When it comes to the summer holidays keeping the kids entertained constantly can be difficult.
With the weather constantly causing disruptions, and with some huge events, such as the recent Big Jam Sandwich event in Southend causing uproar, it can be difficult to decide what to do.
But, one place that’s great for the little ones, is Hertfordshire. With lots of fun things to do and with easy access thanks to public transport from Brighton, Horsham and Hitchin to Stevenage trains, this is the perfect place to spend a day or two during the long six weeks.
Below, you’ll find five of the most exciting things to do here with your little ones.
Ralph Court Gardens
If they love exploring the great outdoors, this is a place filled with 12 stunning and magical gardens for you all to adventure through.
Alongside the walks, you’ll find water jets, a pirate and Alice in Wonderland garden and the garden’s resident dragon Edwina for you to all meet.
Newbridge Farm Park
All kids love animals, which makes this the perfect place to spend a few hours.
Filled with all your farmyard favourites, you’ll find horse, goat, sheep, pigs, alpacas and even bunny rabbits here. With a mixture of show and tell sessions to teach kids about the farm and animals, alongside areas where they can interact with the animals, it’s a day of fun for all.
Croft Castle and Parkland
Filled with history and adventure, this a place filled with 1,500 acres of parkland, farm and woodland, which embodies 1,000 years of history.
A National Trust Castle, which also sports a church, orchards and vineyards, and even a mini-castle play area, everyone is sure to have a fantastic time here.
Oaker Wood Leisure
If your kids love a little adventure, this is the ideal place. With 175 acres of woodland, you’ll discover a range of activities here including high ropes, paintballing, an assault course, target shooting and biking.
Hereford Museum and Art Gallery
If your little ones loves to learn about things from the past, with the added excitement of real artefacts, then this is the perfect place to take them.
Featuring more than 100,000 objects, you and your kids will be able to jump into the world of fine art, archaeology, costumes and medieval and civil war history for hours and hours.
You’ll also find a range of activities to do, and it’s completely free of charge.
So, if you can’t find something that’s a dead cert for you and the kids, it looks like Hertfordshire is the place to be.
*This is a collaborative post*
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We all like to listen to music sometimes but did you know that listening to music through headphones could be damaging your ears? If you listen to music regularly and you like to turn it up loud, you could be doing long term damage to your hearing. If left unchecked, this could lead to irreversible damage to your ears and you might end up with permanent hearing loss. That doesn’t mean you can never use headphones again, but you do need to be careful. This is a quick guide on how to tell whether you’re doing any damage and how to use your headphones safely.
Things To Watch Out For
If you catch the signs of hearing damage early on and take steps to prevent it, you can avoid permanent damage. The first thing that you should look out for is any sign that you’re struggling to hear as well as you used to. If you find that you’re asking people to repeat themselves a lot or you constantly have to turn the volume up on the TV, that’s a sign that your hearing is starting to fail and you need to look after it.
It’s not just hearing loss that you need to watch out for either. If you have a ringing in your ears, known as tinnitus, that could be caused by listening to music through headphones too loud. Most of the time, it’s not permanent but if you continue to listen to music at the same volume, you might find that the ringing is there the majority of the time. If you do find that you have ringing in your ears on a regular basis, you should read this free tinnitus treatment guide to see if there is anything that you can do. Things, like changing your diet, reducing stress, and ensuring that you get enough sleep can help to relieve the symptoms but in more serious cases, you might need hearing aids to help manage the symptoms.
If you experience any pain in your ears, either while you’re listening through headphones or shortly after, that’s a very bad sign. You should stop listening immediately and if the pain persists, speak with your doctor.
How To Protect Yourself
Listening to music through headphones is fine and it won’t damage your hearing, as long as you know how to do it safely. These are some of the best ways to protect your hearing when listening through headphones.
