UK is filled with theme parks. So here's my short review of theme parks that we visited so far. This blogpost will be updated as we come across more!
1. Alton Towers - Alton Towers will forever hold a special place in my hear as it was our first weekend trip away from home to celebrate Lucky's birthday. It's also the first time that both my kids went on proper big rollercoasters. Yes, even Mahi at the age of 4. We stayed at the resort, which with it's massive water park ,great restaurant and evening entertainment was spectacular. You do need 2 days if you are going to enjoy what the park offers to its fullest. The downside was how far it was from the station which I didn't expect
2. Chessington - Another theme park where we stayed over but this time it was our 1st time glamping. Again, nothing to fault here. Much closer to London and easy to get to, this was similar to Alton Towers but I thought better suited for children above 8 as some of the rides, wouldn't let us ride as the kids were tiny. The food places are expensive so bring in your packed lunches. I loved how it is separated into different continents!
3. Gullivers - More suited for children under 12, we had a blast where kids could go on any ride without worrying about height! We went during Halloween time, where they have put on a great display and a few themed events. Food prices were better other them parks we've been to. Next to it, there is a dinosaur park too which was good as well as a water park!
4. TwinLakes - This was a disappointment. We travelled from London to near Leicester and we were done in half-a day. This is more suited for young kids I'll say. There weren't many ride and even those rides weren't great except the one where we had to lie down. There was a huge softplay, a circus and a pumpkin patch (we went during the Halloween period) where we could pick our own pumpkin and carve it. It was well decorated but when it came to the fun factor, I was as disappointed as the kids.
6. DreamLand - Located in Margate, overlooking the beach, this funfair is great for a quick day out in the afternoon. Not far from London, it has huge rides and one of them was one of the oldest rolLercoatsers in Britain. It has a big arcade. I went there with friends for Halloween where there had scary mazes spotted around the park where we had a spooky time. I don't know how it is during normal hour days or during holidays but I won't be taking the kids especially for this only. I'll want to fit other things to make the trip from London worthwhile.
7. Legoland - Can you ever go wrong with Legoland? We went to Legoland here and the original one in Denmark and we can't get bored of the bricks. The fascinating miniature villages, the fun rides, the water park, the shows. No, you can never go wrong with Legoland.
8. Robin Hill Country Park - If Isle of Wight is on your list then this Park should be on your list. It's a famous one for the right reasons as it has something for everyone and it covers a vast area! With peacocks walking around, to fun rides and beautiful instagrammable places, you can't go wrong. It has a huge suspended net play area where both adults and kids are able to have fun. It has a great falconry display. It has lush green areas for picnics and much more. We happily spent a good 6-7hrs there, soaking up the place.
9. Paulton's Park - I wrote a whole blog post here: https://mummylife0912.blogspot.com/2022/03/peppa-pigs-world-and-paultons-park.html
Friday 14 February 2020
Wednesday 12 February 2020
Paradise Wildlife Park
On a very hot summer day, we decided to head to our nearest wildlife park, Paradise Wildlife Park in Broxborne. It was a train ride and then a minibus picked us up from a London train station to the park itself. The number to call the minibus was at the station itself and all it took us was therefore a phone call. We had to wait a while for the minibus though.
As soon as we arrived, we headed to the small pool for kids only. It wasn't as busy as I'd expected for a hot day but it was a tad crowded. There were no dressing rooms to change so had to hide the kids behind huge towels or benches. There was a slide in the pool and the water wasn't deep. The kids had a great time running and splashing around for about an hour!
We primarily decided to visit the wildlife park because of the dinosaur area. As you know, Mahi is a future palaeontologist (and artist!) so his obsession are dinosaurs! The World of Dinosaur was the biggest dinosaur park we've seen. It had animatronic dinosaurs and some cheeky ones unexpectedly spraying us with water, a tiny train ride through the dinosaur park, a play area, facepainting and meet and greet with a friendly dinosaur! Mahi was in dinosaur heaven! He loved it so much, we had to visit the park again, before we left, to say goodbye to all the dinosaurs.
Next, we went to the wildlife part of the park. It was separated into different themes/world. We especially liked the Egyptian world as it felt like it. We saw some never seen before animals such as the white tiger. There was a huge aviary with so many colourful birds that I cannot tell you how many different species there was. It wasn't as big as I thought so didn't take us long to finish that part of the park before the kids run off to play in the play areas. They were a few play area and adventure playgrounds so the kids made full use of those playgrounds.
