Tag: Children and Families

Get set to get giggling during Bookbug Week!

BOOKBUG WEEK 15 – 21 MAY: Bookbug’s Big Giggle

Bookbug Week, an annual celebration of Scotland’s national book gifting programme, will take place between 15 and 21 May, with hundreds of free events for children and babies held across the country.

This year’s theme is Bookbug’s Big Giggle – a fun and playful theme that encourages parents and carers to share playful songs and stories with their children in order to highlight that laughter is essential for well-being and for building bonds between carers and children.

Now in its seventh year, Bookbug Week 2017 will see free Big Giggle themed events taking place in every local authority in Scotland, with special appearances from some of the UK’s best-loved children’s authors and illustrators. Schools and nurseries across the country can also tune in to watch a fun-filled Authors Live event with Alex T Smith, streamed live at 11am on Wednesday 17 May.

Some fantastic Bookbug prizes will also be up for grabs in on-line competitions throughout the week.  Families can find details of all Bookbug Week events taking place in their area by dropping in to their local library or by visiting the website at http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/bookbugweek

Marc Lambert, CEO of Scottish Book Trust, said: “Bookbug Week invites every family with young children to take part in the hundreds of free and fun-filled events across Scotland, to celebrate the joy that comes from sharing books and rhymes together. This year’s theme highlights how sharing these fun songs and stories can help with children’s confidence, development, connectivity and over-all well-being.

“Bookbug Week is also the perfect chance to find out more about the Bookbug programme. If you have never been to a Bookbug session this is a great opportunity to experience the fun.”

Bookbug sessions are free story, song and rhyme sessions run by libraries and other community venues across Scotland, with national audiences of over half a million in 2016-17. To celebrate Bookbug Week, Paisley Central Library is holding their very first Bookbug Gigglethon, a Bookbug Session relay starting at 9.30am and finishing at 4.30pm. Families can come along at any time during the day to experience some fun songs, rhymes and stories.

Flagship events to mark Bookbug Week will take place at Callendar House in Falkirk on Wednesday (17 May) between 10am and 2pm, and at the newly opened Carnegie Library in Dunfermline on Friday (19 May) between 10am and 2pm. These are free events, packed with activities and open to all parents, guardians and their babies and children. Illustrator Kasia Matyjaszek will be leading an arts workshop at both events.

Funded by the Scottish Government, Bookbug is Scottish Book Trust’s Early Years Programme. The Bookbug programme encourages mums, dads and carers to sing and share stories with their children from birth. It provides every child in Scotland with four free bags of books, gifting 720,000 books every year. Over 240,000 children in Scotland benefitted last year, with even more set to receive free books in 2017.

Bookbug also runs regular free story, song and rhyme events in libraries, shopping centres and other community venues which attracted audiences of over half a million parents and children in 2016-17.

PYCP sets June date for annual general meeting

PILTON YOUTH & CHILDREN’s PROJECT AGM

The Greenhouse, West Pilton Brae

Friday 9 June at 2pm

Send an SMS text donation to 70070 with PYCP55 £5 to send a fiver, or PYCP55 £10 to send a tenner. 100% of the money sent will reach the charity, allowing us to continue our work with kids who need our help or you can help us raise money for this great cause by donating directly to our campaign page – http://campaign.justgiving.com/campaigns/charity/pycp/fundourchildrenswork.

JustGiving sends your donation straight to PYCP and automatically reclaims Gift Aid if you are a UK taxpayer, so your donation is worth even more.  Thank you for your support!

Children’s language classes: as easy as uno, dos, tres!

Edinburgh based Language School Applauds Duchess of Cambridge for Teaching Royal Tots Spanish

The owner of an Edinburgh based children’s language business has praised Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, for teaching Prince George and Princess Charlotte to speak Spanish.

Giselle Dominguez, who runs Lingotot North Edinburgh, delivering classes in Broughton and Leith  for pre-school and primary school aged children across Edinburgh was delighted to hear the news that Prince George can already count to ten in Spanish and his little sister is also learning the language. The revelation was made during a visit to a charity farm project in Gloucestershire, where the Duchess shared the news with a group of schoolchildren.

