Blackberry picking and recipes!

I'm not sure about the rest of the world, but blackberries are out now in our region of the UK, and there are buckets and buckets of them within a few minutes walk of our house. There is something so satisfying about taking the kids out for a walk and coming back with overflowing containers of delicious, free blackberries, and then piling into the kitchen together to make something yummy with them.

Here are some blackberry recipes to get you started:

Fresh blackberry lemonade
The blackberries make this lemonade unusual and special.

Blackberry smoothie
Delicious, quick and wholesome - great for a snack or a quick breakfast.

Berry Brulee
This isn't a true brulee recipe, but a quick version which is still delicious and probably more popular with children.

Apple and Blackberry Crumble
As the evenings begin to draw in, take comfort in the smell of this crumble cooking in the oven! Serve with cream or vanilla ice-cream. You can also make up extra of the crumble mixture and store it in the freezer, ready for an almost instant pudding next time!

Blackberry Whip
This is a wickedly good desert! You can obviously vary the berries according to what you have in the fridge.

And here is a Blackberry colouring page too, in case the kids want something to do while you are busy in the kitchen preparing something special...

Hand Gestures Dramatically Improve Learning..

Kids asked to physically gesture at math problems are nearly three times more likely than non-gesturers to remember what they've learned.

In today's issue of the journal Cognition, a University of Rochester scientist suggests it's possible to help children learn difficult concepts by providing gestures as an additional and potent avenue for taking in information.

"We've known for a while that we use gestures to add information to a conversation even when we're not entirely clear how that information relates to what we're saying," says Susan Wagner Cook, lead author and postdoctoral fellow at the University. "We asked if the reverse could be true; if actively employing gestures when learning helps retain new information."

It turned out to have a more dramatic effect than Cook expected.

Read more

Times Tables - a new way to learn them!

We love these printable "Multiplication Thinkin' Logs" from The Toymaker. You get to build a tower and practice your times tables at the same time - what a great idea!

Halloween Crafts for Kids - two great new ideas

Sarah and Jack have been busy this week with two really brilliant new Halloween crafts - a Haunted House made out of a large cardboard box and a very realistic Mummy Hand Desk Tidy - the perfect accessory for your pens and pencils this Halloween!

Halloween Crafts for Kids

Monarch Butterflies, Migration, Mexico and More!

This fascinating website offers an insight into the amazing annual migration of the monarch butterfly from the US to Mexico - and a lot more besides! Written specially for kids, there is a wealth of information to discover and some beautiful pictures too. We particularly enjoyed the slideshows and booklets looking at the life of various Mexican children.

Journey North for Kids

And if you feel like spending some more time looking at butterflies, you will find a collection of butterfly coloring pages and a butterfly mobile craft at Activity Village.

Bible Stories for Kids - fantastic new web resource!

We have just spent an hour exploring this fantastic new website, Friends and Heroes, based on animated Bible stories for children. There are a number of episodes online - of which you can watch snippets - but within many of the episodes you will also find charming animated videos of some of the best-known Bible Stories, such as Daniel in the Lion's Den, Samson and Delilah etc.

We were fascinated by the "Time Travellers" section of the website, which gives plenty of historical background information on the period. There are also numerous printable puzzles and quizzes, coloring pages, posters, calendars and an excellent collection of worksheets to accompany each episode. Highly recommended.

Friends and Heroes

Halloween Crafts for Kids - lots NEW!

This week we have been busy adding a great collection of new Halloween Crafts to the site - all of which can be adapted for all age groups, including your youngest children. So if you are in need of some spooky inspiration, have a look here:

Halloween Crafts for Kids