Activity of the Week-Chocolate Easter nests

Easter will soon be here and a time to enjoy lots of choccy goodness.  One of my favourite things to make and eat as they are so simple are Chocolate easter nest.  Me and the hubby were discussing whether they taste best with rice krispies, cornflakes or shredded wheat.  You can use any of these and they will be yummy but my personal favourite is shredded wheat so this is what I have used for this recipe.

You will need

• big bar of chocolate of choice. I used plain dairy milk.
• 4-5 large shredded wheat bars
• pack of mini eggs
• 12 cupcake cases
• baking tray
• wooden spoon
• bowl to melt chocolate
• saucepan
• mixing bowl

Method

1.melt your chocolate over boiling water in a glass bowl

2. gradually stir in the shredded wheat into the melted chocolate

3.put the mixture into the cupcake cases and then add a few mini eggs on top.

4. put in the fridge to chill them for a while.

5.Take them out when hard and no longer goey.

For a dairyfree option I would use specialty chocolate. Simple baking again with Nanny Bicester.

Christening gift ideas

My nephew is getting christened in the next few months so this has given me some inspiration for a gift guide for christenings. I have recently attended another christening in which I wasn't overly creative and just gave money!! Maybe I should of thought of this sooner then I could of researched some better ideas.

My 1st Years-http://www.my1styears.com
This website does such cute personalised gifts for babies and young children.  Some lovely gift ideas that range in price that include some traditional christening ideas.

Not on the High street-www.notonthehighstreet.com
This book below is one of my favourites on this website as you can get it personalised for the child you are giving it too.



Name a star-http://www.findmeagift.co.uk/gifts/name-a-star-gift.html



Clay footprint/handprint kits-http://www.everlastingcastings.co.uk/clay-impression-kits.html?utm_source=msn&utm_medium=cpc

Mothercare-Personalised moneybox

Steiff Cuddly Toy

I hope this gives you some ideas on what to buy or failing this money or a voucher for a shop that they will use.

Terrorist Attacks in our Childrens World

Following yesterdays horrendous events in Westminster I felt like I wanted to write down some thoughts on my blog.

In my lifetime I feel like this is starting to become the norm having witnessed the following.... September 11th, London bombings, Paris, Brussels, Germany and the list could go on.  Why is this the norm? Why should our children grow up in a world where this is becoming not a normal but a regular occurrence that they are witnessing?

I think these situations are very difficult to make sense of for adults so how do you go about explaining this to children who are of an age when they are aware? As children grow and develop their own thoughts and feelings it is a constant dilemma how much do you let them be exposed to and share with them?  In my position as a nanny I am met with many questions about news stories and can imagine I probably will about these attacks. If you are a fellow childcarer such as myself  I think the best thing to do is to find out what the children are aware of already by speaking to their parents out of earshot! This way you will be more prepared for any questions that may come your way.  All children are different but I think most simply this is how you should deal with questions if you are in my position.

1.Listen to them but keep very light hearted...rare situation, police are working hard etc.

2. Reassure them and any worries.

3. Any difficult questions revert them to their parents.  This might sound like a scapegoat mechanism but as a nanny its not upto me to decide what they should and shoudnt know so be vague.

4.Inform parents of what children have said-keep communication lines open!

On my social media I shared the following link that Children's weekly magazine The weekly junior shared yesterday evening.  The post they shared gave some usual advice on how to talk with children about the attacks in Westminster but also this advice is good to terrorism in general.  Also childrens news website such as newsround are very good as they give facts but don't dwell onto much negativity.

Newsround link-http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/39354907

Newsround link for children upset by reading sad news-http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/13865002

I hope you find the following links useful and lets take a moment for those who lost their lives yesterday and keep their family's and loved ones in our thoughts.

Nanny Bicester x

Red Nose Day 2017

https://www.rednoseday.com/

This week is Red Nose Day 2017.  Are you and your little ones doing anything to fundraise this week?

I have posted this blog a few days earlier to give you some time to raise some money if you haven't done so already with your little ones and show you how you can do this.

Ideas on how to fundraise

1.Baking Competition/Bake Sale

2.Sponsored Danceathon

3.Crazy Hair Day at School/Nursery

4. Pay a £1 to wear Red all day at work/school

5.Sponsored Crazy Run

Other ways you can donate

1.Buy some official merchandise

2.Donate online

3.Sponsor somebody

Red Nose Day/Comic Relief/Sport Relief have been raising money for many years for such good causes here in the UK and abroad. Many celebrities publicly get involved in the campaign and show their support in many ways such as special comic relief themed tv shows or hosting events.  This year lots of YouTubers got involved by taking part in #redout for 24 hours which meant they went offline which I felt was really good way of raising more awareness to the cause.

Check out the official website link above which gives lots more ideas on what you can do with your children so enjoy have lots of fun and remember we don't have to donate lots of money to get involved (some can not afford this) but we can all give a little time and its such a worthwhile cause to teach our little ones to appreciate how lucky we are.

Mothers day ideas 2017

Mothers day is around the corner once again and so is the annual blog for mothers days ideas on howto spoil one of if not the most special lady in your life. Last Year I did a blog on ideas you can make with children. If you want to read this blog click here-https://nannybicester.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/lets-get-prepared-for-mothers-day.html
This year I went for ideas that you can buy if you want to spoil her and need some present inspiration.

