Activity Village News

6th February 2009

A Message From Lindsay

Oh my word, have we had snow this week! On Monday morning my little part of England woke up to find that over 12 inches of snow had fallen during the night, and the children, for the first time in their lives, enjoyed 2 whole "snow days" off school as a result. We've built snowmen and igloos, gone sledding, enjoyed snowball fights, dug paths, fed the birds and pushed neighbours' cars - and enjoyed a roaring fire each night too. I've only seen snow like this once before in England, when I was a teenager, so I thought we had better make the most of it ... but now that the snow has turned dirty and slushy and the novelty has worn off, we'd like it to melt cleanly away and make way for Spring, please!

You'll see below in the "What's New" section that we've gone Valentine crazy this week. There's no excuse not to send lots of Valentines this year!

Coming up soon:

14th February - Valentine's Day
24th February - Mardi Gras
24th February - Pancake Day
1st March - St David's Day
17th March - St Patrick's Day
22nd March - Mother's Day (UK)
12th April - Easter

What's New At Activity Village?

This week we've added some really cute new Valentine's Day coloring pages for you to print and enjoy...
Valentine's Day coloring pages Lots NEW!

And we've added four new fun Mardi Gras coloring pages, too.
Mardi Gras coloring pages

Back to Valentine's Day. Sarah's and her boys had fun making some very "girly" new Valentine's Day jewellery, key rings and other bits and pieces with polymer clay (some of which is perfect for Mother's Day too).
Valentine's Day Crafts

We've added a sweet new printable Valentines Card to our collection.
Printable Valentine's Day Cards

How about coloring in your own special Valentine cards?
Valentine's Day Coloring Cards

Printable Valentine bookmarks - blank for your own message, with "friendship" quotes, or with quotes from Shakespeare and Robert Burns
Valentine Bookmarks

We've got lots of pretty new Valentine scrapbook paper designs for your crafty projects this week...
Valentine Scrapbook Paper

Our latest printable dominoes game, perfect for Valentine's Day!
Hearts Dominoes Game

"Love" and "Valentine" acrostic poem print-outs for the classroom or home
Valentine Acrostics

Good practice for younger kids. Older kids could use these shapes in their craft projects, too.
Valentine cutting shapes

Finally, here's something different for Valentine's Day! We've gathered together some famous couples for our notebooking pages / writing frames and mini printable booklets - great for classroom or home projects...
Famous Couples Notebooking Pages

Baby Photo Of The Week

Diary of a New Mum Week 33
A Baby Cage
In which I purchase a play-pen and wait to see how Jessica-Ann will react...

Any Soccer Fans At Home?

Annabel Karmel reveals a favourite kids party food recipe
Nutritionist Annabel Karmel gives us a step by step video guide to one of her own recipes, a Rice Krispie football team and football pitch. The children can get involved, whether it's mixing the ingredients together, cutting out footballers, or making the grass - there is an activity for kids of all ages. It would make a spectacular alternative to a birthday cake for any football-crazy child, and of course you can colour the shirts for your favourite team.
Click here to watch Annabel in action
For more information about The Kellogg's Big Bake, a campaign that aims to get children cooking with their parents and gives kids the chance to appear in their local paper visit: www.thebigbake.co.uk

A Giggle!

"Mother Nature is wonderful. She gives us twelve years to develop a love for our children before turning them into teenagers."
Eugene Bertin

Reader Tip of the Week

Here's a great idea for keeping the kids busy, from Sally:

You know those afternoons you have when everyone is feeling edgy and wants to get out of the house, and none of the toys are interesting anymore? I've discovered that my two youngest children can always be tempted by a "wash day" which means one of two things in our house. First, we put a load of "dirty" dishes (all plastic or otherwise unbreakable) in the sink with loads of bubbly water and scrubbing brushes. The kids stand on stools and have so much fun washing up! Second, I put lots of small fabric items - face cloths, hankies, dolls clothes etc - in a pile by the sink and let the children scrub them clean, rinse them out and then hang them on a "clothes line" I string up in the kitchen, where the drips won't matter. This activity can keep them happily occupied for an hour or more!

Editor's note: My daughter went through a stage of scrubbing my kitchen floor for me, just like Annie!

NB: Please don't let your kids browse video sharing sites unsupervised!

Have You Seen?

Costumes for Kids
Lots of good dressing up ideas here - another great standby for a long winter afternoon!

Something To Think About..

"Of journeying the benefits are many: the freshness it bringeth to the heart, the seeing and hearing of marvellous things, the delight of beholding new cities, the meeting of unknown friends, and the learning of high manners."
Muslih-Uddin Sadi

Editor's note: Why not plan your own "journey" today? It doesn't have to be far or expensive. Even a walk and a winter picnic somewhere you haven't been before will do! The kids might learn something new, meet someone interesting or see something for the first time, and it's the little memories of times spent together as a family that last.

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