Often, people turn the volume up on their headphones because they want to shut off any outside noise. When you’re doing a workout, for example, you don’t want to hear anybody else around you because it breaks your focus so you’ll turn the volume to max. But if you invest in a good pair of noise cancelling headphones, you won’t need to do that because the background noise is reduced. Usually, a set of larger headphones are better than small earbuds that fit directly into the ear because they block out more of the background noise. That means you can still shut out the rest of the noise but you don’t have to listen to music too loud and risk damaging your ears.
The 60/60 rule is a good guideline to follow if you listen to music through headphones on a regular basis. You should never put the volume above 60 percent and you should only listen to music through headphones for around 60 minutes per day. That way, you can still listen, but you’re limiting yourself so you don’t do any damage to your hearing.
Most music players and phones have a volume limiter built in. You should check the setting and see if you can set a limit so you never exceed a safe volume when you’re listening to music. If you don’t have a limiter, you’ll just have to keep a close eye on the volume and make sure that you don’t exceed the 60 percent limit.
As a general rule, you should try to keep the volume below 85 decibels. For reference, 30 decibels is a whisper, 60 decibels is a normal conversation. The closest to 80 decibels is busy traffic in the city centre. If you’re getting close to the sound of a blender, that’s too loud at around 90 decibels. Listening to loud music once in a while isn’t going to cause hearing damage but if you’re doing it regularly, you might end up with permanent hearing damage.
Nobody thinks that it’s going to happen to them until it does, so you need to change your habits now before it’s too late.
*This is a collaborative post*
Baby Shark...it's the song us parent's love to hate. My youngest was the one who came across this phenomenon on youtube and she has been singing the song and doing the actions ever since. She always looks so cute as she enthusiastically sings and dances along. Who would have thought it would have become such a huge sensation? So much so that there are now toys based around the song.
Ophelia was super excited when a box from the postman arrived containing the Baby Shark Let's Go Hunt game and the wooden sound puzzle. She was already overly happy and grateful with both games but that soon turned to being absolutely ecstatic when hubby popped the batteries in each game and she realised the song featured in both.
Hide and Seek Wooden Sound Puzzle
The puzzle is suitable for children ages 2 and up and it requires 2xAAA batteries. It's bright and colourful which makes it very eye catching. The puzzle is simple to to complete and easy to handle with the pieces being quite large in size.
What makes the puzzle stand out the most is that when you place the pieces in their corresponding slots, the tune starts playing. So if you were placing 'mummy shark' in the puzzle, the mummy shark park to the song plays. Ophelia thought this was amazing.
The puzzle is great for learning and matching colours, hand/eye coordination and fine motor skills.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
*Disclaimer - We were sent these games to review for our blog in exchange for our honest opinion*
Ophelia was super excited when a box from the postman arrived containing the Baby Shark Let's Go Hunt game and the wooden sound puzzle. She was already overly happy and grateful with both games but that soon turned to being absolutely ecstatic when hubby popped the batteries in each game and she realised the song featured in both.
Hide and Seek Wooden Sound Puzzle
The puzzle is suitable for children ages 2 and up and it requires 2xAAA batteries. It's bright and colourful which makes it very eye catching. The puzzle is simple to to complete and easy to handle with the pieces being quite large in size.
What makes the puzzle stand out the most is that when you place the pieces in their corresponding slots, the tune starts playing. So if you were placing 'mummy shark' in the puzzle, the mummy shark park to the song plays. Ophelia thought this was amazing.
The puzzle is great for learning and matching colours, hand/eye coordination and fine motor skills.
Let's Go Hunt Game
This game can be played by all the family even though its recommended age is four years and up. The idea of the game is to go fishing for baby sharks and collect as many as you can to correspond with the colour of your fishing rod. We also just play it without using colours and just try and collect as many as possible.
As the game spins around the 'baby shark' song plays continuously which both my girls loved.
Even though Ophelia loved the wooden puzzle, I think this was her favourite of the two things we received.
The game requires 2xAA batteries which aren't included in the box.
Giveaway
I'm giving away one Let's Go Hunt game to one of you. All you have to do is enter via the rafflecopter form below.
