addition to the zoo is the Islands at Chester Zoo exhibit, adding 15 acres to the site and showcasing conservation programs from Madagascar to the Philippines.

Paignton Zoo

Paignton Zoo Environmental Park is in Paignton, Devon and is a combination of a zoo and a botanic garden that sees over half a million visitors every year.  There are over 2,000 animals in the zoo covering some 300 species and even 1600 species of plant.  The animals are divided up by the habitats they are native to such as the Desert House with real plants, free-flying birds and pancake tortoises.  The Tropical Forest House displays everything from Burmese pythons to poison dart frogs from the tropical rainforests while the Forest Animals area is home to lions, tigers, orang-utans, owls and doves.  The Wetlands Birds occupies the moats around the monkey islands and sees pelican’s storks as well as plenty of ducks and geese while for zebras, cheetahs, giraffes and elephants, head to the Savannah Animals area.

Dudley Zoo

Dudley Zoo is a 40-acre site within the grounds of Dudley Castle in the West Midlands.  It combines a zoo with a host of listed and important buildings associated with the castle.  There are over 900 animals at the zoo from 160 species and include some notable animals.  These include giraffes, tigers, lions and three snow leopards.  Many of the animals are from endangered species and are involved in captive breeding programs to help boost numbers.  As well as the large animals, there are plenty of cute, smaller ones for the kids to see including meerkats, lemur, wallabies, monkeys and even kangaroos.  A favourite attraction is the Monkey Tails where you can have a close up encounter with a number of monkey species.

Edinburgh Zoo

Edinburgh Zoo is an 82-acre site in the Scottish capital that was founded in 1913 by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland.  The zoo sees over 600,000 visitors each year, has over 1000 animals within its walls covering over 170 species.  It was the first zoo in the world to both house and breed penguins and is currently the only one to house koalas and giant pandas.

The pandas, Yang Guang and Tian, are currently one of the biggest hits at the zoo, with a special enclosure having been built for their arrival from China.  Other important exhibits include the Brilliant Birds, a walk through aviary with a number of exotic species free flying within, including the only Andean cock of the rock in the UK.  The Budongo Trail is a new facility that is home to a troop of monkeys and features a viewing gallery and interactive displays to educate kids about these fascinating creatures.

London Zoo

London Zoo is the oldest scientific zoo in the world, opening in 1828 and welcoming the public from 1847.  There are over 19,000 animals in residence today, making it one of the largest in the country and over 800 species can be seen.  These include over 70 species of mammal and over 110 species of birds.

Notable sights include the into Africa themed area with African animals including giraffe, hippopotamus, zebras and wild dogs.  The Rainforest Life and Nightlife is a glimpse of the rainforest with sloths, marmosets and armadillos on show while the Gorilla Kingdom is home to five western lowland gorillas as well as smaller monkeys and birds.  There is also an aquarium within the zoo, opened in 1853 so the world’s first public aquarium.

Twycross Zoo

Twycross Zoo is near Norton Juxta Twycross in Leicestershire and is known for the largest collection of monkeys and apes in the Western World.  It sees over 500,000 visitors each year and has 900 animals covering over 150 species.  Most of these are endangered and the zoo operates a number of conservation programs.

The zoo is separated into eight different zones, each with a theme.  These include Elephant Creek, home to five elephants as well as the World of Small Monkeys, tortoises, foxes, and three types of owl.  The Kingdom of the Apes is the only zoo in the UK to have all four of the great ape species in one place while the Himalaya section houses the snow leopards.

Banham Zoo

Banham Zoo is found in the town of the same name in Norfolk and is home to over 2,000 animals.  It receives some 200,000 visitors each year and is voted as the Top Attraction in Norfolk.  It has humble origins, started out with a collection of pheasants and parrots when it opened in 1968.  Now there are over 100 species represented in the various enclosures.

