Happy Easter - some great ideas to keep the kids entertained this half term!

Easter is now here and whilst we welcome the long break to spend more quality time with our families, the unpredictable British weather can leave us stuck inside and feeling a little stir crazy.

Online care provider Care.com resident Nanny expert Rosemary Albone knows only too well how challenging it can sometimes be to keep the little ones entertained. Here, Rosemary offers some top tips for activities you can do with your children over the Easter holiday to keep them happy, learning and creative and that won’t break the bank!

1)     Have an ‘Indoor Holiday’, a Staycation in Your Own Lounge!
Set up a (small!) pop up tent, or create a den under the table, or get creative and build your own structure. Encourage the children to pack what they need and move in, at least for an afternoon. You can teach children all about the great outdoors without setting foot outside!

2)     Plan an Easter Show
Plan with egg related jokes and stories about the Easter Bunny - great fun for getting children to think about words and stories and get creative. Perhaps you can write a story script together, asking the child to make decisions on the storyline and ending and act it out for the rest of the family.

3)     Decorate Your Own Eggs
We all know that painting and decorating eggs (real or cardboard) can be a fun activity to do together; tune into everyone’s creative side and use interesting materials as decorations. Set your children the challenge of finding things around your home and in the garden to use as decoration. Find a small tree branch that can be safely cut and brought inside to hang your decorated eggs on to make an Easter tree.

4)     Plan a Walk- Whatever the Weather
Physical exercise is good for everyone and safe exposure to sunlight enables the body to make vitamin D. Let your children:
-         Plan the route, drawing it out on a homemade map with significant local points located on it (schools, shops, the library, friends’ homes etc)
-         Photograph interesting things on the route, then make a storyboard or story book with the photos when you get back home
-         Set a challenge to achieve on the walk, such as finding 5 specific things (stones, signposts, numbers on front doors, sticks, fallen leaves, something red and so on)
-         Choose and create a picnic to enjoy on the walk to get them engaged in selecting and making the meal too

5)     Have a Tea Party
As a family, think about inviting a neighbour or occasional acquaintance to tea. We know that the long bank holiday can feel a long lonely time for some people; help your children understand that kindness is easy. They could even make an invitation and help with deciding what to have and making the food.

6)     Seek an egg-stra pair of hands
Spending time with your family is a wonderful part of the Easter holidays, but you may have other things you need to get done – such as preparing an Easter lunch or even tackling some home repairs that need done while you have time off work.  https://uk.care.com/ offers short term care solution from baby sitters to cleaners who can provide some extra support.

SURVEY REVEALS MOST PARENTS ARE RELIEVED WHEN THE SCHOOL HOLIDAYS ARE OVER

Despite the break from school runs and  homework duties, a survey has revealed that 60% of parents are ‘secretly relieved’ when the summer holidays are over and their children go back to school, with almost 80% claiming that they feel under pressure to keep their children ‘constantly entertained’ over the summer break.

A total of 2,000 parents were questioned for the survey, carried out in June by family deals website LittleBird, which also revealed that one third of parents put themselves under pressure to keep their children constantly entertained, with pester power and pressure from other parents and the media accounting for a further 37% of responses.

Naomi Bloomstein, co-founder of LittleBird and mum of two says:  “As parents, we can feel that we have to fill each day of the holidays with as many exciting activities as possible.  It’s understandable that parents want their children to have a memorable summer, but a few well-chosen days out and activities will achieve this.  It’s good to balance planned activities with ‘chill-out’ time so that children learn how to make their own entertainment and parents can keep costs down.  Studies have shown that ‘boredom’ actually helps children to develop their creativity and imagination.”

More than three quarters of survey respondents said they also worried about the cost of keeping children entertained over the holidays with over 65% spending up to £150 on an average day out.  However, in general, parents are becoming more financially savvy with 57% saying they budgeted for days out and activities in advance and 86% taking advantage of discount offers available for museums, parks and attractions by actively seeking out vouchers before deciding on their day out.

