Sally Fort
Manchester - http://www.twitter.com/sallyent
Mum to two year old little boy and self employed arts education consultant with a special interest in craft, design and early years development.
Light up the nursery: top designs to brighten your room
Babies, Toddlers, Kids+, Fun & activities, Development, Gadgets, Kid decor & style
When we decorated our baby's room I found the barrage of pink or blue options a little on the overwhelming side and not really very 'us'. So if you're looking for something a little less traditional and a touch more contemporary too, here are a few ideas to inspire your creativity...
For baby's first couple of months he or she finds it much easier to see black and white than colour, so something with sharp contrast is more effective. Dutch by Design sell a stunning birdcage lamp that will be suitable for years to come.
That said it will be a few more months before babies can pick out detail from any distance, or possibly before you move them into their own room, so something with bold, sharp contrast but a little more colour might be just perfect. Hunkydory Home have some adorable handmade lampshades (pictured) for children, in unusual funky textiles.
For soft lighting or to keep little ones entertained, push the boat a touch and try Mathmos' incredible space projector. This futuristic machine will have bubbles, robots, flowers, galaxies and more floating in circles across the wall.
Baby wearing: all you need to know about slings
Slings are the ideal hands-free way to carry your baby from birth until between one and two years.
A sling keeps baby close to you so great for bonding and gives you more chance to get something done by giving you back two hands, while baby is carried round with you.
Some babies settle more quickly in a sling, and many enable you to breastfeed at the same time. If you walk everywhere as I do, you don't need to take a buggy everywhere you go.
There are many different styles. I used a pouch sling (pictured). I found it easy to put on, comfortable, and quick to get baby in and out of.
A good place to find out more is Big Mama Slings, with enough information to help you choose without being overwhelming. If you want more detail, or to ask opinions from others, try The Babywearer, full of forums, sellers and images.
CBeebies Waybuloo: Yoga-ing vicariously through my child
Toddlers, Kids+, Fun & activities, Development, Toys & games
Some parents may not be natural sporting types. I'd be the first to count myself among them.
I race round after a toddler for more hours than I care to count, congratulating myself on the miles I cover and the healthy glow I build up via a 20 minute walk to nursery, and back, twice a day.
So I'm not inclined to go mad with actual voluntary excercise on top of all that. Except for yoga. I've always loved it. Whilst pregnant I bought a DVD of yoga for pregancy to help me see my own toes for as long as could be made possible.
Now thanks to CBeebies and their adorable new show Waybuloo, my toddler is a yoga fan too. The programme features four animated characters with a distinctly cultish Japanese feel called Piplings, who come complete with their own secret language and zen-like garden.
NSPCC's top tips to help children surf safely
Kids+, Education, Development, Behaviour
A few weeks ago I happened to be watching Channel 4's Sex Education Show.
It cut to the heart of several issues relevant to young people today with a frankness I found admirable, if unexpected. I imagine there were more than a few parents and other adults who learned a thing or too that night too.
Amongst it all was an insight into the way young people are using the internet to fill the gaps in their 'education'. Whilst my child is thankfully too young for me to worry (and worry I do) about this yet; I wouldn't know where to begin addressing this with a teenager if I had one.
However the NSPCC recently launched it's safety.net campaign which, in times of ever rapid technological and online developments, helps adults encourage children and young people to use the internet with safety in mind.
It opens with these 8 top tips.
Beginners guide to baby signing
Babies, Fun & activities, Siblings, Education
When my boy was 5 months old I heard a radio interview about baby signing. A month later I started back at work and my first contract was evaluating a project with artists and therapists working in nurseries to try and improve communication with children. One of them was a baby signer. There are different baby signing 'languages'. Britain follows British Sign Language, unlike the origins of baby signing with the American version. Makaton, used by Mr Tumble, is different again, a simplified version with some crossovers.
My first question was: if I'm signing with my baby won't that get in the way of his spoken language? Actually baby signing relies also on close eye to eye contact and spoken language, so in many cases babies learn spoken language faster too.
We aimed to learn 6 words a day, me, my husband, our boy, and Grandma. The more people who can practise it with baby the better.
Baby signing can be taught through songs and nursery rhymes in workshops so it's great for all the family to learn together. Books and DVDs are also available so you can learn at home as we did.