It was reasonably priced (you get a discount if booked online) and took a good 7 hours for us to thoroughly enjoy the whole park without having to rush anywhere! There were a few cafes but as we brought our own lunches and snacks, we didn't buy anything from any of the eateries.
It was a fun filled day with lot of different things to do so go and enjoy it!
As soon as we arrived, we headed to the small pool for kids only. It wasn't as busy as I'd expected for a hot day but it was a tad crowded. There were no dressing rooms to change so had to hide the kids behind huge towels or benches. There was a slide in the pool and the water wasn't deep. The kids had a great time running and splashing around for about an hour!
We primarily decided to visit the wildlife park because of the dinosaur area. As you know, Mahi is a future palaeontologist (and artist!) so his obsession are dinosaurs! The World of Dinosaur was the biggest dinosaur park we've seen. It had animatronic dinosaurs and some cheeky ones unexpectedly spraying us with water, a tiny train ride through the dinosaur park, a play area, facepainting and meet and greet with a friendly dinosaur! Mahi was in dinosaur heaven! He loved it so much, we had to visit the park again, before we left, to say goodbye to all the dinosaurs.
Next, we went to the wildlife part of the park. It was separated into different themes/world. We especially liked the Egyptian world as it felt like it. We saw some never seen before animals such as the white tiger. There was a huge aviary with so many colourful birds that I cannot tell you how many different species there was. It wasn't as big as I thought so didn't take us long to finish that part of the park before the kids run off to play in the play areas. They were a few play area and adventure playgrounds so the kids made full use of those playgrounds.
It was reasonably priced (you get a discount if booked online) and took a good 7 hours for us to thoroughly enjoy the whole park without having to rush anywhere! There were a few cafes but as we brought our own lunches and snacks, we didn't buy anything from any of the eateries.
It was a fun filled day with lot of different things to do so go and enjoy it!
Monday 10 February 2020
How to prepare for SATS
I've got both the year 6 and year 2 SATS upon me this May at the same time (Lord, help me!). Although, I'm not worried about the year 2 ones, I'm absolutely dreading the year 6 ones!
At the beginning of the year, the year 6 teachers already told us not to go away for Easter as they'll be given lots of work to do over the Easter period. So now you understand why I'm dreading it. Imagine being stuck at home, in sunny April, not going anywhere because the school has overloaded the kids with all the work they could have done at least during the beginning of the year. There wasn't much work over the Christmas holidays or during the October half term for Lucky. Mahi had no work to do during any of these holidays either! You'll think that with 2 important exams, that the school is stressing everyone about it, that they'll actually give you some things to prepare the kids towards these exams. But no!!!!!! I'm seeing other school children being given work over the holidays a bag load of work to prepare them!
So, it has fallen on us parents to slowly prepare our kids towards SATS. I actually haven't changed our studying routine much since the beginning of primary school. I just brought tighter deadlines for the kids to complete work. What do I do?:
1. I download the whole curriculum, which can easily be found on https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-primary-curriculum, and give greater emphasis to maths and english syllabus including spellings. But what I do too, is download the curriculum for the year above too so I can give my kids more knowledge. Although Lucky is year 6, at home it' is year 7work and Mahi is year 3 work. Exams always like to catch you if you don't have that extra knowledge so i'll rather be safe than sorry.
2. Worksheets / Workbooks -I use certain websites to download worksheets such as k5learning.com . The kids love worksheets as it's laid out in a format that is simple and clear to use I have no idea how much I spend on workbooks but I swear by BOND and CGP books with their corresponding assessment papers. My kids love BOND books better as it is very child friendly with easy language.
3. Studying timetable - on a Sunday evening, I set out the work for the coming week so when kids come from school, they know exactly what to do study. It is also a great way of me to keep a track of them and their work. Then on a Sunday morning, we correct the week's work together. They get a day free of studying. You could think that my kids work too much but it takes them an hour of their time and from 5pm onwards, they are free birds. But to me, it's important to incorporate studying around our lifestyle because education is everything. The kids also do a bit of mental workout session in the morning before going to school. Having lived in India, where waking up early and studying before school is normal, I personally found that I remembered and understood things better when I did that.
4. Practical learning - basic maths and english are better learnt when used in real-life circumstances. When the kids started reading, we read all the shopfront that we came across. If we are going to the shop, kids are responsible for buying things and getting the correct change. So whenever possible, use real-life situations to enhance their learning.
