Today Date Triggered Content

You might have noticed a swathe of pastel-coloured Easter crafts at a shop near you, but you can save yourself money, time and effort by walking straight past it this Easter! 

Young children don’t need to do shop-bought craft kits to help them to develop. There are plenty of ways they can explore their creativity that are much cheaper and easier for you, and more beneficial for their development. 

We know the first five years of your child’s life lay the foundations for the rest of it. Last month, we saw new research by scientists at Birbeck, University of London and the University of Surrey that found toddlers’ fine motor skills were associated with GCSE results.^[1,2]

You have been tracking your child’s fine motor skills in the app, and you’ll know these involve controlling the movements of smaller muscles, such as those in our fingers and toes.  

This week includes this year’s leap day. Whether you view this as a bonus day or just another day, you’ll need play ideas for your little one! Why not start with one of our most popular activities? 

Learning to read is not just about mastering letters and sounds, it’s also about understanding stories and information and loving books.  

The first thing you need is a selection of books. You could join your local library or find a book exchange to get some new reads. 

Is it ok to say that for Mother’s Day all I want is a full day off from parenting? Or to spend two hours in a hot bath in complete silence while I read a book? Or to eat a family-sized Dairy Milk on the sofa while we all watch back-to-back films?  

We say yes, yes and yes.  

Singing, dancing and making music together is fun, but also helps your child to master skills that are the very beginning of learning to read and write.  

You might not be thinking about reading yet, if you’re still enjoying a newborn scrunch or wondering if your baby is the only one who wakes up every hour.  

Reading is magical – a good story might transport your child to a fantasy land and books can them learn about the world. This month it’s World Book Day, so we thought we’d put all our articles about stories, books and reading in one place.

What you need

• A simple recipe (try our banana pancakes visual recipe below!)
• Equipment and space to cook
• A safe place for your child to sit or stand while they cook

The steps

• Find a recipe your child can follow with you, and eventually take the lead on! Recipes with pictures or photos are ideal for this - try our banana pancake recipe below.
• Give your child as much ownership of the cooking process as possible, letting them measure or pour ingredients, do the mixing and any other jobs they're able to do safely. 
• Although you’ll always need to be by their side keeping them safe while they cook, as they get to know the recipe they can start to use you as an assistant instead of the other way around! 

Benefits for your child

• By having a recipe they can follow more independently they can also practise important cognitive skills as they make sense of the pictures and recall the order tasks need to be done in.  
• They will enjoy being more independent and able to make food or snacks for you to enjoy. 

Recipe idea:

The International Day of Women and Girls in Science (February 11) celebrates the achievements and contributions of women in science, but also focuses on how to encourage and enable more women and girls to study and work in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects and careers.   

All children are born investigative, curious and with an innate desire to understand the world around them. You could definitely say they are born with a love of STEM.  

While there might be times when life with a little one feels noisy enough, making music and exploring sounds together can be fun and is great for your little one’s development. This month we’ve put together some things to use for some sound making fun!  

If you want to know more about how music and sounds helps your child learn, scroll down to the bottom to find links to our articles.