The Wiggles are coming all the way from sunny Australia to the UK to provide some great fun family entertainment in the summer 2010. Tickets are now available at The Wiggles Official Website .
IzziwizziKids.co.uk has a set of family of four tickets to give away to a lucky winner. Just answer the following question.
What is the name of The Wiggles Dog Character? If you need help then you can find more information about the Wiggles at http://www.thewiggles.com.au/uk/about/ Competition entry close date 31st May 2010.
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Competition Rules
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1. One entry per household
2. No entries by Izziwizzi Kids employees, family or friends
3. Competition closes 31st May 2010.
Just in case you find it difficult to get out during the half-term with the cold weather, we’ve put together a handy free activity guide with practical indoor games and activities to burn off some energy, stimulate kids brains and give them a great time. Hopefully helping to keep frustrations and tantrums at bay….at least for a short while anyway.
The activities suit children from as young as 2 years old up to 10 years old, so you can keep siblings entertained together. Please forward the guide to all of your friends to spread the word about Izziwizzi Kids and don’t forget to post your comments right here.
We seeking the views of grandparents and giving away 5 make-it Bulldozer Kits from the Little Experience to 5 lucky entrants.
If you are a grandparent with grand children under 10 years of age, we would like to hear from you.
Here is a link to the survey – Click here to take survey
Entrants will be drawn at the end of February 2010
Another Christmas has past us in a flash and snow seems to have taken us all by storm. With schools closed it’s given extra time to play with all those lovely Christmas presents, but what really got the thumbs up and the thumbs down with the Izziwizzi Kids this Christmas.
Thumbs up
Flanimals Pop-Up Book by Ricky Gervais
This book is loved by children of all ages and is a lot of fun. Younger children love the pop-up characters, the characters hidden away in pockets and the silly faces. Older children are still fascinated by the busyness of the pop-up flanimals, but also the completely made up names and fictitious facts.
Thumbs Down
Icecream Maker
Yes it’s true that the children are very enthusiastic about the idea of making ice cream, but the reality is that you end up doing all of the work. It takes such a long time to make the ice cream that the children get frustrated and lose interest. On top of that it’s very bulky and very difficult to find a home for.
What did Santa bring that was good or not so good into your house?
When we buy eco, organic or fairtrade does it really make a difference?
In this interview Hannah Evans from Piccalilly gives a fascinating insight into the benefits of buying Fairtrade, Organic, Eco for our kids and how sourcing products in a green and ethical world really is. Hannah works tirelessly to bring us ethically sourced childrens clothing and dressing up clothes and in this interview highlights some really interesting challenges and compromises she often has to make.
Plan Toys manufacture their toys from recycled rubber wood and use
natural dyes to add vibrant colour to their whole range of educational toys.
The wood is from forests used for the latex industry that would otherwise
be burned. The Eco Town is new from Plan Toys and is a collection of
several products that can be bought individually or as a complete package.
The town features an Eco Home, Eco Train Station and Train, Eco
Charging Station, Eco Vehicles, Eco Street Lighting, Recycling Truck and
a Play Mat, RRP £79.99 (complete set).
I Can Cook At Christmas is a fun, exciting and educational DVD which aims to get young children in the kitchen and cooking tasty treats. Packed with simple recipes, guessing games, songs and top cooking tips, the show celebrates a hands on approach to cooking.
Exclusive to this DVD, Presenter Katy Ashworth welcomes a group of lucky young chefs into her kitchen to cook up a festive feast! Children find out how to make tasty ‘Turkey and Ham Bake’, followed by yummy ‘White Christmas Cookies’ as they prepare for a very special Christmas party.
Every episode includes fun sing-a-long songs with Katy who will work alongside the children as they learn to connect what’s on their plate with the world around them.
Special Features include:
• Songs with Katy
• Visits to the i can cook garden
• Having fun with i can cook
Why is Izziwizzi Kids built upon 8 imaginative ways to play and learn? Because in establishing Izziwizzi Kids we took time to understand the principles around how children learn through play, in addition to relating to personal experiences bringing up 3 children all aged under 5. In essence, children learn in lots of different ways and it is often difficult at a glance to understand why different types of play are important and how a child benefits from different types of play.
The priniples of the 8 imaginative ways to play and learn in their essence are based on the development of essential life skills and do not change. However, from time to time, educational principles change and are updated. The 8 Imaginative Ways to Play and Learn are…
1. Independence
2. Family Time
3. Educational Toys
4. Creative Corner
5. Let Off Steam
6. Ideas for Grownups
7. Little Helper
8. Free Play
Our aim is to give you the confidence and make life easier in knowing how your child learns and how you can support your child’s play and learning without having to think about it too hard. Our ideal is to give you you more quality time and energy to spend with the children in your life.
