Family-Friendly Festivals 2010

My favourite one is Just So Festival, Barnswood, Nr Leek, Staffordshire on August 20-22. The Just So Festival is a family arts festival, which has been dreamt up by two Macclesfield couples who’ve spent years visiting traditional festivals with their children and finding much of the entertainment to be off-limits. They’ve set up a camping weekend in 65 acres of unspoilt Staffordshire woodland where everything – from traditional fairground to artificial beach, from gypsy bands to top name authors – is aimed at giving children and their parents a magical experience.

Highlights from the programme will include music workshops from Manchester Camerata, Parkour training sessions from some of the UK’s top free-runners, following the Fairy Queen trail with the Fairyland Trust, and one of the organisers’ favourites, a party with the Moomins. Families will be able to go on this amazing journey of the imagination, participating in a medley of art, craft, music and theatre within a beautiful natural landscape. The experience of families going along to the Just So Festival will be a far cry from your average festival. Camping is in small woodland glades. There will be a bedtime noise curfew (though the local rabbits and hedgehogs may not comply), and a large and comfy nappy changing area with changing mats and wipes laid on. The loos will, of course, be lovely.

Here are some other family-friendly festivals:

JULY 14-18 Larmer Tree Festival, Wiltshire/Dorset Turning 20 in 2010, this small festival has won both “Best Family Festival”, giving families an opportunity to choose from fantastic programmes for Comedy, Film, Street Theatre, Adults, YouthZone, Kids, Spoken Word, or Everything together!

JULY 15-18 Latitude, Suffolk. Cute festival with mini-glasto overtones. With just two weeks to go, Latitude still pulls more names out of the bag. Unlike any other festival, Latitude has built its sterling reputation as a brave and pioneering event with a line-up like no other. Four arenas are dedicated to an exciting selection of musical talent from emerging bands, international stars and homegrown heroes, whilst the arts onsite command no less than thirteen arenas providing something for everybody.

JULY 22-25 The Secret Garden Party, East Anglia A weird and wonderful selection of artists will fill the Great Stage, Where the Wild Things Are stage and various other amusingly named venues. They provide the Garden and plant the seeds, but you nurture its life and allow it to blossom. It is your party – your creative participation allows the festival to rejuvenate & regenerate. The Secret Garden Party brings people together by removing all barriers – you will do things you never thought you had the nerve or bombast to do.

JULY 23-25 Womad, Wiltshire This festival offers a world of music with performers from as far afield as Ethiopia, India and New Zealand. Meanwhile, the World of Kids and the Children’s Parade will be one of the festival highlights. Enjoy children’s craft workshops, global market villages, an old-fashioned steam fair and food from around the world. Take WOMAD at a comfortable pace and spend a night camping in one of the ready-pitched tents that sleep up to 8 people and include airbeds and sleeping bags.

JULY 24-26 Camp Bestival, Dorset Winner of the Best Family Festival in the UK Festival Awards 2009, this baby sibling to the Isle of Wight’s Bestival takes place at the idyllic Lulworth Castle in Dorset. With 53 sleeps before Camp Bestival throws open its gates it’s not long until we can enjoy three full days of partying with Madness, Friendly Fires, George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic, The Human League, Calvin Harris, Stornoway and many ugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and his River Cottage Cafe, enlightened and erudite entertainment at the East Lulworth Literary Institute, Fairy Tale fancy dress, Zippos Circus, The House of Fairy Tales and much, much more.

AUGUST 6-7 Belladrum, Inverness-shire The Editors will headline the event, which takes place on Friday and Saturday. Other acts include Toploader, Peatbog Faeries and Ocean Colour Scene. A new one-man play, tackling the life of occultist Aleister Crowley, and Mr Methane “king of farts” have also been lined-up.