Terms and Conditions:
- Prize is non-transferable and no cash alternative will be offered
- Winner is selected at random via Rafflecopter
- UK entrants only
- Must be 18 years or older to enter
- Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties
*Disclaimer - We were sent these games to review for our blog in exchange for our honest opinion*
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If there’s anything that can symbolize 2019, it’s a continual rush, a sense of digital isolation, and sometimes, social disenfranchisement. A family have every opportunity to overcome this, but it can be hard to implement the solutions. This is where deciding to make real, fundamentally important changes, such as sitting down and relaxing as a family, can make the most difference.
When was the last time you did this? We’re not talking about Christmas or a birthday, or taking an evening meal together (although this can also be wonderful.) We mostly mean the art of relaxing, sitting down on the sofa, talking and perhaps experiencing something together like a movie. If you haven’t had that for some time, it can be that you miss doing so. This is a saddening and quite upsetting state of affairs. But there’s no reason why this should be considered a distant possibility. Let us help you enact changes to these ends, pushing you forward to an experience you most want to keep:
Schedule For The Same Time
It can be hard to bring everyone together for an impromptu meeting. Your daughter might have a band recital, your son might have a sports event to go to, or you might all just feel tired on a particular night. When your family expects a nightly meeting and fun experience, they will likely be more encouraged to stay part of it. Perhaps every Friday night you might watch a movie together, setting up Chromecast towards your big screen https://setapp.com/how-to/set-up-and-optimize-chromecast-for-mac. Why not decide to order nice food together during this, or perhaps bundle this with other activities you can enjoy? The more, the better.
Treat Yourselves
Ordering takeout food such as beautiful Chinese or Thai meals can help the family come together and enjoy food they might not usually eat. This can certainly bring people together and help a sense of shared optimism. There’s almost nothing better to bring people together than eating food and trying new things through that activity. This leads to discussion, jokes and comfort. Then, a nice sit down on the sofa after as you feel bloated and truly full up. We all know the feeling. There’s a strange sense of satisfaction and guilt to it. And it’s always best felt among family.
Spend Some Time Outside
In the beautiful midst of summer, a gorgeous barbecua, and outdoor pool (inflatable or perhaps a feature of the house,) and the ability to relax and sit around can be some of the best stress-busting you will ever experience. Spending some time outside gives you that true possibility of deflating, of once again eating good food, and of drinking a glass of wine or two. Connect with your family by asking them how they are, an update to see how things are proceeding. It shouldn’t be forced.
You’ll find true comfort and a worthwhile evening spent with this advice. So what are you waiting for?
*This is a collaborative post*
Peppa Pig has been Ophelia's favourite TV programme for years. She has quite a few Peppa Pig themed toys so she was delighted to receive Peppa Pig's Big Red Car to review. The idea for imaginative play is that Mummy and Peppa Pig are going on a picnic.
The new big red car comes packed full of entertainment. In the box you get:
- The Car which plays a tune
- Mummy Pig and Peppa Pig in cute picnic outfits
- Removable hat for Mummy Pig
- A picnic hamper that opens
- A table/blanket
- A small BBQ
- A bottle of drink
- Plates with food on them
- Batteries 2xAAA included (hooray)
Ophelia was over the moon when she opened the box. The push a long 4 seater car is a good size and is sturdy. It's quite lightweight to handle and carry. It fits 4 characters in total (small sized ones in the back). The car comes with Peppa Pig and Mummy Pig but if you already have any others from the collection then they will also fit.
Her favourite feature is the fact that the car plays one of the familiar tunes from Peppa Pig when you press the steering wheel.
She also loves the fact that you can open and close the boot which is where you can store all of your picnic essentials.
She hasn't stopped playing with the car since it arrived. She often takes it out with her if we are going places and for once we actually don't mind as it's light to carry and all of the accessories can be stored in the boot so there's no chance of losing them.
Overall, Peppa's Big Red Car is a great toy which has provided hours of entertainment so far. You can find it at Smyth's Toys retailing at £24.99
*We were kindly sent the car in exchange for a review. All of our opinions are our own and are honest*
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