5. Practise, practise, practise - Practise is key to learning. If I'm done with a workbook or worksheet, I don't throw it away. I rub/scribble the answers and giveth book again, comparing their marks between their first and 2nd attempts. It is a great way to spot where they have improved but also what their weak points are so you can concentrate better on them. So don't throw away anything any studying materials!!!
This works for ours.What works for you?
At the beginning of the year, the year 6 teachers already told us not to go away for Easter as they'll be given lots of work to do over the Easter period. So now you understand why I'm dreading it. Imagine being stuck at home, in sunny April, not going anywhere because the school has overloaded the kids with all the work they could have done at least during the beginning of the year. There wasn't much work over the Christmas holidays or during the October half term for Lucky. Mahi had no work to do during any of these holidays either! You'll think that with 2 important exams, that the school is stressing everyone about it, that they'll actually give you some things to prepare the kids towards these exams. But no!!!!!! I'm seeing other school children being given work over the holidays a bag load of work to prepare them!
So, it has fallen on us parents to slowly prepare our kids towards SATS. I actually haven't changed our studying routine much since the beginning of primary school. I just brought tighter deadlines for the kids to complete work. What do I do?:
1. I download the whole curriculum, which can easily be found on https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-primary-curriculum, and give greater emphasis to maths and english syllabus including spellings. But what I do too, is download the curriculum for the year above too so I can give my kids more knowledge. Although Lucky is year 6, at home it' is year 7work and Mahi is year 3 work. Exams always like to catch you if you don't have that extra knowledge so i'll rather be safe than sorry.
2. Worksheets / Workbooks -I use certain websites to download worksheets such as k5learning.com . The kids love worksheets as it's laid out in a format that is simple and clear to use I have no idea how much I spend on workbooks but I swear by BOND and CGP books with their corresponding assessment papers. My kids love BOND books better as it is very child friendly with easy language.
3. Studying timetable - on a Sunday evening, I set out the work for the coming week so when kids come from school, they know exactly what to do study. It is also a great way of me to keep a track of them and their work. Then on a Sunday morning, we correct the week's work together. They get a day free of studying. You could think that my kids work too much but it takes them an hour of their time and from 5pm onwards, they are free birds. But to me, it's important to incorporate studying around our lifestyle because education is everything. The kids also do a bit of mental workout session in the morning before going to school. Having lived in India, where waking up early and studying before school is normal, I personally found that I remembered and understood things better when I did that.
4. Practical learning - basic maths and english are better learnt when used in real-life circumstances. When the kids started reading, we read all the shopfront that we came across. If we are going to the shop, kids are responsible for buying things and getting the correct change. So whenever possible, use real-life situations to enhance their learning.
5. Practise, practise, practise - Practise is key to learning. If I'm done with a workbook or worksheet, I don't throw it away. I rub/scribble the answers and giveth book again, comparing their marks between their first and 2nd attempts. It is a great way to spot where they have improved but also what their weak points are so you can concentrate better on them. So don't throw away anything any studying materials!!!
This works for ours.What works for you?
Wednesday 5 February 2020
Supporting your children's mental health
It's Children's Mental Health Week this week and with a rising number of children, getting younger and younger, experiencing mental health issues, it is vital that us as parents/carers/guardians are equipped to deal with these situations, if the problem arises.
What are mental health issues that kids can experience when everything has been taken care of and they just play/study, some of you might chuckle? Ahhh! If only life could be that much easier eh? But no, any mental health issues experienced by adults such as anxiety, stress, depression, etc... can be experienced by kids too! School life, family dynamics, social media, poverty, homelessness, etc... can impact and sometimes traumatise a child so much. Children are vulnerable and susceptible to all these hence why we need to be extremely attentive to them.
Last year, due to an incident which created a major imbalance in our family dynamics, Lucky's behaviour changed! Lucky is very open to me and doesn't hide her feelings. So when we were having of our 1-1 alone time and I had asked her about her behaviour, she told me about having very bad thoughts and communicated those thoughts to me! With the help of her school, she was fast tracked to a children's mental health service and was diagnosed with an anxiety and stress disorder. She has counselling and play therapy, which she has found very helpful. Lucky has now been discharged from both. What we found, through this journey was that communication is key. Not just verbal but body language too. Lucky is very easy to communicate to. She doesn't hide anything from me so I know how to best support her during her tough times. However, with Mahi, it's not as easy. He'll tell you when he is sad or happy but sometimes, he doesn't. He is very hard to communicate with. So I use drawing, his passion, to talk to him about everything and it works! Things just flow out of him! Every child is different therefore we need to find the right way to communicate best with our children.
