These skills your kids learn in school might surprise you

In the classroom, your kids learn about a range of academic subjects, and the basics like how to read and write. They gain the foundations for a fulfilling life through interactive classes at school and as you help with their homework. Children are also learning many soft skills, and you may not realise the many ways your child is developing to one day be a well-rounded adult.

What are ‘Soft Skills’?

This term refers to general traits that help individuals relate better to and get along better with one another. These interpersonal skills can help them professionally in the workplace, as they get along well with coworkers, and personally, as they form friendships more easily and appreciate others. Below are four soft skills they learn in a quality educational environment.

Great Teamwork

Along with learning about numbers and spelling in school, children also learn from teamwork. They can learn how to problem solve in classes with group projects, for example, to help them become strong at critical thinking. They also learn how to work together toward a goal, such as completing a cake recipe or developing a class presentation together. Kids can also develop friendships with classmates who teach them about respecting someone else and having empathy and compassion.

Strong Communication

There are many ways to communicate at any age. That includes verbal and written. A couple of other ways that you might not have readily thought of are drawing, reading and listening. Becoming good at communicating involves all of these areas, and it is important for students to excel in this area as it will help them form connections with others. That can prevent social isolation, sadness, hopelessness, and reduced self-esteem. Feeling more confident can help kids and teens do well in academic classes as they believe in themselves.

Leadership Skills

The beginnings of being a great leader can be seen in many children inside and outside the classroom. For example, they may try many sports and need to be resilient if they do not make the team or their team does not win every game. They may also want to volunteer from a young age and be great at managing their time. These skills are reinforced in quality state and boarding schools, where the focus is on personal growth and learning.

The Basics of Manners

Good manners are important in social life; developing them can happen in school. That could be the words “please” and “thank you”, as well as keeping the door open for the person behind them, these activities show respect and appreciation for other people. Youth can also practice sharing with their classmates to teach them positive interactions with others as part of healthy development.

Summary of School Skills

Kids learn more than just academics at school. They also build soft skills, from teamwork and communication to creativity and leadership, which can prepare them for future school years and adulthood afterward. Ask your children what they are learning in class, and their responses are likely to pleasantly surprise you.

This is a collaborative post.

crafts, google+ hangouts, key stage 2, kids

Christmas Cards – Stained Glass

There’s still time to make your CHRISTMAS cards, let’s get creative!

So we’ve gone all churchy and made these lovely stained glass window style cards…. cutting shapes from the card, and gluing coloured tissue paper behind the apertures.

Eek… I let the boys use a scalpel!

These look fab with a tea-light popped inside (battery operated for safety) or stuck to a window.

You may also like our Potato print button nose rudolph cards, and to watch the google+ hangout which was hosted by @RedTedArt here: and Maggy’s fabulous round-up with LOADS of ideas from some amazingly creative blogs including some more stained glass from peaklepie here: christmas-card-ideas-for-kids.

Oh, by the way, Pinterest! Pop over say hello x LIKE IT? Pin it!

Published 4 Dec 2013.

FREE printables, halloween, key stage 2, kids

Halloween Pumpkin Paper Pom-Pom FREE printable

We got a little bit seasonal and decided to turn our giant orange paper pom-pom into a PUMPKIN!
So here’s a halloween pumpkin FREE printable for you to download, print off and stick with a Pritt stick onto to the paper pom-pom – how cool is this! If you like this, you’ll like 11yo’s spin on it – with his FREE downloadable Witch’s face here.

Really easy Pumpkin face – halloween pumpkin free printable, have a go by clicking here for our FREE downloadable template just print off, and cut out the shapes, in fact, print two, and use one as a template for your pumpkin this year too!!

click here for FULL HOW TO instructions on making the paper pom-poms

12 simple steps – really easy to follow, our kids have been making them in ALL sorts of colours – we’ve even mixed up different shades of green here…
If you fancy having a go yourself click here.

Free printable Pumpkin face, just attach to giant paper pom-pom or use as a template to carve your pumpkin!