1.Bloom and Wild Flower Subscription-https://www.bloomandwild.com/?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Brand%20%7C%20UK%20%7C%20Exact&utm_term=bloom%20and%20wilds&utm_content=Brand%20UK

2. Bridget Jones Baby DVD   3. Ed Sheeran-Divide album


4.Pandora mothers day collection-http://estore-uk.pandora.net/mother-s-day/?src=categorySearch&postion=top&cid=sem:ge:e:en-gb::bing:Brand%20-%20Charms::te:&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Brand%20-%20Charms&utm_term=pandora%20charms&utm_content=Charms%20-%20Generic%20-%20Generic&_$ja=tsid:67776|cid:265522716|agid:1155586769439681|tid:kwd-72224225462011|prd:{ProductId}|crid:72224184036230|nw:search|dvc:c|st:pandora%20charms|mt:be

5. Buy a gift voucher-Pampering
https://www.buyagift.co.uk/spa-and-beauty/gifts-for-two

6. Afternoon tea- http://www.afternoontea.co.uk/

Hope this blog helps you with some ideas on what to buy this Mothers day.

Hope all the Mums out there have a fantastic Mothers Day xx

5 St Patricks Day (17th March) Fun ideas

So I know St Patricks Day is not for two days but I thought I would post this a couple days early to give you some ideas of some fun things to do with your little ones on the day. I have created a pin board on my pinterest so I will link that at the bottom for the wide range of ideas as there are loads. So here are a few ideas I wanted to highlight in this blog.

1. Green Velvet St Patricks Day Cupcakes

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchen/st-patricks-day-green-velvet-cupcake-shamrocks

2. St Patricks Day Slime

Ive included a recipe http://thesimpleparent.com/easy-st-patricks-day-slime/

3.Lephrcan hats

4. Greeting Cards

5. Costumes

https://uk.pinterest.com/nbicester/st-patricks-day/


Happy St paddys day if you celebrate it if not why don't you join in the fun anyway.

Easter activity haul-Whats in the shops

Easter holidays are around the corner and I am going to look at what is available in the shops and show you what you can buy.

Hobbycraft-http://www.hobbycraft.co.uk/easter



Baker Ross-http://www.bakerross.co.uk/easter



Sasse and Belle-http://www.sassandbelle.co.uk/search-results/?sessionid=14201222&searchterm=easter&searchterm_submit=go



Amazon

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Dkitchen&field-keywords=easter+decorations

John Lewis

http://www.johnlewis.com/jellycat-bashful-baby-bunny-soft-toy-lemon/p2955252

John Lewis Easter egg basket and hanging sign

http://www.johnlewis.com/browse/gifts/easter/easter-decorations/_/N-5pf9

Wilkinsons-http://www.wilko.com/search?q=easter+

Hope you like this blog and I have given you some ideas what easter products are in the shops at the moment. Let me know what you think.

Nanny Bicester x

Activity of the Week-Making Gloop

This week I am going to tell you how to make gloop as a messy play activity. During my time in nursery this was always a favourite with the children but I must warn you the execution of this is important unless you want a very messy home .
I advise you do this with a large plastic wipeable activity mat on the floor and the children have a long sleeved apron on or old clothes.  Gloop goes from being a solid to then a liquid so its really hard to clear up off carpet or floor.

How to make the gloop

1. Get a large plastic mixing bowl and add 16oz of cornflour
2. Add one cup of water
3. Add food coluring, glitter or anything else you fancy

For an added extra add some toys such as cars, figures on anything else to make the gloop even more exciting.

Tip

When you are finished with the gloop I suggest you put the bowl somewhere to dry out then it will be easy to tidy up as you can tip the contents into the bin.

Central Park Zoo, New York

During my trip to New York in October me and the hubby paid a trip to Central Park zoo. In this Blog I am going to review this as a place to go with children. We were so lucky the day we went as we had a gorgeous warm autumn weather day.  To access the zoo we had a lovely mini walk through the park as well and what's not to love about that?

Feeding time!!

Expensive?

No not really which is surprising baring in mind this is one of the most expensive cities in the world. $18 adult and $13 child includes the zoo, children's zoo(we didn't actually go in this) and a 4d feature viewing.

What is there at the Zoo?
Daily you can view sea lion and penguins feedings and you can really get children engaged with the visit with zoo quests which are basically scavenger hunts around the zoo.

Places to eat?
There were some restaurants in the restaurant didn't try the food personally but you could take a picnic lunch.

Favourite Part

Look how amazing this grizzly bear is and the photos don't do it justice really but there was two bears in the zoo.  It was a warm day so we waited for ages for the bears to move as they were just chilling out in the warm sunshine.

How long does it take?
I think it's not an outing that would take all day as an adult but heading up mid morning as a family having some lunch there would take up a good majority of the day.

Gift Shop
We loved the gift shop and kept up with our tradition of buying a cuddly toy of places we visit by purchasing a red panda and a grizzly bear to represent two animals in the zoo we had never seen before.

Tips
There were lots of park guides around the zoo that would come up and chat and tell you all about the different animals.  I saw some children asking questions and they were very friendly and seemed to know lots about the animals in their care.

How gorgeous is this Red Panda?

Hope you enjoyed this blog review.  I loved this visit and would definitely recommend it if you are going to New York.

Information
http://centralparkzoo.com
https://www.facebook.com/CentralParkZoo
www.twitter.com/centralparkzoo

Activity of the Week-We are bored jar!!

For this weeks AOTW activity I am keeping it really simple.  You will need a clean empty jar, pot, or container and some paper and pens.

Do your children/charges suffer with the classic "I'm bored" during the longer school holidays? A great way of coming up with a solution is to create a jar of ideas to do when they are bored.  You write an idea on a piece of paper of what they would like to do and fold it and put it in.  These ideas can be some paid "treat" but also free ideas they can do at home or without spending money.  I am going to put some examples below.

Free/simple

• bike rides
• playdate
• create a den
• board games
• movie afternoon

Treat

• cinema
• bowling
• theme park
• laserquest
• trampoline park

Hope you find this blog useful and it inspires you to start a jar of ideas on the lead up to the Easter holidays.