LolliBop 2012

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We were lucky enough to be invited to LolliBop 2012 at Regent's Park, London last weekend and happily went along on Saturday, the second day of the weekend long event. It was a beautifully hot and sunny day, perfect for lots of little ones to enjoy all the fun and games that had been created for them.

LolliBop 2012

The festival was held in a corner of the very large Regent's Park and was perfectly cordoned off keeping the children safe and secure. There were a huge range of activities for the children for all different ages (listed here) and there was definitely something for everyone from the under four year olds section through to the Halfords' race course (which got booked up well in advance!).

For such a large section of park, there was unfortunately not much natural shade, however the organisers had done an excellent job of creating several areas to provide an escape from the blistering heat; in the picture above you can see the coloured banners which were one of the areas. I'm grateful that they had also created a bloggers' lounge which was under the shade of some trees giving us an opportunity to cool off. (I later discovered that there was another section of the park which had a few trees and provided a relaxing area, but it wasn't obvious on the map or when walking around).

The refreshments were very good and it was nice to see a good range of family foods and drinks from Pizza Express, pie stalls, burgers and milkshake stands. The Oreo cookie milkshake was to die for! Unfortunately while the queues for these weren't long in length, they were in time, so next time I'll be taking a picnic. The toilets were portaloos and the least said about them the better. I'd envisaged the portacabin style facilities which I've seen at other children's events, where a sink with running water and soap are available.

These were some of our highlights of the day:

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  • Top left: Alex and Katy from CBeebies perform the I Can Cook song
  • Top right: watching Mister Maker in the LolliPalladium tent
  • Bottom right: being a shopkeeper in John Lewis Lane
  • Bottom right: creating a sandart picture with ScratchPatch

It's only when I look at the official higlights of the weekend that I realise how much else we missed, despite being there for most of the day. I can't wait to go again next year, when I definitely will not be wearing black!

We were provided with free tickets for the purpose of this review. My opinion is honest and unbiased.

366 #33

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You know the drill people, join in with your favourite photograph of the week and show some comment love to everyone else in the community.

Don't forget that the linky is open until midnight on Monday during the Summer season.

  1. Choose your favourite photo from the past week and link it up below.
  2. Please add the badge to your linked-up post so that other people know how to find all the other fabulous entries.
  3. If you can spare five minutes to comment on just a few other entries I know they'd appreciate it!
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The New Or The True Oliver?

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He's there in my tags: Oliver Monkey.

This is him…

He's called Oliver after the character on Baby TV. The Boy was obsessed with the tv character until about four months ago but Oliver will always hold a special place in his heart, despite not having him until he was 18 months old. I've even got a video of him opening the present containing him, and the first moment he saw him he knew he was Oliver. This monkey has been everywhere with us, on every holiday since he arrived, on every hospital trip, and shopping (although he stays in the car). He's been in the washing machine, hung from the line and cuddled beyond compare.

Oliver has always been The Boy's favourite toy, he's smooth and soft, shaped so he can hold him with one hand, and he had a fold of ribbon on the top of his head (his hair) that The Boy fiddles with when he's first woken up. I've had to stitch his tummy shut, his right arm back on and repair a small lesion on his head. He is loved.

This…

… is not Oliver. This is a cousin, a spare, a replacement, in case (God forbid) we ever lose Oliver. They don't cross paths, Mr. TBaM is too worried about it destroying the universe in some sort of temporal anomaly. Occasionally he's been called into play when the true Oliver is being washed, but it's done in the dark so that The Boy doesn't spot the visual differences. He can feel them, but I tell him Oliver is fluffy from having been washed. I don't know why we don't tell him there are two, but he's not to know. It just feels wrong!

So imagine my distress earlier when The Boy followed me into the forbidden spare room. It's used as a dumping ground, but it's also where spare Oliver lives. Safely, so there are never any crossovers. Until today. Because The Boy was holding the real Oliver when he spotted the spare Oliver. I tried to back him up but it was too late, "There's a new Oliver mummy!" "No no," says I, "You're imagining it, you're holding the only Oliver!" while reaching around and flinging the new Oliver into the depths of the boxes. The Boy stood there looking at the space, looking at Oliver in his hand and turned around and walked out.

Am I an awful mother?

Guest Post: Helping Young Children With Homework

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I'm currently burying my head in the sand about the fact that I have only two weeks left of the Summer holidays before I need to return (part-time) to school. Nothing to do with having to work, more to do with having to not be with The Boy full time. However, all too soon my brain is going to start thinking about making sure my work polo shirts are cleaned and ironed, checking that I've done my planning, made any resources that I need and general 'school' stuff.

I'm not the only one with school weighing on their minds. Parents will be racing off to buy the last remaining scraps of uniform, children will be thinking about which group of friends they'll be playing with, and for some parents (new to the school system as a parent) they may not even be wondering about homework. Well, here's a quick newsflash for those unaware: primary school children are set homework. Government guidelines and all that lot. However, how parents help their children complete it, and the attitude displayed towards it, will set the standard for your child for the rest of their education.

This is the most relevant guest-post ever on my blog, full of top tips. It is worth a serious read!

Helping young children with homework is a task that definitely requires a lot of attention from parents. After a long day at school it can be a real challenge to motivate your children to do homework, but home study is designed to help them consolidate what they have learned during the day. At a young age, they will be tested on their reading, spelling and maths skills in school so it’s important to encourage and help them practise to aid their development. Helping with homework doesn’t mean doing for them, but there are many different ways you can motivate and help your child when it comes to homework.

