Toys R Us vs Nature

Yesterday I saw a commercial for Toys R Us that shocked me.  The ad was filmed over 3 days, during which the toy store company took 200 kids from various charities in New York on a supposed nature field trip.  The surprise for the kids was, that twenty minutes into the bus ride, they were told they weren't going to the forest, instead they were going to Toys R Us and could pick any toy they wanted.  

While the toy company is charitably giving toys to underprivileged kids, the way that this has been done and portrayed in the advert sends a really bad message out to kids - showing a nature trip to be 'boring' but a trip to the toy store as a far better and more fun option. 

I think if the advert had just shown the kids being given the toys I would have had a more positive impression of Toys R Us, seeing them giving something back to the community. 

However, they have tried to show how exciting their store is, and how it is the place to find magic and make kids smile

by contrasting it with something that kids find boring and not fun. 

 To have chosen a nature field trip as this 'boring contrast' is just plain shocking.  Surely we are all aware of the need for kids to get active, have some fresh air and outdoor play. 

The comments on the Toys R Us Facebook page link to this advert show other people's reactions. 160 comments so far, mostly from people who are disgusted with the way Toys R Us have chosen to portray their store in this advert.  

The senior vice-president of marketing at Toys R Us in America said, "we wanted our new marketing campaign to cause viewers to pause and be reminded of the true joy that lies at the centre of gift giving." (source).  

This made me think of Giving Trees where donations are asked for to give underprivileged kids some toys for Christmas.  There are times when only 'new' toys will be accepted for these Giving Trees. 

My kids are certainly not underprivileged, but I have often bought them gifts of toys or books from charity shops.  Why is it seen as a necessity that every child should have fancy new toys?

 I think it's really sad that our society focuses on toys and material goods as something that constitutes a privilege for children.  This weekend in our Sunday newspaper, I read an article about a family who had decided that had too much 'stuff' and this year (2013) are trying not to buy anything new.   One thing she found immediately was that when she cleared away a lot of her kids toys, this was one of the best things she could have done. Instead of her spending endless time clearing up the mess of toys and putting them away (haven't we all felt like that as parents). Her kids didn't miss their piles of toys, and in fact played for longer and with more creativity and imagination without so many toys.

I realise that Toys R Us are a company that sells toys, and they are hardly likely to tell kids that they don't need toys to have a fun time, that they can have just as much fun playing with their friends outside with no toys at all.  However, I think they should be a little more responsible in how they try to sell their toys.  Showing a nature trip as being boring and uncool is not very responsible in my mind.

What do you you think?  Go and watch the advert and see for yourself, it's only 1 minute long.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Experiment

I love baking, and make a lot of my own biscuits and cakes from scratch. I've never really seen the point of buying cake mixes and cookie dough, as I don't see them as being cheaper or really any more convenient than making a simple batch of your own.

So when my daughter's class at school decided to fund raise by selling tubs of cookie dough, I thought I would actually buy a tub and see what it was really like instead of just judging without experiencing.

Once the dough arrived, we made two batches of chocolate chip cookies. The first batch we made using the dough, which you can freeze, keeps for up to 4 weeks in the fridge, and you can also re-freeze it!

We tasted the dough before cooking, worked out the cost per cookie and then tasted the cookies afterwards.

The bought cookie dough tasted nice but REALLY sweet. The cookies were also nice.

The next batch was made from scratch with this recipe:

100g (4oz) Margarine

75g (3oz) Soft brown sugar

2 tblsp Syrup

175g (6oz) Self Raising Flour

100g (4oz) Chocolate Chips

2tsp Milk

Beat margarine and sugar together, stir in syrup, flour and chocolate chips. Mix well. Place spoonfuls on the mixure onto greased trays and bake for 8-10 mins at 180C (350F). 

The uncooked dough was tasty and not so sweet as the bought dough. The cookies themselves also tasted good!!

Overall, although we liked both types of cookie, we all (our family and some friends) preferred the made-from-scratch home baked cookies.

When we worked out the price of the cookies, the bought dough cookies were 30c each, and the made from scratch just 15c each.

So for half the price and a nicer, more natural flavour, I will still be sticking to making my cookies from scratch.

It was a fun and very tasty experiment to do with the kids, and good for them to actually see and understand my reasoning rather than just accepting my opinion unquestioningly!

How about you? Do you make your own cakes and biscuits from scratch? Or do you use cake mixes and cookie dough?

Family Games Night

One of my fondest childhood memories is of playing card and board games with my family in the evenings.  We used to go on lots of camping holidays, and that was how we spent our evenings - playing card games, Yahtzee and 'Sorry'. I know it wasn't just the games I enjoyed, but the time spent as a family, just my parents, my brother and myself.

