Archives: January, 2008

Yes, next week on February 5th it is Shrove Tuesday, aka Pancake Day. I have to admit it is the only time of year I make pancakes, so I usually have to scrabble around my recipe books to remember how to make them. If you need a little motivation and help, check out this funky music video I came across and some simple instructions for making some tasty pancakes.

Ingredients for the batter:
110g/4oz plain flour, sifted
pinch of salt
2 eggs
200ml/7fl oz milk mixed with 75ml/3fl oz water
50g/2oz butter (melted)

I was interested to read that Nigella Lawson, not only a wealthy lady in her own right but also married to multi-millionaire Charles Saatchi, plans to leave no money to her children.

Although this story has probably been exaggerated, the subject of inheritance is always a controversial one. Everyone has very strong views on the subject (even though they might not know this until they are in the situation when they write their own Will or benefit/don’t benefit from someone else’s Will).

Source: edwin11_79 at flickr

I am not sure why the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace is such a famous spectacle. Maybe it has something to do with the well known poem by A A Milne (author of Winnie the Pooh):

They’re changing guard at Buckingham Palace -
Christopher Robin went down with Alice.
Alice is marrying one of the guard.
A soldier’s life is terrible hard, - Says Alice.

Or maybe people are just curious to see men wearing tall, black, furry hats!

Half-term is only a couple of weeks away, so what have you got planned?

Here is a list of some places you might want to consider (just click the link for more details):

1. Centre for Life, Newcastle

2. Knowsley Safari Park, Liverpool

3. Eureka!, Halifax

4. Techniquest, Cardiff

5. Amazing Hedge Puzzle, Symonds Yat West

6. Tales of Robin Hood, Nottingham

7. Dinosaur Adventure Park, Norwich

8. Beatrix Potter - The Tailor Of Gloucester’s House, Gloucester

9. Deep Sea World, Fife

10. Imperial War Museum, Waterloo

This exhibition strikes me as the perfect day out for the family - the kids will have loads of space to charge around and everyone can enjoy a bit of culture at the same time. (I am a bit of an art lover so this event particularly appeals to me.)

Twenty-eight of Henry Moore’s sculptures have been sited around Kew Gardens and it is the first exhibition of its kind in London. All the sculptures are huge and intended to be placed outdoors. It is a great way of bringing art to life for kids:

The London Mime Festival is running until 27th January, so this weekend is your last chance to catch a couple of the shows. Mime really has moved on a bit since my day as a kid!

There are two very impressive family-friendly shows at the Southbank Centre this weekend:

Pep Bou from Spain
Sun 27 Jan 6pm - one performance only - runs approx 75 mins with no interval
Seats £12, £15, £18 (limited concs)
This master of mime creates beautiful, hand-blown bubbles in all sorts of shapes and sizes. These shimmering creations then dance to a variety of music (as shown in the above video)

Apparently,

“White noise is an amazing sleep inducer. Not only does it mask unwanted outside noises, creaking doors and barking dogs, but it also mimics the sound of the rushing fluids and shifting body weight that your baby heard in the womb. In one study, young babies were three times as likely to fall asleep while listening to white noise as those not exposed.”

And if you go to beprepared.net you can download some white noise to put on a CD and play to your sleepless child. Maybe worth a try?

If, like me, you are beginning to think about what to do for half-term and are thinking of taking the kids to a show in London, here are 6 ideas:

Afrika! Afrika! at the O2 Arena (17th January to 19th April)
Billed as The Magical Circus Adventure from the Amazing Continent, this show has over 100 performers from 17 african nations. There is everything from dancers and contortionists to acrobats and jugglers. Check the official website for further details.

• Playground Fun
  Aims to bring together traditional and modern playground and street games for children aged 7–9. Marbles, dodgeball, leapfrog - the lot.
  Tags: games children street playground directory
• Britain’s children eat, sleep and breathe TV …
  … according to this research. “The study of five- to 16-year-olds shows that four out of five children now have a TV set in their bedroom.”
  Tags: research kids TV media UK

Recommended Reading

A while ago I was muttering on about kids and reading. I was blathering that a great story was probably a better and easier way to enthuse children about reading than a designer bookshop.

But how to choose a book? This looks like a pretty good list … and certainly a useful jump off point.