V&A Museum of Childhood

Art activity for children from 3 to 12 years old at the V&A for this Christmas Holiday.

Free drop-in art and craft session, story telling inspired by animals tales and tour around the gallery.





Children can have the experience to work in object inspired by the Museum, that they can bring at home. 






 Have a look the website for information about time

under the What s on you can have more information about the current exhibition and all the available activities.

ehttp://www.vam.ac.uk/moc/whatson/

Our first newsletter!

Nativity Show WITH REAL ANIMALS!

I think this Christmas event at Vauxhall City Farm on Sunday 13th December is going to be a lot of fun!  http://vauxhallcityfarm.org/events/christmas-family-fun-day-2/

Trip to Horniman Museum

We had a lovely time on Sunday at the Horniman Museum. On the lower ground floor is a display full of musical instruments and we discovered a little room to the side where we could go in and have a go and make our own music.

We made a quick trip to the aquarium before going to see the animals on the farm.

Before we left we spent some time on the outdoor music area.

Our Sunday outing to the Horniman Museum

Making beats!

Last weekend we had a group outing to the Horniman Museum in Dulwich. It's a fantastic FREE museum with a few exhibitions that you need to buy tickets to get into (such as the Aquarium).

CS and Dad really enjoyed the music room in the basement which had interactive tables where you could select the items on the display to listen to and to find out more about. CS also very quickly found the hands on area where children (and adults) can explore and play with some of the instruments.

Exploring the Gosse anemone tank

After the music room we moved onto the Aquarium which had sealife from Britain and far more tropical spaces. I loved the aquarium but don't think Callum was too keen as he was more interested in splashing the water (which isn't good for the sealife) and wandering about, I think it will be something that we will take him back to when he is a bit older.

My favourite - Sea Horses!

 Here are some of the pictures I took at the aquarium

Lobster - not for eating!

Clownfish - Finding Nemo!

Jellyfish

  

Picasa for giving your pictures that je ne sais quoi

I have just been re-introduced to Picasa and have fallen in love with it again. So easy to use and has made some pictures I took on a dull day look so much better. I also look forward to using it with my children so they can have fun with their pictures.

Jag x

What to do with your baby items when you don't need them anymore....

At the moment, we are starting to pack up for our big move in a few weeks (its going quite interestingly as CS is at the stage where he is keen to do what we are doing though occasionally this helpful other times not so much such as when he takes the dirty washing out the basket and puts it on the dryer or when he adds random items to the packing boxes!)

As CS is our first child we received a lot of clothes, some new and some from other family members children. Whilst we also bought a few items new, we found ebay was a great place to buy bundles of clothing from others. 

When CS gradually grew out of his clothes we generally passed them on to other family and friends to use with their wee ones before being passed back to us. We now have several boxes for various clothes both in our place and in my parents home, the majority of them still decent quality.

We're keeping some of the items for memories and some for possible future children. Quite a few though we are reselling on ebay for other families to use. 

Whilst ebay is a great place of the occasional bargain and free to sign up and buy from (if you also have a nectar card you can gain points on your purchases) they do charge for anything that you sell - you get 20 free listings per a month afterwards costing 35p per a listing - the amount you pay is dependent on how much you item sells for and how you are paid (if you are paid via paypal then there is an additional cost). 

There are other sites and pages where you can buy and sell your items without paying additional fees however you aren't guaranteed the same 

level of protection that you get with ebay/paypal and it may be difficult get your money back (depending on how you have paid).

Other useful sites include:

gumtree - prices vary depending on what you are selling and how you wish your ad to appear, though its generally free 

netmums - its free to join and you can advertise on the forum, they also have information on local nearly new markets

facebook - you can search for local buying and selling groups to your area/borough

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The Big Scream

One of the things I thought I would not be able to do without a baby sitter was go to the cinema. Whilst I could still go to U and PG's and depending upon the movie maybe even a 12A, I would feel uncomfortable if CS became quite vocal.

However the picture house cinema's have a great scheme which allowed me to occasionally see a 15 or 18 with CS, they generally show the movies which have just been released like Spectre or the upcoming star wars movie. 

The Big Scream is open to parents with children under the age of 1 years and depending on the cinema, it has showings on 1 or 2 days a week. If the film on is a U, PG or 12A then it is possible to bring other children with you although you will need to pay for their ticket (the price may vary depending on the cinema and day)

The entrance cost is reduced for the parents attending and free for the baby, the cinemas have space for lots of pushchairs and for baby changing, some of the cinemas also offer free coffee. Best of all no one gets annoyed if there's a baby being a bit vocal and the staff are great with the kids.

You can book your tickets online or in the cinema itself (though its best to do this in advance if its a popular movie) most showings are can be viewed online though sometimes you need to go to the viewing list for the day itself

The big scream showings are at:

Clapham Picture house on Thursdays and Sundays at 10:30am

Ritzy Picture House on Fridays at 11am (occasionally they have 2 films on the same day and time)

East Dulwich Picture House on Wednesdays at 11am

During the holidays, the children's centre's in brixton/lambeth also run family screenings, tickets for these are available through the children's centre and posters advertising these are in the children's centres too. 

KMG