AUGUST 20-22 The Green Man, Brecon Beacons There’s a film tent, a campfire more musical pleasures.  Plus there will be literally 100s of free things for kids to do, amazing food from the likes of Hfield, a science tent as well as Joanna Newsom, Laura Marling and Mumford and Sons. This year there’s a boutique babysitting service. If you need a well-earned break from the kids you can always use our new ground breaking Boutique Babysitting service, offering a bespoke and friendly babysitting run by fully qualified childcare professionals. For anyone who’s ever considered taking children to a festival – or for those that already do – The Boutique Babysitters are a new childcare company that has entered the festival scene to provide a bespoke, festival-friendly babysitting service. For the first time, parents can enjoy a care-free festival experience; content in the knowledge that their children are safe and professionally cared for, whilst the kids enjoy a fun-packed “mini festival” of their own at the Boutique Babysitting kids club.

AUGUST 27-29 Solfest, Cumbria There are only 5,000 tickets for this three-day festival that has a line up including James and the Magic Numbers. There are also plenty of children’s activities and the festival takes pride that tiny babies and many generations of the same family come back every year. Solfest is enjoyed by babies under and hundreds of toddlers, older children and teenagers – so it’s an experience for the whole family! Forget the music; this is the stuff that memories are made of!

1 Comment August 2, 2010

Instant Stress Relief In Your Handbag From MamaBabyBliss

Clingy toddler at home, no sleep, too much to do… if you are a busy mum like me who sometimes is feeling stressed out can get an instant natural pick me up from a new product that fits conveniently into a handbag or pocket.

The MamaBabybliss Bliss Stick Uplifting Oil is simply dabbed onto pressure points whenever a woman needs a lift. The all-natural ingredients include:

• Lime Oil: lifts depression and energizes a tired mind, while easing breathing and assisting digestion.
• Bergamot: for depression, feeling fed-up, respiratory problems, colds and flu, PMS and SAD.
• Geranium: helps relieve stress, mild depression, PMS, anxiety and tension, menopausal problems and for general energizing.

“All mums need a little lift every now and then, whether they’re an exhausted new mum getting by with very little sleep while coming to terms with her new, often overwhelming role as mother, or an experienced mum of three rushing between work and after school activities,” explains Justina Perry, founder of MamaBabyBliss. “We’ve created the Uplifting Bliss Stick to help mums take a short breather, giving her the energy she needs before carrying on with her busy day.”

The Bliss Stick Uplifting Oil is available from www.mamababybliss.com and costs £5.  The product is part of the MamaBabyBliss range of natural pampering products for pregnancy, babies and mothers, all of which are made with natural active ingredients that are ethically sourced and are entirely free of chemicals found in similar products.

The company also has new website featuring a range of videos including relaxation techniques, massage and yoga. See them at www.mamababybliss.com

1 Comment July 24, 2010

How Children Learn Through Play. The Importance of Imaginative Play for Toddlers

Through play, children learn the skills and knowledge needed for life; imaginative play encourages the toddler to use their mind and creative potential. Children can be taught to have the skills and knowledge to deal with life’s challenges and to solve problems creatively through being encouraged to be active in play that involves creativity, learning, investigation and discovery. There’s a saying “Give a person a fish and they eat for a day. Teach a person to fish and they eat for a lifetime.”

Imaginative Play
Play that is imaginative and creative will help the toddler to use their mind to find solutions to problems. One of the most important parts of imaginative play is for the child to pretend to be someone else or in different situations.
This type of play helps promote a toddler’s learning through using role play to develop their imagination. They will also be developing their emotional and social skills, sharing skills, manipulative skills, language and communication skills through this type of play. Not only this but it helps a child build on his or her self confidence and feelings of security.

Kids Play and Imagination
Through imaginative play, a child might run around, pretending he or she is a horse or a dog, an aeroplane or a train. At 3-4 years, they often do this on their own. At other times, an adult could encourage imaginative play so the child might explore new situations and fantasy worlds. This will help the child to explore their feelings and the world around them in a safe, supervised environment.
Children at this age are at Piaget’s preoperational stage. During the years from 2 to 6 Piaget saw the evidence of symbol use in many aspects of child’s behaviour. Children this age beginning to pretend in their play for example at age 2 or 3 or 4 a broom may become a horse, or a block may become a train.
Imaginative play, through building towers out of bocks, talking to and feeding their dolls, making tea with the tea set and dressing in grown-up clothes is important and should never be classed as trivial… Neither should soft toys or dolls be rejected as inappropriate for any age of either sex.