Naomi adds:  “When you do decide to have a family day out, try to plan ahead as early as possible and always shop around for bargains and discount vouchers beforehand in order to keep costs down.  The money parents can potentially save is definitely worth the extra effort involved.” 

Freedom Leisure Uckfield Launches After School Activities for Disabled Youngsters

Freedom Leisure Uckfield has started after school activities for young people aged eight to 18 with learning or physical disabilities.  The multi-sport club comprises games and creative activities and runs each Tuesday evening from 4.30pm-6.00pm. 

The activities include aerobic/movement sessions, play, sports and Wii competitions. Parents and carers are welcome to stay and watch – or they can enjoy some downtime at the Costa Coffee café in the Centre and take advantage of free re-fills there.

“We welcome disabled youngsters every day but feel that this dedicated session will enable our staff to really focus on each individual’s particular needs and interests,” says Nyssa Jackson, centre manager of Freedom Leisure Uckfield.  “The varied sessions will stimulate both creative and physical responses and we anticipate many of the youngsters will also enjoy making new friends as they take part in team work,” she says.  “Our expert staff will supervise all the activities and we hope that this will give parents and carers a little time to themselves – either to enjoy our facilities themselves or simply to sit back and chat in our cafe.”

The first eight sessions are funded by Sportivate, Active Sussex and Freedom Leisure Uckfield is confident this will help establish the programme in the community.  Thereafter, Freedom Leisure Uckfield will continue the Tuesday evening sessions every week during term time.

It costs just £3 per session for each youngster and this includes access to all the activities from 4.30pm to 6.00pm.  Booking is not necessary, but advisable.  To find out more, contact Freedom Leisure Uckfield on 01825 761160 or ask at Reception.

Meadowlands Festival – Children’s Area - Activities and Areas for the Bumbling Bambinos

                              

Meadowlands Festival returns this summer from the 1^st – 3^rd June 2012 for the third year to East Sussex, for a weekend of cultural carnivalesque celebrations, jam-packed with great music, comedy, and family fun.

Set in the idyllic grounds of an Elizabethan manor house, near the beautiful village of Glynde, within three miles from Lewes and just 10 minutes outside of Brighton by train, Meadowlands Festival looks set to be the go-to boutique festival of the summer. 

This year, Meadowlands Festival will play host to a range of children’s areas from Workshops For The Imagination to Juggletastic circus classes, Stick It On DJ slots and storytelling for under 5’s, this dedicated area is the place where children can be entertained and safe.

The Purepotions Baby Changing Area

This year Meadowlands will have a superb baby changing area managed by Purepotions – a completely natural skin care range who will provide a safe and fresh environment in which to change your children.

Stick It On

For all of the budding DJ’s, Meadowlands is playing host to Stick it on- a club event with a twist which gives the younger festival goers a chance to play 4 of their favourite tunes to a small audience. There is no resident DJ’s and no super star DJ’s at this club night. Move over LTJ, this club night is for the next generation. Stick it on describe themselves as “A night that never takes itself too seriously Stick It On aims to give you something different”. They have been described by Time Out Magazine as “A national phenomenon, for 15 minutes, ordinary folk get to play their favourite tracks to titanic reactions from a party loving crowd”. To register your play list, please go to the meadowlands website.

Workshops for the imagination  

Meadowlands have a wide range of activities to keep the little ones entertained; one in particular has a philosophy to allow children’s creativity to thrive in an informal but structured environment. Workshops For The Imagination is a Brighton based organisation set up by Alex Sutton-Vane to bring a wider range of quality art to children aged from 2 years. At Meadowlands Festival Workshops For

The Imagination will be running a drop-in activity area where children aged 3 – 11 years can come and make art works, models and generally be creative in their own space.