If you have a thing for giant paper pompoms, click here to see our crepe paper version, with raindrops!

This post was first published Sept 29 2014. inspired by a *how to* video by RedTedArt and myself

Ali also blogs over on aGreenerLifeforus.com and is a lover of Instagram too… pop over and say hello!

crafts, gardening with kids, key stage 2

The Main Ingredients To Your Child’s Development

When you are trying to ensure that your child will have a good start in life, it all comes down to their development, and ensuring that this is as strong as can be. There are actually quite a few elements to this that you will need to consider, and it’s important to make sure that you are going to think about early development. A strong early development is the kind of thing that can really help your child in many ways, so it’s definitely important to focus on this.

Pic Source – CCO License

However, you might be wondering what the secret is to your child’s development working out as it should. As it happens, there are a number of ingredients to this that you will want to look out for and actively encourage if you are going to ensure this is going to work as well as possible. So let’s take a look at what those ingredients are and how you can help your child to build them.

Love and Acceptance

This is one of the main things that you will always want to make sure you are providing, as, if there is enough of this, it really will make a huge difference to your child’s life in quite a powerful way. It’s incredible actually, how well this can work, and you should definitely make sure that you are thinking about this if you want to try and encourage your child to develop as fully as possible. Love and acceptance are going to mean that pretty much everything else falls into place easily.

Of course, you don’t need to learn how to love your child, but you will find that the acceptance part can take a while. And what is most important is not only that you are feeling love and acceptance, but that you are actively expressing it to them. This is what will make the difference, and what they will notice, and you will find that it will help with their development more than pretty much anything else at all.

So be sure to express this as early as possible and frequently too. You will find that it’s going to make a world of difference to how effectively they develop.

Encouragement

At every stage of development, no matter what the specific skills are that are being developed, you will need to make sure that you try to encourage your children as best as you can. Encouragement is going to mean that you are much more likely to actively and effectively expect their development to go well. Put simply, children are always going to find that their own development is stronger and better when there is plenty of encouragement from the parent.

Strong encouragement from you means that they are going to feel that anything is possible. Of course, it can take a while to get this right and you might find that you need to figure out for yourself what kinds of encouragement work and what kinds don’t seem to work so well. But all in all, having a strong ability to encourage your child in whatever they are doing is one of the best things you can give them. You will notice the effects of this quickly, and it’s really amazing what it can do for your child in general.

Learning Types

It’s also a good idea to try and figure out the learning types of your child, as everyone has their own combination and this is something that you are going to find really useful to consider. For instance, some people tend to learn better through kinetic movement, and some people find it much easier to learn by rote. Those are just two examples, and perhaps something that you are going to want to help your child to discover for themselves, but the point is that you should be looking out for what their learning type is so that you can hopefully encourage them to make full use of this.

It’s also important to make sure your child has the best possible chance of learning well. So from making use of resources like those available from DoodleLearning to ensuring that you are doing all you can to encourage them, you’ll find that this makes a huge difference overall. It’s absolutely something that will help your child to develop.

The earlier you do this, the more of a positive impact it can have on their own overall development, and it’s really quite incredible how well this can work in the long run. So make sure that you are thinking about this if you want to keep your child’s development as strong as possible, as it’s the kind of thing that is going to be hugely important to them now and later on as well.

Play

People often forget this, but one of the most important ingredients to any development is play. Your child needs to have plenty of play in their life, and this is one of the main things that should be encouraged at every step of the journey. Play is so central, and vitally important to your child’s development that they are simply not going to get anywhere without it. Not only is it enjoyable and fun, it’s also one of the main early ways that children learn, and it’s a naturally powerful way to make use of one’s curiosity in trying to find out more about the world.

With that in mind, it’s really important to make sure that you are encouraging play as much as you can, and that your child is going to be able to make full use of it as a way of being. The more that this is the case, the better that it’s going to be for their development, and it really is incredible how much of a difference this can make.