Don’t lose sleep

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Children’s party organisation is something that many parents lose sleep over. Where do you find something that will keep your kids busy and engaged for the whole duration of the party, and something that they haven’t already seen before? It’s a challenge most parents would gladly forgo, so Kiddy Zone is here to help. We have access to an eclectic mix of party games, party entertainers and a fund of children’s birthday party ideas that are new and different.

It’s quite challenging thinking up every year of something ‘special’ and different for the right reasons for your child’s/teenagers birthday this is why Kiddy Zone hold the key to taking the stress out of trying to think of something unique.

Why not book some entertainment, where you can hire the best kids party entertainment, for any age group, which can thrill, enthral and astound the audience; from balloon modellers to magicians, street dancers to caricaturists and even green screen photography entertainments, plus a whole series of indoor and outdoor games which include:

Indoor –

  • Dance Machines,

  • Table Football,

  • Air Hockey and Skittles.

  • Bubble and Smoke machines

  • Karaoke

  • Balloon Modellers

  • Face Painters

Outdoor –

  • Funfair Stalls,

  • Giant outdoor games Connect 4, Kerplunk etc.

  • Giant Scalextrics.

  • Bouncy Castles

  • Fairground rides

Make sure you check out the entertainer’s policies so everything runs as smoothly as possible to get the best out of your kids party.

Rollercoasters or Kids

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Who doesn’t love roller coasters! Too often age and height restrictions prevent our little thrill seekers from the excitement and fun of twists, drops and loops. So here is a list of the best child friendly coasters aimed at keeping under 8’s happy!

Cat-o-pillar Coaster – Paultons Park, Hampshire

This purr-fect family coaster is perfect for your little daredevils. With swoops and loops around up to a height of 10 metres, it’s an ideal Fun introductory coaster for the under 8’s. Be aware the experience you have by sitting at the back is MUCH scarier for little ones than the front!!!

Wild Bills Runaway Train – Adventure Wonderland, Bournemouth

Bill’s wild and so will you be, with the kids delight and excitement on this runaway train ride as it dips and dives carrying its brave passengers twice round a track of loops and swoops. It’s a big screaming, arm waving, runawaying, swaying adventure!

Octonauts Rollercoaster Adventure – Alton Towers, Staffordshire

Dive into CBeebies Land and join Captain Barnacles and crew as The Octonauts head on a Octonauts Rollercoaster Adventure!

The Flying Fish – Thorpe Park, Surrey

Experience a fun, fast, first-time roller coaster with a trip on Flying Fish. Now a firm Family favourite at the park, Flying Fish is the perfect ride for young thrill seekers to earn their adrenaline apprenticeship.

Dragon’s Apprentice – Legoland, Windsor

Especially for younger guests, this mini roller coaster still offers plenty of thrills and spills to keep the children entertained. Riders travel to the top of the castle ruin and drop in a spiral motion above the moat.

The Rattlesnake – Chessington World of Adventures

This is a rattling rollercoaster ride and you’ll be in hysterics as you snake your way through the sharp turns, inclines and sudden dips of the old Mexican tin mine. Life sure has its ups and downs for little kids!

Twistosaurus – Flamingo Land, Yorkshire

This sensational spinning coaster creates rip-roaring, rotating fun. With its eye-catching dinosaur egg theme, Twistosaurus adds a fun new dimension to Flamingo Land’s extensive collection of family fun rides.

Nickelodeon Streak – Blackpool Pleasure Beach

This is one for the slightly taller under 8’s but it’s well worth a mention in our list!  A spine-tingling ride in a sleek vehicle, this classic wooden coaster streaks down a super fast track is bound to be a highlight of your little one’s day at Blackpool Pleasure Beach!

Whilst most of the coasters we recommend will be suitable for under 8’s of all sizes, there are some for which a minimum height restrictions will apply. So be sure to check to avoid disappointment. All the coaster venues here have many rides for the under 8’s so I’m sure you will have an awesome day out, wherever you decide to go!