Halloween Project - Home-made tombstones!

Decorate your house or garden this Hallooween with these very realistic and spooky home-made tombstones! Adults needed to make these..

Littlest Pet Shop - games, printables and ecard fun

We think the Littlest Pet Shop characters are really cute, and enjoyed playing the online games and doing some sweet coloring pages at the official site, here.

If you want still more Littlest Pet Shop coloring pages, have a look at our Coloring Page Database listing.

Littlest Pet Shop coloring pages

Parenting Lessons Learned From a Piece of Pink Cake

By Terre Grable

Yesterday was a definite eye opening day. It was the first day back from summer of a mother’s group I attend at church. You could sense the excitement in the air of catching up with old friends and meeting new ones. Then it hit me, this would be the first year I would be attending without my oldest daughter. For five years, we had attended together. There would be no more chasing my daughter up the lobby stairs to catch her before she independently went to her classroom. There would be no more midday surprise lunches after my group, or meeting up with friends at the park afterwards. It had all been replaced with growing up and pre-kindergarten.

So I did what any other self respecting and grief stricken mother would do...

Read the rest of "Parenting Lessons Learned From a Piece of Pink Cake"

Dice Games for Kids

We have just added 15 brilliant dice games for younger children to the website (previously only available as a purchasable download). Many are printable and most are educational - although the children will be having so much fun with them that they won't realise! These first 15 games are aimed at younger children (although many are adaptable for older kids); we have more games for older age groups coming soon.

Dice Games for Kids

A Most Important Word

By Mark Brandenburg

There have been countless debates about how to help your kids become happy, healthy, successful people in their own lives. And one effective method of preparing them for their own lives is to give them a heavy dose of the word that not enough kids are getting today.
The word?

Blackberry picking and recipes!

I'm not sure about the rest of the world, but blackberries are out now in our region of the UK, and there are buckets and buckets of them within a few minutes walk of our house. There is something so satisfying about taking the kids out for a walk and coming back with overflowing containers of delicious, free blackberries, and then piling into the kitchen together to make something yummy with them.

Here are some blackberry recipes to get you started:

Fresh blackberry lemonade
The blackberries make this lemonade unusual and special.

Blackberry smoothie
Delicious, quick and wholesome - great for a snack or a quick breakfast.

Berry Brulee
This isn't a true brulee recipe, but a quick version which is still delicious and probably more popular with children.

Apple and Blackberry Crumble
As the evenings begin to draw in, take comfort in the smell of this crumble cooking in the oven! Serve with cream or vanilla ice-cream. You can also make up extra of the crumble mixture and store it in the freezer, ready for an almost instant pudding next time!

Blackberry Whip
This is a wickedly good desert! You can obviously vary the berries according to what you have in the fridge.

And here is a Blackberry colouring page too, in case the kids want something to do while you are busy in the kitchen preparing something special...

Hand Gestures Dramatically Improve Learning..

Kids asked to physically gesture at math problems are nearly three times more likely than non-gesturers to remember what they've learned.

In today's issue of the journal Cognition, a University of Rochester scientist suggests it's possible to help children learn difficult concepts by providing gestures as an additional and potent avenue for taking in information.

"We've known for a while that we use gestures to add information to a conversation even when we're not entirely clear how that information relates to what we're saying," says Susan Wagner Cook, lead author and postdoctoral fellow at the University. "We asked if the reverse could be true; if actively employing gestures when learning helps retain new information."

It turned out to have a more dramatic effect than Cook expected.

Read more

Times Tables - a new way to learn them!

We love these printable "Multiplication Thinkin' Logs" from The Toymaker. You get to build a tower and practice your times tables at the same time - what a great idea!

Halloween Crafts for Kids - two great new ideas

Sarah and Jack have been busy this week with two really brilliant new Halloween crafts - a Haunted House made out of a large cardboard box and a very realistic Mummy Hand Desk Tidy - the perfect accessory for your pens and pencils this Halloween!

Halloween Crafts for Kids

Monarch Butterflies, Migration, Mexico and More!