Examples of Imaginative Play Activities
Ask the children to make a pirate ship out of large cardboard boxes. They might make telescopes or binoculars out of kitchen tubes and a flag for their boat out of newspaper. Hats could be made and painted for them to wear while they’re at sea in their imaginary boat. How does this kind of play help in a child’s learning? As the children play with each other, they will be using their communication and language skills.

3 Comments July 24, 2010

Come Travel with Me /the prologue/

100g summer sunshine
200g smiles on my kid’s face
2 tbsp Sunday chaos extract
50g adventure spirit
125g self-raising good mood
10 drops of fun
a handful of crayons
a pinch of travel wind
a pinch of “have-a-great-day” spell
secret ingredient

1. Preheat your family “get-together on Sunday” mood to max (mark 6).
2. Place the Sunday chaos on the bottom, draw the curtains and spread the summer sunshine evenly
3. In a happy family car add the /secret ingredient/, tight well to the back seat, mix with a handful of crayons and 10 drops of fun, then whisk it, shake it, beat it… until stiff.
4. Add the self-raising mood and the adventure spirit, a little at a time, whisking to incorporate, and then beat in the pinch of travel wind until well combined.
5. Spoon into your day and bake for a few hours – until golden on top and overflowing with happiness. Sprinkle with the “have-a-great-day” spell and enjoy!

Have you guessed what the secret ingredient is? – Please share your suggestions below and stay tuned – something very exciting will follow soon!

1 Comment June 27, 2010

Join GreenKiddie and Graco for the #kidstravelsafe Twitter Party! Let’s Talk About Travelling With Kids and Win Prizes From Graco Baby

To celebrate the Child Safety Week 21^st- 27^th June GreenKiddie has teamed up with Graco Baby to hold a #kidstravelsafe Twitter party on Sunday, 27^th June between 9pm – 10pm!

We’ll be tweeting about our challenges when travelling with kids, how to make the travel even more exciting for the children, so it can be enjoyable and less stressful for the parents. Most importantly, let’s talk about how to make our trips safe for the kids and the whole family!

Join us to share your travel stories, to get some great road safety tips, or just to have fun, chat to other parents and WIN great prizes from Graco!

How to join our #kidstravelsafe party?

1. Log-in to your Twitter account (or create one if you don’t have an account yet)
2. Type#kidstravelsafe in the “Search” field on “Home” tab. Click on “Save this search” so it’s easy for you to find it
3. Click on your #kidstravelsafe saved search on 27^th June, Sunday, at 9pm GMT and join the party!
4. Follow us on Twitter: @greenkiddie and @GracoBaby_UK

When I ask a question, tweet the answer to me and make sure you always include the hash-tag #kidstravelsafe.

We’ll be giving away three beautiful and comfy Graco changing bags. The Graco Sporty Bag comes complete with changing mat and messy bag. It features – handy pockets, includes plastic changing mat, nappy wipes box and leak proof bag, insulated pockets and is machine washable.

Don’t miss it and tell your friends to join in, too!Let’s prove we care about our kids’ safety!

Child Safety Week is the Child Accident Prevention Trust’s flagship community education campaign. It aims to raise awareness of the number of accidents that seriously injure or kill children and how to prevent them.

Get Ready for the Road Ahead with Graco! Make your smart car-seat selection and learn how to make your trip better for the whole family!

Leave a Comment June 19, 2010

Don’t be Shy! Come and Visit our Brand New eStore!

GreenKiddie launches an online eco-store powered by Amazon. The brand new section will recommend carefully selected natural, organic and eco-friendly products for babies & children as well as for the whole family. The products are split by categories from nursing and feeding equipment to “green” cribs and highchairs.