Woodland Adventure

Enter through the replica Hogwarts tunnel and explore the mystical woodland where you and your family can make your very own natural art works inspired by the beautiful Sussex surroundings.

The Grateful Crane: The Fetch Theatre Company

This creative theatre company will be performing ‘a visual tale told without words’ through the art of puppetry based on the traditional Japanese story of ‘The Grateful Cane’.

As well as celebrating puppetry, the performance will demonstrate the visual and emotional pull that this art form has on audiences of all ages. This funny, moving and beautiful story will transform audiences as they interact with the puppets and journey with them to see amazing transformations take place. The show will be performed by one animator who will skilfully put in motion various spectacular puppets and props in order to create a simple but unforgettable story.  

Workshops

After each performance, the puppet director will be providing workshops giving families a chance to interact with and explore the Banraku puppets. There will also be special guest puppets!

For the under 5’s - Traveller Space

This special place for the under 5’s will be managed by Traveller Space – a charity supporting Gypsies and Travellers in Cornwall and the South West. The area will provide beautiful wooden toys, a climbing frame, sand pit, water play, soft play, puzzles, books and a comfortable sofa to sit on while your loved ones play.

There will also be story telling to capture the imagination in this area running throughout the festival.  

Juggletastic

Roll up Roll up! Test your circus skills in this exciting workshop where children will have a chance to play with a wide range of circus toys including hula hoops, juggling, ribbon twirling, stilt walking, unicycle and the Diablo. There will also be Juggletastic teachers helping you perfect your skills with the hope of participating in a performance to your parents on Sunday.

The Line-up

This year’s event will see over 80 bands including Lamb, Speech Debelle, LTJ Bukem, four stages of live music, six club nights, spoken word & comedy, a new woodland area and campfire, plus a charity casino.

It’s Affordable

£85.00 for an adult’s weekend ticket, which includes camping

£45.00 for teens

£20.00 for children

Free for under 5’s

To find out more about this year’s Meadowlands Festival and to book your place, go to; www.meadowlandsfetsival.com

TAKEPART Brighton & Hove Festival of Sport

FREE Sports Festival for Adults and Children of All Ages

Now ‘the biggest celebration of sport and physical activity in the country‘. 

The exciting programme of events kick start in Preston Park on Saturday 23 June. This year there are over 18 activity zones in the park so if you fancy trying something different like mountain boarding in the Adventure Zone, or want to re-live your school days and enjoy playing cricket or hockey there is something for you.

People of all ages have the opportunity to try out a range of sports in a fun and non-competitive setting. The aim is to help you to find a sport you like, whether it is Nordic Walking or Petanque.  If people are encouraged to increase their participation, they will benefit from a more active and healthy lifestyle.

In this Olympic year of sport the festival hopes to get more of the cities residents’ active and taking part. As a city, 25.2% of Brighton & Hove adult residents are taking part in active recreation compared to the national average of 21.8%. However  41.8% of adults do none at all.

(Sport England Active People Survey 5 Oct 2010 – Oct 2011)

So what can you do?                                                                                       

Brighton & Hove clubs open their doors to provide free or reduced rate taster sessions. Activities range from croquet and windsurfing to table tennis and yoga.

Schools also have plenty to choose from with a range of TAKEPART competitions including athletics and swimming as well as local clubs going into schools offering tasters in sports like karate and street dance.

And if that’s not enough there are also TAKEPART local events taking place on the weekend of 30 June – 1 July in local areas including, Whitehawk, Hollingdean, The Level, Moulsecoomb and Portslade.

The annual seafront festival, Paddle Round the Pier takes place on the weekend of 6,7,8 July. 

Brighton & Hove’s sporting celebrations this summer provide an opportunity for people in the city to share in the Olympic spirit and enjoy a truly memorable moment to shine. On Monday 16 July 2012 Brighton & Hove will proudly host the Olympic Flame as it enters the city on Day 59 of the Olympic Torch Relay.

www.takepartbrightonandhove.com