By Kate Hodges
05th March 2020
EVENT, DO Girl Powered
This Sunday is a time to cheerlead girls and women and celebrate their achievements and potential; International Women’s Day. The theme for 2020 ‘each for equal’ – being part of a whole, and using collective power for good – find out about the #eachforequal pose and strike it all day! You’ll find zingy, colourful and inspiring learning resources for children here. There are a huge number of events going on – there will be something exciting near you – including the boundary-pushing and inclusive WOW Festival which takes place all weekend on the South Bank in London. Find out about Badass Women from History, take in a panel discussion on Bringing Up Boys, learn more about Accidental Activism, draw along with Amelia Fang and join the gang in Under-10s Feminist Corners for boys and girls and party to celebrate ten years of the festival. Most events ticketed, many free.
EVENT and MAKE Words With Friends
Yeah! It’s World Book Day! Eek! It’s World Book Day costume panic time! Find inspiration for last minute outfits here (including some cunning ideas for kids who aren’t keen on dressing up). All UK school children will receive a voucher to exchange for one of twelve exclusive books – which one will you choose? Home educated pupils won’t miss out – parents and carers can apply for tokens here and there are some excellent lesson plans and resources for all ages. Want to find family reading advice from experts, book recommendations or author videos? Click here. Or check out our site for Ways To Share Stories using stories to help heal anxiety and ways to get writing with your kids.
RECIPE Baby-Led Yum
We are always on the hunt for new baby-led weaning recipes that not only taste great, but are also easy to hold and munch! Trade secret – older kids love hand-held treats too! Sweetcorn and Spinach Fritters pass the pick-up test and are full of vitamin-packed veggies (find more BLW recipe from BBC Food here). We also love these super-basic Wholemeal Pikelets that you can top with whatever your baby fancies and these leftover-maximising veggie shreddies. Find more inspiration here.
DO, LEARN and EVENT Spot the Monkeys
British Science Week is an, um, ten-day celebration of science, technology, engineering and maths. There are events held across the country, from huge fairs to intimate demonstrations, held at museums, gardens, and galleries. It’s a sparky, spectacular way to pique kids’ interest in STEM; check here to find events near you (bookmark this as it’s good all-year), here for free, downloadable activity packs and here to join the awesome citizen science project spotting spider monkeys in Central America – 17,000 infrared videos need tagging to unlock questions about deforestation and to save the cheeky critters!
EVENT Reading Festival
Wee Write is the junior branch of Glasgow’s book festival Aye Write. It encompasses events across the city, including meets with Konnie Huq, Philip Ardagh, Muhammed Khan and Ross Collins. Saturday is the Wee Write Family Day which takes place at the Mitchell Library and is a megamix of free and ticketed events, including Peppa Pig’s Bonnie Unicorn, Good Knight, Bad Knight and Celebrating Harry Potter. Plus there’s nostalgia with Worzel Gummidge fun, Mog the forgetful cat and the super-humanly strong Pippi Longstocking. Step through the famous wardrobe into Narnia as The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe turns 70 and you can even meet the Gruffalo!
COMING UP
(M)Others Day is a project developed by artist and author of Mother in the Mother Pippa Robinson. It aims to looks behind the surface commercial vision of Mothers Day - the cards, chocolates and flowers, to try and unearth what the day really means to people, particularly if those people have a challenging, ambiguous or absent relationship with their mother, or if their mother has died.
Pippa is collecting people’s stories here and will have a selection of stories to share for online publishing etc around the 22nd March. Why not share your story with her?
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The Big Bang Science Fair takes place at Birmingham NEC March 11-14. It’s inspiring, fun, HUGE and free, but you must book your tickets in advance. Here’s your heads-up to do just that…
What we’ve been reading this week:
Stop a worry becoming catastrophic: how to talk to your kids about the coronavirus
“Parents too often assume that their children are oblivious to world events or are too young to understand what it all means. We don’t want to frighten them by talking to them about it, and that is especially true when we ourselves have a sense of trepidation about what the future holds or aren’t sure what to say.
But children, particularly younger ones, think about and process the world in a way that can make them more vulnerable. Concepts of time, place and distance are nebulous. A child can see the same footage of an event over and over, and believe that every instance represents a cumulative threat, with no timeframe for resolution.” Read more here
