Your 12 – 15 month old – toddler development guide

Your baby is now a toddler – an exciting time for them and an exhausting time for you. Everything will excite a young toddler, who can now explore the world from an upright position. They can get around faster these days which means you’ll need all your energy to make sure you get there first! […]

Your 18 – 21 month old – toddler development guide

Not content with walking around the house your little one is probably starting to climb all over it too. All your low furniture will be just another mountain to tackle and once they start climbing the stairs they’ll never want to stop! If you do have a climber make sure you discourage climbing on cabinets, […]

Let’s get wet! Clam shell wonders

Water play is brilliant. My little man has always loved the water. He has loved his daily baths since day one and we still give them to him. He’s yet to take swimming lessons but I know he’s going to love that too. Some people find their children are a bit the opposite. They dislike […]

Top 5 reasons I love LEGO DUPLO

My children have a lot of toys. A LOT. So many, in fact, that they now have their own room – the toys, not the kids. The kids share a room, the toys get their own. Is that weird? Actually, don’t answer that. I love the toyroom (there are no more toys in my living […]

7 important reasons a child needs outside play

I think we all instinctively want contact with nature — a room with a view, a picnic under a tree or to feel our bare feet in the sand. Yet today’s lifestyle sees us living removed from nature, shut inside our cars, our homes or in big shopping centres. In these indoor spaces our senses […]

Why kids’ play needs to be unstructured and unhurried

I love the words that poet Wallace Stevens wrote about the imagination: “The imagination is the power of the mind over the possibilities of things.” To me, imagining possibilities is at the heart of children’s pretend play. That’s the beauty and significance of unstructured, self-invented play – play that leads to imaginative and creative thinking. […]

Save your cash and pull out the pegs

Babies and toddlers are learning constantly from everything they see, hear, taste, touch and smell because our senses are VITALLY important in brain growth. Have you ever noticed a young child’s face the first time they taste something new, touch a kitten for the first time or see something bright and unusual? That’s a WOW […]

Play. Wear. Read. Share. A simple guide to buying kids’ presents

Have you heard of ‘the four-gift rule’? It is a simple idea that helps make shopping for kids’ presents a little less overwhelming. Basically if you follow the four-gift rule you buy four presents for your child at Christmas or on their birthday. These four gifts fall under the following four categories: something you want, […]

LEGO DUPLO is for all ages – even mine!

There’s no sweeter sound than that of my three children playing happily and quietly together. I certainly don’t hear it very often. There are very few toys in my house that will safely engage and occupy a four-year-old, a two-year-old and a 10-month-old all at the same time. Without fights. The toy that WILL do […]