Does your child have a favourite TV character? Who is it? Peppa? Dora? One of the Teletubbies? Fireman Sam? Or something else? Do they have toys that match these preferences? How educational do you think these toys are? I wrote recently about encouraging creativity in children and how character toys that already have personalities and names […]
Christmas gift guide: part fifteen
Welcome to part fifteen of our ‘Christmas Gift Guide’ – how is your shopping going? Do you wrap as you buy or do it all in one go? I love the idea of doing it all in one go in front of a good Christmas movie with a glass or mulled wine, but these days […]
Independent feeding
Regardless of your approach to feeding and weaning; standard, baby led, mixed or something else, all little ones like to use meal times to exercise their independence. Meal times are a great opportunity to work on developing the pincer grip, the grab, hand–to-eye coordination and hand-to-mouth coordination. I’ve always tried to get a balance with […]
Summer reading challenge
As the long summer holidays approach, what will your children be reading? Last year I drew up a chart for the big kids – every time they read a book, we wrote it on the chart and they left a comment about what they thought and gave each book a star rating. At the start […]
Problem solving skills for children
Problem solving is a life skill we all need. We encounter problems every day, both big and small. Working to solve these problems is something that needs to be developed from childhood. Whether your children are school age or preschool, you can help them to develop important problem solving skills through everyday activities. The development […]
Ending loneliness
Have you ever felt lonely? Are you worried that someone you know might be lonely? Loneliness can affect many people, of different ages and at different stages of life but it can affect older people in particular, especially if they do not have a partner into older age or family around them. Recent research from […]
Mini chefs: part two
You might have read our first article in the mini chefs series. If not you can read part one here. I love the fact that all the children love to get involved in the kitchen. We always make sure that we set aside some specific cooking time, especially during the school holidays, but I also […]
Teaching children about hand hygiene
“Have you washed your hands?”How many times do you think you have asked this question since becoming a parent?I am estimating the following:At least 5 times per day x 365 days per year x 8 years = 14,600 times … and with four children that is a conservative estimate at that.Viruses and bacteria can live two hours or […]