Promoting the eco-friendly and toxic-free products we love is a great way to continue being helpful source of information for parents who consider natural living and the best care for their children. We believe that providing a “green”, natural care for your baby or toddler is best for your child, and it’s also great for the environment.

The “green” eStore will mainly promote products which are oxic-free, completely safe for babies and children, and have already proved their eco-friendly efforts. There will be a special space for mums and mums-to-be, where everything as pregnancy music for relaxation, books on natural and stress-free birth, organic clothing and fabulous organic cosmetics and beauty products will be featured.

GreenKiddie’s online store is a one-stop space for green products, where parents could find everything they need to raise their children naturally and eco-friendly. The same way GreenKiddie is a trustful online media for parenting advice, the hope is for the eStore to become a number one choice for parents to purchase “green” and toxic-free products for their families.

The payment process is trustful and secure and it’s powered by Amazon.

Leave a Comment June 17, 2010

Join the Green Mama Blog Carnival

At GreenKiddie we are starting a Green Mama Blog Carnival. Each month we will ask you to dig out your best “green” blog post on a specific topic. The idea of the Green Mums’ Blog Carnival is to share your tips, creative ideas and expertise around the mums’ community, but also to create traffic, links and comments for our blogs.

We would love to hear from you if your posts are 1/ relevant to the topic, 2/ published on your blog during the current month, and 3/ inspiring, informative or provocative.

The topic for our first carnival in July is: “Eco-friendly Summer Holiday with kids” – write about your tips and advice or about your funny stories. If you want to get involved in the July carnival, all you have to do is email a link to your post to info (at) greenkiddie (dot) co (dot) uk by 27^th June and the carnival will be posted on the 7th July. Get immersed into the “green summer” theme and share your inspiration with us!

And don’t forget to read other people’s posts and comments when the carnival is published. I promise it will be interesting, helpful and fun!

If you are a brand-representative and would like your product story to be included in the Blog Carnival, please contact us on advertising (at) greenkiddie (dot) co (dot) uk.

We are also looking for interested mums bloggers to host the next edition of the Green Mama Blog Carnival. The August topic will be “Green (Handmade) Accessories”.

2 Comments June 8, 2010

Why Baby Massage Matters

Touch is love and affection. It’s the simplest but probably the most significant way of showing love for your child. But massaging your baby and small kid not only helps with bonding, but it’s also very beneficial for your child’s health. It builds stronger immune system, helps with the muscles development, gives better body tonus, relieves, soothes and helps with the relaxation before sleep, and it’s so nice and pleasant experience for both mother and child!

It is really important when massaging your baby to use the right massage oil. What we need is pure natural and organic one, specifically designed for the babies’ delicate skin. Make sure you avoid chemicals-based, artificially scented massage oils, broadly promoted on the market. Be informed (rather than manipulated by the TV ads) and always read the ingredients. One way is to prepare massage oils yourself. But if you don’t have the time, use ready-made organic ones.

What I’ve found works best on my little one’s skin is the Spiezia Organics Baby Massage Oil! It contains 100% organic, carefully tested and naturally balanced ingredients such as Almond Oil, Chamomile Oil, Lavender and Roman Camomile Essential Oil. It moisturises and soothes, keeping baby’s skin healthy and comfortable. Gently massage the organic oil onto their body or add a few drops to their bath so that the organic Chamomile and Almond Oils, combined with Lavender, can work their magic, leaving them soft and smooth. If your baby has super delicate skin this formula is ideal, preventing irritation and helping to relieve skin conditions such as cradle cap.

