Category: Pre-School (3-5)

YouTube Videos for Kids?!?!

I wouldn’t in a million years watch YouTube videos with my daughter before vetting them first; even though I’m tempted at times when I have a spare 5 minutes to kill while waiting for dinner.  Unfortunately, I don’t often have time to sit down and sift through all the inappropriate content.   So tonight, I thought I would go through and make a list and share it with you in hopes that you would share a few of your favourites.

There are ways of making YouTube a bit safer for kids but they aren’t failsafe and I’m not willing to risk it.  You can create a favourites list in YouTube, watch them on full screen to avoid inappropriate comments popping up, put it in safety mode and/or register an account for your child with an accurate age so that YouTube’s filters kick in.

I started making quite a list and then came across the following two sites which were exactly what I was looking for.  Both of these sites pull the majority of their content from YouTube but they have been closely monitored.  Every video that I had found previously could be found on these two sites.  So, my list just got a lot shorter.

I like the looks of Kideos because you can search by age group (e.g 2-3, 3-4).  They have everything from Sesame Street to Disney to Dancing Bears.  Plus, they have an iphone app which I’m off to download now.

ZuiTube follows a similar idea but boasts the largest collection of Kids Videos anywhere and all of their content has been approved by parents and teachers.

Happy Safe Surfing!

Toilet Roll Tick Tocks

Yesterday was a really loooooong day!  Madame has managed to pick up some infectious skin disease so I had to keep her in and away from other kids.  Plus, it was chucking it down!  It’s only a very small case of Impetigo but if it’s not treated properly it can spread and look quite nasty.  I’ll leave you to google image that one for yourself.  Ick!  Oh the joys of parenthood.

Luckily, I had a craft idea inspired by @redtedart up my sleeve.  Madame is obsessed with telling the time.  She is forever asking me what time it is, even though she really doesn’t have a clue.  She often tells me it’s twenty eighty or points at the clock saying it’s not bed time yet. So, these Toilet Paper Roll Tick Tocks were perfect and very easy to make.  Madame loves them and all the fashion conscious dolls and stuffed animals in our house are wearing them too.  She even went to bed wearing three!  Bless.

Travelling Just Got Easier Part 01

As you all know, I’m a huge fan of Toddler Tech.  I can’t justify buying an Ipad at the moment but I have no problem with letting my 3 year old loose on my Iphone.  Here are my Top 10 Iphone Apps for Toddlers.  However, the lovely Matt Big does have an Ipad and kindly wrote this post about his experience of travelling with two kids and an Ipad. I can’t wait to read part 2.

Photo Credit

I can remember holidays as a child, packed up in the back of the Volvo, with a packet of top trumps and a 6 hour journey to Cornwall. And for whatever reason, you always seemed to be sitting in traffic, hot, bored and not actually going anywhere. I think everyone has that type of travel tale to tell.

These days it is a lot different. The journey to Cornwall still might have its moments, but the time seems to pass a lot easier.

I have 2 boys, aged 2 and 7. As you can imagine keeping them entertained on our travels is no easy task. Car journeys seem to be ok, with pit stops etc., but airplanes, with their small spaces and no where to go. A nightmare! Or is it? Let me tell you about our last trip to Spain.

I always used to say that when travelling all you needed to remember was PMT. No wait, I am not mad. PMT. Passports, Money, Tickets.

However, I need to add in one more thing to my list. The iPad. Something I only normally use for work, is brilliant. The day before I clicked on to the App store and download a few games, movies, stories and apps. £20 was the approximate cost of my purchase, but compared to the games and books on offer at the airport shops, that seemed quite reasonable.

I will write a proper review on all the bits and pieces I brought and what was and wasn’t a success, but for those 2 x 3 hours plane journeys, the iPad was just brilliant. The 7 year old, like all 7 years knows his was round technology better than some adults and had no problems flicking between ‘Angry Birds’ and watching 500 best Premiership goals.

For the 2 year old, a little assistance was required. However, he loved looking at the shapes and colours as there appeared on the screen and enjoyed the 123 counting game. And even when the novelty of those educational games wore off, we still had an episode of Peppa Pig up our sleeve.

And I know using technology is not everyone’s cup of tea. But when you are packing up your carry on bag for the airplane, with the mountain of books, games and the DVD player, think if that could all be condensed down into one easy to update, easy to use, easy to carry iPad.

Travelling with children just got easier.

Matt Bigg

@mattbigg

matt@thecollectivedesign.co.uk

I’m Getting Crafty! Monster Cards

I was kicked up the backside inspired by @redtedart to get crafty.  Joking aside she’s helping me get more Crafty with Madame.  She suggested we make some Thank you Monster cards for her Birthday presents.  As usual, I cheated and used self-adhesive googly eyes and geometric shapes.  It was great fun and dead easy!  What do you think of our efforts?  My only suggestion is to address the envelopes before you put the lumpy bumpy cards in them!

I now have the biggest tub of self-adhesive geometric shapes and could use your suggestions (Crocodiles, Snakes, Whales).  This is all I’ve come up with so far!  Guess which one I made?

Giant Monopoly St Albans 2010

On Sunday, St. Albans was turned into a Giant Monopoly Board.  It was the brainchild of the Arts, Sports & Health Team.  The whole idea was to get people exercising whilst taking in some of the local sites.  There were 3 routes to choose from with a number of checkpoints along the way.  We chose the shortest, the yellow route which was 2.5 miles as we had toddlers with us.

We did it with @annieqpr and family, as we are both incredibly competitive we thought it safer to team up than to compete.  Our first stop was Crazy Golf in Verulam Park.  On the way we accosted Mr. Monopoly for our Chance Cards.  Then we were off to the Verulam Museum for a quiz.  Dads and kids strolled around the museum taking in the history while Annie and I ran around like loons, ignoring everything except answers to the quiz.  Next stop was perfect for Annie’s family, Watford FC Speed check, you had to kick a ball into the net and it measure the speed.  Then we wandered back through the park for some duck races.

Unfortunately, we didn’t calculate in the proximity of two pubs to the route so we never managed to finish the course, which meant we didn’t get to collect our Chance prizes, nor did we get to see the St. Albans Jail, which is something we all wanted to see.  Oh well, there is always next year!  Oh and FREE parking in St. Albans…now that is funny!