This fascinating website offers an insight into the amazing annual migration of the monarch butterfly from the US to Mexico - and a lot more besides! Written specially for kids, there is a wealth of information to discover and some beautiful pictures too. We particularly enjoyed the slideshows and booklets looking at the life of various Mexican children.

Journey North for Kids

And if you feel like spending some more time looking at butterflies, you will find a collection of butterfly coloring pages and a butterfly mobile craft at Activity Village.

Bible Stories for Kids - fantastic new web resource!

We have just spent an hour exploring this fantastic new website, Friends and Heroes, based on animated Bible stories for children. There are a number of episodes online - of which you can watch snippets - but within many of the episodes you will also find charming animated videos of some of the best-known Bible Stories, such as Daniel in the Lion's Den, Samson and Delilah etc.

We were fascinated by the "Time Travellers" section of the website, which gives plenty of historical background information on the period. There are also numerous printable puzzles and quizzes, coloring pages, posters, calendars and an excellent collection of worksheets to accompany each episode. Highly recommended.

Friends and Heroes

Halloween Crafts for Kids - lots NEW!

This week we have been busy adding a great collection of new Halloween Crafts to the site - all of which can be adapted for all age groups, including your youngest children. So if you are in need of some spooky inspiration, have a look here:

Halloween Crafts for Kids

Polar Bears - very cute printables, new from Jan Brett

Jan Brett has just published a new book, The Three Snow Bears, and has launched some new activities on her website, including these very cute printable pages of illustrated facts on polar bears and in Inuit people - well worth printing out. You will find a lovely coloring page too.

Polar bears information printable

Disneys© Meet The Robinsons activity book to download

Disneys© Meet The Robinsons fans will be thrilled with this 15-page printable activity book, available exclusively at Activity Village. There are mazes, puzzles and colouring pages of your favourite Meet the Robinsons characters to enjoy - perfect for keeping your kids busy!

Meet The Robinsons activity book

Roald Dahl fans - design a book cover

13th September is Roald Dahl Day. If your child has a favourite Roald Dahl book, perhaps they would like to design their own cover and send it in here - it might be displayed on the Roald Dahl Day website!

More Roald Dahl activities at Activity Village

Halloween Printables

We have just added some new Halloween printables to the website, including a collection of Halloween writing frames and outlines - in all sorts of appropriate shapes - that you can use for your writing projects at home and at school. We also have some fun new Ghost Cards and lots of suggestions for games to play with them!

Halloween Printables

Card Games for Kids!

In these days of computer games, video consoles and electronic toys, it is easy to forget how much fun can be had with a simple pack of cards (or two). Inexpensive, easily portable and amazingly versatile, cards can be played by mixed age family groups, children-only gatherings, and even the solitary child. Brush up on your card playing skills with our collection of Card Games for Kids!

Card Games for Kids

Moving With Children

How To Discuss The Move

First and foremost, your mood will have a huge impact on your child. If your attitude is one of adventure, and if you stay focused on the positive opportunities the move will be creating, this will filter down to your children and help them mentally adjust to the transition. On the other hand, if you are stressed, worried or depressed, your child will pick up on this also and possibly react in a totally negative manner. There is no greater fear than fear of the unknown. Therefore, give as many details about the move to your child as you feel is necessary. Children need to know why the family is moving and what will be happening during the move. At all times, remain upbeat and excited, particularly if you are discussing the new home and community.You might want to hold regular “Moving Talks” with the rest of the family. At this time, encourage your children to ask questions and voice their feelings.

Read the rest of this excellent article here

It’s Official – Being A Mum Is Back-breaking!

A leading osteopath has confirmed what many new mums know too well - being a parent can be back breaking work!

Research into back pain both during and after pregnancy shows that more than 70 per cent of mums with children under two suffer from aches and pains. And over half of these suffer most when carrying their children in their arms.

The Wilkinet survey also shows that nearly all the mums (97%) love cuddling their children but nearly half can’t do so as often as they would like because of back ache.

Martin Grundy, a leading Osteopath from Whitley Bay, says that back ache is a natural result of pregnancy, when hormonal changes soften the joints, but that many of us make it far worse by the way we cuddle our children or carry them in slings not designed to support both baby and parent...

Article continued..