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Spring into action!
It’s officially Spring, the sun is shining and the World outside is suddenly a far more welcoming place for play. Whether your little one is able to crawl, walk or run spring, the outdoors is a fantastic place to encourage your child’s development whilst offering your child an increase in vitamin D provided freely from the beautiful sunshine. It needn’t be costly getting out and about and to prove that we have put together a few ideas for you and your little ones to freely enjoy the sunshine.
- Get Gardening!: Spring time is the ideal time to begin gardening with your little one as they are able to help you remove weeds and plant new bulbs and seeds ready for the summer time.
- Walking in the warmth: Talking walks out together costs nothing and it can be a great time for your little one to learn about the World in which they live by exploring outdoors and getting to see nature in action through growth and development over the sensational seasons running from spring to summer.
- Swing into Spring: If you don’t have garden swings then be sure to visit your local park. Swings, slides and see saws all free and fun for little ones.
- Sand and Water: Whether your live nearby to a beach or not, sand and water are always fantastic tools for play. For those families who live away from the beach and do not have a sand/ water table accessible for play outside, simply get an old plastic/ metal tray (a washing up bowl is ideal for this) and fill with water/ sand. For extra fun simply add some glitter!
- Tents, Tunnels and Wendy Houses: For those children who have been saving their tent/ tunnel/ playhouse they were given at Christmas for the sunshine, now is the time to get outdoors and make full use of those outdoor toys!
- Bikes, Trikes and Scooters: It’s time to dust off those spokes and get the bikes, trikes and scooters out for play. If you aren’t able to play outside your own home safely then why not take a ride to your local park for those springtime smiles.
We would love to hear about your families Springtime action, why not send us an email writeforus@mumsbabymagazine.com or alternatively contact us on facebook or twitter? We look forward to seeing your spring time snaps and hearing all about your fun in the sun.
Charm Your Mum This Mothers Day With Funky Child Charms
March is the month for Mothers Day, this year Mothering Sunday falls on the 18th March. We’ve found some marvellous mothers day ideas from Funky Child Charms ideal for Mums and Nanas.
Funky Child Charms are a relatively new company retailing a wide range of beautiful handmade silver and gold charm jewellery. Funky Child Charms sell a range of hallmarked jewellery made from solid silver or 10 carrot gold including necklaces and bracelets (both of which are available in a range of lengths and styles) . Funky Child Charms also sell a range of leather cords in black, purple or pink which charms can be placed upon.
Charms can be engraved and specifically tailored to offer a more personal touch. Charms can be placed upon necklaces, bracelets, alternatively charms can be purchased separately and can fit onto other well known charm bracelets.
Charm necklaces were traditionally worn by Mothers to guard and protect their children, these beautiful charms are completely unique and would be the perfect gift symbolising sentiment and pride this Mothers Day.
For further information visit www.funkychildcharms.com
Feel the Love this Valentines
Being a parent is a full time job, whilst your mind may be fully focused upon your children if is important to make time for your partner. Valentines Day is almost upon us, why not plan something special this weekend to celebrate?
Here are a few ideas to make this valentines extra special without having to book childcare or drain your bank balance:
- Plan and make a special meal to eat together. You could even light some candles, play some romantic Music or even dress up for the occasion!
- Make a valentines day card for your loved one, you could use your child’s foot/ hand prints to create a heart shape so that they too can be involved in the valentines crafting activities. You could even make a few and then hand the cards out to other family members such as Nanas and Aunties too!
- Create/ purchase a small gift which your partner can keep as a keepsake. This may be your first valentines day as parents, it is therefore something to celebrate and to remember!
Mums Baby Magazine would like to wish all our readers a very happy Valentines Day!
10 Tips for Surviving Labour
Labour is an incredibly daunting and difficult journey for many Mums, We asked our readers to offer us their tips and suggestions for ‘Surviving Labour’, we then narrowed these down to our five favourites to help guide Mums through the most incredible moment of their lives.
Listen to your midwife and don’t rule anything out! – Sue Thompson- Stay active in labour, gently bounce or rock your hips while sitting on a birthing ball and visualise the baby moving down the birth canal with each contraction. Deep controlled breaths with each contraction will help you get through each one. Try not to lay down on the bed.- Rebecca McKay
- Reading lots (and watching a certain reality show) as well as talking to friends and relatives who have been through it helped me feel prepared. – Cheryl Jane Losty
- I would say the best tip is to keep an open mind and just go with it. Both of my labours were completely different and so even the first experience couldn’t prepare me for the next. – Karen Scotts
- Try not to panic as much as it is so painful try and stay focused and remember it will end soon and it will all be worth it. – Shelley Marie Kent
We would like to thank our wonderful readers for their positive contributions and look forward to sharing more of your ‘top tips’ in future. If you would like to be involved with some of our articles then be sure to ‘like’ us on facebook (www.facebook.com/mumsbabymag) and follow us on twitter (www.twitter.com/mumsbabymag). Alternatively why not join our forum www.mumsbabymagazine.com/forum and discuss your ideas and experiences, you never know we may just use your ideas in our magazine!
Twelve Tots Top Tips For Bringing In 2012
New Years Eve is an exciting time, counting down those last few hours of 2011 and welcoming your family into a whole new year…
However, being a parent can restrict your ability to ‘go out and party’ as you may have done in the past. Therefore many families choose to hold private house parties in order to celebrate the New Year. Here’s our top twelve tips for safe celebrating with the family:
- Ensure that you prepare food/ drink well in advance so that you are more able to enjoy the party.
- Ensure the bubbles are kept in a child safe place (where children are unable to access alcohol) ready for midnight!
- Rather than spending money and increasing wastage on ‘throw away’ cups and plates why not purchase some toddler friendly items which can be used again in future and are shatter proof.
- If you have a little one sleeping be sure that you keep a regular eye upon the child and that the volume of the monitor is increased so that you can hear them above any noise.
- Try to keep Music/ noise down to a minimum so that little ones are able to sleep. In order to make the party family friendly try to select child friendly Music. General pop collections are usually fairly popular with most of the family and can offer great background Music for ‘little dancers’.
Get the family board games and consoles at the ready for a fun filled night with family, ensure that all controllers and items which may require electronic charging have the correct batteries or are pre charged. - Be sure to keep the camera at the ready, why not sneak into your little ones room to capture their first picture of 2012?
- Keep a television/ radio on in the background to keep a close eye upon the time!
- Dress for a party! You may not be out and about around town but that’s no excuse not to get into the party spirit. Getting into your party frock can often make you feel in the party mood.
- If you have children who wish to stay up to celebrate then be sure to accommodate them. Children love to party just as much as us adults and therefore they too should be able to have party drinks and food. Be sure to stock up on soft drinks beforehand.
- If children are present then be sure that guests remain relatively sober and respect the nature of the party. Also try to include the children where possible by offering each child a particular responsibility, these can be from helping to circulate food to running a particular party game.
- Have fun!
Mums Baby Magazine would like to thank our readers for joining us throughout 2011 and would like to wish you all a very happy and healthy 2012!
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