The school’s homework policy

Understanding what your child’s school expects from their homework is the first thing to find out, especially at the start of the year. School’s usually have a homework diary system where you can check what your child needs to do, but it’s still beneficial to understand what the school’s expectations and guidelines are when it comes to homework. Then you know how much time needs to spent on each task, and explain this to your child.

Study area at home

Having a quiet area for study will help your child concentrate on the task at hand – you won’t get anywhere if there’s a mass of distracting toys nearby! If possible, help your child study in different room to other family members. Use the dining room table as a desk and lay out your child’s study aids; make it as easy as possible for your child to work. Having a separate setting for work and play will help them to focus on the tasks at hand.

Homework routine

Fitting homework into the family schedule is vital, but not an easy task. Studying at too late a time will be counter-productive for your child, so it’s important not to leave it till the last minute. If it’s becoming an issue to fit homework in between after-school activities and recreation time, some sacrifices might have to be made as homework is a top priority. Creating a routine is important so your child always knows when to do their homework and it becomes a habit, rather than something that’s optional.

To make it more fun you could set up a weekly chart system; for example, when they have completed their homework task they get a gold star.

Encouraging and interacting with your child is the best way to help with their homework, especially when your child is at a young age. Praise them for their good work, but don’t heap massive expectations on them – however if consistent problems with their work is becoming apparent, schedule a meeting with the teacher to see what steps can be taken. Talk to your child about their school day; encourage them to share what activities they have done – recapping what they have done alongside doing homework will help to cement their learning.

Danielle is writing on behalf of Banana Moon, an online retailer who specialises in personalised t-shirts, sports kits for schools and clubs and hoodies for school leavers.

Thursday 16th August 2012 – 'Honeysuckle' (229/366)

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This is the honeysuckle that my mum bought me when I moved into my first house ten years ago. When we moved two years later, I dug it up and moved it with us the 125 miles back to Cardiff where it has gone bananas ever since. I love this time of year when it is still covered in flowers and buds, but the older blooms have turned into the berries.

Pointless: The Board Game (Review)

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Pointless is the hugely popular BBC show which sees four couples pit themselves against each other to score as low as they possibly can when answering questions. The lowest score wins. The aim is obviously to be as pointless as possible. Think Family Fortunes, but in reverse.

The Pointless board game by University Games mirrors the programme and is for two-four players or teams, ages ten years+. Now people who read my reviews normally know that I look at the age guide and say, "Meh." and ignore it. However, with this game I actually think it's pretty accurate as it requires a fair amount of general knowledge which most children under the age of ten years do not have. Of course there are exceptions to every rule and if your child likes to stay abreast of trivia and the news then they'd probably be able to play this. (I'm specifically thinking of Kate's son from The Five F's.)

Contents:

  • 4 pencils
  • answer sheets pad
  • 338 questions
  • 9 head-head tokens
  • 27 trophy tokens
  • 3 question card holders
  • 1 scoreboard playing board
  • 8 playing pieces (2 each of 4 different colours)
  • rules of play & quick-start instructions

Before playing this, I would recommend finding an episode of the game to watch as it really helps to understand the format. It takes a little working out and I'm a visual learner so needed to see it in action.

As stated the aim of the game is to be as pointless as possible. I'll use the example question that I saw earlier on the television show: "Name a Richard Gere movie." Obvious answers are 'Pretty Woman' and 'An Officer and a Gentleman' but they were quite high scoring answers so the contestants needed to try and come up with the more obscure answers. There are four rounds played throughout: round one, round two, head-to-head and end game. On each round a question is asked from the relevant pile of question cards which also contain all the possible answers and their scores (based on the 100 people surveyed).

I won't go into the ins and outs of each round, but they are cleverly different and challenging each time. A card is chosen from the pile and placed into the relevant special wallet designed to hide the answers. Players write their answers down on the answer sheet, then reveal them as per the instructions. The answers are revealed and scores calculated. The lowest scoring person receives a 'pointless' token. These are important because in the final round the person with the fewest tokens is eliminated. This seems to be irrelevant when only playing with two players.

Mr. TheBoyandMe and I have spent an enjoyable hour playing this, it was challenging and fun. It was also obvious that while it's possible to play it with only two players, it's not quite as much fun as it would be with teams or three or four players. We enjoyed the range of questions (we need to brush up on world geography) and trying to be as devious as possible. We quickly abandoned using the board to chart our scores as it did actually seem pretty pointless itself (pardon the pun) when you're making a note of the scores on your answer sheet.

This is a fun game to be played across generations, I can't wait to take it down to play with my in-laws when we go and see them in September, my mother-in-law will love it. I would back up the age guide on the game, it's a complicated way of playing it and the questions are quite tricky at times.

A thumbs up from this family, a good game for Christmas! However you don't need to bother using the board and this actually makes it a good travel game for holidays.

Pointless is available to buy through Amazon here.

I was sent this game for the purpose of this review. My opinion is honest and unbiased.

Closer To Nature #1

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The rather lovely Jayne over at Mum's The Word has created a new photo linky involving close-up photos of nature. As I am a fan of macro shots and the wonders of nature, let alone photography, I felt it my duty to join in.

Taken on an iPad (3), cropped using Camera+, subject: nature's own!

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Mum's the Word

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