A final point on Izziwizzi Kids being adult as well as child focussed. Adults are often forgotten in the whole equation when it comes to toys and are often expected to know and get on with it. Building your confidence, sharing ideas with like minded people we hope will ultimately boost your relationship with the child or children in your life and other adults too.
So please post your comments, suggestions and ideas below. We’d love to hear from you.
Do you make your own play dough? I can remember as a child making play dough with my mum and having hours of fun. But it’s so easy to buy in a tub these days, so why bother? Time is often a major factor especially when both sets of parents work.
But if making play dough isn’t something you’ve done before and you do have half an hour to spare and looking to do an activity together, making play dough is great because…
- Your child learns such a lot and has great fun in the process
- You get to spend quality time chatting
- It gives you both a boost which can often be very welcomed
Here’s what’s brilliant about making play dough…
Children can get involved in weighing out and mixing up the ingredients. They will learn about difficult abstract mathematical ideas in an easy way because they are learning in context using
weights and numbers. They can learn about textures by mixing up the ingredients. They are developing language skills as you talk them through what to do. The feeling of achievement from being involved can help boost self confidence.
And that’s not all …
When getting stuck in and playing with play dough children are free to express themselves creatively and can easily start again if things aren’t quite going to plan. They are developing their fine manipulative skills through kneading and sculpting. They are developing their imaginations as they imagine the end result before they create it.
OK…Do you have a little time to make some? Here’s a recipe
Ingredients
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225g/4oz Flour
100g/4oz Salt
30ml/2tbsp cream of tartar
225ml/8 fl oz water
a few drops of food colouring for each dough
Tools:
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Saucepan
Wooden Spoon
Rolling Pin
Cutters
Method
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Child to do this bit with help from Grownup…
Weigh out and mix all the ingredients together in a saucepan to form a smooth paste. Leave out the food colouring to start with.
Grownup to do this bit…
Cook in a saucepan slowly over a low heat, stirring occassionally, until the dough comes away from the pan and makes a smooth white ball. Then leave to cool.
Child can do this bit (may need help)…
Split the dough into different mixing dishes and add a few drops of
colouring to each dough.
I really like to make the dough red, yellow and blue. When each dough is mixed, I then split each coloured dough and encourage colour mixing to form new colours. Red and Yellow to make Orange, Blue and Yellow to make Green and Blue and Red to make Purple.
Have you tried this activity? Do you have a different recipe to share? Post your comments below..
Have Fun!
Is living with clutter around children an issue? When I first established Izziwizzi Kids, one of the main inspirations was that all too many toy shops are willing to fill our lives with lots of gadgets and ugly looking toys with lots of little bits to them, but nowhere to put them. The packaging is all to often not much use for storage either.
Does this sound at all familiar to you? When we bought our first house we created a lovely space together making it just as we wanted it. Then we decided after 10 years together it would be nice to start a family. Nature took It’s course and fortunately for us, it wasn’t long after trying that we were expecting our first bundle. We were amazed by the brilliance in design of the nursery decor, furniture through stores such as Mamas and Papas, in addition to the range of very nicely designed push chairs. Everything was very pleasing to the eye.
But why couldn’t the toy shops follow suit? Why were we encouraged to fill our house with ugly looking toys, with very few ideas about how to store them or to keep them organised. Ikea offered a range of plastic storage tubs, but nothing that was a toy box that I would have wanted on display. This was one of my many reasons for creating IzziwizziKids.co.uk, to find out whether other people out there in the world experiencing similar types of problems and sure enough many like you do. Toy storage seems rare, but whenever we see some nice toy boxes etc, we are sure to get them in store. And if toys are too big to go into toy boxes, then it’s important that they are at least nice to look at in your living room, or wherever else they might be. So…when the kids go to bed you still have some level of tranquillity and a space to call yours.
Encouraging your child to be tidy can be hard work, especially if you like me and not the tidiest person in the world yourself.
Here are a few tips picked up from experts that I have found to work:
- Dedicate a specific time/s of the day to tidy up time where the focus is on tidying e.g. create a tidy up time just before dinner;
- For younger toddlers it is easier to make a game out of tidying up, such as find all the red blocks, blue blocks etc.
- Have a toy box or a focal point for your child to put everything in to. Otherwise you could well end up with a large heap in the corner of the room.
- You may like to try a reward system such as a sticker…particularly if tidying up is unprompted, or is not mess they created themselves.
Encouraging children to be tidy is an issue raised by a number of parents that we talk to. What experiences or ideas can you share? Please post your comments.