As it happens, just as there are different learning styles, so too there are a range of play types, and you might want to try and figure out which type your child tends to enjoy the most. They might be able to get more out of that way of playing, as well as trying out some others, so a general awareness of both can be really useful all in all.

Building Blocks of Education

As well as those qualities, there are also a few building blocks to their education which you are going to want to encourage too and which can help a great deal. In fact, you would probably consider these to be absolutely essential if you are going to try and ensure your child’s development is as strong as possible. That’s the kind of thing that you should absolutely make sure you are not overlooking if you can help it.

These include basic numeracy skills as well as early literacy skills too. That is the kind of thing that you are going to want to think about, and it’s vital that you are going to try and do all you can to keep this as strong as possible. The building blocks of education are going to be really important for you to think about, so make sure that you are.

Those are the main ingredients to your child’s development you will want to encourage.

This is a collaborative post.

crafts, create, google+ hangouts, key stage 2, kids

Fairy Tale crafts – Snow white mirror

Fairy Tale crafts – taking inspiration from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves we decided to upcycle a charity shop mirror and create the famous Mirror Mirror on the Wall….

This was a fabulous team effort, and my son now proudly has this Fairy Tale Craft beauty hanging on the wall in his bedroom.

You will need:

Old sheets of newspaper
Cocktail stick
Glue stick
Stronger glue, (I recommend a glue gun!)

Instructions:

1) Roll the newspaper sheet diagonally from the corner, using the cocktail stick to get you started, so that the roll is nice and tight. When the cocktail stick starts to disappear inside the paper, gently pull it out, and continue to tightly roll the newspaper to create a long ‘stick’ – the first of MANY!

2) Flatten the ‘stick’ using a hard surface.

3) Taking your cocktail stick, start to roll the flattened ‘stick’ into a tight spiral, securing it with glue as you get to the end of the spiral.

4) When you have enough of these spirals, you can start to build up the pattern around the mirror – we found that the glue gun was the best tool for this!

You could also spray paint the spirals, however we like the newspaper spirals in their natural form!

Ali also blogs over on incredibusy.com and is a new lover of Instagram too… pop over and say hello! And I’ll be adding this to Lizzie’s#MagpieMonday as I love to salvage, upcycle and re-use stuff!

If you’d like to see more Fairy Tale crafts, firstly pop over to see our Jack and the Beanstalk Reward Chart, and then click the youtube link here, as I got together with Missie Lizzie who talked magic beans, Anthea with her elves’ shoes, Kelly talked Rapunzel, and Maggy at Red Ted Art (talking three little pigs) who hosted a Fairy Tale Craft google+ hangout.

crafts, google+ hangouts, halloween, key stage 2, kids

Stick Crafts – Shadow Puppet

Chaos writes:

Here’s a very simple stick craft we’ve been doing this week… great shadow puppets inspired by Chinese New Year:

You’ll need some sticks (!) from the garden, or as we do, collected on weekend walks by small children. Some black card, sellotape, a pencil, scissors and some ‘brads’ (the pins with bendy legs, I never remember what their name is!) Oh, and some coloured tissue paper or sweet wrappers. AND a torch if you fancy doing a shadow puppet show!

We drew the dragon ‘pieces’ out onto the black card – cut them out, and joined them together with the brads (we used a bit of plasticine behind the card, and pushed a pencil through to make the hole for the brad).

Attach the sticks with tape at the back and you’re ready to go! You’ll need a couple of characters for the shadow puppet show – standing behind a large white sheet – we dimmed the lights, shone the torch and tried them out. We made up some short stories for our characters and put on a fun silhouette show!!

Click the YouTube link to view the Google+ hangout hosted by Maggy Woodley from Red Ted Art and meet me Ali Clifford at the Stick Craft hangout with Anthea Barton from Zing Zing Tree, Kelly Innes ( Domestic Goddesque) and Liz Burton.

