Hyde Park Winter Wonderland’s FREE Family Fun Day

While it may be my job to be up to date on who was performing at this year’s V Festival and the names of celebrities set to grace the VIP areas, with my life currently being run by a three year old girl, my mind was focused on every parent’s event of the summer – LolliBop festival.

Where children and toddlers are the priority, this was my second year of coming along to ‘The Big Bash for Little People’ and I couldn’t have been more excited.

This year moving from Regent’s Park to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, it was also a perfect opportunity for those who never managed to visit the site during London 2012 to catch a glimpse of where it all went down.

The chance for your child to see their cartoon favourites  – Poppy Cat, Postman Pat, Hello Kitty, etc – come to life definitely makes for a fun afternoon. And it’s hilarious to see the likes of Dick & Dom and Justin Fletcher (aka Mr Tumble) treated like rockstars – with Fletcher obviously taking top billing!

This year there did seem to be even more activities for the children to get involved with – we tried our hand at windmill making, decorating bandanas and some glitter fun in Lalaloopsy Land – all without too much queuing or waiting.

In fact, the only nightmare queue experienced throughout the day was the one for food, which may have been a combination of the peak lunchtime hours and the fact that the burger van we’d chosen only had two women serving (something I only realised once I’d been in the queue for over half an hour)…

I think the Saturday we visited the event was at capacity and that was easy to believe as you fought through prams and toddlers on the run to get to each area.

I was certainly exhausted long before my little one was ready to go home and although it wasn’t exactly my idea of ‘fun’ (even as a parent, I’m up for anything that involves a glass of wine and some adult conversation…!) – I know my daughter had an amazing time and that’s of course what counts.

So, see you next year LolliBop.

www.lollibopfestival.co.uk

IT was interesting to read details of a new survey which discovered only 10% of children are getting their five-a-day and that 1 in 10 parents think chips count as one of their children’s five-a-day.

Look, I’m the last to sit here to shame anyone on their parenting skills – particularly as my response to reading that was ‘aren’t potatoes vegetables?!?’ (FYI, they are classed as a starchy food, LOL.)

The research helpfully carried out by children’s fruit snack supermarket brand Fruit Bowl, also noted that 1/3 of parents think fruit yogurts count, while 1/5 parents mistakenly believe a strawberry milkshake contributes – I mean #desperatetimes, right?

I personally battle to get my kids to eat most vegetables, so its interesting that less than half of parents know that tinned veg, frozen fruit and sweet potatoes count towards the recommended daily amount.

Additionally 4 in 10 parents think their child gets only 2-3 portions each day.

FIVE unexpected foods that DO count towards our five-a-day:
Baked Beans
Guacamole
Onions
Hummus
Spaghetti Hoops

FIVE foods that DON’T count towards our five-a-day:
Onion rings
Ketchup
Potatoes
Vegetable Crisps
Pickled Gherkins

Nutritional Therapist, Filomena Komodromou has shared her tips to get children eating fruits and vegetables;

1. Think colour – chop up some crunchy crudités such as carrots, pepper, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, radish, celery and serve with hummus or cream cheese for a healthy filling snack
2. Get them to help in the kitchen – even toddlers can help too. Peeling, chopping or grating can be done quite safely by children supervised by an adult.
3. Blend it up! Homemade smoothies are a great way of getting their five-a-day and sneaking in some veg too.
4. Add mashed banana or grated apple/pear to porridge
5. Make frozen fruit lollies or banana pancakes

Susanne Fraser, Marketing Manager of Fruit Bowl, added: “Here at Fruit Bowl we are a team of parents and know firsthand how difficult it can be to make sure our children get their five-a-day, every day, and we know it’s a struggle that lots of other parents have. By conducting this survey, we aim to highlight this and also show busy parents that there are easy solutions, tips and tricks they can use to give their children five-a-day.”

Fruit Bowl create everyday fruit snacks and treats – many of which contribute towards your 5 a day. #bonus

Available at Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, The Co-Op, Asda, Waitrose and on Ocado.

ANYONE having to deal with World Book Day prep right now? I’m literally printing off (fake) money as I write this for my daughter’s outfit tomorrow..!

Well, to celebrate World Book Day on March 7, Uber has joined forces with Puffin and the National Literacy Trust to launch a free mobile book service.

The idea is aimed at parents rushing home to read their child a bedtime story after new research has shown ‘that 43% of British parents admit that working schedules prevent them from reading a bedtime story with their children’.

The mobile libraries, curated by Puffin and the National Literacy Trust, will see a range of books available in select cars for parents to take home.

They include Charlotte’s Web, Mrs Pepperpot, Goodnight Peter Rabbit, Little Leaders and Wonder.

It’s being trialled in London and Manchester, with 1,000 books available until they run out.

Anything to get parents and children reading together sounds great to me, so it’s definitely a thumbs up from The Media Mummy.

Tom Elvidge, Uber’s UK General Manager said: “We know modern life is busy and getting home for bedtime can be a challenge for many parents. To mark World Book Day, we want to make life just a little bit less stressful and make it easier for families to enjoy some special time together.”

While Jonathan Douglas, Director of the National Literacy Trust, added: “By encouraging a love of reading at home, parents can help their child develop the language and literacy skills they need to flourish at school and in all areas of their life.

“Amid increasingly busy family lives, research shows that finding just 10 minutes a day to read with your child can make all the difference – whether that’s sharing a story at bedtime, over breakfast or even on the school run.

“We are delighted to support Uber’s campaign; we hope it will succeed in bringing families together and stories to life.”

 

The love of a parent is a strong thing, so strong that you're prepared to shell out 22 odd pounds for a ticket to LolliBop billed as 'The big bash for little people'. Set in Regent's Park, catering for toddlers, those under 3ft and the 'tweenies' age group, TV favourites such as Dick and Dom, Mister Maker and the ZingZillas were among those billed.

I spent just over four hours there with my two year old and I'm sure I was more exhausted than her as we made the trek back to the station..! She was more than happy to be surrounded by fire-breathing mechanical dragons, storytelling by Poppy Cat, a six foot tall Dora the Explorer and Stavros Flatley - oh wait a minute, think that was me who enjoyed their hilarious double act which saw them joined by some randoms to perform the Blues Brothers' Everybody Needs Somebody to Love!

Activities to take part in during the day included hula hoop workshops, cookery sessions, baby ballet, Moshi Monsters and a science lab - to name but a few. My only complaint, as the mother of a HUGE Dora the Explorer fan, was that her appearance on the main stage was billed as a 'singalong' but was nothing more than advertising for the forthcoming Dora the Explorer live show. That and the £6 helium balloons that were being sold on the grounds.

So all in all not a cheap day out unless you manage to bag some deal or free tickets! But for the amount of activities on offer, a fun family day out and brilliant for children slightly older than two years old, as I think my daughter was slightly too young to appreciate all that was on offer, or in other words, her attention span not long enough to stay interested!

Keep an eye out for early bird tickets for next year!

http://www.lollibopfestival.co.uk