5 Alternative Gift Ideas for Children’s Birthdays 

By in Gift Guides & Seasonal No Comments

As lovely as it is for your children to be invited to share in their friend’s birthday parties, let’s be honest: choosing a present can be an absolute nightmare. 

What type of toy does the child in question like? 

What kind of present will their parents be happy for them to receive?

How much should you spend?

And arguably the most daunting prospect – how do you ensure that you don’t pick the same gift as another parent? 

It’s a minefield! Choosing a present for your child’s friend shouldn’t be so difficult!

That being said, you can find memorable, unique and highly enjoyable birthday gifts for your children’s friends and even for your own kids, you just need to know how. 

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8 Tricks to Get Your Kids to Drink More Water

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Being sure to get enough water is an important aspect of maintaining good health. As an adult, you likely know just how hard it can be to make sure you drink enough water yourself.

Getting kids to drink water is all the more challenging, but an important habit to build from early on. Luckily, there are a few tricks to help get your kids to pick water over juice every time.

1. Choose the Right Water Bottle

It’s likely your child already has their designated favorites in your kitchen. Be it their favorite plate with a superhero on it or a cup with a cool design, dishes for kids have bright designs for a reason: kids use them more.

Picking out a water bottle for your child with a striking design is an easy way to entice them into using it all the more often.

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The Health Risks of Making Your Own Hand Sanitiser

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Hand hygiene is an important part of the fight against COVID-19, but homebrew hand sanitisers can do more harm than good.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, more people are buying hand sanitisers than ever before. As one of the most sought after panic buy products, most shops and pharmacies are selling out as soon as they get a chance to restock. The result of this, however, has been a trend of people making homemade hand sanitisers with limited knowledge of what works against the virus or how to produce safe hand hygiene products.

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LEGO STEM Activities for Preschoolers

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Guest post from Dave at YourCub.com

Do you love to play with your children? I know I do. But many of the toys that my preschooler likes to play with will only keep me engaged for a few minutes. You’ll find that the more educational and creative the task or the toy, the longer we as adults are able to play with our little ones without getting bored or distracted. And when parents are engaged in the toy, so are our children. And that’s when they learn the most from us.

Toys are a great way for parents and children to bond because they allow us to talk with one another, understand what each other are thinking and what they are trying to accomplish. And then also how that might be done! There are many times during play where we can talk about our interests and find common ground. This allows us to appreciate our children more and form a stronger bond together.

So in order to enjoy these benefits you need to have engaging and educational toys! One of the most popular toys for people of all ages, both children and adults, is LEGO. Nearly every household has a box of LEGO or maybe DUPLO hiding somewhere! You’ve probably picked up countless LEGO pieces from the floor in your parenting journey. I know I have.

LEGO is so educational that many schools are starting to use it every day in their classrooms. It’s ideal for children who are interested in STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics). That’s because LEGO allows children to use their imagination to build pretty much anything they want. 

A simple task like ‘building a bridge’ challenges a child in ways you may not appreciate. They need to think critically and plan ahead. They have to take into consideration a wide variety of issues, like structure, availability of parts, strength of joints. If you can get your child engaged in this type of activity from a young age you can spark their curiosity and possibly impact their future for the better.

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Keeping the Family Entertained at Home with Spin Master Games

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One of the best ways to keep the whole family entertained and having fun together is with games. We have been playing a lot of board games lately, and recently were sent a package of four great games from Spin Master, with something for all ages.

I find that whipping out a game is a brilliant way to lift the mood in the house, banish boredom and reconnect with the kids in a fun way. They’re also ideal to pass the time if we are stuck inside due to bad weather.

This selection of games from Spin Master has something for everyone, with puzzling strategy from Otrio, hilarity from Hedbanz, Jumanji for those of us who have enjoyed the movies (Whether that’s the newer remakes that our kids enjoyed, or the original we remember from our childhood!) and even Baby Shark for the youngest of the family.

Jumanji: The Next Level

The Jumanji game is great for older kids, of around 8 years and up. My boys are 8, 10 and 11 and enjoyed this game. They found it quick to get into and quite easy to understand. In the game, you race to collect your 6 tokens to be the winner, and this is done by using action cards to do things such as battling animals. In some of these things, you need to collaborate with your fellow players, and during the game you can play as different characters from the movie – each with different powers!

There is also a Jumanji Classic Retro board game available from Spin Master Games which is a different version, and has a slightly lower age recommendation.