Step-by-step guide to a gentle baby massage

1. Take a few drops of the specially developed Spiezia Baby Massage Oil in your hands, warm it a bit and start massaging the top of the foot first – from fingers to ankle. Using you thumbs, start pressing gently under toes; then squeeze each of the toes one by one
2. Continue with the legs. Using some more of the organic Spiezia Baby Massage Oil massage legs gently one by one, moving your right hand from tights to feet, followed by the other hand. This is called “hand over hand” technique. Do it for a minute with each leg or while your child feels comfortable.
3. Tummy. Get some of the nourishing Spiezia Baby Massage Oil in your hands to warm up for a few seconds. Place your palm gently over the stomach and start massaging from just below the ribs. Always massage the tummy area clockwise, as this helps with digestion. Be careful not to push hard. If your baby is colicky, tummy massage may help and sooth.
4. Chests. Lavender oil from the Spiezia Baby Massage Oil eases breathing and helps when a child has a cough or a cold. Place your hands over the chests. Using your thumbs, massage from middle to sides, “drawing” an “arc”-shape. This will “open” the chests and will allow your child to breath freely.
5. Go on with the arms and hands. Start with the right hand, using the “hand-over-hand” technique from arms for wrist.
6. Slowly move to the back. Turn your little one over, so she can lie on her tummy. You can now massage her back using a bit more of the soothing Spiezia Baby Massage Oil, as “dry massage” can damage the sensitive baby skin. The massage needs to be smooth and gentle. Place your right hand over her neck. Start moving the hand from the neck to the bottom, making sure you don’t push hard. You can also make small circular movements with your fingertips going gently up and down the back.
7. Finish with a relaxing head massage. If you are massaging a small baby, be extremely careful with the area around the fontanel, which is very soft during the first few months. Using your palm, massage the scalp from top to neck with circular movements, making sure not to put any pressure. If you do it just before bed, the relaxing chamomile and lavender natural scent from the Spiezia Baby Massage Oil will help your little has a good night sleep.

Leave a Comment June 8, 2010

Join GreenKiddie’s #colic-free Twitter Party! We Promise you Advice, BornFree Prizes and Lots of Fun!

GreenKiddie is holding a Twitter party on Sunday, 11th April between 9pm – 10pm!

We’ll be tweeting about what colic is, what causes colic in babies and how to treat it naturally.

Join us to share your thoughts, to seek advice, or just to have fun and chat to other mums. GreenKiddie will be giving away 3 prizes from BornFree, so don’t miss it!

How to join our #colic-free party?

1. Log-in to your Twitter account (or create one if you don’t have an account yet)
2. Type #colic-free in the “Search” field on “Home” tab. Click on “Save this search” so it’s easy for you to find it
3. Click on your #colic-free saved search on 11^th April, Sunday, at 9pm GMT and join the party!
4. Follow me on Twitter @greenkiddie
5. When I ask a question, tweet the answer to me and include the hashtag #colic-free

WHAT PRIZE YOU COULD WIN?

Twister brush set

The Twister Bottle & Teat Brush has an easy twist handle with a soft sponge to make cleaning faster and to eliminate the risk of scratching.

BPA-Free 9oz Baby Bottle twin pack

Twin-Pack 9oz. (260ml) BornFree™ Bisphenol-A Free plastic bottles, complete with the new innovative venting system that helps eliminate colic symptoms. Each bottle comes with a level 1 teat, sealing disk, and a cover.

Breast pump adaptor

The Breast Pump Adaptor adapt most standard breast pumpts to fit BornFree™ wide-neck bottles. The Aadaptor is easy to clean and made of a safe Bisphenol-A Free plastic.

2 Comments April 9, 2010

Media Request: In a look out for “earth mothers”

The Edinburgh Evening News is looking for mums who agree/disagree with the French philosopher Elisabeth Badinter’s take on motherhood and feminism.

In her new book The Conflict, The Woman and The Mother, she suggests that “earth mothers” and the Green movement are setting women back with their desire to have mothers breastfeed for years, use “real” nappies and puree their own baby food. She argues that disposables, baby powder milk and jars of baby food help women retain their identities outside of motherhood by giving them more time to be themselves, not just a mother. All very controversial.

We are looking for mums who agree with her view – and are/have been mums who use such products to make life easier – and those who don’t. This would involve a chat with a feature writer and a photographer visiting your home to get a lovely pic of you and your child/children.

If you could call Gina Davidson on 0131 620 8683 we would be most grateful.

Leave a Comment March 28, 2010