Things to Do

Activities: Santa Parade

It seems far too early to be even thinking the word ‘Santa’ but time does pass so quickly at the moment. I cannot believe that Thomas is 15 weeks already – the realisation that I should’ve found him a nursery place by now is kicking in, bringing a healthy dose of panic, which is only heightened by the depressing thought of having to return to work!  It seems a long time until next summer but with Christmas looming already, I know it will be here in the blink of an eye.

My initial plans for the weekend had been to attend an event at the Portrait Gallery, but after a disrupted night sleep and waking up to yet more rain, the idea of getting all the kids across town for 10 really did not appeal. After hearing of Friday’s events in Paris, we were certainly in a sombre mood and then the inclination to stay in, safe from the world ‘out there’ was tempting.
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Activities: Edinburgh Castle

Sometime we forget about how lucky we are to have such a beautiful city all around us. Over the half term break, I spent a couple of days in Sussex and was sorry it wasn’t longer. I had been keen to spend a bit of time in Brighton wandering through the Laines – particularly exploring all the little independent shops and watching the myriad of people that pass by. However, it occurred to me that although I do this each time I visit, I rarely venture in to Edinburgh Old Town anymore – or take the time to explore Edinburgh castle.

Many moons ago, I used to live on Castle Terrace – very much in the shadow of the Castle. I had to walk down the Royal Mile to get to my University classes and found the swarms of tourists irritating. I would complete the journey as quickly as possible only stopping to pick up a coffee on route. It had been a long while since I had actually slowed down enough to look round and appreciate what had appeared.
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Wee science

Activities: Child Experimentation

To an extent we experiment on our children daily: Will they eat the same thing they did yesterday? Can they be trusted to pick up their bath towels? Can they last five minutes without arguing about something?! But wee science takes it all one step further…

Last Friday however, we went one step further and volunteered Katie to take part in a study at the University of Edinburgh. A few weeks ago, I wrote about attending the ‘Superhero Science Show’ at the National Museum and how Katie was particularly keen to be a Scientist. Every time they had asked for a volunteer she had stuck her hand right up and was so disappointed not to get picked that I was a little sad for her. I think it was for this reason that a ‘Wee Science’ advert on Facebook really caught my eye. A psychology student was looking for three year-olds to take part in her study. I figured this was a great opportunity for Katie to finally be a ‘Superhero Scientist’ and also looked interesting for me (double win)!Read More »Activities: Child Experimentation