Virtual trip to Dubai

If the weather doesn't let you go out of the house or if there's nothing interesting to do, you may... take your kids to Dubai for 20 minutes ;)

I spent some time on searching the internet and choosing the most beautiful (and most characteristic, I think) pictures of this city.
Then I made a slide show for kids telling them what they can see on the photos.
I told them that this place is located far away, that you have to travel by plane, there's different food and different customs.
Kids were really interested.

To make it more real I prepared some oriental snacks (halvah, dactyls and tea served in typical glasses used in Arabic countries, Turkey and Bosnia) and played Arabic music from Youtube.

Below there are some examples of pictures I used. If you'd like the whole set (45 pics) just drop me an email and I'll send you my presentation.

Pic 7 - Cheap+tasty vegetable cookies

Some kids despise vegetables but there's a way to "smuggle" them into a tiny belly;)

Buy a puff pastry, boil some vegetables, put them inside and bake around 15 minutes. It's very easy, very quick, very cheap, very healthy, very everything!

I used green pea, carrots, potatoes and onion but you can stuff it with whatever you want.
Spices I used: Mild Madras Curry Powder, Tandoori Masala, pepper, salt.  

Useful hint:
Open Youtube, play some old episode of Mr. Bean (with phenomenal Rowan Atkinson) and let the kid watch it while eating. It increases the chance that your kid wouldn't spot the stuffing :D

Bon appetit!
 

Pic 6 - Knight's set

Is your child going to a costume party?
Are worried about lack of ideas?

If you're not sure what to prepare - there's a tip of a home-made costume :)

Knight's set:

Things I used:
-an outlet sweat shirt with some nice ornament
-home-made wooden shield and a sword (cardboard also does the job)
-woolen cap resembling a helmet (done by grandma since I cannot knit)

You can decorate the shield and the sword as you fancy!

Museum night fever

I adore visiting the museums. It's a great place for the kids - not only entertaining but, above all, educative.

If you don't want to discourage children from going to museums, it is wise to consider whether the exhibition is adapted to kids' age and interests. (Though I rarely stick to this tip, to be honest;)

Sometimes entry fees are high and paying for an extended family (in case there aren't any favourable family discounts) might occur painful...
But there's a way to circumvent it! Plan your museum trip according to museum nights' calendar. Almost all European countries (and also growing number of countries outside Europe) are involved in this programme. During a museum night (which is not literally "night", it usually begins in the evening or even earlier) you can enter selected museums for free.

What is more, museums organise free workshops for children on that day. Check it before you go! :)



I have nice memories from the following places:
1. Holztechnik museum in Wettenberg (close to Gießen, Germany) - everything connected with wood and woodworking, a very interesting kids-addressed museum!
2. National Railway Museum in York, UK - an enormous exhibition starting with old steam engines up to modern rail vehicles. It's a little-boy-paradise!
3. Technical Museum in Zagreb, Croatia. They have everything there!!! Fire fighting brigade, a model coal mine, real beehives, planes and ploughs, motorbikes, bicycles, small tank, first computers, satellites and many more.

And numerous toy museums and open air museums presenting wooden village architecture (you may find them in every European country).

Pic 5 - Alphabet

Learning how to read and write is a tough and long process but we can make it easier and more "digestible" :)

Let the kid play with letters, listen to his/her suggestions about the pictures.

What you need:
sheet of paper, coloured pencils, a ruler

 1.

2. 

It's not English, I'm sorry... But I hope you won't  have much trouble in inventing your own chart :)

You can also draw other alphabetic systems to make the child aware that there is not only Latine alphabet that is used ;)

Ie. Japanese katakana

Cyrillic alphabet

or Runic alphabet (used by the Vikings ;)

 I'll be delighted to see your chart, too!

Pic 4 - Animal farm

Not everyone can draw but...

a drawing template will make you a skilled cartoonist! :)

What you need is:
-sheet of paper, glue, coloured paper, coloured pencils and a template, of course...

No matter how primitive it looks, I had great fun doing this!
For my kids it's now picture No.1 :)

If you have a teenager at home, you may encourage him/her to read the book Animal Farm by George Orwell, political dystopia and a brilliant book in one.

Pic 3 - Happy feet

Let the kids paint their own unique work of art.
It's not only a nice memento.
It also helps to diagnose flat feet ;)

Pic 2 - Private castle

You can build your own castle inside the house.
Kids will be more than delighted!

You need:
old desk, a big board and some pieces of wood to make a slide and a ladder, paint, drill, old cardboard
optionally sailing/climbing rope, carabiner

Kids can climb it using either ladder (younger kids) or rope (those more advanced ;)
Both ends of rope are fixed to opposite walls.

My husband's job :)

Pic 1 - School

School :)

What you need is:
glue, cardboard, some pictures cut from a newspaper, plastic figures and that's it.

Then you can do some role plays based on student-teacher interaction and ask your kid how much is 2+1, what's the capital of Japan, bla bla  :)

What's budget kids?

No, no guys... It shouldn't have been "kids' budget". It's budget kids! :D
To put the long story short, it's going to be a blog about how to entertain kids without spending a fortune.

I know it's a pleasure to buy things for children but it's much more rewarding if we do something ourselves (or with kids' assistance).

From what I can observe more and more parents are following this path and, what is important, family finances is not the decisive thing here. It's a matter of choice.
In my opinion, kids would appreciate it more, if you took them to the forest for spotting the birds rather than giving them an expensive gadget to play with.
What memories from childhood would they have?

I know it costs time and most of you, if not all, are busy people.
So let me just do the job for you and post some tested ideas :)

I hope you'll find it inspiring!

And this is me in 1984 ;)