My evaluation contract revealed wonderful stories.
Summer holiday lifesaver: cool papercraft websites
Kids+, Fun & activities, Development, Toys & games
So, right on cue at the start of the summer holidays, the rain comes. Stuck indoors and feeling the pressure to entertain? Something impressive, constructive, minimum effort, maximum results? Look no further than good old fashioned paper. There a fantastic truckload of resources at your finger tips for even those with absolutely no arts and crafts know-how. They'll bag you major 'wow' points with the kids for managing something rather more impressive than a paper aeroplane. And they're all free. Simply print, cut and fold...
Patterns for Colouring is a regularly updated blog featuring free downloadable funked-up patterns to colour in, by top notch graphic designer Carton Hibbert. He was inspired to create the library of patterns following a lifetime's love of colouring, and two small boys to keep entertained and away from computer games.
Marshall Alexander is a Dutch 'paper engineer' (see image above) who provides a host of groovy monsters and creatures to print, cut and fold into 3-D models.
Vintage style: Mums born in the 1970s
Toddlers, Kids+, Just for mums, Fun & activities, Baby & toddler clothes, Maternity wear
I know the 1980s are where it's at. Neon jelly shoes, big belts and Wayfarers. But really, when you were there first time round, doesn't it make you shudder, just a little bit?For me it's all about the 1970s and I don't think I'm alone. Here's my evidence.
Exhibit A: Mums born in the 1970s are proud of their domestic skills. Rather than feeling like we're setting the feminist world back 50 years, we stitch, bake and plant knowing our grandmothers gave us the choice to do so. Each button sewn or cake mix whipped is infused with the knowledge we learnt it from our family, and our identity feels a little stronger for it every time. For 'makers' of any kind, a chance to spend more time hands-on helping little ones plant, mix, stick, build and glue makes it that bit more special.
Exhibit B: Our choices of partner, while we're busy channelling Barbara from The Good Life. Not Jerry, the reliable, high earning business man in the pinstripe who's barely ever home, but Tom, the happy-go-lucky, not so affluent but chirpy and supportive other half about the house. There are times a pinstriped affluent husband really would be useful, but give me the chilled out, cheeky, creative one who is present during our child's waking hours, any day.
Playgrounds of the future are here today
Toddlers, Kids+, Fun & activities, Education, Development, Toys & games, Gadgets
Glowing Pathfinder Bugs from squidie on Vimeo.
Last year the government said it wanted 3500 more children to have outside places to play in by 2011, and thus a new playground building movement was set in motion. In March this year another £1.5 million was made available to update and upgrade existing adventure playgrounds through Play England.What would your ideal playground look like? Here are a few suggestions to get you going.
The Portable Pixel Playground (including the Glowing Pathfinder Bugs, above) is a sandpit-meets-technology chance to dabble with traditional and whizz bang gimmicky stuff. Part adventure playground, part computer game, it's currently touring the UK.
How Facebook saved my boy's bedtime
Here's a tip. Don't lock yourself and toddler out of the house half an hour before toddler's bedtime.
Don't leave your phone in the house at the time. Particularly if you haven't memorised the number of the only other person with a key and they're not due home for 5 hours.
I had keys when I left the house, by the time I reached nursery they'd disappeared. You'll know how grumpy toddlers can be at bedtime and how a half an hour delay turns your child into something from the dark side.
Added to that, there was the prospect of pottering round town wondering what we'd do for five hours until husband arrived home.
Until inspiration hit. A modern day communications adventure. So if you find yourself locked out at bedtime here's what I suggest.
Puffin's We make stories: a new generation of young digital storymakers
Kids+, Just for dads, Fun & activities, Education, Development, Toys & games, Gadgets
It has been said on occasion I spend a little too much time online. I argue that there are learning benefits, it's research, it's part of my job, it's for my child's future. Likewise my husband argues that yes our two year old really does need the full range of Star Wars spaceships and characters.
Mostly I'm not sure either is really true except for this part...
"it's for my child's future"
More and more companies are realising that the web is the place young people are likely to spend unfeasible amounts of spare time and since they're here, they might as well be doing something constructive with it.
Puffin, yes those lovely people who make nice books, have cottoned on and given themselves a rather funky upgrade into the digital world with a really beautiful new website designed to turn children and young people into story makers.