The royal tots join a growing number of youngsters learning a second language, including Sam Faier’s son Paul who learns Spanish after appearing on ITV Be series the Mummy Diaries with Lingotot.

Up and down the country Lingotot teaches 10,000 children aged 0-11 each week to speak a range of modern foreign languages including French, Spanish, German, Arabic and Mandarin and here in Edinburgh the number of children grows month on month.

Giselle said: “I am delighted to hear that the young royals are learning a second language with the help of Kate and the children’s Spanish nanny. Research suggests that children who know two languages can gain an academic advantage over those who speak only one. Linguist experts say that between birth and five years of age, the human brain is hard-wired for learning multiple languages and after this age it becomes much harder.”

She went on: “At Lingotot we understand that not everyone has the resources to hire a nanny and in our lessons we teach the parents too, giving them top tips on how to use the language at home every day. We share our multilingual songs, stories and games with the whole family.

Giselle Dominguez invites you to come and try a Lingotot class for free at one of their venues  and your little one will be saying ‘uno, dos, tres’ before you know it!

Everyone Can Cook! recipe book launch tomorrow

Pilton Community Health Project’s Wednesday cooking club have created a new recipe book – and they’re launching it tomorrowI

PCHP Community Development Worker (Food) Joe Jones said: “We are launching our new recipe book Everyone Can Cook! at PCHP on Wednesday (10 May). Similar to the Cook & Taste recipe book that Memes put together a few years back with Muirhouse community shop, it’s a collection of favourite recipes from local participants at our Wednesday cooking club. The recipes are healthy, budget friendly and easy to make for and with the family.”

The launch takes place from 12 – 2pm.

Rollup, roll up … Circadius celebration

Wednesday 17 May at NORTH EDINBURGH ARTS from 6.30pm

Circadius – a night of entertainment!

Wednesday 17th May
Doors 6.30pm, films start at 7pm
Open to all ages.

Join Muirhouse Youth Development Group to celebrate their circus skills project. One night of circus entertainment, film screenings, face-painting and a circus buffet.

Circadius is an 18-month long adventure, exploring the history and magic of the circus in times gone by.

Circadius was created by young people from Muirhouse Youth Development Group, through a series of weekly skills workshops, focussed arts sessions, conversations with older people and visits to the National Library of Scotland.

Tickets are free but they are limited.
They can be collected from North Edinburgh Arts reception.

Book your tickets now!
0131 315 2151
admin@northedinburgharts.co.uk

The project was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, Young Roots programme and Cashback for Creativity.

Please note that the event is open to all ages and we will be directing children between 3-10 years to an art activity while the films are being shown.

 

Dads Rock launch ‘Being Dad’ photo campaign

We want to help celebrate all the great Dads/granddads and male carers out there, we want to share with others the joy and struggles of being a Dad, and let others see a wee bit about our lives.

It’s important that our kids understand how much us Dads love them, and we still need to break down some barriers and help people see what it means to be a Dad today.

So we’ve launched the ‘Being Dad’ photo campaign!
THIS IS WHERE WE NEED YOUR HELP …WHAT WE NEED IS…
1. A photo of you (dad/granddad/male carer) with your kids
2. 160 words or less about the joy/struggle of being Dad
So get creative and get involved! – We’re going to be taking some of the photos to the Scottish Parliament in June to display – and we’ll invite families to come see their photos there.
You can share your photo and words on Instagram, facebook or twitter, or of course you can email them to us.
Use #beingdadrocks and remember to tag us.
You can see some of the first entries here:
http://dadsrock.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/being-dad-photos.html

PuP: easing the pressure on drug dependent dads

RESEARCHERS are to examine whether a family support programme developed in Australia can protect Scots childen and help their drug dependent dads lead fulfilling family lives. Edinburgh Napier University has been awarded £320,000 to carry out the first study of the Parents under Pressure (PuP) programme to focus on fathers and their care of young children. Continue reading PuP: easing the pressure on drug dependent dads