Sensory Tray Play Ideas

Are you looking for ideas and activities for your tray play, tuff tray and sensory play? This blog post links to LOTS of sensory tray play activities for you to try. Simply scroll down, find the activity you like and click on the link to go to the full blog post with all of the information and resources needed.  Have a read of our complete guide to tuff trays if you need some more info first!

10 ways to cope with exam stress

As exam season approaches, students can often feel overwhelming levels of stress that can hinder their revision preparation. Exams can feel like a lot of pressure as students need to get certain grades to get into their chosen University.

 

 Disclosure: Paid Partnership Collaborative post

Students often feel anxious and nervous when approaching this time, so we’ve devised a list of some handy tips on how to manage exam stress...

Home office essentials for dealing with back pain

 Back pain is no laughing matter, and unfortunately if you have a sedentary job which requires you to sit at a desk or be in an office for a large number of hours during the day, you may find that this low level of activity combined with poor posture can have a big impact on your back health. Whether you already suffer from debilitating back problems, which your current job exacerbates, or whether your current set up is leading to back issues - there are a number of things you can do to help deal with back pain at work...

 

Disclosure: Paid Partnership. Contains affiliate links

A few years ago, my husband ended up with a herniated disc in his lower back, we had a 2 year old toddler at the time (I'm sure picking him up and lifting prams and pushchairs etc probably didn't help!) and he found the pain debilitating. Regular physio and visits to see an osteopath were not successful in treating the problem. A dalliance with strong painkillers to help with the pain lead to severe withdrawal symptoms (I'm talking about you Tramadol!) and the injection at the hospital to try and numb the pain in the nerve next to the spine was unsuccessful...even with our best efforts to heal bruising with arnica cream. Eventually, the only option was surgery to 'shave away' the offending protrusion pushing into his nerve, and remove part of the bone. Thankfully, the operation was a success BUT there are measures that needed to be put in place to help manage his condition and recovery moving forward, and to make sure that he did not end up with more back problems. Here are a list of things to help with back pain at work...

Why Poetry?

NB: Words are subject to copyright and must not be copied and pasted or used elsewhere without permission. If you would like to share this poem you may use the URL of this post to share.

You may enjoy some of my other poems here

Covid symptoms before vaccines vs after when pregnant

Back in March 2020, at the start of the first lockdown I contracted Corona Virus, or, Covid19 as it is more commonly known. This was before vaccines were available, and even before routine testing - although my symptoms were all in line with covid and became severe enough to warrant a visit from the emergency services. 10 months later I was also diagnosed with 'long covid' as my symptoms and the after affects took such a long time to improve. 

 

At the time, I quarantined in my bedroom away from my family for 7 days as per the rules at the time. I have since had both vaccines and a booster jab at 12 weeks pregnant making me 'fully vaccinated'. I am currently 25/26 weeks pregnant with my third child and have (along with the rest of my family) contracted covid again.

During my first bout of covid I started a video diary of my symptoms. I never did publish this video to my YouTube channel as my recovery took such a long time it seemed pointless by the time I felt better! However, looking back at this video has enabled me to create a comparison of day by day symptoms which I have listed in the post below....

DIY Sensory activity mat for babies

This blog post gives you some ideas, inspiration and links to buy resources in order to make your own DIY sensory play mat for your baby or toddler...

Mixing the colours of the Playdough

Mixing the colours of playdough - is it really THAT bad? Why do so many struggle with this and are we actually missing out on important learning opportunities by forbidding this to happen??

 

A couple of years ago, Hannah from hi baby blog shared a Facebook photo by Tom Fletcher showing an image of playdough that had been squeezed and mixed together, and the reaction from most parents was that of utter horrification. The need to keep the colours separate appears to be very, very real and the calming down techniques needed when it all inevitably ends up in one big colourful heap are vast.

I'm going to lay my cards on the table early - I love everything that the metaphorical mixing of playdough colours stands for. Not just the metaphorical mind you, the ACTUAL mixing of colours too. I'm not going to sit here and wax lyrical about the parallels we can draw between colour mixing playdough and other, much bigger issues in the world relating to race, religion, politics etc whilst refusing to actually let my children mix the colours of their own playdough - they can genuinely mix all they want....but the focus of this post is why should you let them, and why does it matter??

We bought a rat infested house

There. I've said it. Our new house had a serious rat infestation and we didn't have a clue until after we moved in. In this blog post I'll explain how we came to discover the rat issue, the damage that has become apparent since and why we didn't know about the rats before we bought the house. I'll also explain how we have rectified the rat problem and the measures and repairs we have had to put in place to get rid of the rats since moving in. 

 

If you want to read more about how to get rid of a rat infestation or how to spot a rat infestation when buying a house, you can read the posts linked. 

There were lots of things I wanted from this house move - an extra bedroom for our future arrival (I was 6 weeks pregnant when we moved), a bigger garden, more storage space, a utility area. I had accepted that we would have to modernise the house and redecorate and I'd made peace with the fact that we could only make this move if we were mortgaged up to our eyeballs and made a few sacrifices along the way....but i didn't expect THIS...