Don’t forget to head over to Red Ted Art and check out the links for all the crafts featured on the video:

I also write over on www.agreenerlifeforus.com 🙂 and incredibusy.com (first published 2013)

crafts, key stage 2, kids

Newspaper Crafts Spirals – Penguin on a sledge

Well, thanks for stopping by – this post has now moved to HERE:

If you want to know how to make the LONG newspaper straws and rolling them to create a FREE craft material! click here for a ‘how to’. (with a great video too from @incredibusy)

baking, cooking, crafts, create, key stage 2, kids, travel

Fforest gather – a new kind of family holiday

Family time together just so special as our boys get older – they are more independent and dare I say a little ‘feral’ this year? We’ve had the best of times and made new friends, made memories, and given us something to look forward to next summer too – why? what? how? you ask? Well, a week at Fforest gather, that’s what!

Over to Spike age 15:

If you’ve not heard about Fforest gather – you’re clearly not following @incredibusy on the instagram – or @coldatnight, which you should remedy forthwith – follow us here and here… It’s through instagram that Mum, and it transpires on chatting to fellow campers at Fforest gather, many others, have ‘met’ Sian and fallen in love with what she and husband James have been doing in Cardigan, Wales for the last couple of years…

A small intimate ‘festival’, not really a festival, but that explains the basis of the event – week long holiday with accommodation (optional, you can also bring your own tent/camper van) and daily workshops you won’t want to miss… a new kind of holiday in fact! Two family friendly weeks of adventures in nature, music, culture, creativity and simple pleasures.

We stayed in one of the ‘group tents‘ – our family in one end, in two bedrooms, and our friends and their three small children in the facing ‘tent’. We brought our own sleeping bags and pillows, and the shared bathrooms a short walk away were positive luxury compared to some campsites we’ve stayed in! The group tents have a communal cooking, and eating area in the centre – and an amazing view across the fields. However, after trying the first catered meal in the canteen, we decided that we’d ditch the camp cooking, and eat with the majority of the other campers – the breakfast and evening meals were just amazing – and the dining area was super conducive to socialising too.

The beauty of the Fforest gather is that the workshops, talks, walks, performances and activities are all included in the ticket price. Two sessions a day, one at a very civilised 10am, and the afternoon sessions start at 2pm – Between our two families, we tried Screenprinting, Nature illustration; natural dyeing, canoeing, Tamsin with her pencil and puppet making, Bees make honey with the honey farm, making bacon, smoking fish, making cheese, cooking with fire; axe & knife craft; yoga and wellness; drumming; beer cocktail classes; bird illustrations, silver ring making; forest school sessions; den building; tree climbing; wild swimming and learnt about foraging with Jade and coppicing with Bruce – woah, all in one week?!

We have some wonderful photos to share from our week at #Fforestgather – we went on a wonderful walk through neighbouring #Coppicewood – led by Bruce, who introduced us to the ways of the woods – and #charcoal making! The Coppicewood College promotes, supports #sustainable woodland management and runs courses using traditional methods and tools. Covering all aspects of coppice practice, hedgelaying and coppice craft in their own woodland in #Cilgerran, #Pembrokeshire, West Wales. Coppicewood College provides training in woodland based traditional rural skills and related crafts.

A photo posted by Ali Clifford (@incredibusy) on Aug 30, 2016 at 11:04am PDT

The evenings were equally entertaining, with, Music from Eyre Llew, and DJs and chatting, and Fforest Island discs, and beer drinking at the adorable little ‘Bwthyn pub‘. Candle lit, and roaring fire – this little pub is located at the heart of the Fforest camp.

A brief selection of our favourite workshops:
Natural dyeing with Hazel Stark – Indigo Shibori (a Japanese pattern technique) – we were so blessed with the weather, so a day spent outside in the Fforest vegetable gardens, patiently folding, pegging and dipping our canvas tote bags was well spent.

Bird drawing with Matt Sewell, such a delight; as was the glasses onto inanimate objects with Finn Thomson making faces and giving objects sight – such a fun workshop! Seeing objects – using wire, paper, glue, and a LOT of imagination, in the project barn.