Here are some tips I use with my kids to help them have a healthy mind:
1. 1-1 time with each kid- I try and spend at least 10mins with each kid, every day, to do an activity they want to. During that time, whilst doing activities. We talk about nothing and everything without getting interrupted by anything.
2. Creating a safe space to talk - the school is their 2nd home and the kids need to be comfortable in knowing where their safe space to talk to an adult is. It is vital that a safe space is also established at home so they know they won't be interrupted if they want to talk. My bedroom is my kids safe space.
3. Having a routine/timetable of the days events reduces stress and uncertainty. I got a whiteboard with a schedule of events for that week so they know what is happening and where they need to be. I found that my kids hate sudden changes to their day or turn rowdy if there's no structure.
4. Do not show panic - children are very sensitive and observant of behaviours. Thus, it is vital to maintain a certain composure when kids share sensitive information with you. If you start panicking while they tell you certain things, their anxiety levels rise up. So composure is extremely important.
5. Respect your kids feelings - what you consider, as an adult, minor could be major for your child. Do not laugh at or undermine their feelings. Understand their viewpoint and feelings. Help them.
6. Social circle - keep an eye on their social circle and what those friends do. They]re are friends and there are 'friends' . Teach your child what is what. Teach them what to look out for in order for them to act accordingly.
7. Be their biggest support network - be there for your kids when they need you. Support and nurture them. Understand their needs and wants. Understand what clicks and what doesn't!
Don't forget that parenting as a whole is a work in progress. Nobody is perfect! But we can support our kids emotionally as much as we can to help them keep a healthy mindset.
What are mental health issues that kids can experience when everything has been taken care of and they just play/study, some of you might chuckle? Ahhh! If only life could be that much easier eh? But no, any mental health issues experienced by adults such as anxiety, stress, depression, etc... can be experienced by kids too! School life, family dynamics, social media, poverty, homelessness, etc... can impact and sometimes traumatise a child so much. Children are vulnerable and susceptible to all these hence why we need to be extremely attentive to them.
Last year, due to an incident which created a major imbalance in our family dynamics, Lucky's behaviour changed! Lucky is very open to me and doesn't hide her feelings. So when we were having of our 1-1 alone time and I had asked her about her behaviour, she told me about having very bad thoughts and communicated those thoughts to me! With the help of her school, she was fast tracked to a children's mental health service and was diagnosed with an anxiety and stress disorder. She has counselling and play therapy, which she has found very helpful. Lucky has now been discharged from both. What we found, through this journey was that communication is key. Not just verbal but body language too. Lucky is very easy to communicate to. She doesn't hide anything from me so I know how to best support her during her tough times. However, with Mahi, it's not as easy. He'll tell you when he is sad or happy but sometimes, he doesn't. He is very hard to communicate with. So I use drawing, his passion, to talk to him about everything and it works! Things just flow out of him! Every child is different therefore we need to find the right way to communicate best with our children.
Here are some tips I use with my kids to help them have a healthy mind:
1. 1-1 time with each kid- I try and spend at least 10mins with each kid, every day, to do an activity they want to. During that time, whilst doing activities. We talk about nothing and everything without getting interrupted by anything.
2. Creating a safe space to talk - the school is their 2nd home and the kids need to be comfortable in knowing where their safe space to talk to an adult is. It is vital that a safe space is also established at home so they know they won't be interrupted if they want to talk. My bedroom is my kids safe space.
3. Having a routine/timetable of the days events reduces stress and uncertainty. I got a whiteboard with a schedule of events for that week so they know what is happening and where they need to be. I found that my kids hate sudden changes to their day or turn rowdy if there's no structure.
4. Do not show panic - children are very sensitive and observant of behaviours. Thus, it is vital to maintain a certain composure when kids share sensitive information with you. If you start panicking while they tell you certain things, their anxiety levels rise up. So composure is extremely important.
5. Respect your kids feelings - what you consider, as an adult, minor could be major for your child. Do not laugh at or undermine their feelings. Understand their viewpoint and feelings. Help them.