Playing Catch Up | Helping With Your Primary School Child’s ‘Lost Learning’

“Lost learning” is a term that has been thrown around a lot for the past year. Since being in lockdown, the government have been very keen to stress how important it is to help the millions of children catch up on the lost hours in the class room. A lot of valuable time has been lost and this generation, particularly the younger ones, have suffered setbacks in their academic progress, their social development and most importantly their mental health.

 

Whilst most of my regular readers will know and understand the importance of learning through play, planning to children's interests  and making sure that we are planning and teaching creatively in a child-led way in order to make learning fun, (and therefore more memorable!) rather than focusing on rote learning and memorising of facts - it is part and parcel of the current education system that there are certain skills that children will need in order to progress smoothly throughout their school life. It’s definitely challenging to provide the assistance your kid needs, from checking out internet availability by address to ensure you have access to online materials when you need them to knowing how to respond to their questions, but the information below will certainly help.

Today, we have a guest post from Daniel Grabowski, a qualified Teaching Assistant who is currently working alongside primary aged  children in the aftermath of the covid lockdowns, helping them to make sure that they are having positive learning experiences at school without unnecessary added pressures. In this post, Daniel discusses how you can help your child at home....

Planning a gallery wall with Desenio

I’ve always loved a good gallery wall! We have had a range of frames on the wall climbing the stairs in our house for many years now - a montage of black and white photos of relatives and special friends, in varying frame sizes but all with the same mount and border. I was keen to do something similar on the wall above our sofa in the lounge, but with some cool, calming prints in muted tones to create a gorgeous gallery wall which would create a relaxing and inspiring space after a long day.

 

  Disclosure: Paid partnership with Desenio. Pints were sent in return for an honest review. 

Planning a gallery wall can often be the tricky part, trying to imagine how all of your images might fit together, whether the sizes will work next to each other and then of course, finding the right sized prints to fit the frame! This is where the Desenio’s gallery wall tool makes it super easy to plan your wall art. Read on for more info on how we used the tool to plan our gallery wall and how this compares in real life too!

Learning through play Ideas with Jaques of London | Review

In this blog post I will be showing you some simple 'learning through play' activity ideas using the Double Nine Dominoes and the Teaching Clock from Jaques of London who specialise in Toys for Kids with multiple benefits - particularly educational. These items were gifted for the purpose of this review but all words, ideas and opinions are my own.  

Disclosure: Ad - paid partnership with Jaques of London

The play ideas within this post can easily be adapted to suit your child and your own resources at home.

How many of us have been left with stretch marks after the birth of our children, and despite knowing that they are there to show the journey our body has been on, we still wish them away?

This short poem aims to put the meaning back into each little mark, and highlights the importance of each one, and the job it may have done. By thinking about what you would have to 'trade in' for each mark, it may help you to see their true value...

A poem about stretch-marks 

What if every mark is just a symbol for the parts of you that grew...

Dutch products in the UK | Bringing a piece of Holland Home

What do you imagine when you think of Holland? Tulips…windmills…clogs…canals…hundreds of bicycles?

Disclosure: Paid partnership with DutchGrown

My husband was born and raised in Noord-Holland, in a small town called Bergen, where my parents-in-law still live. I spent every Xmas between 2005-2013 there (halted only by my first child being due on the 23rd Dec 2014, and then making us wait another 2 weeks before arrival!) plus some special occasions in-between, such as, Lichtes Avond, Sinterklaas and Koningsdag. 

 My husband proposed to me at the Ruinekerk – not his original plan, it should have been in the sand dunes - but I’ll tell you about that story another time! I visited wedding dress designers, Dutch cheese markets and shipped home tiny little love heart shaped sweets and Wilhelmina mints as wedding favours. Although I’m terrible at languages, and no amount of books, CDs and ‘only speak Dutch’ days have helped me – there are some words I only know in Dutch, having learnt them first in Holland! Imagine my confusion when attempting to buy a new blade for my shower screen wiper and referring to it as a ‘trekker’ in the UK (for those confused as to why I didn’t learn this word before, I grew up with just a bath at home, no shower. I met my husband at University which is when I left home).

Tips for getting ready to sell your home

Preparing for putting your house on the market? Maybe you are getting ready to sell your house, or maybe you are looking to buy a new home. Whatever the case may be, you will want to make sure that your house is in good condition and is looking its best. Here are some tips for getting your house ready for sale...
 

Disclosure: This is a collaborative post

Selling your house and purchasing a new house is a big decision. The process can be time-consuming and stressful, but it's worth it when you find the perfect buyer.Homeowners are often surprised by the amount of time and money it takes to get a house ready for selling, but the time you spend preparing your house for sale can save you money in the long run, and get you more money when it sells.

Before you list, here are some things to do to make your house stand out from the rest, and a few things to check before you take the decision to sell your house...

September 2021 - update

It's a new academic year and lots has happened in the last couple of months! There have been some highs and some lows...

From buying/selling houses, to illnesses, birthdays and new school starters we have crammed quite a few emotions into the last few week...

Femme Luxe Finery | August Edit

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With the weather heating up this month and things opening back up again, I decided to include a couple of dresses and shorter tops on my Femme Luxe fashion edit this time! With the prospect of moving house to a 'doer upper' and also a couple of parties in the pipeline, I chose some items which could be suitable for a bit of DIY, lounging around and dressing up!