Science for Kids

One of the birthday gifts my eldest received was a science kit. The science kits are awesome for kids. The Steve Spangler Science creations can come in individual packs or single packs. I have bought these products before and my kids love them. The one my daughter received had a a number of experiments, each one with at least two options. There are crystals that expand but first you need to add the colour tablets in first to colour the water then add the crystals. Watch it fizz, expand and change in colour. There are colour beads that change in different types of light. Snow that expands but it must be measured correctly or it can get slushy! Dry sand even when wet and a dino that expands in water and over a period of time. There is a leaflet that explains why and how it works. 

I give this kit a 10 out if 10. 

An Outing with Friends at Colony Farm

A few days earlier we decided to go out as a group to Colony Farm. It happened to be a beautiful, sunny , bright Vancouver day. Nothing more lovely than meeting with friends and ending with a picnic and a play. 

This time we started off by the communal gardens. 

Beautiful day.

The communal gardens are very well maintained, some grow fruit and veg and flowers. There is a lovely feel to the place and it was a great place to start and end our walk. 

Taking a break.

On our way back, there was some serious conversation going on here.

We ended our walk by the gardens. Thankfully there are toilets and a picnic area with a large grassy area for the kids to play and they are always within eye range. They particularly liked the long grassy area. 

A fantastic day was had by all.  

Kids Book Club

Reading for my 5 year old

My youngest chose this book and what a great book to start the summer reading program. Infact both my kids chose several books from the library but these ones stood out from the rest. She loved, Hooray for Reading Day and she was able to read most of it with me. My eldest daughter also enjoyed this book and it took her no time at all to read it. But her reading is now at another level and one of the books she chose was, Charles Dickens and Friends.

Reading for my 8 year old

This Charles Dickens book is written like a comic strip and is a very condensed version of the classics. Oliver Twist is one of the stories and did this story ever draw up a conversation! The first words out of my eldest's mouth was, "I don't like this book the people are mean". I gave her a snapshot of the era and why the author wrote these stories and how children were treated in the Victorian period and it was not a nice time for the poor. My daughter was appalled and couldn't quite believe people could be so aweful. She then went to her little sister and told her what the book was about and how dreadful she thought it was.

I was so happy to hear her talking about the book, learning something from it and asking questions. I can only hope this will spark a love for reading.

First Aid Kits for Kids - Me4Kidz

I was in my local pharmacy store when I stumbled across a travel sized first aid kit for kids. It is a little bigger than a glasses case and includes stickers for being brave kids (I assume), band aids, sanitizes, gauze and a large band-aid. It is a really handy kit for taking out on day trips and packaged in a nice bright colour. There are a number of colours to choose from however the store I went to only stocked orange and green. When supplies run out it will be easy to refill. The easy to grab box which fits nicely in a small-ish sized bag will keep everything in one place and keep the dirt out.

I haven't used it yet. The only thing I would add to it is Polysporin or Savlon cream. Come to think of it I am not sure I can get Savlon in Canada but I do have some at home.

The company name is me4kids.

Me 4 Kidz

Contents

We started to personalize ours.

Baking with Kids

Lemon Cakes. Nothing more lovely than lemon cakes drizzled with lemon icing. We used a heart-shaped silicon mold hence the shape. I used the recipe from The Boy Who Bakes. Ed Kimber won the 2010 The Great British Bake off and has gone from strength to strength.  He has some amazing recipes and they always taste good and are easy to follow. 

The kids love to help in the kitchen particularly when I am baking sweet things. It is a great way to get them to understand how to measure and weigh, learn a little about food science and best of all learning how to cook. 

Planning a Kids Birthday Party

I have been planning a birthday party for the past two weeks. I am not sure I would call it planning as such, I had a list in my mind of things to do and what to buy. I can organise large corporate events but organising a kids party fills me with fear, it is not necessarily the planning it is the idea of having to entertain ten kids.

I asked my friends what they do and I have been given various ideas. There are parents who hire venues and let the organisers sort it all out, buy the pizza and cake in. Go for a picnic at a park but have a plan for wet conditions. The home party, I am doing this, where you make your own food or buy it in and organise your own entertainment.

My home based party will have homemade cake, banners, sandwiches, crisps (UK term crisps, N.A term is chips), fruit and popcorn. This is a very British thing to do. I am keeping to what I know. I have planned this party around hot weather and because of the strikes the kids could not have sports day so I have my own version of it. There is a badminton set for four players, a trampoline for four at a time, a large paddling pool, water guns, skipping, hula hoops and a few other things. We have tried out the badminton set as a family and it is tonnes of fun. Key thing is to give them an activity or two to do have some food and cake and a party bag to take home.

Other than keeping the kids safe and doing my best to entertain them generally the best thing to do is to go with the flow but have at least an idea of activities to keep them entertained.  I have a few back-up plans like musical chairs and pass the parcel and regardless of the weather the kids are going outside!

I will post the party event and let you know how it went.

Party hats and paper straws

Birthday Banner for decoration

Party bags

Shop bought cupcakes to go around my homemade cake

Flowers for decoration

Kids Summer Book Club

Our local library is running a summer reading program where children have to read for 20mins everyday and write down in their little booklet the books they have read. After seven days of reading they go back to the library and receive a sticker. The program runs for seven weeks and if they read everyday and complete their booklet each child receives a reading medal.

I think this is a wonderful thing to get kids using libraries and keeps them reading while not at school. My kids are super excited about it all too. Since we have signed up they have read three books per day. One short so they can read to me, a book where I read to them that is a little longer and a book where they sit quietly on their own. My eldest reads just fine but my youngest needs more help with reading but she is picking it up fast. If I read a bigger book with my youngest she will help me read it and she shouts out the words she knows. My eldest will read out loud too, it is nice to listen to them read and it gets them used to reading fluently infront of an audience.

We are working on week one and I will post books and reviews as we go each week.