Twirl the Trencher
This is a game which almost any number of children can play. The players seat themselves in a circle, and each takes the name of some town, or flower, or whatever has been previously agreed upon. One of the party stands in the middle of the circle, with a small wooden trencher, or waiter, places it upon its edge, and spins it, calling out as he does so the name which one of the players has taken.

The person named must jump up and seize the trencher before it ceases spinning, but if he is not very quick the trencher will fall to the ground, and he must then pay a forfeit. It is then his turn to twirl the trencher.

A very similar game to this is “My Lady’s Toilet.” The only difference is that each player must take the name of some article of a lady’s dress, such as shawl, earring, brooch, bonnet, etc.

Over the last few years there has been a drive to improve awareness of the worrying problem of increasing childhood obesity with the main causal factors being the over-availability of high fat content junk food combined with poor nutritional education regarding the actual content of many processed foods.

If everyone was aware of the fact that one meal from a well known fast food company contains the total recommended daily allowance of fat for an adult how many parents would still be happy for their children to consume it. There is now nutritional information posted in some outlets though if you do not know how to decipher the large amount of information thrown at you then it will just appear to be random information.

All girls love jewellery and making it themselves is an added bonus. It is the perfect activity for rainy days and requires a minimal amount of supervision. Depending upon the age of the girls as well will dictate the level of intricacy involved.

This activity is not however suitable for children under the age of three as beads and sparkly things will appeal to them and will inevitably end up in their mouths leading to unwanted complications.

I recently organised a birthday party for my two children at a local soft play centre and would like to share the experience with you that you might be able to avoid the pitfalls that befell me

I will not name the soft play area as even though on the whole the experience was fun and the kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves there were areas that I was not too impressed with and these are points that I have raised with the play centre on a one to one basis.

The first word of advice is that if you are planning on organising your childs birthday party at a soft play centre visit it first. In fact the best thing to do would be to shop about for the best deal. I went on the recommendation of a friend and in hindsight should have probably stuck with my local and well visited soft play centre.