How important are routines? Step-by-Step Explore with Dora

I've had a bedtime routine for the Mini Mes since they were newborns, keeping the same pattern each evening results in a peaceful nights sleep fro everyone! But with the sudden temperature rises they have become restless in the evenings and it's often been 10/11pm before they have settled to sleep... resulting in grumpy children the following day.

 

You can see leading child development expert Jacqueline Harding and the lovely Jess McGlynn from Catch a Single Thought today, as Nick Jr has launched their new campaign Step-by-Step Explore with Dora to help parents navigate key development stages and teach their children key skills including keeping a routine and the importance of doing so.



Show details:

How important are routines for children?

How to implement beneficial routines for your little ones and what to do if they don’t take to them immediately

Show date: 8th July

Show time: 12pm

Whether your child or children should have a routine or not is an age old debate amongst parents. Do children flourish under a clear routine or do you think it’s better to follow your child’s own natural rhythm and let them take the lead?

Although predictability can be viewed as monotonous for adults, many parents believe that children flourish on repetition. Providing routines can also help kids deal with change. However some parents prefer to adopt a more varied attitude.

How do you strike the balance between child-led activities and consistency? What do you do if your child doesn’t take to a routine? Do you feel like a failure if your kids don’t follow the routine you’re trying to implement? At what age is having a routine most important?

To access a whole range of Dora themed assets to encourage and reward children on their developmental journey www.nickjr.co.uk/step

Click here to submit questions before the show:

http://www.studiotalk.tv/show/how-important-are-routines-for-children

 

For more information:

Website: www.nickjr.co.uk/stepbystep

Hashtag: #dorastepbystep

How important are routines to you?

 

Will you promise to keep your family safe?

Tweet

 

15 children died in accidental fires last year, among a total 7,256 injuries and 187 deaths from dwelling fires across the country, so it is vital to check you have working smoke alarms in your home. 

You’re 4 times more likely to die in a fire if you don’t have a working smoke alarm.

 

The new heart-wrenching video by up-and-coming director, Stevie Russell, reminds everyone exactly what is at stake in a house fire, and is part of the Fire Kills campaign asking people test their smoke alarms when they change their clocks over the Easter weekend.

A working smoke alarm can buy you and your family the valuable time you need to get out, stay out and call 999.

 

The Fire Kills campaign is determined to prevent as many deaths as possible and make sure people test their alarms when the clocks change on 31 March.

Please, help spread the word

 

 

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Help Dora Campaign

FINALISTS SELECTED FOR HELP DORA HELP 

Public to Decide Which Entry will Receive £20,000 Award

Five nurseries selected from submissions from across The UK have been chosen as the finalists for Nick Jr.’s Help Dora Help Campaign. The initiative is supported by The Prince’s Foundation for Children & the Arts and is designed to support nurseries, preschools and children’s centres in their educational curriculum. Almost 300 nurseries and preschools submitted an entry to this year’s campaign with applicants from Cumbria, Derbyshire, London and Lancashire elected as finalists. The winner will be decided by members of the public that vote at nickjr.co.uk/helpdorahelp.

“The quality of entries for Help Dora Help was extraordinary and gave a great picture of the areas of educational interest across UK preschools,” said Helena Dowling, Nick Jr., presenter and Help Dora Help judge. “With funding required for things such buying a minibus to creating a mini beast learning zone, the finalists each demonstrate a desire to offer more educational opportunities for their pupils. I am looking forward to seeing which entry the public chooses to receive the award.”

Voting is now open to decide which of the finalist will receive the award. Voting is open to anyone within the UK and voters can take a look at all five finalists and learn more about their submission at nickjr.co.uk/helpdorahelp. Voting is open until 2nd November with the winner of the award announced on 19th November.

Inspired by the adventurous spirit of Dora, Help Dora Help seeks to encourage support education, development and exploration in the pre-school environment. The five finalists for this year’s campaign are:

Greystoke Under 5’s, Greystoke, Cumbria - The rural volunteer playgroup would use the award to revamp their outdoor play area as well as their kitchen.