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Science Mad Chemistry Lab Set Review

By in Education, Toy Reviews No Comments

The Science Mad Chemistry Lab set for ages 10 and up is a great way for kids to learn at home. With over 80 experiments included in this set, there is a lot to work through and completing these experiments will give your child a great foundation in chemistry. The set includes good quality equipment, and a fully comprehensive instruction manual which guides you through each experiment in terms of what to do but also in what exactly you will be learning from each one.

The set includes plenty of chemicals, and the basic equipment required such as a burner, test tubes, test tube holder, pipettes and more. However, there are also a fair amount of ingredients and chemicals which you will need to buy separately. This is because they would be dangerous to include within the packaging (such as methylated spirit for the burner), so this is understandable although at first was a little frustrating as there were certain experiments we weren’t able to jump straight into due to this. You can get around this by planning ahead, and there are still plenty of experiments that you can do just with the chemicals and supplies included within the set.

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BABY Born My First Swim Girl Doll Review

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BABY Born My First Swim Doll is a 30cm doll who is so cute, and makes a brilliant companion for little ones learning to swim. My 3 year old N has had lots of fun playing with this doll in the bath, and she is also great for the paddling pool. You could even take her to the swimming pool once they are open, whether you’re splashing around on holiday or going for first swimming lessons at your local pool.

The BABY born My First Swim Girl doll works by winding her arms back, and then releasing her into the water to watch her swim. This means no batteries are required, as the swimming movement is powered just by the winding – much easier and safer in the water. The doll is well made, has plenty of detail, and seems like it will last really well.

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Bing Colouring Pages, and Fun at Home

By in Play, Printables No Comments

We all need a little help keeping our kids busy during this stay-at-home period, and Bing has plenty to offer to help out families with this. As well as over 100 episodes available on iPlayer, Emmy award-winning and BAFTA nominated family favourite Bing offers pre-school children and families multiple ways to keep busy and entertained during this stay-at-home period. With activity sheets to download and games to play, Bing is helping families who will be spending more time together at home in the coming weeks. My preschooler is a big fan of Bing, so these have come in handy for us and I hope you find them useful too!

Bing Watch, Play, Learn App

This app is great when you want something fun and educational to entertain your little ones. I have been trying it out with my 3 year old, N, and we loved the variety of content – having multiple games, including colouring activities, memory match, dress up games and more, alongside the video content means that there is plenty included to keep it fresh. I also appreciate that there are no adverts, and the app is very easy to use

Sometimes while her older brothers are all doing online schooling on their laptops, my youngest wants to feel like she can join in too so playing a few educational games like these during that time is really nice for her.

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Expert Reveals Top Sleep Tips for Toddlers 

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Guest content from Lucy Wolfe, leading Sleep Consultant, Founder of Sleep Matters, author of The Baby Sleep Solution and expert at The Baby Show

1. Make a plan 

Approach achieving a better sleep as you would any lifestyle change or adjustment. Understand that it will take time. It can help to write out both your end goal and intermediate goals, but more importantly how you intend to get there.

Your end goal may be to sleep in their cot, in their own room and through the night, if age appropriate. But maybe begin with getting them used to their cot in their own room and reducing the current wakes from 6 to 3. Break your goals down to achievable bite-sized portions.

Also commits to writing your plan. Write in the start date, the feeding and sleeping routine that you intend to follow, and the approach that you will use. Jot down an idea of the bedtime routine process, which night you will start and which parent does what.

It’s important to understand that progress will not be linear, and it may get worse before it gets better, but that it’s all learning. If you continue to journal and write a sleep diary then you will be able to clearly identify the improvements you make week on week. It takes 3-4 weeks plus to establish your sleeping patterns. During this time, be kind and compassionate to yourself and each other.

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Expert Reveals Top Sleep Tips for the First Six Months

By in Baby No Comments

Guest content from Lucy Wolfe, leading Sleep Consultant, Founder of Sleep Matters, author of The Baby Sleep Solution and expert at The Baby Show

  1. Don’t worry about “bad habits” 

Try not to worry about what you feel or have been told are “bad habits” – there is no such thing in the early days. Your task is to ensure that your baby feels loved, safe and secure, and that their needs are met lovingly and without delay. Despite some on lookers reporting that you will spoil your baby, the reverse is actually true. These early months are about bonding and laying a foundation for an unconditional loving relationship that will be enduring. The less you resist this dynamic, the faster the need to be held all the time will evolve into your baby feeling more robust and confident to lay down or sleep without as much input.

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