Recently I read an article in our local free parenting magazine about having a family games night, and thought this might be a fun thing to do with our girls.  We do play games occasionally, and know how they are not only fun, but great for kids education, and mental development. We have a large selection of games in the cupboard, and really they don't get used often enough.

So perhaps to have one particular night a week set aside for family games, would be a way to actually use all of those games. I'm sure we'd all look forward to it, and create some of those memories for our kids, like I have of my own childhood family games nights.

How often do you play board or card games with your kids? Do you ever have family games nights?

Top 5 Typing Games

Both our daughters are learning to touch type. It's an important skill to learn given that throughout their schooling, assignments are likely to be done on computers rather than pen and paper. Plus next year, in Grade 6, the last year of Junior School here, our eldest daughter will get her own laptop as part of the school programme, and all the children are being advised to learn to touch type now.

A couple of years ago, we discovered a fabulous site for kids learning to type. (the BBC's Dance Mat Typing) Our girls have used this now and again and are becoming quite proficient. Having reached the end of the Dance Mat Typing course they now need something else to practice with. 

There are lots more typing games out there, but a lot of them have adverts flashing up at the beginning which I didn't like. 

Here are the best 5 I found, with no adverts:

Keyboard Ninja - chop fruit that gets thrown up with letters on - but don't chop the bombs!

Snow Typer - type the words as the fall with the snow before they hit the ground

Typing Attack - A simple space invaders type game. Type the words to blast and clear the screen

Super Hyper Spider Typer - help the spider climb up to avoid the oncoming chameleons by typing the words.

Trick or Type  - help the ghosts catch the flying treats in their bags

For each of the games you can choose your level and which of the keyboard letters you want to use for the game, so you don't have to be an expert typist to play!

I tried all these games myself (just to check they were fun!) and have to say my favourite was Keyboard Ninja, just for the sound effects!

Do you know of any other good typing games?

Can your kids type?

Have fun!

Learning Japanese words

A little while ago, I wrote about helping our elder daughter with learning her Japanese writing characters - Hiragana.  She's been going really well with it and practising a little every day. 

We've also downloaded a great little app onto my phone and her tablet called Learn Japanese Hiragana. She's been using this quite a lot to practice her hiragana recognition and in doing so has been learning Japanese words. Although the app says it's for 2 to 5 year olds - I think that must be for Japanese kids learning their own language. It's fun and nice and easy to use. The same company also has another app with the same format for learning Katakana (another form of Japanese writing used for foreign words). Our daughter will download that next when she's got the hang of the Hiragana.

For now, I've just given her some resources to help her learn all the words she's finding through her hiragana practice.  This is how I used to learn French, German and Spanish words when I was at school and university!

Basically, it's using small cards. On each card you write the

Japanese word on one side, and the English translation on the other side.  I used to keep my word cards in a big empty chocolate tin (we had a few left over from Christmas presents).

So, earlier this year, when I received a large tin of chocolates for my birthday, I saved the tin with this in mind!

Today I got out a box of card off-cuts and the tin for her, and she's been writing out the words that she has been learning onto them - English on one side, and the Japanese word - in hiragana on the other!

Now she can use her word cards to practice her Japanese vocabulary and hiragana by testing herself just reading the words and speaking them, but also writing them.

Have you ever learned a foreign language? How did you learn and practice the words? Do you have any tips and ideas to share?

Hand Shadows

Have you ever tried making hand shadows?  

Our girls were given this book with lots in to try, so all had some fun the other night! Trying to copy the pictures and get your hands and all your fingers in the right position was trickier than we thought.

Can you guess what this one is....?

It's a crab!

And this one...?

A snail!

One more..?

A moose!

I think we definitely need some practice! 

But we did have fun.

Now have a look at some really impressive handshadows:

Can you make hand shadows?

Facing fears

Do you face your fears? Do you encourage your kids to face theirs?

There have been times with our girls, when I have been making them face their fears and I have felt like a horrible, cruel mother. I'm sure too that to anyone looking on, that is how I appear. 

When your child is in tears, and upset because they don't want to do something that is scary for them, it's hard to push them but there are certainly times when it is important to.

 I remember reading last year before the Olympics, about an Australian swimmer - Ned McKendry, who used to have panic attacks when he swam races, and had to stop half-way down the pool and hang onto the lane rope. He said that as a teenager, he reached the point that he told his parents he wanted to quit swimming. However, his coach persuaded him to face his fear and keep swimming, which he did. Last year he competed for Australia at the Olympics. Definitely worth facing his fears for I'd say.