Screenprinting was a really big hit with Lex from Feather studios and her patient partner @morganhenryjames.

Some more fabulous T shirts hot off the screen printing press. The room was quiet with concentration cutting out the stencils. #fforestgather #screenprint #creativitymatters #imaginationatwork #stayplaydream #fforest

A photo posted by Gather 2017 (@fforestgather) on Aug 30, 2016 at 6:22am PDT

Cheese making was a revelation (and made for the best photos! #instagramthat) Curds and whey with cheese chief Max – who it transpires, can also tell a tale, and sing a song….

Beer was high on the agenda for the grown-ups, with Evil Gordon doing a turn talking beer cocktails, Beerbods, and sourdough bread making in the wood fired oven.

And then there was foraging! @wildpickings 🍃🌿 Jade took us on a walk; foraging for edible hedgerow wonders – we’ve learnt such a LOT this week 🍃🌿

Oh and Sam! The Newquay Honey Farm Man – brilliant and enchanted!

Seriously, this is an event/holiday/week long party I would recommend – such a lovely way to spend time with your family.
We went with good friends, and came away with even more…

beer-cocktails-backstage-fforest-gather — The Farmhouse

bandcamp-beer-fforest-gather — Music from Eyre Llew

beer-cocktails-fforest-gather — Beer cocktails in the Farmhouse

coppice-college-sign-fforest-gather — Coppice College

coppice-college-tols-fforest-gather — In the tool shed

walk into Cardigan to visit the PizziTipi

Time to plan for 2018… 23 JULY – 5 AUGUST 2018 www.fforestgather.co.uk
A new kind of holiday.
Two family friendly weeks of adventures in nature, music, culture, creativity, making, growing & simple pleasures.
500 acres of bliss. Only 300 tickets available each week.
Week 1 – Monday 23rd – Sunday 29th of july
Week 2 – Monday 30th july – Sunday 5th of august

TO FIND OUR MORE ABOUT FFOREST CLICK HERE

Ali also writes over on incredibusy.com and funcraftskids.com and aGreenerLifeforus.com

crafts, key stage 2, kids

How to melt crayons into a rainbow!

There are lots of creative things you can do with crayons!

Did you know about the hashtag #FunCraftsKids?

We have a few rainbow crafts on the blog that we can call upon, however, having teenagers and pre-teens in the house, it’s good to push and encourage their creativity, as they have become more and more drawn to staring at their screens and not wanting to be quite as creative as they used to be…

So we have FOUND A WAY and that is stop motion animation – so – check this out, we set up a tripod, take a series of photos, and make an animation! What fun…

For this particular craft, we took a square canvas* and some old crayons, and got busy, you can watch the stop motion in the youtube link below….

You will need:
A Canvas
Some Crayons
Hair Dryer
Glue Gun (or tape, glue gun is quick and easy though!)

Watch the video here for instructions, basically, glue the crayons to the top half of the canvas.

Prop the canvas at an angle and start warming the crayons with the hair dryer.

Move the hair dryer to the top of the crayons, and start heating from the top so that they melt DOWN… note, the red didn’t melt as fast as the other colours, yet it still looks OK in the final result.

Lower the canvas to a smaller angle so that the crayons don’t drip off the end of the canvas, have fun, and don’t worry if the crayons ‘splatter’ that’s all part of the fun and creativity!

Let us know if you have a go too…

Ali also blogs at incredibusy.com aGreenerLifeforus.com and FunCraftsKids.com
Find Ali on instagram as @incredibusy too for other instagram photo challenges such as #sgiew (so good in every way!)

baking, cooking, cooking with kids, key stage 2, key stage 3, kids

The science of perfect porridge

Perfect Porridge

Thank you so much for dropping by, this post has been moved to my site incredibusy.com – do pop over there for exciting news on porridge and all the info you need on perfect porridge!