6. Social circle - keep an eye on their social circle and what those friends do. They]re are friends and there are 'friends' . Teach your child what is what. Teach them what to look out for in order for them to act accordingly.
7. Be their biggest support network - be there for your kids when they need you. Support and nurture them. Understand their needs and wants. Understand what clicks and what doesn't!
Don't forget that parenting as a whole is a work in progress. Nobody is perfect! But we can support our kids emotionally as much as we can to help them keep a healthy mindset.
Monday 3 February 2020
Wookey Hole, Somerset
Want to reconnect with nature and try something new?
Why not head to Wells in Somerset and explore some deep underground caves with the kids? It is indoors so the perfect day out for this chilly weather.
Wells is this tiny village with beautiful scenery and about 1hr drive from Bath. You could easily make a weekend out of it if you wish. Wookey Hole is a network of underground caves with the River Axe flowing through it. Experienced guides will take you through the caves to explain the history and if lucky like we were, can be very entertaining for kids. The waters looked stunning in the lights. Wear appropriate footwear as it is wet. There are narrow and low passages so be careful. If you have bi adventurers, there's also other more daring activities you could do. Check out their website to find out more: https://www.wookey.co.uk . My kids are into these nature things so they loved going through tunnels and exploring caves.
Once you come out of the caves, you are faced with a dinosaur park with high dinosaur statues. Some are animated statues. You cold also go digging for fossils towards the end of the trail. Then right next to it, we have the Witches den with the 4D cinema. The movie lasts 15mins and differs each time, I believe.
By the time we had all this done, it was lunchtime so we headed to the diner which had nice hot food at a reasonable price and the food was decent.
We started the afternoon by playing the soft play which expanded over 2 huge rooms! Right next to it was a games arcade and a hall where special shows happen (we watched a Circus Show). We spent the whole afternoon between these 3 areas as kids kept running from one room to another while I sometimes had to take a break from playing and running around behind 2 monkeys by cooling down with a cup of hot chocolate in the cafe where you can watch your kids from.
If there isn't a downpour, you can head outside to play some crazy golf. We are so bad at crazy golf but had a great time nevertheless. The theme was pirates and somehow all of us turned quite rowdy on that gold course because my youngest hate losing!
At the end of the day, we were exhausted but content that we managed to fit in a little bit of everything in 1 day.
We booked tickets online so that was a bit cheaper and stayed there the whole weekend so we had the chance to split this into 2 days and repeat some stuff. It was a weekend of no technology and it was worth every penny!
Why not head to Wells in Somerset and explore some deep underground caves with the kids? It is indoors so the perfect day out for this chilly weather.
Wells is this tiny village with beautiful scenery and about 1hr drive from Bath. You could easily make a weekend out of it if you wish. Wookey Hole is a network of underground caves with the River Axe flowing through it. Experienced guides will take you through the caves to explain the history and if lucky like we were, can be very entertaining for kids. The waters looked stunning in the lights. Wear appropriate footwear as it is wet. There are narrow and low passages so be careful. If you have bi adventurers, there's also other more daring activities you could do. Check out their website to find out more: https://www.wookey.co.uk . My kids are into these nature things so they loved going through tunnels and exploring caves.
Once you come out of the caves, you are faced with a dinosaur park with high dinosaur statues. Some are animated statues. You cold also go digging for fossils towards the end of the trail. Then right next to it, we have the Witches den with the 4D cinema. The movie lasts 15mins and differs each time, I believe.
By the time we had all this done, it was lunchtime so we headed to the diner which had nice hot food at a reasonable price and the food was decent.
We started the afternoon by playing the soft play which expanded over 2 huge rooms! Right next to it was a games arcade and a hall where special shows happen (we watched a Circus Show). We spent the whole afternoon between these 3 areas as kids kept running from one room to another while I sometimes had to take a break from playing and running around behind 2 monkeys by cooling down with a cup of hot chocolate in the cafe where you can watch your kids from.
If there isn't a downpour, you can head outside to play some crazy golf. We are so bad at crazy golf but had a great time nevertheless. The theme was pirates and somehow all of us turned quite rowdy on that gold course because my youngest hate losing!
At the end of the day, we were exhausted but content that we managed to fit in a little bit of everything in 1 day.
We booked tickets online so that was a bit cheaper and stayed there the whole weekend so we had the chance to split this into 2 days and repeat some stuff. It was a weekend of no technology and it was worth every penny!
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