Oakmount Day Nursery, Preston, Lancashire - The nursery would use the award to purchase a minibus, ideally equipped with exploratory items such as a metal detector and telescope.

The Old Forge Day Nursery, Findern, Derbyshire – The nursery would use the award to build a log cabin with sensory room, a library and dance studio.

Parkfield Children’s Centre, West Hendon, London – The Children’s Centre would develop their Early Years playground to reflect various countries, cultures, seasons and festivals.

Walton Lane Nursery School & Children’s Centre, Nelson, Lancashire - The Centre would create a bug hotel so that children could increase their knowledge of mini beasts.




An expert panel led by Nick Jr.’s Wake Up World Helena Dowling, alongside Nick Jr. representatives and partners including The Prince’s Foundation for Children & the Arts, Dora Magazine and Chad Valley chose the five finalists with each finalist awarded discovery and learning equipment from Chad Valley as well as a classroom visit from Dora the Explorer.

 Nick Jr., with its sister channel Nick Jr. 2, it is the most popular commercial pre-school entertainment brand in cable and satellite homes. Launched in 1999 as the world's first channel dedicated to preschool children, Nick Jr. broadcasts hit shows including Dora the Explorer, Peppa Pig, Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom, Bubble Guppies and Olive the Ostrich. In 2009 Nick Jr. won BAFTA Children’s Channel of the Year. More information on programming as well as clips, games and exclusive downloadable content is available at nickjr.co.uk. Nick Jr. is available on Sky 615, Virgin 715, through BT Vision and TalkTalk channel 318.

Launched in 1993, Nickelodeon UK comprises seven dedicated award-winning entertainment channels for kids aged 2-12 and is a joint venture between MTV and BSkyB Networks. The Nickelodeon Network is a top performing commercial kids TV network in the UK and the Nickelodeon channels are available in over 14 million cable and satellite homes.

About The Prince’s Foundation for Children & the Arts: 
The Prince’s Foundation for Children & the Arts is an educational charity which champions the power of the arts to transform and enrich the lives of disadvantaged children across the UK. The charity’s projects have helped to create long-term partnerships between arts organisations and their local schools. Two core programmes, Start and Quests both highlight the potential of learning outside the classroom, enabling children to visit their local cultural venue to work with professional artists, and then developing this experience through class-based projects and activities. Since 2006 the charity has worked with over 100,000 children and hopes to substantially increase this figure in the next few years.

For more info please visit www.childrenandarts.org.uk

World Food Day Campaign

I often take our filled cupboards, shelves and fridge for granted. I may whinge about the expense but my children won't be going without a warm evening meal, lunch or breakfast any day soon.

I thought about how I would feel as a mother to see my children hungry... starving... even dying and I found it truly distressing. I therefore decided to help promote this campaign by blogging about it. It wont cost you anything bar time and only a few moments at that to help.

It's FREE to help!

By simply watching the video below and taking an online quiz, a link is supplied at the end of the video, you will be helping the fight against hunger. For every person that completes this simple task a partner of W.F.P (World Food Programme) will pay for a school meal for a child. 

It only takes a few minutes yet it will make such a difference to a child's life.

You can watch the video and complete the quiz HERE

Even if just one person watches the video and completes the quiz that is one child helped and makes this post worthwhile.

WFP has set a goal. By 2015 they want to help ensure that no child goes to school hungry.

• Studies show it is more difficult for children to learn

without adequate food and nutrition.

• There are 66 million primary school-age children who

attend classes hungry across the developing world.

• A daily school meal provides a strong incentive to send

children to school and keep them there and allows the

children to focus on their studies, rather than their stomachs.

They have already helped Molly, 1 of the 100 million children that the W.F.P feed each year. You can read her story here:  

https://www.wfp.org/stories/mollys-world-growing-nairobi-slum

I hope that you will take the time to watch the video and complete the quiz to help a child.

Thank you for your support

*The photos were supplied by WFP*

If you do watch the video and complete the quiz please leave a comment below. On 16th October, World Food Day, we will announce how many meals were provided by your support!