When our eldest daughter started school, she had a fear of racing. On the school athletics carnival day, she'd be in tears not wanting to race. Each year I'd push her past her tears into the first race and by the time she finished the race her face was beaming and she was happy once more - happily going in all the subsequent races.  She would come home a happy girl with tales to tell and ribbons to show.  If I hadn't pushed her to run, then I doubt she would have had such a good feeling for the rest of the day.

Each carnival got a little easier for her, although those fears were still there for a while, and now, she positively looks forward to all kinds of races, and also does very well in them too.

To some people, pushing my kid to race might sound like overkill - why should a kid have to race if they don't want to? But from my point of view, races are a part of school life. Our daughter had years of this ahead of her and I didn't want her to have the same fear stay with her for all those years. I felt it important to help her face that fear early on. 

So whether it's a fear of speaking in front of the class, taking a test, or running a race. I believe it's important for kids to learn to face their fears, and as parents, it's our job to teach them to do this.

What fears have you helped your kid face? Or what would you like to help them overcome?

Our girls' current fear we're trying to help them overcome is lighting matches!

It's still oh so scary, but with a little more practice, they'll be fine!

Uno

At the weekend, our daughters taught me how to play Uno.  

It's a nice simple game for 2 or more players. The aim of the game is to use up all of your cards before anyone else. You can put cards down (when it's your turn) that are the same colour or number as the face up card on the table. There are also cards to miss a turn, change the colour, reverse the direction of play, and pick up 2 or four cards for the next person.

It's more or less the same as a game we play with a regular deck of cards. We call that game 'Funny Switch', and different cards have different properties, for example a Jack means miss a turn and a Queen is pick up two cards.

An uno deck has more than the regular 52 card deck, and is brighter and more colourful and so simpler for younger kids to recognise the cards and their meaning.

There are now apps to get Uno for your phone or tablet, and also different versions of the game - themed packs, and even Uno blast, where cards aren't dealt, they're blasted out of a plastic machine!!

Clever marketing I guess, but maybe I'm just old fashioned as I prefer the plain old deck of cards version!

One thing my youngest did try to learn as we played this game was

a 'riffle shuffle' to mix the cards up. My dad taught me as a kid, and it's a cool thing to be able to do!  She picked up the idea pretty quickly, but needs lots of practice! Great for working those fine motor skills!

Have you played Uno? Do you like it? Do you have any of the alternate fancy versions?

Top 10 Skipping Rhymes

Our girls love to skip, as did I at their age, and thanks to a new workout programme I'm now following, my skipping fitness is coming back and I'm enjoying it once again too!

I thought it would be fun to find some skipping rhymes to use with the girls - I remembered bits from my childhood, but had to look up more! We have a large rope that we tie one end to the fence then one of us turns the other end so we can skip two at a time which is fun!

Some of the rhymes require running in and out of the rope - and actions too!

Here's my top 10 Skipping Rhymes!

1. Cinderella

Dressed in Yella,

went to meet her handsome fella.

On the way her undies busted.

How many people were disgusted?

1,2,3,4......

2. Teddy Bear, teddy bear, turn around,

Teddy Bear, teddy bear, touch the ground.

Teddy Bear, teddy bear, show your shoe,

Teddy Bear, teddy bear, that will do.

Teddy Bear, teddy bear, go upstairs,

Teddy Bear, teddy bear, say your prayers.

Teddy Bear, teddy bear, turn out the light

Teddy Bear, teddy bear, say goodnight.

3. Two little dickie birds sitting on the wall,

(Two players jump in)

One named Peter, one named Paul.

(each player waves at their name)

Fly away Peter, fly away Paul.

(the player exits the rope as name is called)

Don't you come back 'till your birthday's called.

January, February, March......December.

(player returns when their month is called)

Now fly away, fly away, fly away all.

(players both exit the rope)

4. Not last night but the night before,

Twenty-four robbers came knocking at the door.

Call for the doctor! Call for the nurse!

Call for the lady with the alligator purse.

Out went the doctor, out when the nurse.

And out when the lady with the alligator purse!

5. Spanish dancer turn around

Spanish dancer touch the ground

Spanish dancer do a high kick

Spanish dancer get out of town quick!

6. Jelly in the bowl

Jelly in the bowl

Wiggle, waggle, wiggle, waggle

Jelly in the bowl

Sausage in the pan, sausage in the pan.

Turn around, turn around, sausage in the pan.

