All about Bugs

written by Laura @island.mum.island.baby

Bugs; a topic that provides my little boy with a lot of joy. At four years old Finn has always loved insects, whether they fly, crawl, hide or sting he want to spot them, watch them, hold them and learn about them.

Top 10 Wooden Party Bag Ideas

During the last 18 months, most children have lived through a lockdown birthday. So as the parties start up again, I thought it would be a good idea to share my top tips for party bag fillers that will be loved, by children and parents alike.

So often party bags are filled with small plastic toys, which the children love for  short time, but they either go out of favour or get broken, my list of wooden party bag fillers will hopefully get a welcome response as well as being well loved for many months and years to come. 

Exploring emotions through bookish play

written by Sheila O’Reilly @rascals_and_rainbows

Anyone who follows my Instagram account will know that I am a huge fan of bookish play. Fictional stories provide opportunities for children to explore and develop all sorts of skills including social and emotional development and language development.  As Mental Health Awareness week draws to a close, I thought it might be helpful to share some stories and bookish play ideas that I have used for exploring emotions with my two girls.

Deaf Awareness Week

When I heard about Deaf Awareness week, I knew I wanted to know more, it isn't something I have any experience of personally, however I find it useful to understand a bit more about conditions that others are living with. You never know when you might meet someone and it might come in useful. 

Deafness or hearing loss happens when one or more part of the ear are not working properly. There are different types of deafness and different levels of seveerity, having done a bit of reading, it really its quite a complex and varied condition. However, when I started researching, I knew exactly the person I wanted to hear from!

A few years ago Mary got in touch when shopping for Christmas Gifts for her two children. It was lovely to be able to recommend certain toys and since then Mary has given me so many recommendations of toys which I now stock and have be enjoyd by many. 

Mary has a son called Ewan Age 5 who is Deaf, and they really are very inspirational.

Here Mary talks about her journey with Ewan and provides an insight into how they have adjusted to living with deafness. 

Developing Social Skills through Play

Written by Sheila O’Reilly
Www.instagram.com/rascals_and_rainbows

Now that lockdown is easing and we are beginning to return to some sense of normality, our children will hopefully have more opportunities to play together, so I thought it was good timing for a blog exploring social play and how children develop their social skills through playing.