Archives: General

I usually try to steer clear of politics on this blog, but this seemed worthwhile. On 3rd April, the Government opened up its new strategy for play for public consultation

“We propose to make public space more child-friendly through a variety of actions including placing a stronger focus on spaces for play in the planning system; training for people who design and manage public space; supporting local community ownership of space suitable for play; and supporting more positive relationships between adults and children in public space. “

This post from Xin Lu has some interesting ways to make drinking water a little more fun.

Citrus - My husband’s family members often freeze a small citrus fruit called kalamansi in ice cube trays and then put the ice cubes in water for flavor. The same can be done with other citrus fruits and the water produced would be infused with vitamin C.

Although I’m not sure number 6 is a goer for children, they might be fun ways to encourage some healthier drinks over the summer.

That said, over at NPR, there’s a surprising post about the benefits of drinking water

Is it me or does the walrus give up at the end?

Thanks Terry for this. I very much enjoyed John Stein’s “neuroscience” approach in his podcast. Even if a teeny part of me was thinking bah humbug, in my day we read things like this ;

This is worth a look.

Ladybird prints contains over 4000 images from the Ladybird Books, now available to browse and buy as prints and canvases.

If nothing else, it helped reassure me I do have a memory, and it’s full up of old Ladybird images …

I like this [from frostfire]. Makes me think that childhood isn’t dead, just changing

• Fawnt
  This is a good free resource for fonts. Might be useful for those of you wanting to make your own party invites, but frustrated at the fact that everyone else’s look the same ?
  Tags: party kids invite design fonts

This is fabulous! BigBrainz have turned learning times tables (drudgery, rote learning, miserable faces etc) into a Playstation style game - and it’s free to download.

Although the game has “scary trolls” like the one above, there’s no violence apart from getting squirted with goo if you make mistakes at critical points. Each level has keys you need to find to get out of them, and each key is guarded by trolls (big or small) who are there to make sure you don’t get the key unless you really know your tables. You start at the two times table, and then progress up. Rather than testing just the twos and then just the threes, though, you need to remember everything you’ve learned on the previous levels.

Source:Crystalina

[Caution: Possible rant ahead]

Emergency Childcare asked for a link. In a way they’re ‘competition’. But they’re good at what they do. So we linked.

Personally, I don’t have any problem linking to useful services. The more options parents and families have to find what they need, the better. Full stop. And to help that, I think we need to be open. So yes, you’ll find links to netmums, mumsnet and other established sites here.

• More than a Mum? A free event for mums who want to change their lives– Family Relationships Blog
  “When I finally overcame post-natal depression and workplace bullying, there was no one place to go to find out what to do next. This is how I came up with the idea of More than a Mum”
  Tags: event York mums