7. One one eat a plum

Two two touch your shoe

Three three bend your knee

Four four touch the floor

Five five reach for the sky

Six six pick up sticks

Seven seven pray to heaven

Eight eight slam the gate

Nine nine you're doing fine

8. Bluebells, cockleshells, eevy, ivy OVER

(jumper jumps over the swaying rope and then on OVER the rope starts to swing over to start skipping)

9. Benjamin Franklin went to France

To teach the ladies how to dance

First the heel, then the toe,

Spin around and out you go!

10. Little Orphan Annie hops on one foot

Little Orphan Annie hops on two feet

Little Orphan Annie hops on three feet

(bend down and touch the floor)

Little Orphan Annie hops on four feet.

(touch floor with both hands)

Little Orphan Annie hops out!

Do you remember any of these rhymes? What about any others?  Please do add more in the comments!

How to make a chatterbox or fortune teller

Our girls love making these, and I remember making them lots as a kid myself! Do you remember how?

Here's a quick video we made to show you!

What kind of 'fortunes' did you write in yours, or do your kids write in theirs?

Similies

When I was a kid, I used to enjoy reading The First Aid In English book, and all the 'funny' words and phrases it contains.

Now we've got this book for our girls, and they are enjoying exploring it too!

We recently looked at Similes.

Similes compare things which are alike in some respect, although they may be different in their general nature.

So things like,

"as blind as a bat"   or      "as hungry as a wolf"

As our girls read through the list, there were a few questions that we couldn't answer - and Googling the answers proved interesting for us too!

"As happy as a sandboy"

What's a sandboy?   

Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable 

AS HAPPY AS A SANDBOY: Very happy. An old-established expression from the days when sandboys (or men) drove their donkeys through the streets hawking bags of sand, usually obtained from beaches. The sand was used by people for their gardens, by builders and by publicans [tavern keepers] for sanding their floors. The happiness of sandboys was due to their habit of indulging in liquor with their takings.  (source )

"As old as Methuselah"

Who was Methuselah?

According to the Hebrew Bible, the oldest person to have ever lived - he supposedly lived to 969 years old and was the grandfather of Noah!

"As patient as Job"

Who was Job and why was he so patient?

Job is a character in the Bible, who lost his family and livestock but never became angry with God because he was a very patient man!

"As pleased as Punch"

Who is Punch?

Punch here comes from "Punch and Judy" puppet shows, which our girls have only seen once on a travel show on TV about the UK.  We grew up with these puppet shows but here in Cairns, Australia, there don't really seem to be any! (If you've not seen one before, click here to go and see a YouTube clip of one!) . In the puppet show, Punch is always pleased with himself and his evil actions!

At the end of the 2 page list of similies in the book, there is a page of exercises, which the girls read through and did to see if they could remember the similes.

Things like this remind me how important general knowledge is in understanding expressions and parts of languages. Something to look at another time I think.

I'd definitely recommend this book (The New First Aid in English) for kids and adults - I'm enjoying reading through it again and it's a great reference book.

(The links to The Book Depository in this post are affiliate links meaning if you click on them and then choose to buy from there I would receive a commission. However, the opinions in this post are entirely my own - I genuinely enjoy this book and find it very useful)

Scale drawings and new bedrooms

Our girls currently share a bedroom. They get on well together but they're getting older and beginning to want their own space. So at the end of this year, we're reorganising our house so they can have their own bedrooms. Needless to say the girls are very excited about this - especially the part where they get to choose the colour and decor for their rooms!

They're both saving up their money to be able to buy things for their new rooms. However, when we went out to the shops the other day, they were excited about buying things like storage ottomans, and comfy bean bag chairs - despite me trying to tell them that there wouldn't be enough space in their rooms.

So, when we got home, we got out the tape measure and some squared paper and made scale drawings of their new bedrooms and the furniture they're going to put in them so they have more of an idea of the space they have.

They'd never made a scale drawing before, so it was a good maths exercise for them too.  The squared paper we had was the perfect size to scale our drawings down to a tenth of the original size of the rooms and furniture.  With all our measurements in metres and centimetres, dividing everything by 10 was nice and easy.

We had fun measuring all the various items of furniture. They learnt that they only had to measure the length and width as height wasn't important for a 2 dimensional drawing!

They are now having fun 'moving the furniture' around in their rooms and deciding who will get which bookcase, and desks etc.   Since we still have a couple of months to go before everything happens, I'm sure there will be lots of different plans get made for their rooms before then.

Now all they have to do is decide on colours!

Do your kids have their own bedrooms? Did you let them choose their own colour and style?